Organizing the Homeschool Room Part III

Okay. Sorry I missed a couple of days on our organizing theme, but my daughter and I took a little trip down to Williamsburg, VA. Wow. What a nice place if you're into Early American History! The only real drawback was that it was 478-degrees. Okay, 105. But it was really astoundingly hot.

The picture above is my son's desk area. Each of my kids have a set of plastic drawers next to their desk for holding their curriculum. I like my daughter's best; she has six drawers. The boys have four-drawer organizers. I don't like it as well, because I have to lump some things together, such as materials for spelling, vocabulary and grammar in one drawer. It's a bit more fumbly than I really want it to be. The drawers come with wheels you can attach to the bottom. I found it was better for me without them.

There are also small desk-top plastic drawers that work nicely for staples, tape, erasers, pushpins, paperclips, etc.

Ideal for each desk area, if you can outfit them each as such:

* Trashcan
* Tissue Box
* Desk lamp
* Pencils/pens
* Scissors/ruler
* Bulletin Board/Dry Erase
* Curriculum Drawers

Each of my kids have a mailbox on their desk. These are discontinued now at Pottery Barn Kids. They are probably kind of corny, but my kids love discovering a little treat or note in there. When I'm on top of it, that is. Sometimes they ask for something in the mailbox and I make them leave the room so I can put something in there, which they then come in and take out, which kind of takes the thrill out of it a little bit, but oh well! (How'd you like that sentence?)

Two of my kids also got cute little Pottery Barn desk lamps back when I was ambitious about having the homeschool room just sickeningly cute and matchy-matchy. Reality intruded later. My youngest has a simple black desk lamp from Staples. So much for matchy-matchy!

More on Setting Up the Homeschool Room

Sometimes, the simplest solution proves the most elusive. For years I've been confounded by pencil/pen holders. Don't laugh! I bet it's true for you, too! You know how it is. You need a pencil, but they are broken, or their erasers make a mess of things or the only writing utensils in the cup are one dried-up marker that came with a Happy Meal, a lipliner that you haven't used in ten years and the cheap pen that exploded blue goo all over the bottom of the cup. So, let's just make a clean break before the fall session begins. Throw away any pencil you hate, recap worthless erasers or chuck those pencils because they only tick you off when you use them. Toss all pens that don't write and all dried-out markers. If the cup is ugly, chuck that, too.

I realized that my Mason Jars (pint sized) were pretty and perfectly suitable pencil cups. I also realized that what makes more sense is to have three cups: one for pencils, one for pens and one for markers. And by the way, the only pencil worth having is the Ticonderoga pencil. I love these pencils so much, I will even walk all the way to another room in search of one. The erasers do their job smoothly and neatly and the pencils write nicely and sharpen well. The worst pencils I ever used were Staples brand pencils. Their erasers were horrid!

Holding Curriculum

I use magazine files to hold floppy curriculum or multi-part worktexts neatly. Some, as the black files seen in the picture, are utilitarian and can be picked up most anywhere: Target, Walmart and office supply stores. Others have a more decorative look, like the green files in the picture, which I bought at Michaels. The utilitarian version is less expensive and the nameplate made it easier to label. The decorative version didn't take well to labeling, but it looks a little prettier on an open bookshelf. At this point, I have quite a few magazine files, so if I was starting fresh today and owned none I would probably pick up five or six of the utilitarian style.

I will post another few pictures and ideas tomorrow. I hope this effort is helping someone. :)

How to Organize Your Homeschool Room

For the next week or so, I'll be doing a series of posts on how to organize a homeschool room. Now, I know not everybody has a specific room that is for homeschooling, or that your homeschool room is also the Dining Room or Oma's bedroom when she comes, but still. This past week, I've been up to the waist (or is it waste?) in old paperwork, former spelling tests, filled-in worktexts and of course, books, books, books! I'm organizing our schoolroom and putting all the new books and curricula in place, which leaves the less-palatable task of removing the books and curricula that was there before.

But, it turns out I've learned a few things in the past eight years about how to set the room and desks up effectively and (relatively) inexpensively. I know the best way to hang maps on the walls, how to afford a desk for everyone and what method of organizing their books and texts works best for me. So, come with me on this little journey as we explore setting up the homeschool room.

In my first photo above, you see laminated maps hanging neatly on the wall. (If you're keenly perceptive, you'll also notice that they are out of level. More about that later.) My favorite product for hanging posters neatly on the wall is 3M Command Adhesive Poster Strips. (No, they're not paying me to say that, although I would take it if any 3M CEO's out there are looking for an advertiser.) I would also recommend that if you are going to hang two gigantic maps on the wall, don't get all giddy about it and struggle with hanging it yourself, convinced that you can eyeball-level it at close range. You can't. Wait till you have a second pair of hands to help you get that puppy on there straight as a Baptist preacher.

Looking back at the photo, you'll see what passes for desks in our schoolroom: Black 20X48" Folding Tables from Target. You see, only my glorious firstborn lucked out and got an actual desk, like firstborns everywhere, but I came to my senses for the next two. I don't have the exact price any longer, but the tables were around $30.00. The only disadvantage I've noticed is that they shake like a chilly Chihuahua when the kids erase a mistake. A fringe benefit is that they can be called downstairs for extra dining space when Aunt Marge and Uncle Frederick come for Thanksgiving.

By the same logic, folding chairs work nicely for desk chairs.

Come back again tomorrow as I throw out a few more organizational bones.

Fabulous Foraged Food!

Blackberries! The deer have it right - there is no better time than summer to live off the land. My children love to go blackberry-picking in late June and July. We live on ten wooded acres full of blackberry bushes.

Picking blackberries is a wonderful bonding family activity. The walking, hunting and picking also burns calories (which you will earn back exponentially when you make the Cobbler below!) It's educational; I appreciate my children making the connection regarding the origin of their food.

How Do You Pick Them?

To pick blackberries, you will need:

*Blackberry bushes
*Clothing to withstand thorns and Poison Ivy
*Gloves, maybe
*A hook of some sort, to pull far away branches closer
*An optimistic collection vessel
*Cooperative children

Poison Ivy likes to hang out in the same places as blackberry bushes, and they even look similar, so be certain you can identify this insidious weed beforehand. (Poison Ivy leaves never have "teeth" on the leaf edges and do not have thorns.)

My kids and I use our marshmallow-toasting hook to pull in the branches, but lots of tools (hoes, rakes), or even a stick, could work for this job. Pick carefully, avoiding the thorns. This is where gloves could be handy, but I like to live dangerously, so I pick them with my delicate, white-girl hands. Avoid snakes, bees and overexposure to the God-forsaken heat. Mosquito protection can also come in handy. If you see a huge, hairy vine that looks like an anaconda with plugs, get the heck out! It's the mother-of-all-Poison-Ivy vines. Ask me how I know.

When you have brought home your delicious bounty, you can make it into Blackberry Cobbler. Although my husband whines, because this recipe is not a copy of his Mommy's Blackberry Cobbler (which is actually a pie), he nevertheless devours it. And you simply must have a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or at least a generous glop of whipped cream with the cobbler!

Blackberry Cobbler

1/2 + 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
3 T melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/4 t ground cinnamon
about 2 cups fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12x9x2" casserole dish. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the egg; mix well. Stir in the butter. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add into sugar/egg combination, alternating with milk. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine clean, drained blackberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Place the berries in the bottom of the casserole dish, then top with the batter. Bake 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Happy foraging!

It's Easy to be Green

Sometimes, I feel a little smug. It's so popular to talk about Saving the Earth, now that Gore went and brought An Inconvenient Truth to the masses. Now that most scientists finally agree that it would be better not to trash the planet. But at the risk of sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, (which I am, though), I was green way before it was something to be proud of. Reminds me of a country song: "I Was Crunchy When Crunchy Wasn't Cool".

Okay. So, it's true I don't live in a straw-bale house and I pretty much only ride a bicycle in front of the TV with a cup of coffee on the windowsill, but still there are earth-friendly things I've been doing for ages that you could do, too. Here is my handy-dandy, quickie list of things that take barely any thought, but save money and generate less trash:

* Cleaning cloths, not Swiffer dusters
* Washcloth, not Wipes
* Sponge or dish towel, not paper towel
* Cloth napkins, not paper napkins
* Carry a water jug with you and fill it from the tap. Empty water bottles create an enormous amount of trash! If your home water is "bad", consider having a Reverse Osmosis tap put in.
* Reusable lunch bag, not paper bag.
* Compost.
* Juice in a cup, not a juicebox.

With a minimal amount more effort, you can do these:

* Use homemade cleaning products. See book Clean Home, Clean Planet on how to do this.
* Make homemade pizza dough, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, waffles, cookies. Homemade pizza is very cheap, delicious and takes barely more time than ordering and waiting.
* Buy used clothing or other goods.
* Freecycle - an on-line list where you can give away/pick up things locally. Save money and reuse things.
* Cloth hankys. Yes, there is such a thing. Look up "Hankettes" on the web. Maybe I'll stick the site in here when I get a chance.

If you really rock and want to be Ultra Mother, do these:

* Garden. Can your own veggies. Canning your own veggies is Ultra Green! Bonus points if the jars you use were your MIL's from 1947!
* Hang laundry on a clothes line. I admit I haven't done this in a couple of years.
* Cloth diaper your babies. Ditto this.
* Breastfeed at least one year. Bonus points if you use no bottles - scary news about plastic bottles lately!
* Throw a party and serve everything on real plates with real forks and knives. Serve water in a pitcher and pour it in water goblets.

There are other great things, but the above are things that are within my experience. Here are some I've never done:

* Get milk from a creamery in the glass bottle, which you return for more milk.
* Go a year without buying anything (as in clothing, shoes, toys, books - yeah, stop me right there! - decorations, etc.)
* Give only non-material gifts; a dinner out, a bowling trip, a picnic.
* Buy bulk products and fill your own containers repeatedly.
* Use cloth female products or a Diva Cup (google it).
* Live in a teepee. Okay, I'm kidding about that!

Lastly, a few principles that lead to green planet and green pockets, too:

* Before you buy something, ask yourself if anything else you have will do this job. Is there another way you can use this thing without buying it? How will it be disposed of when you don't need it anymore?
* When you have used something, ask, can this be used for something else? By someone else?
* When you no longer need something, pass it on. I recall Deepak Chopra said something in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success that stuck with me. He said, "Money is like blood, it must flow." He said that hording it and holding on to it stagnates it or something along those lines. I think the same thing about possessions. Let it flow, pay it forward.
* Recycle and Reuse - but in a contest, reusable is better than recyclable. Every day, you can fill the same water jug. That's better than buying 365 water bottles that have to be manufactured and shipped all over God's green earth, and then have to be carted off for recycling and use resources all over again to recycle them into a poly-fleece dog sweater!

And here's my A-list of the most ill-conceived disposable products ever:

* disposable cutting boards
* disposable baby washcloths
* plastic baby utensils meant for one use
* single-use toilet brushes
* single-use dishwashing sponge


In closing, don't be hurt if I've picked on The Product You Can't Live Without. I have my favorite non-green environmental disasters, too. (Can everyone say "Escalade"?) I'm not the embodiment of all things green, Mother Nature. But some things are so simple to do, yet our culture says, "Look how easy, you just throw it away..." I'm asking you to re-think what you throw away. I can just imagine my grandmother hearing about Kleenex tissues for the first time. "Why would anyone pay good money for a handkerchief that you throw away after one use???" Think about it!