Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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melanie
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Posted: Dec 22 2008 at 11:03am | IP Logged Quote melanie

I'll preface this by saying that four years ago I had one 8yo child... In four years, with a mixture of children I have given birth to and children I have acquired, we have grown from a family of three to a family of six. There are a lot of logistical issues we are having to quickly figure out....

...here's one...legos. Ok, three out of the four kids love legos. So far we have had a small collection of legos that they all fight over. The collection grows smaller as various legos disappear into whatever dark reaches of the house legos go to die. I'm going to invest in some more. My kids are lobbying for their own lego collections instead of my preference, one large collection. My 12yo argues that it's not fair that she has to share them because the 8yo loses all the "good pieces" by making various things that he then carries around with him everywhere (this is true). The 8yo says it's not fair because they both want to play with them during our afternoon rest time when they are in different rooms of the house. And the 4 year old just drives them both crazy by shrieking for more pieces. Should I just get them their own small collection, or make a large one and set more rules about such how they are to be used?

Such a mundane question, I know...

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Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!

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Mackfam
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Posted: Dec 22 2008 at 11:12am | IP Logged Quote Mackfam

Oh dear, Melanie. I'm sure there must be a plethora of potential solutions to this challenge because I know Legos are a universal hit! and a universal storage challenge!

Here's how we solve it. We have a large underbed storage unit that slides under the train table upstairs or under a bed for out of the way storage. It has a hinged lid so that half the unit can roll out and the lid can lift for searching for that perfect piece. ALL Legos go in that unit. If there is a masterpiece that has been built we have set aside a shelf in a room for that. With a growing family, my dh and I have just decided that some toys (except for those saved for and purchased by individual children) are community toys to be enjoyed by the community here! Legos fall in that group. We have an embarrassing collection so there hasn't been a shortage...yet.

Good luck with this one, Melanie! I look forward to gleaning other ideas from the other lego distributors...I mean moms...here.

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Mary Chris
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Posted: Dec 22 2008 at 12:04pm | IP Logged Quote Mary Chris

All our Legos are stored together. The get sets for presents, build them, display them, destroy them.....mix in with other blocks. That is pretty much the system around here.

Here are some old past threads on Legos and storage options.
Lego storage and orgainization

Lego organization


My 30 brother is visiting us for Christmas, it is like Lego heaven around here, all the building that is taking place downstairs. We did move the Legos out of the guest room, the boys did not like being locked away in there. We still use the same storage method, by color. I admit though that I throw the pieces I pick up off the floor into one container for the boys to sort through.

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melanie
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Posted: Dec 23 2008 at 8:22am | IP Logged Quote melanie

Thanks everyone. I'm glad at least to know I'm not insane for struggling with this, .

I think we will get a flat box to slide under the futon in the play room, and then do what I read about on one of the links up there...have a place for each of the older two to keep their special pieces and instruction books. We'll see how this works. Then the four year old can access the basic bricks, and the perfectionist 12yo can keep her special pieces safe from the careless 8yo.

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Melanie
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sewcrazy
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Posted: Dec 27 2008 at 12:57pm | IP Logged Quote sewcrazy

That is what we do Melanie. Legos are communal, but each child has a shelf for special creations or on going projects. And instructions are in clear plastic sleeves in a 3 ring binder.


LeeAnn

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Bookswithtea
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Posted: Dec 27 2008 at 3:40pm | IP Logged Quote Bookswithtea

I think I'd have a communal bin but also give each child a place to put their own special ones. We have had to do that with certain toys here.

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