Advice on Simplifying/Purging School Room

In my experience (my oldest just graduated, the youngest starts 10th grade this year), my need for some items changed over the years, so I certainly don’t miss those things at all, such as workbooks & readers from early years, crafty things for younger kids, curriculum that we’ve outgrown.  Other things we did save, and I’d have to say maybe only half of them got used at some point.  I think that in your gut, you will know what you might really, really use.  The rest is usually just “second-guessing myself” as I hang onto stuff as though I’m going to beat myself up if I need it and it’s gone.

For me, that is really a mindset of poverty, or perhaps a fear of poverty, and as a Christian, that only serves to undermine my trust in God’s ability to provide.  I try (and keep trying!) to overcome that kind of thinking.  Giving things away–or selling them cheaply–has been a good way to both purge and overcome impoverished thinking.

A few years back, a dad I had recently met told me his son’s story over a series of emails.  His son, aged 5, had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  With it came great difficulties in managing his blood sugar levels, and it affected his schoolwork, even at the kindergarten level. The dad recounted the struggle to work with the public school to both manage his son’s health during the school day, but they also insisted that the boy was having academic and developmental delays unrelated to his medical issues.  The dad felt that if the school could better address the medical needs throughout the day, his son would achieve much more in other areas.  As the school staff became more difficult to work with, he decided to pull his son out of school and begin homeschooling.  It would mean having his wife quit her job to stay at home, and they also felt overwhelmed at the prospect of directing and implementing their son’s education.

I tell you all of this because, as I was made aware of the situation, I offered encouragement and suggestions of how to begin homeschooling, materials to read about it all, and I searched through those largley untouched shelves of things I’d saved “just in case” that I knew I really did not need.  I offered him a variety of books, materials, manipulatives, etc. that I thought a family homeschooling a first- or second-grader could use.  They were so blessed and grateful.  They started off on the journey, and several months later, the dad let me know that not only was school going well at home, but his son’s health was improving.

That’s all I needed to hear to know that it was much better for me to let go than to hang onto too many things.  I think that most of us try to be prudent in what we acquire for homeschooling, but I also think we could apply that same type of thinking to the decision of what to keep. If the stuff we have is causing us more work and more stress as we have to dust it, file it, pile it, store it, sort it, store it somewhere else, spend time and money finding greater storage solutions…..then our stuff is controlling us instead of us controlling our stuff.

HTH,

Sue

I have been purging (selling/give away) a lot lately. I have not regretted one sale. It has blessed another family (especially if it was inexpensive) and blessed us financially. I have been able to purchase some other items/books we needed and get rid of the books we. are. never. going. to. read.

Seeing our shelves a little less stuffed has been amazing and I can’t wait to see how far we can go with this and still offer a quality education to our children. (I have saved some special books for the grand-kids;)

Plus, if you wait too long, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd editions will become harder to sell (unless it’s some obscure oop book that everybody has to have, today!). I figured I might as well sell while the books were still wanted and in good condition.

I have no regrets and plan to sell more and more. Now, I’m asking myself if we really need this book or that book or maybe we’ll just get the free Kindle edition. I feel like I’m making better “quality” choices for my children, if that makes sense.

And, I see the mound of books (mostly the ones that I thought I wanted in our “library” that my kids never read) as just a mound of books that I need to “deal” with. Not fun. I’m excited about this and as it has freed up my mind and space on our shelves 🙂

We live in a very small space with two adults and four children and so saving much is not an option. A year ago I piled every home school resource I had onto the living room floor and made stacks of save, sell, gift. I only saved something if I was absolutely certain I would use it with at least one child and that it would not add to the same curricula that I already use and love … for instance, we use ULW for written narration guidance so I would not save W&R *just in case* I might follow that lead for writing at some point.

I ended up selling about $2000 of “stuff” in maybe two days on various facebook groups … I have zero regrets about purging. 🙂

I gifted many things to local friends who needed what I had more than I ever did.

What I saved went into organized storage bins … one bin per subject … such as, history, biography, nature study, geography, art & music study, etc. The bins are labeled and they sit in a tiny storage space with holiday decorations and suitcases and things that are necessaries but are impossible to fit in our small home and they are books that I rotate, often depending on era of study or focus of science, etc.

I found that last year was our best year of homeschooling yet … in large part because I used what I had on hand and thus came to know and love it well. I didn’t have endless curricula sitting around beckoning me from every room. 😉 I wasn’t pulled in this or that direction and I vowed not to buy *anything* unless something could be sold *and* I would not change course on what we started for school.

I now have one large bookcase in the main part of our home with a dedicated shelf per subject … Bible, poetry, field guides, FIAR, mama resources, a shelf per child for daily work, read alouds, classic literature, historical fiction, natural history, etc. That is *all* of the school that holds space in my home and I adore the simplicity and tidiness of it. We also have a cute art cart/caddy with casters from IKEA that holds our art supplies. We school at the kitchen table or the couches and it works seamlessly for us, but until I let go of many many many books and resources it was a bit stifling here.

God always provides, we just have to let Him go before us.

This will be our first year of TRULY sticking with a curriculum, and we’re doing SCM, plus a phonics program I already have and Mammoth Math. I have 2 children ages 4.5 and almost 6.

This part of your post struck me… This past year was our first year of truly sticking with a curriculum, and there’s a certain peace that comes with just sticking with something that works for you. I’ve finally come to realize: 1- there are lots of equally good options, 2- I won’t be able to use them all, 3- if I stick with one of the good options, lI can use my energy teaching and enjoying my kids instead of researching curriculum.

If you have just two kids and SCM is working for you, stick with it. You know your family dynamic and that’s not going to change much (unless you have more kids. Lol). Maybe some day, like middle school or high school, you may need a change. But even if you do, will it really be this old stuff you have stored? You don’t know what will work for your kids that far in the future. And even if it would work, is it worth storing for 6+ years? Or can you repurchase it used then, if you really wanted it?

I’m tempted to say if that old school stuff isn’t working for you now, it’s not going to work for you later either.

Since we’re on the topic…Do I remember a blog post from Erin.Kate that showed her beautiful house and school room? Or am I thinking of someone else? If so, I’d love to see that again if anyone has the link.?

Oh, thanks, Aimee! This was the post from a while back, and since then I’ve actually cleared out the dining room so it’s just that, a space for family means (and school at the table). We no longer have a bookshelf or any baskets or the timeline in there … all cleaned out. I should take a few new pictures. 🙂

http://marmaladesorrow.weebly.com/blog/an-atmosphere

That looks so nice! We are in a similar situation, two adults four kids a dog 1200sf. Now I feel like decluttering. Lol. My dining area is lined with book shelves, but it works for us. It’s a room with a lot of walkways and wall space, so it doesn’t work for much, but it does work for shelves. On the plus side my living room is school free 😀