A Place for Everything Part 5: Home Sweet Home

(WARNING: This is the longest post I've ever written. You'll want to grab your favorite cuppa and relax for a while. But I hope you'll enjoy!!)

We had been married for one year and searching for a good 'starter home.' We found this cute, vintage two bedroom and one bathroom home. It was a perfect fit for us and we planned to sell it in two to five years to purchase a larger home. We figured we'd have a family and need the space. No matter how often we looked at other homes, the Lord closed the door. So, seventeen years and two children later we were very excited when a fantastic opportunity landed in our laps. It looked like we were finally moving. We even collected boxes to start packing. But again, the Lord closed the door. He really likes for us to be in our small 'starter home.' At least for now. And I'm thankful for His provision!

A year has passed and this spring I did a little thinking. I decided a couple things. First, if we were really going to move, we needed to prepare by de-junking our eighteen years of 'stuff.' I didn't want to be in a mad rush trying to pack all that 'junk'. Let's face it, most of it really was just junk. Why do we let it take up valuable real estate in our homes if we don't really love it??

More on that later...

And the second decision... if we weren't moving, I had to make our home more liveable. We have four people sharing two beds and one bath. On a small lot in town (my heart is really in the country.) We need it to feel roomier than it is. When you walk into a home that is staged for sale, you want to move in on the spot. Why? It's clean, organized, simple, airy, open. Did I mention clean? It feels lovely! So I decided it was time...

We'd stage our home...

for ourselves!!

Win-Win!

I mentioned in Part 1 that I have a split personality. I can be very high energy, a bit flighty, a little ADHD (SQUIRREL!) But I also have Type A side that I have to nurture so my ADHD side doesn't take over. Nothing gets done if I don't keep my Type A happy. But despite the high energy side, I also have Adrenal Fatigue and Thyroid troubles. So I can be very tired and unable to keep up. When my system is depleted, the house has to run itself. Clutter causes me stress, which wears me out. But when I'm wiped out, I can't do much about messes. I need rest. But I can't rest when things are a disaster. Yikes, huh?

Clutter and chaos are 'noise' to me. They create wasted time, frustration, and they give me less time to enjoy life. I can't rest. Also, FlyLady calls it "CHAOS"... Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. She's so right, who wants to invite someone into their home when they can't find a place for their guests to sit?

Order, on the other hand, means I can rest. I can have visitors. My time is more productive and efficient, leaving me more free time to enjoy hobbies and play with my kids. On the days that my Adrenals don't cooperate, the house still runs far more smoothly because there is a system in place. Simplify, minimize, peace!

A few other perks? Thanks to my label maker and organized bins and boxes, my sons know where to put things. A place for everything and everything in its place! They can be more helpful around the home because they know where to find things and where to place things. And at first it seemed like a good idea. But when the boys had thanked me for the labels, it seemed like a great idea. And then as my youngest son, who has a sensory processing issue, started thanking me for the labels and how they made things so much easier for him, I realized it was a terrific idea! My sons are learning a lot about running an organized home and they are a larger part of keeping our home in order.

I love container shopping. Most girls love clothing and shoe stores. Not me. Give me a container or office supply store and I'm like a kid in a candy shop. My budget (and hubby) are so thankful that we don't have a Container Store or Staples in our town. But I have found very thrifty ways to organize my home, and you can too! In fact, this past Mother's Day my hubby asked what I wanted. I said "A trip to Dollar Tree!" We met at the register and he just laughed when he saw my basket full of bins and containers for organizing!

A few tools that might help... (Many of which I bought at the dollar store!)

* Bins, tubs, baskets, boxes with contact paper. Anything that helps corral like items.
* Labels. A label maker, stickers, markers, chalkboard labels, etc.
* Removable mounting putty
* Zip style plastic bags of all sizes, even big enough to put blankets in!
* Poly evnelopes
* Hooks, over the door hooks, command strip hooks, etc.

Many of the tools I use were things I had around the house. Bins came from the Dollar Tree. And you'll see an occasional item bought from Target or Costco. Anything I purchased was purchased over time. Not all in one shot. And all of it was very reasonable. We are on a single income, so I can't afford to spend money on all the organizing tools that I want. Frugal is fabulous!

Quick How-To 101

1) Pick a small (AKA not totally overwhelming) room or closet.
2) Empty all the contents.
3) Have 3 boxes, one for give away, one for throw away, and one for put away.
4) Sort all your items. Be brutal. Ask yourself, do you LOVE this object? Do you USE this object? If not, buh-bye. Let it go! Less stuff= easier to maintain.

There are so many articles, blogs, and pinterest posts about how to organize, I won't go any deeper on this topic. So grab your give/throw/put away boxes, some bins, and some labels and let's press on!

My home is still in progress. But I thought I'd share some photos of my progress so far in hopes that maybe it would motivate and inspire you!

Welcome to my home!

I am still putting the finishing touches on the homeschool book shelves. My living and dining are basically one large room. And the school room is located in the dining room. We do eat all our meals at the dining table. But we have 4 large book shelves in the dining room, plus my rolling cart for tea and an entertainment center that has been turned into a homeschool area and computer desk. It's a busy room! All the books look like clutter, but I love them and we need them. So what to do? I decided to use small brown fabric covered boxes from Shopko (2 for $4) to store our Field Guides, Geography, Biography, and Grammar resources.

Tapestry of Grace has several AMAZING books. So I cut cardboard boxes into 'magazine file boxes' and covered them in contact paper. Then I ran a strip of washi tape down the side, put a label sticker on the bottom (from Michael's) and typed up a label on my label maker. I like the clean look so much better!

I just finished the desk area. It was a matter of cutting some boxes in half and covering them with contact paper. I have nice, organized places for my files, my planners, my sons' school planners and papers, and my homeschool magazines. No more stacks of papers. That's been a serious eye sore for me! (The orange post-its are covering my sons' names... normally they are not on the boxes...)

I made this box to match the magazine boxes. It holds various CDs that I need to have handy. I have a poly envelope with our Tapestry of Grace CDs, I also have the Teaching Textbook CD-roms in this box.

On the shelf just above my shelf of planners, I have the All About Spelling cards in a cute wooden crate, and next to it I put the Phonetic Zoo spelling in a poly envelope, along with the CDs and headphones! You might also recognize my caddy with my markers and washi tape that I mentioned in an earlier post. Behind that caddy is my trusty label maker.

We do Tuesday Tea in our school, so the rolling cart is all set up with the tea goodies and books we are reading. We also do Word game Wednesday, so a handful of word games are on the cart, too. I'll explain the 'Stuff Box' in the next photo. There is also a microscope under the cart which I'll explain as well...

We are studying Biology this year. Oh dear, books, dvds, critters, dissection tools, what to do?! Poly envelopes to the rescue and a cute Stuff Box to hide it in! Envelopes are from Dollar Tree, Stuff Box is from TJMaxx.

I didn't care to look at the brown shipping box with the microscope inside. So, out comes the contact paper, washi tape, label sticker and the label maker!

Our playing card boxes are falling apart! So, I found these GREAT boxes! The smaller one that holds one set of cards came 2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree. They are the perfect size for card games. And they lock shut!! The larger one holds lots more cards! Phase 10 and Five Crowns use more cards than a normal deck. I found the larger boxes at Fred Meyer, they are from Sistema. They also lock shut and now all our cards are safe and sound!

While I'm talking games... I did our own episode of Hoarders in our basement. First I worked on the most civilized half of the basement. I got it all set up, homeschool book overflow shelves (not the ones I use most often) from Costco were all set up, board games were stacked on the built in shelf, nothing was on my basement floor. This is good, because we've had a couple floods down there! I felt pretty good about my week of effort. The day after I got everything put on the shelves, I walked into my dark basement and heard hissing. I flipped on the light and saw water spraying from a pipe, right over the board games and books! We've never had a flood from above! So while nothing was on the floor, it was in the wrong place for a flood from above! Well, everything went out on the yard to dry out. And now I had to do some thinking. So, I put the books back on the shelves, but I put all the Tapestry books into one tub. When we finish year 2 I'll put those into the tub also. And label it. This way no water will damage these most valuable books! I put a shelf liner on the top shelf where the plastic science stuff sits. This will at least help stop water from going down onto books.

And the board games. Here you can see them finishing their airing out process from the flood.

I had to toss all the boxes.

So I bought some clear poly envelopes and found MOST board games fit perfectly inside! I slid the game pieces inside, labeled the side of the envelope, and now I have plenty of room for all these board games. And they are water resistant! Perfect!

I'm still sorting papers and setting up goodies on the shelves. But so far I love having a place for everything in my basement!!

While we're in the basement, let me show you the couple of things I added to the laundry room. I dug out a couple glass containers I had and bought a drink dispenser. Now I love the way my detergent and borax and clothes pins are displayed. And it's easier for the kids to use the detergent rather than lifting a Costco sized jug of soap!

My husband built these shelves years ago. He rocks. I picked up the pretty, new laundry baskets at Costco. It was time. I had owned my old baskets for as long as we've owned the house. They were in bad shape! I put washi tape across the front of the shelf and a chalkboard label so that the kids can help me sort.

And he built these shelves right next to the laundry shelves. This has become my party headquarters! I love a good presentation at parties. So I have shelves just for my party goodies. Drink dispensers, mason jar mugs, you name it.

I have a tub on one of my party shelves that is full of zip style plastic bags from the dollar store. In here I put all the smaller items. Happy Birthday banners, table decorations, that sort of thing. Easy to find, no more stacks of stuff to sort through in hopes of finding that one party item.

I also love to have wrapping paper, bags, and tissue paper handy. I put 2 shoe shelves (which I've had for years) back to back to make a nice deep set of shelves. (Wish I could have gotten a better photo...) Now I have one shelf for variety wrap, and one for Christmas wrap. No more wrinkled wrap! I have variety gift bags on one side, Christmas gift bags on the other. And I have a tub full of tissue paper, tape, and scissors. I have a plastic shoe box that holds bubble wrap. Now I can keep these items looking fresh and pretty, and accessible! If you can't get to your stuff, then it no longer has value.

I can't show you the rest of the basement. But suffice it to say, it's under construction. It was our 'storage unit.' We emptied the entire 18 years of stuff onto our yard and spent the day sorting and tossing. Two dozen black lawn bags full of 'valuables' (they must be valuable, we saved them for years!!) went out to the garbage. Two Suburban loads went out in a yard sale. And all those cardboard boxes we had things stored in, flattened and bundled and GONE! You shouldn't use cardboard in a basement anyway. So anything that was staying went in a tub, was labeled, contents were written on a 3x5 card and put in an index card box. Now we know where everything is and if we move, we just toss tubs in a truck! Someday that small room in the basement will (I hope) become a small family room. One baby step at a time.

Welcome to my kitchen! I designed my kitchen years ago. But we left one area empty because we couldn't decide if we wanted an eating area or something else. Well, now we have a chest freezer and 2 store bought pantries. The pantries are something I've always hated. I didn't like trying to find things in them. I hated putting stuff away when I grocery shopped. But now I love them! And thanks to labels, the boys can even help put stuff away from the store! I put contact paper in a pretty color on the shelves. I love that! Then I used dollar store bins to put like items together, and I labeled them!

The top shelf is all about snacks. I have a snack bin for the kids.

The second shelf is for breakfast. I bought the big cereal boxes from Costco. We only buy 3 types of cereal, so this works very well for us. I used one for pancake mix, too. I made sure to use packaging tape to put the nutrition label on the front of the container.

What to do with all those little bags of things? I couldn't justify the cost of containers for each of them. So I bought ice cube bins for the freezer and used them to corral items! I also save my pasta sauce jars for nuts. They fit perfectly on this shelf.

I also used the cereal boxes for flour and one for my big Costco sized baking soda. I have half gallon mason jars for most other products, like almond flour, oats, etc.

I keep my onions and potatoes in dollar store bins on the bottom shelf.

My second pantry has our naughty treats in a bin (pre-packaged cookies, cakes, brownies, etc). All the boxed teas fit in one bin. Chocolate chips are in one bin. Sandwich stuff is together as are the pasta items. One shelf is dedicated to taco night!

Then there's canned goods. I go through a lot of white beans, so I covered a box with contact paper so I can slide it out and put new beans in the back of the box. I used more bins for dry beans, too.

Now I love my pantries!

I love them so much that I had to do the same thing to my fridge. I used the dollar store dish washing tubs to put condiments in, and another for dairy items like cottage cheese, sour cream, etc. I used small dollar store bins to put cream cheese and butter in. I even put one dollar store basket in the produce drawer to keep delicate items separated. Then I labeled. But labels were boring by themselves. So I backed them with pretty Washi tape. I liked it so much that I washi taped and labeled everything in the door, too!

I did the same in the freezer. More dollar store bins, more labels, and more washi tape! No more shuffling through stacks, now I know where things are and I know what I'm running out of when I prepare to grocery shop!

These simple changes have made it so simple to put things away, to find them when I want them, and to figure out what I need when I am preparing my grocery list!

Under the sink... Cleaners hang from a tension rod, other cleaning tools are in bins, and a shelf found at TJMaxx holds my cleaning cloths! I used a paper clip to hang my rubber gloves. I also put a small basket inside my door to be my mini-garbage. I have larger garbage cans by the back door, but when I need to toss small items near my sink, I use this! I empty it every couple of days. It is held on by command hooks. The small, white basket above the gloves is also held by command hooks.

Before we leave the kitchen there are a couple small goodies left to show.

My junk drawer is organized thanks to the dollar store bins!

And for fun I made a coffee station so that the mugs, cocoa, and pumpkin pie spice (love that in my coffee) are all handy. I have a cabinet that hides the filters, bean grinder, vanilla, and stevia. I used a salt and pepper shaker set from the Dollar Tree for the cocoa and pumpkin pie spice, used washi tape and the label maker to label them. The sugar is in my favorite Great Aunt's sugar bowl. The matching creamer has a crack in it, but it works well to hold the dry erase markers and chalk for my wall planners.

And for fancy tea, I have this tin which I adore!

Oh, you remember my week-at-a-glance from one of my earlier posts! It's above my coffee station.

I love to keep paper plates, napkins, plastic utensils, and cups handy for parties and BBQs. But I hated shuffling through the piles of them. Thank you Dollar Tree! This cabinet is above my refrigerator. It perfectly fits these 4 bins.

The plastic utensils are also separated into zipper bags. Forks in one, spoons in another, and knives in another.

The bathroom is teensy. So I used more dollar store bins to organize my drawers and under the sink! And yes, washi tape and labels are my friends! I even found a small sugar packet container (white box in the corner of the drawer) at a thrift store. It holds my essential oils for the bath.

One tip I learned on the drawers... Use poster mounting putty under the bins to keep them from sliding around when you open and close your drawers! It works!!

I found the cute cotton ball/q-tip container at the dollar store. Yes, washi and labels again!

I decided to label the towel cabinet, too. And my sons thanked me! My husband and I found the cabinet on clearance and put it above the toilet several years ago. There is no linen closet or towel storage in this home, so this little cabinet is fantastic! And I can fit a lot into it! I like to fold the towels so the nice rounded side it facing out, and yes, I like the bath towels to be in a pattern of ivory, beige and ivory (since it just happened that I have 4 ivory towels and 2 beige...) I have a funny thing about towels being in a pretty pattern. (You might have noticed my kitchen cleaning cloths were blue and yellow alternately. hehe)

My bedroom. I cannot wait for it to be finished. I wanted it staged, so I wanted very little on my dresser. Normally I have photos and what-nots. But not now. (The horse drawing will be hanging on the wall soon, and I'm proud to say my Mama drew that!!) I have three LED candles that come on and go off automatically each night. I love it! I smile every time I walk in! {Obviously, the dog enjoys it as well!}

Remember the Hoarders episode in my basement and the yard sale I mentioned? I sold a bunch of stuff and bought a new quilt (on sale at Fred Meyer), I also bought fabric to cover my old decorator pillows. I always disliked my lamp. So I spray painted it and bought a new lamp shade! Now I love it!

Inside my nightstand drawer, you guessed it, more dollar store bins. I have only the necessary things like lip balm, allergy drops for my eyes, notepads, pens, nail clippers, etc. My phone charger hangs from a command hook in the back of my nightstand.

And my dresser drawers! I started folding my shirts and 'filing' them vertically so I could see them!

Under my bed I used the bottom drawer from our old broken down dishwasher. Now I have a 'drawer' for my workout clothes and sweat suits! (By the way, a few years ago my awesome husband found three credenzas on sale. He put them in a "U" shape and set our mattress on top. So we have all this wonderful storage in our small bedroom!)

I use old blanket bags and the zip-lock style bags to store my blankets under the bed.

In my closet, I saved up and bought new hangers from Costco. Only $10 for a box of 35 hangers! These hold the clothes well, but are super thin so your closet looks more spacious. And they are more durable than so many I looked at in other stores.

I found a shelf/shoe holder at TJMaxx that hangs from the closet rod. I needed a place for my Miche purses, and shoes, and hats.

This process is still going on regularly. Please know that I'm only photographing the organized places in my home! I haven't shown you the messes. Don't think for a minute that I have it all together! Ha! My home will never grace the cover of a magazine. There will always be messies. But I'm doing what I can to make my life feel more sane and my home more presentable. More open. More available. More simplified. More peaceful!

I'm making a favorite recipes book to help cut down on the cook book clutter. I'm updating my household notebook. As I chip away at areas that have driven me nuts, other areas pop up. "Ya know, I always disliked this!" And I tackle it and feel so great when it's done! You will too! I hope this gets your creative juices flowing. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. And please comment and share your great organizing ideas!!

To be continued...


~Christa

Don't miss A Place for Everything Part 1
A Place for Everything Part 2
A Place for Everything Part 3
A Place for Everything Part 4

Rod and Staff English Review

Look inside HERE

It is rare that I come across an item I feel compelled to review all on my own, but after such a long quest of looking for English/grammar programs that are rigorous without being ridiculous, finding Rod and Staff has been such a blessing that I had to share!


When we first started homeschooling, going on six years ago, my main focus was of course phonics. I didn't see the need to purchase fancy curricula with multiple books and excessive numbers of worksheets. We went with a simple approach and used Explode the Code. It worked great for the girls. I credit the girls learning to read more to that program than I do to myself. Once we left the phonics world, I panicked. Reading, writing and being able to speak properly are very important to both me and my husband and we wanted to be sure that we were doing the best we could for them.

I am going to be honest, I got swept up, for a short time, in the it has to be short and fun craze. I did not particularly enjoy the curriculum that I was taught in school (Abeka) and I didn't want my kids to feel the same way. I also had this desire to be the fun homeschool mom that everyone wants to be. So, we tried Easy Grammar. I didn't hate Easy Grammar, in fact, I still think it is a fantastic supplement, but the longer we did it, the more I realized that it wasn't going to meet our requirements for a complete English/grammar program. Because Easy Grammar only covered the grammar portions of English, I also tried IEW writing. I flip flop back and forth about IEW. I think the program is probably fantastic for those who like the system. Our very own contributor Christa, put her sons through it and it really worked for her family. However, for ours something just didn't quite click. I really believe it was because I had my heart set on a traditional writing program and IEW follows a different, not bad, but different pattern of teaching. I digress, back to English.

This year, I have decided to come out of the it has to be super-duperty fun and look nothing like traditional schooling mindset and decide that sometimes, traditional methods of learning work for us. In fact, most of the time traditional methods work for us. In part because of learning style, in part because of teaching style and our goals for our children, and in part because the schedule of a competitive gymnast will make it impossible to do anything if you don't have a really solid plan.

Rod and Staff is a Mennonite publisher of an entire line of homeschool curriculum. For the purposes of this review, I am only covering the English 4 Building with Diligence book. If you are considering coming from another program to English 4, I suggest looking carefully at the website to be sure your children are placed correctly. My children were actually both doing grade 4 last year, but the rigor of English 4 by Rod and Staff, made it necessary for us to repeat 4th grade English. I would say the books are a year to two years ahead of most English programs.


Rod and Staff English Pros:

The most notable pro is the price. All of R&S curriculum is affordable and can easily be found used even cheaper. A lot of the books are non-consumable texts once you reach the 4th grade, so the books can also be resold to recoup some of the cost of purchase. This English program is a rigorous traditional English program that uses "old school" methods such as diagramming and writing to teach grammar concepts. It covers English grammar usage and structure as well as writing. Writing is interspersed throughout the book so it is introduced gently, but at a good pace. Because the company that publishes it is Mennonite, you will get scripture and religious themed sentences, but it is not so overwhelming that if you felt the need to leave those out that it would change the program or even make it unusable if you were looking for a secular option. There is a good mix of oral review and written work and quizzes are mixed in as a way to measure retention. The teacher manual is solid and while not scripted, offers enough information and prompting that even a parent who struggles teaching English can follow the program.

Rod and Staff English Cons:

It is writing intensive. The book is a non-consumable text so much of the work is copied. To some this is a good way to help the student retain the information, others may need to make more of the work oral or skip some of the problems.

Other Points:

 This is not a program for parents who don't want to be involved. The teaching of the concepts will require some teacher prep and some parental involvement with teaching. I find that once a topic is introduced, I will need to be available for two to three lessons after to help the children solidify it before they are comfortable and able to do it on their own. Since almost every lesson introduces a new concept, I am always required to teach at the beginning of a lesson if nothing else.

  As mentioned above, this is a faster paced program than most that we have seen.You will have to consider moving your child down in grade, and/or slowing the pace for those students who struggle or need more time.

Over all, I have been very pleased with the intensity and the methods used by Rod and Staff. If you are looking for a traditional English/grammar program, this is definitely one to look into!

A Place for Everything Part 4: Disc Bound Student Planners

I just completed my 10th year of homeschooling. Yes, I count Pre-K. Last school year I took a leap of faith and started using Tapestry of Grace. For several years I had considered using TOG. Someday. But last year I decided to just go for it. I'm so glad I did! One of the things my local TOG friends showed me was a TOG student spiral bound book. They took the time to print all the student pages off during the summer and the child had his own book for the year.

I loved the idea.

And hated it.

Spiral books are so... final! I can't add to them through the year or move things around. I was intimidated enough by the idea of learning a new curriculum, let alone putting a year's worth of pages into a notebook! So I opted to use binders last year. And if you've read my previous posts you might remember that I dislike big, klunky binders. I wanted the spiral bound book, but I wanted the freedom to move things and add things as I saw the need. So I took my first year in TOG to just get my feet wet, get used to the set up, print pages as I needed them, and let it all slowly sink in. Now that I have that year under my belt I can see better how I want our 2nd year of TOG to work.

If you've read my previous blog post (A Place for Everything Part 3) you have seen my discbound planner for this school year. While investigating the discbound system it hit me, why not make the TOG notebooks with this same system?? Genius! And, it was a great justification for buying the special hole punch! Win-Win!

It did take me several hours and cartridges of ink to get the notebooks printed. But I'm SO excited that I will not have to print a handful of pages each week, hole punch them each week, put them in a bulky binder each week, you get the idea. Instead, the pages are all prepared and ready for our 2014/2015 school year!

I didn't buy covers. Instead I just purchased the discs, blue for my youngest and black for my oldest. I did order the folder page that I showed you in my planner (part 3). I had assumed I'd use some sort of plastic or card stock to make a cover, but this is working!

You can see that I have colorful dividers, and one of them is the front cover. Red for my oldest, blue for my youngest. Since the dividers are transparent, you can see the cover page through it. We all liked the look of this! I purchased all the dividers from the Dollar Tree. I bought 10 packages that had 8 dividers each. Each boy needed 36 for the 36 weeks, plus one more for the front cover. I then used my label maker to put the numbers of each week on the dividers. The little cardstock that slides inside these tabs often falls out. So I decided to label with the label maker instead.

I printed each of the TOG unit cover pages, I thought it made a nice looking cover and also shows us where each new unit begins. Behind the cover page I printed a page with their name, grade, and school year on it. This way, when I store these notebooks, I know what year they were completed.

I made my own month-at-a-glance pages for the boys, these are identical to the pages in my planner. Only less colorful, of course. They can fill in the blanks with these and will be able to use it as a planner.

Each divider reveals one of the thirty-six weeks in our TOG year. I have the Student Activity Pages for their level (Dialectic for my oldest, and Upper Grammar for my youngest.) Behind the SAP's I have the appropriate map from TOG's Map Aids CD.

I wanted to have blank paper in each week so that my boys could write answers to the questions in the SAP. But the binder was already pretty full and I was afraid one or two pages per week in addition to what was already in there would be too much. So, I have a red spiral and a blue spiral notebook for the boys. They'll keep their spiral with their TOG binder and write their answers in the spiral.

Then I needed a place to store their binders. Isn't homeschool organizing always an issue? You need room to have school supplies and yet you need a home to live in. So I cut up boxes and covered them in contact paper. We made our own 'magazine holders'. I priced several in the stores and they were way out of my budget. These work perfectly! Then I labeled on for files. I put file folders in here and will use that to keep papers sorted through the year. One is for "Mom" where I hold my planner, bullet journal, and a handful of other items. One is for my oldest and one for my youngest (I covered their names in this photo with orange papers, just FYI). This holds their TOG planner, their spiral notebook, and a few miscellaneous small books. And one actually IS a magazine holder, I subscribe to The Homeschool Enrichment magazine and didn't want to see them stacking up on the table. So now our notebooks have a home for the entire year where they won't be misplaced or damaged. And my shelf (which is in my dining room) doesn't look chaotic. Win-Win!

This is another angle of the covered box. Super easy to make and much less money than buying new ones in office stores!

These binders are not difficult to make, they are customizable, they are cost effective, and they are very easy to use. Anyone can do this! The only downside is the day or two you spend printing. But it's that or print pages all year. To me, it was worth the time to prepare in advance this year. But who knows, maybe I'll have a whole new idea for year 3.

How do you organize your school year for your kids? Do you have student planners? Feel free to leave a comment below, I'd love to see!!

~Christa

Don't forget to check out
A Place for Everything Part 1
A Place for Everything Part 2
A Place for Everything Part 3
A Place for Everything Part 5

I watched you as you carried the metal chair to the end if the pool. I saw you very carefully arrange a towel on the seat and place a stuffed fish on the towel, so it was looking over the pool. This was after you had already spent several precious minutes of the 40 minute swimming lesson speaking encouragement to your child. I wondered of the presence of so many other kids had overwhelmed her. I did not hear what you said to her but I imagine you were telling her that she was okay and everything was going to be okay that you would help her.

I watched you finally get her to the edge of the pool. You had laminated picture cards for the coach and your daughter,  presumably to help ensure her of what is going to happen and that she has done this before and she can do it again.

I held my breath as you stood next to her at the edge of the pool. She needed to jump in. The swim coach was waiting for her and half the lesson time was already gone.

You never once expressed frustration at her hesitation.  You just waited and encouraged, recognizing she needed to do this on her own time.

When she finally jumped in, I very nearly stood up and applauded her with you. What joy there was in that moment.  She made me feel successful and I did not do a thing but watch!

I saw you do this whole routine the last swimming lesson and the lesson before that. And I suspect n the lesson before that one.

This is the reality of your life.

I could not help but think of my own kids, about how I could tell them to get in the water and they would. I don't have to convince or comfort them. They don't need a set if specific circumstances to be okay. They handle change well.  A skill that I take for granted. But I bet you don't.

One in 68 children are diagnosed with autism in this country.

That means 1 in less than 100 families are affected by autism, some with multiple children on the spectrum.
These are moms, dads, sisters and brothers.

Today, and now twice every week, I am reminded to pray for these families. I am reminded to take nothing for granted.

Hug all your kids today - if they will let you. Not every parent has this luxury.

A Place for Everything Part 3: My Discbound Planner

In my ten years of homeschooling I have used all sorts of planners. I used home made planners in the early years. Then I moved on to the Well Planned Day and then the Ultimate Homeschool Planner and then back to WPD with the On the Go planner. I found good and bad in each of the systems I've used. As you probably know, if you've read the previous two posts, I love to plan. I love getting my thoughts down on a planning page, especially if colorful pens and papers are included in the process.

I recently saw a post online about the Discbound system. I'd never heard of this before and I started looking online at this system and how others used it, very curious if it would work for my homeschooling. I was pleased to find a mom on youtube that had used this system for her homeschool planner! It was like she'd spent a little time in my brain and developed a planner around my hopes for a homeschool planning system!

I have a love/hate thing with binders. They are big and bulky and the only advantage they have is that you can move pages around as you need. I like spiral bound books because you can fold it in half and write on the left and right sides of the notebook easily. But they are so... permanent! You can't add pages, you can't move them around. And my Type A, perfectionist side dislikes this! Very much! I want to be able to move things and add things as I need. This is the reason I've not yet made a Tapestry of Grace student notebook! But this year, I get to have my flexibility and the spiral feel to my planner and the student books by using this system! (More on my next blog post about the Student Notebook.)

I went to the Staples site to find this beautiful Martha Stewart planner cover! I did order the larger discs because I knew the small ones that came with the planner just wouldn't last once I added all the pages I had in mind! I also ordered extra pocket pages to use as dividers, and a zip lock page to carry pens and papers. I took the huge plunge to order the hole punch, as well. I figured, if I'm going to make my own planning pages, PLUS use this system to make planners for my son's Tapestry of Grace books (I will post about this in the future as well), I better have the hole punch. I have not regretted that purchase!!

So let me introduce you to my work in progress. I hope you can see from the photo how the discs work. They have a ridge that the page wraps around, which keeps the pages in place. However, they can be pulled out and put back in to another part of the notebook.

I put the zip page in front so that I could put all my colorful pens, Post-Its and other items handy. Normally, I keep my pens and markers in a carry-all (pictured in the previous blog post). But if I'm leaving home with the planner, I like to slide them in the zip page. The planner has an elastic band to keep it closed, it has little slots in the front to hold papers and other items, and it has a pen holder on the right side (back) of the planner. And I just love the color! However, if the color isn't 'you', no problem! Staples has other colors, just look in their search engine for the ARC system.

The pretty, colorful dividers were no longer available on Staples.com. So I made my own with scrapbook paper. You could use anything to divide your sections.

The first few pages came with my planner. They have personal reference information. One thing I like about this is the holidays at a glance pages. I also like the years at a glance that offer years from 2013 to 2016. And it has a Special Dates section where you can jot down anniversaries, birthdays, and appointments for each month. Of course, I had to add a little washi tape to the pages for a splash of fun.

I took my Homeschool Mission page out of my old binder, used the special hole punch, and put it in my new planner to help keep my focus. Right behind this page I have placed my family routine (in a perfect world...)

My first pocket page is the divider for the Month at a Glance pages. I put a sticker tab at the top that I found at a local scrapbook shop. I can use the folder to put any sort of papers in, but if I don't need to use it this way, it still makes a great divider. I placed a page behind this with a Bible verse to help keep me inspired.

I made my own monthly pages and tabbed the top with the first letter of each month. I like to see my month at a glance, jot down events, etc. I start with June since it's my homeschool planner.

At the end of the monthly pages you'll find my 2nd pocket page divider. This begins the week at a glance pages that I created on my computer. Inside this pocket I am currently planning to hold my week of pages from the main Tapestry of Grace binder. These pages are held together with a small brad.

The weekly pages I created have the subjects down the left side of the page, and days of the week across the top. I also have room to plan my meals and write my to do lists for the day. And for fun, I put little glasses of water on each day so I can mark them off as I drink water. Somehow I forget to drink enough water through my day. I have Saturday and Sunday on the far right as well as a small area to jot down my thoughts for the week. What worked? What didn't? What do I need to remember next week? One last thing that isn't in the photo is the small gray paper the size of a book mark. I bought these also from Staples and it sits high enough to act like a divider so I can open directly to the week we are in currently. But it also will be where I write the books and pages my boys need to read for their Tapestry assignments that week. Then I can pull it out and let them use it as a book mark, and they can also place it inside their TOG disc bound student notebook.

My next section is my scope and sequence for the year. I can glance at the page and see what exactly we are covering, and it becomes a part of my record when our year is over. We take every 7th week of from our school work, so by now you've probably come to expect washi tape... I've put washi tape down those weeks to help them stand out. I haven't filled in the chart completely just yet, but I've printed what I had done to show you. I'll pencil in the rest of the chapters we'll do each week when I have time to sit and plan.

This is our family routine. I only wish each day went so smoothly. Remember my post (Part One) that explained my split personality? I am so easily sidetracked that I have to at least have a routine set up, and then if we hit 50% of what I hoped, we're doing great! The older my kids get, the easier it is to be on a routine because they are more self directed. Just remember, no routine/schedule/planner is your task master, it is just a tool!

I have other planning pages like the schedule for Biology, the list of books I already own (comes in handy when shopping at used sales so I don't buy duplicates), and the teacher copies of the maps for Tapestry. I will probably be moving things around as my year goes by, but that's ok! I can easily pull out a page and place it in its new home! Binder meets spiral!

I am eager to give this system a try this school year! I think it just may be the answer I've been looking for all these years. Feel free to ask questions or even add comments below on great ideas you've had with planners! Happy 2014-15 school year!

~Christa

See also
A Place for Everything Part One
Part Two
Part Four
Part Five

A Place for Everything Part 2: The Bullet Journal

I love lists.

I make lists all the time.

Throughout the day I will even add things that I've already done to lists JUST so I can mark it off!

My problem? Remember in Part One I mentioned that I have a little of a split personality? Well, my unorganized side takes over and I lose lists. I jot them on slips of paper that get misplaced or in spiral books that I've lost somewhere in a pile. (Perhaps I'll discuss piles in another post...) So what's a list maker to do? I also tend to allow thoughts to roll around 24/7 in my brain. A friend told me to "dump the bucket" so I can actually rest once in a while. It's true, it is hard to rest with all these things running through my mind day and night! I needed a Brain Dump!

Enter the Bullet Journal. I was told to Google the idea and not only did I Google, I searched Pinterest as well!! I immediately fell in love with the bullet list idea, so much that I had to get started right away! It has given me a great way to track so many things in my world, that it trumps any planner I've used in the past. I had several people ask me to send them photos or bring it to show them 'face to face.' So I've decided to continue my "A Place for Everything" blog series with my Bullet Journal!

Here it is! I purchased the 3 pack of Moleskine soft back graph paper notebooks and dusted off my scrap booking skills and supplies! I decorated the front very simply. And I love an elastic band to keep the book closed, but these do not come with such a band. So, I stopped at a local grocery store and they had hair bands that were EXACTLY the size I needed. I hot glued the band to the back of the book and used washi tape to cover the band. I put another one on the spine to be a book marker.

Opening the book, I glued an envelope inside the cover to hold small goodies, like stickers or other small items. I also wanted some inspiring quotes. So I just covered the first page with a great verse on scrap book paper. We all need a little 'rah rah' some days. This isn't necessary by any means, but I liked the idea of something pretty to greet me and I loved this red scrapbook paper as a background!

Turn the page and you'll see a calendar that I printed from Donna Young's site. I like looking ahead at dates, so this was necessary for me. The opposite page is the Index. You'll add page numbers as you fill in your journal, so you'll add this to your index as you go.

On the following page I found some cute Post-Its. I love owls. So these were perfect for my "Year at a Glance" page. I glued them down, wrote the months on them, and jotted down important dates for each months. This could be important appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

On the next page we jump in to the nitty gritty of this type of planner. You'll see on the left page I have the month with the dates and days of the week down the left column. Then I have important events written down, I can look at my month at a glance and see what's coming and what days I have open. On the right side of the planner I have my "Get To Do" list for the month. Every time I think of something I need to do, I can jot it down here. Then as my month goes on, I can place them in my daily planner lists and then mark them off the main list for the month. I also decided to put a Post-It with a calendar for the month in the bottom corner. I am very visual and I liked having an actual calendar page to see. Each month will begin with these two pages.

Turning the page we get to start our daily check lists. Unlike most planners, you aren't writing out your daily to do lists in advance. Instead, you write your lists as you go. So on Monday night, I use this for my brain dump to make my bullet list of to-do's for Tuesday. I never have to worry about finding my list, it's right here in my Bullet Journal! And since I'm visual, you'll see that I use all sorts of colors. You can make this as plain or complex as you like. I love adding stickers and washi tape to give it more color and joy when I look at the page. Some days are very short, others are several lines long. You'll also see that each item has a check box in front to mark off. Did I mention that I love marking off boxes?

You may notice that in front of several of the boxes I have drawn other symbols. My memory isn't always spot on, so in the back of the book I've pasted a pretty piece of scrapbook paper that folds out with the 'key' written on it. This way I can see that '0' is an event, '!' is priority, '.' is for notes, '$' is something to purchase, a heart is something inspirational or something I LOVE, an arrow is something I migrated from the previous day, a line through the task means it is irrelevant, and '/' means I've started the task, but 'X' means I completed it. This is how the back cover looks when my 'Key' is folded in. (You can also see all my Post-It's with each month of the year pasted on them, all prepared for when I need them!)

You can see here how I've pasted the scrapbook paper so that when it is unfolded it is visible while I am writing in the journal.

I decided I needed space for other lists, like helping my friend plan her daughter's birthday party. Or yard sale prep. Or things needing to be done around the house, spring cleaning and other spruce ups. So I jumped to the last third of the book and made a "My Lists" section. Again, no more lists getting lost, they are all in this one section of my journal.

I also started a section near the end of the book for accountability. So I wrote the days of the month across the top of the page, and the daily tasks down the left side. For example, exercise, water, Bible study, etc. I can fill in the squares if I've done the task. This is a new thing and I am still teaching myself to remember to get the slots filled in... but I like the idea of this.

Finally on the last couple pages I decided to track 100 days of Joy/Gratefulness. So I wrote the days of the month down the page and then write one small thing that brings me joy, small things I am grateful for each day.

One final important player in this process is my tote!! I love this product. It is designed to hold make up and make up brushes. But I love it for washi tape, rubber stamps, and more. In the back I have my large roll of tape, some glue, clips in pretty colors, and a pretty jar that holds my pens and markers. In the front I have the washi tapes, rubber stampers, scissors, and Post-Its. This keeps everything handy and easy to carry from one area to another.

This Bullet Journal can look any way you like, get as creative or as simple as you prefer. But for me, it allows me a place to empty my brain. I don't worry about forgetting important dates or things I need to do. It's small enough to go with me and large enough to see what I am writing WITHOUT my reading glasses! I hope it gets your creative juices flowing for planning your days!!

~Christa

Watch for A Place for Everything Part One
Part 3
Part 4 and
Part 5

A Place for Everything Part 1: Embracing My Inner Type A

I have a bit of a split personality. I find great value in being lazy, and at the same time I love order and neatness. I live most of my life walking in one of two extremes it seems. But in this case, if I have chaos around me in the form of clutter, it is like noise in my head. That said, there are moments when the couch is too lovely to bother myself with the messies. Perhaps you should also know that I have hypothyroid and adrenal fatigue and even when I want to deal with the messies, sometimes my body just won't let me. But that's another blog post for another day. Today, I'm sharing with you how I locked up and threw the key away on my Type A side and how I've since come to embrace my inner "A"...

I was living in the "color coded" side of my personality quite contentedly for some time. I had a house keeping routine (which I usually kept up, but not always), my kids had 'chore packs' (which they only kept up when I reminded them), I had a 28 day rotating menu plan (quite handy for my grocery shopping budget, not a luxury but a necessity), and I had my homeschool lesson planner all set up (which kept my brain from exploding in my head). I was in my element for a season.

But then it happened.

The comments started coming in from people who lived on the outside. They would say I was 'so organized.' Well, they didn't see the daily grind and that it is because I am so unorganized that I have to uber-plan! Or that my best laid plans often didn't go according to schedule (which is ok, by the way.) I also heard, "Oh I could never do what YOU do. I'm just not that organized." One day over tea a fellow homeschooling mama said to a mutual friend, "DON'T feel like you have to do school like HER, MOST people are not even close to this organized! She's over the top!" That fear of man was creeping in... you know, more worried about what others think than what I need to do in my own life for my own family under the guidance of my own God. I was beginning to feel very self-conscious. I felt very judged by people. I don't believe for a minute that they intended to come across this way. But nevertheless, it is how it was received. So, I would try to reassure people that I'm not always good at follow through, but I love to plan. I found myself trying to convince people that I was really a mess, and that if they only knew me better they'd see that very clearly. I love color coding and sticky notes and colorful markers. I'm an office supply store addict. But just because I like to plan and organize doesn't mean my days always follow said plans. However, my Type A was becoming an issue. I grew tired of hearing how people just could never do what I do. As if they were required to by someone. We moms are so good at comparing ourselves to others! But I was worn out from the comments people made.

I started letting my Type A side go a bit at a time. And then my adrenals started really giving me fits. I couldn't keep up with things no matter how I tried, and I was already letting so many things slide. The 'noise' was getting to me. Some time went by, I got some help with my adrenals and was up on my feet again. But it still took a while to feel like digging out my washi tape and colorful markers.

The Lord had been tugging at my heart for quite a while, I was sure I needed to 'get my house in order.' I learned something about how my brain works. I have to have order around me, and a place to jot ideas so that they stop swirling in my head. My husband pointed out to me once that I never really "rest." I didn't understand. He pointed out that my brain never rests, I'm always thinking and reading and doing something. He was right.
So how do I find rest? (Second only to the rest I get in the Lord...)
I create order.
I make things look pretty.
I plan.
I use colorful markers.

And so I slowly started reading organizing books and books on living simply. I started to do a small purge in my home in 2013. But recently we had our hopes up to move to a slightly larger home. And that didn't happen. Twice. In the process, I realized just how annoying the clutter is to me. And part of my problem was that I had too much stuff in too small a home. If we were going to stay in our small home on our small lot, there needed to be a change. I wanted our home to look like those staged homes, ready to sell, all clean, open, airy, and peaceful!

It occurred to me that in addition to too much stuff, there wasn't a place for everything. I actually enjoy putting things where they belong, but when I don't have a place for things, they just pile up. And then I have clutter. And then... noise. And this was really beginning to bother me emotionally and make me feel physically drained. It was past time to get things in order. Less stuff equals less maintenance, which equals more time! More time to be with my family and enjoy hobbies! More time for spontaneity! More rest! Less "stuff" equals more joy! So, time to get to work!!

I will talk in more detail on the "how" and "what" of my 2014 purge and organizing in another post in this blog series. But I will say that we've been working on a large 2014 purge in our home. And I've discovered Bullet Journals and Disc Bound planners, and more! These will also be covered in depth in this series. I'm happy to say, we've made great progress in these areas. And I have dusted off and embraced my Type A side again. Because guess what... I like her! I like washi tape and office supplies and colorful markers and labels and bins and poly envelopes! I really enjoy these things and I like a neat, organized, smoothly running home. It doesn't mean it's always smooth or that it always goes according to plan. But I'm ok with that. I'm not ok with not having the plan. It turns out, God gives us unique gifts. And I've decided to embrace my gift for planning and organizing. I also have realized that with my health issues, I have to have things running as smoothly as possible because, for me, it takes too much energy to live without a plan. And when this mama is not feeling well, my kids know what is expected, and they can pick up where I leave off.

Oh and please don't think for a second that I live in a spotless paradise. As I type this I am looking at the piles of homeschool books to be sorted, the dishes on my counter, and the various projects just waiting for me to finish! People do live in this home, after all... This is all a process and we are nothing if not flexible. And with my thyroid and adrenal issues, there are just seasons where all good plans go out the window and a nap takes precedence. And that's ok!

I know this isn't everyone's gift or talent. And that's ok. I never expected it to be. It it isn't your thing, HOORAY! You save a lot of money on colorful markers and fancy planner systems! But now I am going to stop worrying about making everyone else feel comfortable. It is not my responsibility. And I no longer need to apologize for my quirkiness. Instead, let's try to enjoy the talents each person has rather than feeling less-than if we don't share that talent. And maybe we can even glean something from people who have different strengths than us. So, here's to the Type A's and the Messies... and everyone in between!

~Christa

Watch for Part 2: The Bullet Journal
Part 3: My Discbound Planner
Part 4: Discbound Student Planners
Part 5: Home Sweet Home