Some people have the luxury of lots of shelving and storage space. We do not. Over the years, we have found ourselves in houses with few closets and cupboards. As homeschoolers, we tend to build up our resources. That means having a lot of books, art supplies, etc. Where do you put all of that when you're teaching in the dining room?
Storing Art Supplies
Last year the boys had desks and containers to store their art supplies in. Now that they'll be sitting at the table (their desks are in their bedrooms), I needed a simple solution to store their markers, crayons, pencils, etc. While they had separate containers, I wondered where to put the containers without causing unneeded clutter.
I had seen plenty of neat ideas on Pinterest, but sometimes buying a lot of special containers is expensive. Sometimes you don't have the necessary stores near your house. For instance, I've heard lots of good things about Ikea, but I'm nowhere near one.
Here is what we settled on... Using a cheap, mini-crate from Walmart (96¢), a washed-out pickle jar, and 2 metal mesh-styled pencil holders (also from Walmart), I found a solution.
What You Need:
- 1 mini crate
- jars or pencil holders
The pickle jar had a wide enough opening, but it turned out to be a little too tall for some of the pencils. So the kids didn't have to dig their hands into it, I placed small rocks at the bottom to "lift" the pencils higher. You can use decorative stones from a craft store if you'd like. Or if you're not picky, just grab some rocks out of your flower bed. (Ha, ha!)
Since I have only 2 students at the moment, I was able to use 2 pencil holders for their markers, scissors, and glue sticks. The pickle jar stores everyone's pencils. And the crayon boxes fit nicely in the corners.
The mini crate is the perfect size for the center of the table. When we need it, I can take it out. When we don't need it, it fits perfectly in a corner by my desk!