Re-organized toy/school room!

Previous bookshelf in the toy room

All summer I have been planning a total reorganization of our toy room to make it into more of a homeschooling/play area with at least some sense of organization to it.  Most of our school things were spread out between the toy room, the "office" (basically a dumping ground for all things without a place), and the end of the dining room table.  It was fatiguing just trying to find anything - let alone plan a lesson! 


Of course, the impending beginning of the school year finally set me in motion and I snapped out of the undecided/planning stage to the I'm-really-going-to-do-it phase.

My sons lego collection was an eyesore!



I started the process with a thorough sorting.  Luckily, VBS came along just at the right time and I was able to bag up and give away bags and boxes of "treasures" without tears and pleadings of, "I know I never play with it because it's so special I just leave it in the bottom of the heap so it doesn't get hurt!"  (Ummm, you got it at McDonalds two years ago and the little lever thingy that was supposed to be really cool never did work.)  You know the drill.  It's torturous!  I also got rid of a LOT of books (we do live 5 minutes from an amazing library, after all) and piles of workbooks (you know that ones you pick up here and there for 25 cents or 2 dollars that you never use because the internet and printer are so much more convenient).  It felt so good to purge!

Then I cleared out two shelves in the office for school books and only put up out our core books.  No more digging through piles and rows that don't even pertain to our current studies.  I took a bookshelf out of the office and moved it into the basement to store books I will use in the future but don't need cluturing my thoughts and space this year.

With that done, I cleared out the toy room (that made quite a mess in the rest of the house for awhile!), went to IKEA, and came home armed to organize.  Here is the final result!

The IKEA Expedit system and Target ITSO bins.

This is our main storage shelf.  The bottom three rows are mostly frequently played-with toys and books.  The bins hide legos, playmobiles, easy readers, musical instruments, and Barbies.  The upper shelves hold school stuff (math manipulatives, etc.)  Each of the kids have a cubby (second row down) where I plan to keep their daily work and school supplies.  I tried the workbox system, but it was too tedious for all of us - even though I LOVED the idea.  My plan for this year is to have a daily goal sheet for the kids to mark off as they go.  All the books, worksheets, games, etc. that they need to complete their daily tasks should fit on their individual shelves.

"Baby Vayla's Shelf" - where the baby/toddler toys go.

"Play House" corner and the edge of our open toy-storage bins. 
These bins mostly hold play-acting things (the Detective Bin, Scientist Bin,
Carpenter Bin, etc.)  We also have a suspension rod in one corner for hanging
dress-up clothes on.  I didn't get a good picture of that part of the room.

The Reading Corner.  It really is rather cozy despite it's dreary appearance in the
picture.  The bench was a freebie beside-the-road find and opens up for more
dress-up storage.  I want to find a way to display art work on this wall.
Any suggestions???

And there it is!  Now I just have to print off those lesson plans and we'll be ready for an easy start on Monday (just Math and reading before heading off to a celebratory lunch with friends!).