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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 11:52am | IP Logged
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I touched on this in the Perfectionism Thread, but I really struggle with "categories"
For instance, I'm thinking about art supplies.
Do I keep them where we will use them?
All together?
What about things that are used in many places? Should I put my energy into a system that makes them easily accessible AND portable or into having multiples (colored pencils in the school room AND a separate set for the nature backpacks--the non-existent nature backpacks that I can't figure out, lol)
I tried keeping our nature packs assembled, but we reference field guides all the time or sometimes I find every field guide we own in a pile where a child has spent hours pouring through them.
I feel I can't "move on" in organizing and tidying things until I decide where to put them, but this seems to be a constant struggle for some things.
What is stationery vs. what is art supplies? Where do I keep my own things? Where I actually use them or desperately wished I used them?
I could go on, but I'll pause now for any thoughts.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 12:27pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I could go on, but I'll pause now for any thoughts. |
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My only thoughts would be picking up where you left off in similar cases  . This is another area for me.
Art supplies: there are specialty items for crafts rarely used, kid friendly that they should be able to access without much help, then the special ones that are with more supervision. Stationery, paper, calligraphy supplies -- I have too much and not sure how to sort. Do I keep trying to separate my supplies from children's?
No solutions, Lindsay. It's obvious my over-thinking melancholic mind can't make decisions.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| kid friendly that they should be able to access without much help |
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Boy, some days I love this whole Montessori/Continuum Concept thing where my kids are independent, and other days, I think they should exist in a vacuum where they have contact with absolutely nothing except exactly one matchbox car.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
and other days, I think they should exist in a vacuum where they have contact with absolutely nothing except exactly one matchbox car. |
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Amen 
I would seperate anything that you want in a condition that it's unlikely to maintain if put together with the kids supplies.
I use cheap fishing tackle boxes with padlocks for things that I don't want the kids to have immediate access too. Like I really don't need every pencil we own out for the little to chew off the erasers.. if there's enough pencils out.. they don't have access to *my extras*
And one of those is things like color pencils and markers.. something I can unlock and set out for them to use.. and then make sure they're put back and relock. But doing that let's me keep the locked up things with the other things as well.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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JennGM
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 1:00pm | IP Logged
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Oh, good point, Jodie. The EXTRA supplies, where to keep them! That is a big problem.
Tackle boxes, eh? That is a good idea. I do have a huge one full of acrylic paints...but I really like the idea of a padlock.
Curiosity is getting the better of my boys....AND ME!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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AndieF
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 1:10pm | IP Logged
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I have colored pencils and markers upstairs for when we are doing History and Literature. Then downstairs we do Geography, Math, Art, Music and Poetry, and so I have colored pencils, thin and thick markers, water colors, tempera paints, charcoal, pastels, etc. Then each of the children has a zippered pencil case with colored pencils that "lives" next to their sketch books so that we can just grab and go without repacking up supplies and then I also don't have to worry about getting them back to the original location.
Short answer - I store art supplies in multiple places and I keep duplicates of a few things.
Andie (mom to dd10, dd8, ds 5 and co-homeschooler teacher to dear nephew 10 and dear nephew 8)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 11:36am | IP Logged
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I'm still working out storage in our new house. It is so tiny that I have to be pretty creative, but here is how I typically do art supplies:
I keep our art supplies in a couple of spots. The vast majority are in a big cabinet in the kitchen because we do most of our art at the kitchen table (due to the linoleum floors being easier to clean than carpeting.) This includes both kid-friendly supplies and not-so-kid-friendly supplies, which we all share. My kids are old enough to know what they can and cannot access without permission. Most of it they can use any time they want, some they just need to ask first.
The better colored pencils and art markers are kept with this set of supplies.
Then in the living room where we do most of our schoolish stuff I have a big container full of cheap colored pencils used for schoolwork that just needs to be colored and doesn't need to be "art." I also have a shelf with a row of tin buckets filled with pencils, pens, water based markers, highlighters,fine and ultra-fine sharpies, and kid scissors. These are always free access.
I also keep a set of cheap colored pencils in each of our our nature bags, just bound with a rubber band along with a few regular pencils, plus a pencil sharpener and a white eraser.
Lindsay, in order to "move on" I'd suggest you just pick a spot and set them up there on a trial basis for a couple weeks and see how it works. If it doesn't then you can move them to another spot. Maybe knowing it doesn't have to be permanent unless it works will help you through the paralysis.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 12:19pm | IP Logged
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I keep multiples of things too. Something that really helped me was the chapter in A Mother's Rule of Life where the author recommends going through the house with a notebook. You are to right down repairs and stuff, but what really helped me is to decide on what the purpose is for each room, what the family does there, and what is required for those activities. Do we do arts and crafts in the sunroom? Then we need a way to store these things in the sunroom. Do we do art in the school room? Then we need a way to store it there. Do we do it in the living room? Well, no, but sometimes the kids want to color in there. Then we have to decide, does mom say "no coloring in the living room" or is there a place to store crayons?
This was a great exercise for me. I actually moved things from room to room then figured out a way to store them. I also had to tell my kids that they couldn't color all over the house. We have rooms where that is acceptable any time they want but they have to respect that the living room in the (one!) room I like to keep really nice. That way I don't have to pick the crayons out of the couch cushions.
It seems so obvious, but I realized by doing this, that one of our favorite things to do in the living room and sunroom is read and neither of those rooms had a place to store books. So, to remedy, I now have book baskets while I wait to save for the really nice shelves I want. I also realized that I needed some place for art materials in the dining room since we always do art there. I cleaned out the bottom of my china hutch for that purpose.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Like Things Together
