Ask any homeschool mom and they will tell you that one of the biggest challenges of homeschooling is keeping everything organized. Being unorganized can be one of the worst things for your homeschool since it usually means that you can’t find what you need and that your house is overly cluttered. These 10 easy ideas for organizing your homeschool can help you avoid that. Take a look and let me know what you think!

10 Easy Ideas for Organizing Your Homeschool

Recycle Items – One of the best ways to organize your homeschool stuff is to reuse things you otherwise might not. Things like empty k-cups can be used to store paper clips or thumb tacks. Let the kids dress up soup cans to hold pencils. Cover cereal boxes with scrapbook or construction paper to create a place to hold paperwork. Not only are you saving yourself money but you’re also reducing the amount of trash that your family puts out.

Use File Folders – Speaking of file folders, they can make your life so much easier. This is especially true if you’re in a state that requires heavy record keeping. Your can pick up a box of 100 for around $10.

Small totes – Another best friend of the homeschool mom is the small lidded totes. Buy them when they’re on sale and use them to store everything from LEGO pieces to extra glue sticks. Not only will they look better but they will all stay in one place.

Clear out the unused – If you’ve been homeschooling for a while, chances are good that you have a lot of curriculum, books and more in storage that you will no longer need. To help keep your homeschool supplies organized, be sure that you’re going through those supplies at the end of each school year. Sell what you can on Ebay or in homeschooling groups or donate what you can’t sell. You can also send many items into Swap.com to re sell.

Use Online Tools – Planning your homeschool curriculum can easily cause you to become unorganized in itself. Lesson planning worksheets or books, worksheet printables and more can all get out of hand very quickly. To help yourself stay on track, use an online homeschooling apps or an online lesson planner. Homeschool Manager is great for planning and really budget friendly.

Color Code your homeschool classroom – Color coding your classroom is a great way to stay organized. Use one color for paperwork, one for supplies and so on. Not only will it help you stay organized, but your classroom will look great too!

Print Less – A lot of the time what overwhelms a homeschool classroom is printable worksheets. Save yourself money and a headache from sorting all of that paperwork by printing less. For worksheets, buy dry erase pockets. This way you can print them once and reuse when they’re done.

Don’t Overbuy – One of the fastest ways to find yourself surrounded by homeschool clutter is by overbuying. While it is a good idea to buy more than you think you’ll need when it comes to school supplies, be sure that you’re not buying more than you can reasonable use.

Create a curriculum list – Making a master list of all of your curriculum can help you keep track of when you’re able to get rid of things. Once you’ve done a particular unit study or reading list, there’s not really any reason to hold onto the materials unless you’ve got another child who will use them.

Put yourself on a budget – Finally, putting yourself on a budget for your homeschool items is a great way to keep yourself organized. It will prevent you from overbuying and keep you from spending more than you should on a particular item. Make sure that you don’t short yourself on your homeschool budget. If you do, you’ll be tempted to go over it when you have something that you absolutely need for your kids to learn.

What are you homeschool organizing tips?