Organizing a Homeschool Cart
Hi friends, It’s been a while since I’ve posted and I’m so happy to be back. I’ve spent the past few months focusing on my family and preparing for our first year of homeschooling. We’ve officially started our homeschool journey and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m already amazed by the new things we’ve learned together. It truly fills my heart to watch my boys grasp new things and develop a love for learning. Today, I wanted to share a few ideas and sources for organizing school supplies and curriculum.
Although I love scrolling through photos of beautifully organized and decorated school rooms, our home is small and doesn’t allow for a space strictly designated for school. Maybe one day? Before deciding on a method for organizing our homeschool supplies, I decided that I wanted to keep school items in a way that they could easily be tucked away and not part of our home decor. I also function best in clean and tidy spaces, so it felt important to create something that was minimal, organized and free of clutter.
Ultimately, I decided to use one of these handy rolling carts that can be purchased at several different retailers. Once I received our curriculum order from The Good and the Beautiful, I began searching for the perfect organizers to store on the cart. There are endless ways to configure items on a rolling cart, so it completely depends on your preferences and what serves your family best. This year, I’ll have a little one in Pre-K and one in Kindergarten. Since some of their curriculum will overlap due to their ages, I wanted it to be clear which books and loose pieces belong to which child. To help minimize any confusion, I used my label maker to put their names on all of their books. I didn’t label the level K reader or Pre-K flip books since they may be re-used in the future.
Click below to download a free printable lesson tracker for TGTB Pre-K and K units. I printed these on colored card stock and applied a sticker over the lesson number when completed.
I chose these sturdy white magazine holders to use on the top shelf of the cart. Each child has two, labeled with their name. Their bound curriculum books, handwriting books, lesson trackers, readers and the Pre-K letter flip books are stored here. Beside the magazine holders are two small white bins. I use these to store glass beads (in place of buttons), a pair of scissors, a dry erase marker as well as items like loose coins that the curriculum often calls for. Not only are they functional, they also create a tight fit between the magazine holders so nothing is shifting or tipping when the cart is moved.
The Pre-K and K units come with multiple small books and game pieces. After searching around, I ordered a few tiered organizers that are perfect for storing these pieces. Each child has their own tiered organizer that falls under their labeled magazine holders. To separate Pre-K games and level K phonics cards, I used these clear zipper pouches. There are also a few larger game pieces that come with the Pre-K activity pack. I found it easiest to store these in a large clear pocket in the designated magazine holder on top.
Our bottom shelf is designated for the math K activity box. I chose to keep many of the items in the original box and separate the small manipulatives into a divided plastic container. I found the plastic organizer in the school supply section at Dollar Tree and it fits the chip board manipulatives and dice perfectly. We have been using our homeschool cart for the past few weeks as we ease into things and it’s working perfectly for our family. I love that I can easily tuck it into a closet when we’re not working or pull it up to any surface we choose to use for school that day.
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