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organizedhomeschool

DIY Homeschool Organizing With Duct Tape

June 26, 2014 | 33 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I admit it, I think I’m weird. Unlike some of my friends, I for sure don’t wither away if I don’t bake a cupcake (yours would probably taste better than mine too) or have a craft area. I told you I am weird. Tie in a project though with something I can’t live without like homeschool organizing and then I become obsessed.

DIY Homeschool Organizing With Duct Tape

Too, why is it that you want something when you can’t have it? I can’t really have a homeschool area now that we are trying to sell our house. I think I am just use to organizing my space normally at this time of the year. But since I don’t know what type of house (or hotel room I will be vacationing staying in) I will be living in next year or if I can even get some of the same school supplies in South America, I decided to round up some ideas for diy homeschool organizing with duct tape.

DIY Homeschool Organizing With Duct Tape

I do admit to being an Amazon girl though because I know they can deliver anywhere. A cereal box, or any box and a roll of duct tape ordered from Amazon and I can be in serious homeschool organizing business.

Look at some of these creative ideas for homeschool storage and see if you get the duct tape bug too.

DUCT TAPE STORAGE CRATE

A crate, some paint splatter duct tape and some paint and in minutes you get a useful storage container.

Check it out at Michaels.

michaels storage crate

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DUCT TAPE STORAGE BOXES & CONTAINERS

Aren’t these just too cute?  Craft storage, office storage or all those school supplies could easily fit in here.  This could be made with some hot looking blue turquoise tape mixed with neon colored funky flamingo duct tape

Check it out at Small For Big.

small for big storage boxes

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Talk about inexpensive storage and to create something that you needed for an exact space, I found this on Joanns website. Click on the .pdf to download it and see it.

This project included foam board, poster board along with a few supplies and some of your time to create a nifty little organizer and this is perfect for those hard to find storage places.

Duct Tape Organizer

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A lazy susan with some buckets, bins, and some duct tape and you have a turn table of storage.  This would go great on a center school table.

Check it out at Wife at Wize House.

caddy storage duct tape

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For this next craft, any old ugly box you have on hand could be decorated to match your school room.  That is important you know!  Look at this safari pattern duct tape that could add pizzazz to a box.

Check out this decorated box at DIY Home Sweet Home.

Storage Box Duct Tape

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DUCT TAPE STORAGE BOXES FOR DRAWERS

A few cereal boxes cut down and measured to fit your drawer and then covered with duct tape make awesome storage containers.  Though she used paper in this next picture,  I could easily see this in some pretty retro duct tape.

 Check out how to make the cereal box storage containers for drawers.

storage drawers duct tape

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DUCT TAPE CLIP BOARD & ACCESSORIES

How easy can this be!  A plain clipboard can be turned chic storage with a couple of rolls of duct tape.

Check it out at Craft Gawker.

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DUCT TAPE NOTEBOOKS & PENCIL SUPPLIES

Basically turn boring composition book into fabulous by using duct tape. We have so many of those Meade notebooks that could use some love like this.

Check it out at Craft-O-Maniac.

school supplies chevron after1

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Even pencil cases go from drab to fab!

Check it out at While They Snooze.

How_to_make_a_duck_tape_pencil_case

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Another notebook design here.

Check it out at Inner Child Fun.

btsnotebooks

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DUCT TAPE CLIPS & MAGNETS

I fell in love with how easy this project would be.  It is popsicle sticks glued on the pin,then covered in duct tape with magnets on the back of the pin.  This would make a great way to hang art or use them in your school area.

Check it out at Lines Across.

Colorful Scotch Duct Tape Arrow Magnets @linesacross

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DUCT TAPE COVERED TEXTBOOKS/BOOKS

When we have to use textbooks, it could make the event more exciting if it was a bit more glammed up.

Check out the duct tape covered textbook at Doodle Craft.

back to school duct tape duck tapes crafts projects book cover tutorial how to cover a textbook

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diy book cover with

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DUCT TAPE JOURNAL

I bet this beautiful rainbow journal could inspire any writer. It has purple stitching along with neon duct tape.

Check it out at Kitty Cat Stevens.

duct tape rainbow journal

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DUCT TAPE ON THE GO CRAFT STORAGE

And last, but not least is this on the go craft kit.  Isn’t that just swanky? I found it in Pinterest land and wished it has an original source on it, but it did not.

If you come across the creator, let me know because I am a give credit where credit is due type of gal.  But I just had to include it.  It looks like just velcro was used along with duct tape to keep all the supplies contained inside.

craft kit

If you make something, let me know because then I can pine at what your making since I will have to wait for a while longer.

Hope you catch the tape bug. Corny, I know, couldn’t resist.

Hugs and love ya,

33 CommentsFiled Under: Homeschool Space, Homeschool Tools, Storage, & Accessories, Organization Tagged With: ducttape, organizedhomeschool, schoolroom, schoolsupplies

The Sticking Power of a Solid Homeschool Schedule

June 6, 2014 | 7 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The staying power of a homeschool schedule cannot be underestimated for the organized homeschooler. It takes time and self-discipline though to stick to a schedule.

POWER OF A HOMESCHOOL SCHEDULE

Too, I have a bit of trepidation in sharing about this topic. 

It has been my experience that homeschoolers obsess worry about this topic more so than some other homeschooling issues. 

Deep down they truly care how to fit everything in a day, maintain their sanity and identity, and strive to make the homeschool journey a memorable one for the right reasons. 

The staying power of a homeschool schedule cannot be underestimated for the organized homeschooler. It takes time and self-discipline though to stick to a schedule. Click here to grab these tried and true tips for planning a schedule!

Sometimes they feel isolated because they think other homeschoolers manage their schedules better.

Doing what I love to do and sharing with you just two points that help me to organize and what sometimes {not always} comes easier for me, I hope to give you a gentle sweet nudge in the right direction. 

You are not alone in your struggle to make it all fit in a day.

Homeschool Schedule Equals A Plan of Action

Visible Schedule.  Achieving success starts by creating a visible schedule.  I know, you may think that is stating the obvious, but I promise there is a fundamental, but powerful point here. 

Understanding that your schedule needs to be visible is the first step to a well-defined plan of action.

This is a very fine and let me emphasize that again—very fine point—that makes a huge difference between the organized homeschooler and the wanna be organized homeschooler.

Having good intentions by going through your schedule in your mind keeps it just that – a thought.

It is not a call to action or a plan. 

Staying in your mind is sort of like keeping it at brainstorming level or at a mulling over stage. 

Too, if you have a creative solution for a hiccup in your schedule, then you want to quickly commit that to a point of action.

When a schedule is committed to paper (or any other location in your house) it becomes a plan of action.  It has gone from abstract to concrete.  Does that make sense?

Paper method is just one way that a schedule is visible.  It is my preferred way, but it does not have to be your way.

Shocking Invisible Homeschool Schedules

Avoid schedule type mayhem. In addition, what type of schedule you create depends on which family members you want to make aware of it.

Don’t just jump out there in your enthusiasm to organize and create something that hems you in. 

Carefully scrutinize the needs and ages of your household.  It will change and your need for different schedules will change.

Homeschool Schedule

For example, when the kids were little and though I hadn’t moved away from stepping in sync with a public school schedule.

I still presented what worked for them at a very young age which was simply something hanging on the wall to talk about each day.

At that time though I still had my schedule down on paper though it was not necessary to share it with my young kids.

Also, having more than one place or location for your plan of action is a recipe for success. 

How? Because you have just doubled your efforts to help you accomplish each task day by day by sharing it with your children.

Many hands do make the work light or in this case, keep all on task.

Children have a natural bent toward routine.  If you want to be more organized, use that natural bent toward helping you to flow through a day with a better plan of action.

Homeschool Organization Means Communication

As your children grow older, they become self-starters and built in motivators when they don’t even know it. 

On more than one occasion when my sons were very young, they would prod me by asking if it was time to start our school or task.

Temporary Command Center

Then last year, I shared my Woo-Worthy Big Calendar by NeuYear that I had visible in my house for a while. 

Even though I had already started downsizing for our move, a temporary command center was a must.

The ages of my children have now changed dramatically, but the need of a visible place to communicate my plan of action has not.

Whether you put your schedule in a student planner, your homeschool planner, on a wall, on your refrigerator, or a central place in your home, it needs to be visible to accomplish your plan of action for that year.

A homeschool schedule is the backbone of homeschool success and a visible schedule has helped me over more than one homeschool hurdle through the years.

However, a common mistake in creating a homeschool schedule that has sticking power is to plan hour by hour, minute by minute and what seems second by second.

Next, I will share a few tips so that your plan of action keeps you organizing instead of agonizing.

How many places do you post your homeschool schedule?

The staying power of a homeschool schedule cannot be underestimated for the organized homeschooler. It takes time and self-discipline though to stick to a schedule. Click here to grab these tried and true tips for planning a schedule!

Want some more tips about scheduling?

  • How to Plan EVERYTHING in Your Homeschool Video
  • {Homeschool Organization Series} Where do you begin?
  • Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler. What to Keep & What to Skip
  • 6 Ways to Organize Your Homeschooled Teen
  • Homeschool Organization – Preschool/Kindergarten Free Morning Routine Flip Cards
  • 100 BEST Ideas to Organize Your Homeschool Area – Storage, Spaces, and Learning Places
  • 3 Ways to Instantly Gain More Time in Your Homeschool Day

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool Organization The Sticking Power of a Homeschool Schedule

7 CommentsFiled Under: Organization, Schedule/Balance Home & School Tagged With: homeschool challenges, homeschool planning, homeschool schedules, homeschoolorganization, organization, organize, organizedhomeschool, planning, schedules, year round homeschool planning, yeararoundhomeschool

Free 2014 Year Around Homeschool Planning Schedule

November 30, 2013 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have been enjoying my week visiting with some friends from out of town that are traveling ministers.  But, knowing that we want to move sooner than later to South America, there is no rest for me. I probably won’t settle down until we actually land in South America.

It has not been easy keeping that secret until all of our friends know because my house looks like one big giant flea market right now.

I don’t know exactly when we will move because I can only move so fast with the Mr.

What I do know is that for sure I will keep you posted as we get closer to the date. I know it’s probably a bad time of the year to be packing/moving, but focusing on how good the move will be for the Mr.’s health, I am excited at the same time.

Free 2014 Year Around Homeschool Planning Schedule

Talking about keeping you posted, I do want to give you the heads up on a deal with Family Time Fitness because their Black Friday Sale ends today. Yikes,  I wanted to give this to you earlier, but with all the company and packing, I’m just now getting this to you.Today, I have the year around homeschool schedule for 2014.  Many of you homeschool in other countries that start their school year with the beginning of the physical year, you may pulling your kids out of school just now or you want a new look for your planner, so I went ahead and put together a 2014 year around homeschooling schedule.

2014 Physical Year Around Homeschool Schedule Download here 2014 Physical Year Around Homeschool Planning Schedule.

Remember, I updated this form earlier this year and added the comprehensive key at the bottom. If you don’t remember how to utilize that area, go here to Step 5: Choose Unique Forms because I explain how to use it on that page.

I am going to try to school as best we can with packing too. Sounds like an adventure to me. Do you think I can do it? I hope to stay sane when we arrive in South America so for sure I will go slow.

Now you know why I spent so long on our South America Unit Study.  I will share our next unit study soon.

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Day 4. Menu & Venue. 10 days of Planning A Homeschool High School Graduation

Did you miss one of my printables?

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Homeschool Co-op Schedule Free Form @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured
Homeschool Co-op Schedule Free Form
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Grab these Splash and Sassy and Classy covers to begin building your UNIQUE 7 Step Homeschool Planner 300x
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Homeschool Quarter Planning Form
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4 PRE-Homeschool Year Planning Pages

4 CommentsFiled Under: 2. My FREE Organizing Printables {Any topic} Tagged With: organizedhomeschool, yeararoundhomeschool

Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler: What to Keep & What to Skip

September 26, 2013 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Must-haves for the organized homeschoolers are not the same must-haves for other stay at home families.

Organized Homeschooler

Think about that for a minute because priorities become real clear. The point is we share living and learning spaces and what we skip and what we keep are different.

By sharing must-haves for the organized homeschooler, I want to ease organization for you.

I do not want you to create a must-have list of things which don’t work.

When You Homeschool and Agonize  Organize

We stop agonizing over organizing and what becomes a hobby for some folks (oh yes, I could so go there but I try to keep myself reined in) and the realities of the things that actually need to be organized becomes two very different things.

Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler: What to Keep & What to Skip

There is a difference in the ways we approach an idea, task or project IF we want to accomplish organizing that fits our homeschool lifestyle.

Our homeschool lifestyle cannot be dismissed as some small undertaking so it requires  a measure of finesse that a lot of books, blogs and websites on general organizing just don’t understand. We are not sending our kids off somewhere, but we are living and learning in shared spaces.

Look at my list below because we don’t have to give up organization and don’t want to; we just learn how to do it differently.

5 Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler: What to KEEP

Homeschool Keeper 1. Menu Planning.

Menu planning for 30 days has grit, it’s the only way I menu plan.

It’s not easy if you normally menu plan for 7 days. However, I encourage you to menu plan for 30 days because you do not have to plan again so quickly.

You get a whole lot more return for your time when you menu plan longer. Taking an extra 15 minutes or so in the beginning of the month gives back more time in the month than it takes up.

For example, I turned this into a year long project. Take one year and plan something for every day of the year for recipes that your family like.

This plan will keep giving back for year after year because you’ve created 365 meals and the best part is that you have meals already created.

I color coded every 7 days so that you can see one glance at a time. I plan for 30 days, but shop weekly. So seeing the whole week at one time speeds up the process for myself.

Grab this editable recipe form on my page DIY Easy Home Management Binder.

Homeschool Keeper 2. Chores Assigned to Each Family Member.

I could not do what I do or even school for the day if my kids did not help. Teaching them requires time, but the payoffs are huge.

Ideally, I would love to tell you that I trained them so that now they do all my grocery shopping, but really they have learned some valuable life skills that I can’t check off in my planner.

Update: Yes, they did ALL my grocery shopping and half of the cooking as they grew older. Now, with so much available on-line they still help put groceries away.

Grab this editable chore chart too over on my page DIY Easy Home Management Binder.

Homeschool Keeper 3. A homeschool planner like my 7 Step DIY Homeschool Planner.

Do I need to tell how my heart goes pitter patter when I prepare the 7 Step DIY Homeschool Planner each year?

There is NOT another like homeschool planner like it because YOU organize it each year for your EXACT needs this year.

Using my printables with tons of options at every step, you create a UNIQUE one of a kind planner.

If you’re not a paper/pen gal, you still want some way to easily track your school work.

Homeschool Keeper 4. Command center. Even if it’s simple or temporary.

It’s one thing to have plans in mind, but communicating to the rest of the family is how to effectively carry out plans.

This area can include all upcoming activities for the family and even a Home Management Binder.

Many plans or routines fail and can be traced back to lack of communication.

A physical place at the house where everybody can see what is planned is useful in keeping my family up to date.

Also, I use and love Cozi, which is a free family calendar app.

Each week the calendar is sent o everybody’s email or phone. I love this now that I have teens because we could be going a lot of different directions during the day. Not just that, but the boys can see what is coming up too and learn to plan.

However, one place in the house where all family members pass by for the day was more effective.

Reminders from apps can be out of sight and out of mind; a command center in the house is a way that all family members can stay organized and be mindful.

Homeschool Keeper 5. Place to organize the overflowing amount of books, supplies, and crafts which come with the full time job of homeschooling.

Though I highly recommend having a homeschool room, I know that is not possible with everyone.

In addition, I was told I would never use a dedicated school room. That was not right either. Look at my tips Dedicated Homeschool Room or Dining Room Homeschooler.

Twenty years later and I’m here to tell you I used it very often. So much advice I’ve learned depends on families circumstances at the time.

When I started all of my kids were preschool. I needed pint sized furniture and I needed ways to train them to a habit and to get them ready to learn and focus.

On the other hand I have also had many years of my homeschooling where I couldn’t have a school room. I loved our homeschooling years just as well.

However large or however small area you have, I recommend that you have a place to corral all the clutter so that your home remains a place for relaxing family evenings.

5 Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler: What to SKIP

What to Skip 1. Reading organization books from those who don’t live our homeschool lifestyle.

Skip organization books that do not include homeschool parents as an author. I’m not saying you can’t glean some tips.

But if you are struggling in this area, then a book written for an audience that does not have the same demands we have  on our time could end up discouraging you instead of inspiring you.

What to Skip 2. Extensive record keeping.

I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind, but record keeping for the right reasons is key to being organized.

For example, fear of the homeschool law changing is not a good motivator and we’ve brought undue stress to our organized day.

Trying to keep all records to provide proof when your state law does not require record keeping is undue stress. It’s one thing to keep it for you, but another if you need to meet the law.

However, record keeping becomes important in the middle and high school years.

Look at my videos How to Successfully Begin Homeschooling Middle and High School (facebook or here for YouTube) and How to Stay on Top of Record Keeping – Seriously!

Also, I have some detailed tips here Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 1 and Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 2.

What to Skip 3. Stressful Schedules.

I’m an organized person, but that still didn’t help me to find a balance until several years of homeschooling.

Some years, I was able to schedule hour by hour because it suited our pace.

However, most years, a flexible schedule was needed to accommodate slower learners, my toddler, and preschooler.

Your youngest learner is your TRUE scheduler.

Skip a stressful homeschool schedule in favor of a peaceful schedule.

What to Skip 4. Perfectly picked up house.

Having a perfectly picked up and clean to my standards mindset was the hardest for me to let go.

Learning to let go of that mindset helped me to stay organized although it didn’t feel that way in the beginning.

Accepting a kid cleaned house was not only key to my sanity, but now that my sons have all graduated it trained them for valuable life skills.

Being an organized homeschooler means knowing when to delegate which is not always easy. However, a good enough picked up house while being clean allowed us to move on with our school day.

What to Skip 5. Overflowing amount of clothes.

Lastly, when my kids were young, I realized the more clothes they had, the more they seemed to plow through them.

This always equaled to not only more laundry, but tiny mounds of messes everywhere.

So I realized less is more; I reduced my kids’ wear to less than half.

As you school longer, you realize that you don’t need as many dress clothes for activities outside the house. Unless, your kid are attending a five day co-op which is more like private mini school your kids need just a few sets of dress clothes each.

Having less helped me to organize more and gave me freedom to do the things we love the most.

Must-Haves for the Organized Homeschooler: What to Keep & What to Skip

Not giving up your homeschool freedom begins by knowing what to keep and what to skip as an organized homeschooler.

What are you must-haves and what have you skipped to be organized?

  • Homeschool Organization – Why You’re Still Drowning in Clutter
  • Homeschool Organization Motivation – 11 Gadgets To Get You Going
  • 100 BEST Ideas to Organize Your Homeschool Area – Storage, Spaces, and Learning Places
  • Top 10 Tips for Maximizing Space in (Really) Tiny Homeschool Spaces
  • Homeschool Organization – Preschool/Kindergarten Free Morning Routine Flip Cards

This is also a blog hop. This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

Hugs and love ya,

Must Haves for the Organized Homeschooler

4 CommentsFiled Under: Home, Homeschool Space, Homeschool Tools, Storage, & Accessories, Organization Tagged With: homeschool challenges, homeschool lifestyle, homeschoolchallenges, homeschoolmultiplechildren planning forms, homeschoolorganization, homeschoolplanner, homeschoolstorage, organization, organizedhomeschool, schedules

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