Thursday, June 5, 2008

Spring never came here, but....

Spring cleaning and organizing did! *Ü* I have been purging for weeks! I'm slow and methodical so that doesn't help get things done right away. My poor family had to deal with my madness for almost 2 weeks now! It doesn't have to stay perfect, but I really have to think it through before I commit a space....

The first space was the attic in my sons room and all my boxes of books. I was able to get rid of a TON of things at a used curriculum sale, but I have a TON left over. I have all my Tapestry of grace year 1 books in boxes and labeled, I have year 2 books in boxes and labeled, and all my year 3 unit 1-2 books boxed and labeled. They are now safe and sound in a warm, dry attic. I am so glad to have those out of the main house! They just took up space.

I still have 3 book shelves in my walk in closet, 3 in the office, my baskets in the dining room and then the shelves and cabinets in the mud room filled. I emptied last years goods, placed most of the upcoming years goods in place of...organized my art supplies (I was inspired by Barbs post) and have the girls summer books out in their basket for easy reach.

Here is a few pictures for a good visual of my reorganizing school stuff:
These used to be on the floor... and now rest on this new plastic container.



The new container ( found at Goodwill for $3.00)has 3 drawers and house flash cards, wrap ups, math games, math wars etc.... I just cant part with that stuff yet. The second drawer has 3x5 index cards and also larger ones for vocabulary. Tape, rulers and other stationary type stuff. The bottom drawer... well again... full of things I just cant part with yet. It houses all of our math manipulative's we have used and collected over the years, tanagrams, math counters, base 10, rulers, scale... most came from the Saxon math manipulative kit, but also things I bought through Sonlight for math resources back in the day *Ü* I am not ready to give it up yet... maybe I need a 10 step program?



The girls notebooks still need to be made into books. They are full! Even though we only made it through 1/2 of year 3, and RyLees Astronomy needs to be bound up too. They will stay here till I'm ready to do that.



I love this message board! I found it at Goodwill too! $2.99! It was still in its packaging... I love smart shopping. This is where I will post the weekly schedule and Weekly procedure chart.



Christians biology schedule is placed here. I have the main schedule and grades in my book. I also place her basic chore list here(its broken down in days and changes weekly). I also write memory verses on this, so we can look over at it whenever we want and memorize it.



This shelf houses all my tapestry of grace books. The books up here are for year 3, and also all resources we might use for any year plan. I need a bigger one! Yikes.... Sorry about the bad lighting.



This shot has Nature study books that the kids use in the basket on top. Then below it is my cuisenaire rods I cant part with *Ü* Below that is Spanish and art materials.



This is my favorite closet/cabinet! My grama gave it to me. I have all our art supplies in this cool tote I bought at Costco last week on the top shelf. It organized them and I can see inside! The next shelf, also a favorite! Tina Wa bought this for me at Christmas... isn't she sweet! Someone posted these on the 'old" WTM board and I 'really" wanted one, but was resisting temptation... she was a doll and bought it for me! I was so shocked when I saw he bring this huge box out of her car! lol Thanks Tina... anyway... I house all of our print outs in it. Lap book stuff, notebook pages, timeline figures.... what have you. It also has a few books we are using for art appreciation right now. Plus other goodies.... I love it! I just pull the entire thing out when I need it.

Bottom shelf has our microscope and science supplies! This is such a nice cabinet!






This shelf is mostly my resources/teacher resources *Ü* Bible study helps journals and the like..... Books I'm reading/want to read over the next year/2,3? I also ran out of room on my TOG shelf so the Hakim books are here as well, and some more science resources, writing, grammar, all of my guides... and 2 sewing projects of mine and Rylees but you cant see them well.







Educational dvds and VHS tapes. I have more, but no tote to house them yet. I went to a library sale and bought a lot of great stuff... 50 cents each... I couldn't walk away form such a sweet deal!



I still have my schedule (spine for the day) to work out for next year. I will work on it mid July when our Basque student is gone for 10 days at camp, and all of my kids are gone too... only they are gone Thursday-Sunday.

So, slowly slowly the egg begins to walk! *Ü* I learned that years ago.... it is an Ethiopian proverb. I still have things to do, but a huge majority just got fisnished! I need to buy little for next year... but other than that... Im feeling good... and ready for summer and our Basque student to be hear the month of July!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job Lisa! It feels so good when we accomplish projects like this.

Lisa~ said...

Yes, it does. I felt the need to get this done now, because July will be so busy.

I don’t do well when things are not in some order... doesn’t have to be perfection, but somewhat....*Ü*

July we will have a big rummage sale. Near our home a community (10 miles worth) has a community rummage sale and while the kids are all away at camp we are going to purge again. That’s all ready to go too. yeah.... then what doesn’t sell, will go directly to a ministry locally called Abrahams house. They open their doors once a week and give the donated items away for free to those who need it.

I’m looking forward to mid July too! *Ü*

Cyndi said...

Okay, you have inspired me! It all looks GREAT!

Karen said...

I have been cleaning the closets and the girls room, but your organizing is inspiring. I think next week I will tackle some bookshelves and part of the basement.

Lisa~ said...

Its that time of year isn’t it? It feels so good to have a head start before summer kicks in... Although I am still waiting on some type of spring.... so much rain... I’m rusting here in WA...

Tina in WA said...

GREAT job my friend! It looks really nice.

I am still in the purge process. I have finally come to realize I can't keep everything. This "stuff" isn't bringing peace to me our my family (especially DH). I want room to feel space... I am working on this myself. You've inspired me. :)

Glad you like the neat "tool". I can't wait to see how you use it. Mine is still tucked away. Once I get rid of more "stuff" I will be pulling it out.

Love you!

~Tina

Mama Peep said...

I don't want Spring. I want Summer!!!! Atlanta has summer; why can't I?? WAH WAH WAH!!!

OK! My fit is over. You have also inspired me. Since we moved and I detest clutter (stops those creative juices) I unloaded boxes quickly and really did not organize my shelves. You should have seen me looking for a history book yesterday. Not fun! I think we need a little organizing around these parts. An added bonus for us is that it will keep us moving and help avoid rusting and freezing.

Who else STILL has their heat on in June???? I do. :-(

Patricia in soggy WA

Amy said...

Thanks for the peek into your school room. You are SO organized! I love all the baskets.

Anonymous said...

That looks great, Lisa! Ok, now do mine! LOL

Michelle said...

I love what you've done with your school room! It looks great!

Anonymous said...

Wow - it looks like you have been busy! I have been trying to accomplish some of that too, since we will be moving soon...

I love the way your school room looks too. I like the message board and I love that you found it at Goodwill! I love thrift stores!

Amy :)

Pam said...

Everything looks so good! I'm in the process of doing the same thing too! It is so hard to know how to group books and I have several bookshelves that need revamping. My problem is that I've collected so many TOG books that I need way more than a shelf per year plan. We've had a lot of rain too with more next week, so I will probably park it near the book shelves and work on thinking it through so that everything is easy to find when we start up again in Aug! Great Job!

Lori C., Texas said...

Looks great! So organized! I love getting everything all put in its place for the beginning of the school year. I just wish I could keep up with keeping it organized during the school year!:)

Hope you have a great week!:)
Lori

Lisa~ said...

Thanks everyone! It feels good to have things packed and put away, and new things out and re-organized... my favorites are the new caddy I got at Costco and my new finds at Goodwill... I don’t always find good deals like that every time I go, but we scored that day...

Amy: I LOVE Longaberger baskets best... I would own a ton if I could afford it... but instead... I'll just love the few I have. The brown baskets I bought at Costco a few years ago... I love all kinds...

I still have a lot of other things to do... tonight... I’m shampooing carpets! I’m in a cleaning frenzy I think.... When I’m feeling nervous about something, cleaning always makes me feel better… maybe I should run instead? LoL I pray too, don’t get me wrong… but the physical activity helps…

Love that you all stopped by and said hi!

Lisa

Unknown said...

I need to do some of this! Oh, and it's not nice warm here... it's really hot. Just got back from our nightly walk, it's still 94 at 9 pm! That's too hot! Hopefully the winds will bring you all some warm Pacific air soon.

Jenny

my5wolfcubs said...

Looks so good! I love the baskets that hold the binders perfectly. I have stacks and stacks of books around me...must put them away!!
Lee