I see a lot of posts asking about how to organize homeschool spaces or what systems work to help keep kids organized. Hopefully this post will be helpful for homeschool parents, tutors, and teachers who don’t already have a system of their own. If you do, I hope you will keep reading because maybe you will find a helpful tip. I would also ask that you comment below to share your favorite organizational tip. We all benefit from the ideas we learn from each other! I also want to preface that I know a perk of homeschooling is that you can go at your own pace. I totally agree with that! I just find that my family needs the structure and organizational tools to keep us on track and to help me be able to also work from home. I am always looking for ways to make our time efficient so I can do my best at both. These are just suggestions and maybe you will find one or two of them helpful. I sure hope so! I have mentioned before that I sometimes struggle with attention to details, so this is helpful for me in helping my kids have what they need.

I am or can be a very organized person. I also can be easily distracted, start too many projects at once, and be left feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. One area of my life I feel like I can organize is my student materials.

I would like to be organized with the remainder of my world, but with life, kids, work, and everything else it does not always happen. And you know what, I am learning to give myself grace about that (and you should as well!). Back on topic - I spend a good portion of time before my year starts organizing, labeling, color coding, labeling, and did I mention labeling? My favorite recent purchase was a basic label maker. When I found out that it had old school “emojis” aka- just a simple smiley face that could also print I was super excited. Probably more than I should have been - ha!

I have this label maker in case you are in the market for one. It’s a tool that made my life more organized. If you watch it, it goes on sale rather frequently.

I will get to my notebooks later in the post, which are one of my favorite tools for homeschool, self, and classroom organization, but I would like to start with my space. My house is just the right size for us, but it does not have extra space to set up these beautiful homeschool rooms that I secretly one day hope for. This year I feel like I have found ways to maximize my space. Keep that in mind - maximize your space and you can make it work!

For my kids, I purchased this construction paper holder. Each kid has a side, but you could also divide into fourths if you were working with more than two students. The top has their generic materials like morning journal, pencil case, rulers, etc. They have a pencil box that is used daily, and their colored pencils and crayons are in a separate container just so that there is enough space in their normal pencil box. I feel like too many things in one box can be very hard on a student who already has organizational troubles to begin with.

Each pocket/shelf of the construction paper holder has an assigned subject. Language, Science/Social Studies, Math (has two - one for books and one for manipulatives). It is a bit bigger than I would prefer, but it has made transition between subjects and independent work so much easier! I have used binder clips with a label (yeah label maker!) and color coded the subjects. You can see them clipped on the edge of each pocket/shelf so that they know where the materials for each subject will go. The very top has some of my goodies like my pen collection. Who doesn’t love a colorful pen?

I bought the bookshelf second hand. It provides just enough space for my printer and a few other items which I have listed below. I have a three drawer organizer like this one. And by the way, if you currently find one of these at a decent price GRAB IT! I think with the increase of at home work these have become a gold mine and overpriced in my opinion. I use this drawer to store printer paper, extra writing paper for my kiddos, and extra pens, pencils, and manipulatives. My kids know they can reach in and grab some writing paper or an extra pencil if needed. The three hole punch, stapler, pencil sharpener - yes all the things I feel seem antiquated that we still use also find a home on this shelf.

I have readers for my kiddos in these green book organizers. I chose green because green means “Go” - these books are just right for them to read on their own. So go! Pick a book and do some reading! I rotate these out based on the new learning that my students have learned. I have another blog post about recommended reading material. I hope that you will check it out!

Now to how I use what I call a “working notebook.” Each of my children or in-person students (some distance students have them and some already have organization systems in place within their homeschool) have their own notebook. I feel like it is a tool that teaches them responsibility, planning, and organization. It is where they put their homework, completed work, and learning tools. Now you may ask, aren’t your children homeschooled so all of their work is homework? Yes, it is. However, after I have provided instruction, my kids do have homework assignments that they are expected to complete after their designated school schedule. I want to build independence and allow them to reflect and review on what we have learned from the day. Through my own training and teaching, I have been introduced to various notebook systems. As with any tool that you find, I have taken some of those systems and changed them to a few of my current teaching scenarios.

When you open the notebook, you will find their weekly homework assignment page in the pocket. This is where I write down their assignments and where they will check them off as they complete them. You can download this FREEBIE in the Resource Center. I can refer back to each block being checked off when they have not completed an assignment as a tool to help them go back and check to make sure they have done all that was expected. You will also see their pencil pouch with materials they will need for homework (and these are to stay in the notebook). There are pencils, pens, highlighters, and a color strip for reading on their own.

Behind the pencil pouch is their sight words pouch. I have laminated the sight words that they are working on for the week. They complete daily practice where they trace the word with two fingers while saying the letter names, and then trace with a dry erase marker while saying the letter names. My kids do this three times each. I try to be affordable on most things, but for this I prefer a black Expo brand marker and the ones with the erasers on the tips for convenience. You can also just include one of those puff balls for them to use as an eraser.

Behind the sight word pouch is their sight word schedule. I created this as a tool to keep us organized on their review. I grouped the sight words together as meaningfully as possible. You can download that in the Resource Center as well. It’s called the Non-Phonetic Sight Word Practice Set. We completed plenty of practice on how to check it off each night. I use the same schedule for multiple levels of sight words so they are used to it each year.

The next piece of the notebook is the “Completed Folder.” When we finish an activity during the day (or session) or after I check their homework, I have them file them away. I want this to be a tool to help students reflect back on their work for the week and also to help with dinner time. Wait, what? Yes, it is for those times when you are sitting around the dinner or talking in the car and you ask your kiddo what they did at school or in tutoring. They usually respond with what? Nothing? I can’t remember! I do feel sometimes they are being honest when they say they can’t remember. Maybe they do not have the recall skills to filter through their busy day to pinpoint all that they did in a session or in school. Hopefully this folder will give you a tool or them a tool to sit down with a parent or special adult in their life and show off their great work! At the end of the week, I file these papers away in a big D-ring binder that I keep track of semester work. I put this folder in the front for ease of access.

After the “Completed Folder” comes the content area dividers. I use the plastic dividers with pockets on both sides. You can find some of those HERE.

I use four per student and label them Language, Math, Science/Social Studies, Projects/Notes. Science and Social Studies share a pocket because usually I am alternating between these concepts every few weeks. I have a pocket in the back for projects and notes for all of those loose pieces that we may need for a presentation, project, or activity we are working on. If they are writing notecards or have notes for something specific they can put those in this pocket. Whatever you opt to do as far as number of pockets and how you label them, my suggestion would be to put them in the order of the subject you will teach or the class they will have. We start our day with language and end with science and social studies. Math is in between. So, that is the order of our pockets.

In the front portion of the divider, I put in the daily assignments for that subject. When the student has completed the assignment, they put it in the back of the folder. This is a good visual for them that they have actually done the work and it is ready for me to check. When we start our day (or session), they can flip open their notebook and retrieve their finished work for me to look at. I also include a zip pencil pouch for language and math. You can find those HERE.

I put the tools that will be used for that subject area in homework (and sometimes classwork) in these pouches. This way they have their counting snakes, flash cards, highlighters, whatever is needed for the assignment ready to go!

It seems like a lot of components for a notebook at first, but with practice and routine it does provide a nice way to keep what feels like mounds of paper and manipulatives organized. In my upcoming post, I will share about how I organize my teaching materials and the resources that I make. I hope you will come back to check out those tips. I would like to end with the quote, “a good system shortens the road to the goal” (Marden). My goal in sharing was to do just that: give an idea or inspiration to help organize the sometimes messy part of homework and “school things” so that you can get to the good stuff!

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How Can I Keep My Space & Students Organized

I am or can be a very organized person. I also can be easily distracted, start too many projects at once, and be left feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. One area of my life I feel like I can organize is my student materials.