Kitchen Homework

Do YOUR kids do their homework in the kitchen? Mine do. At least two of them are young enough to require supervision, and the other two like the snacks.

One of my goals in the next three weeks and five days (that's how much time still school starts, not that I'm counting or anything), is to organize our homework supplies and store them close to where the homework happens. That means I need to find room for the paper, crayons, pencils, scissors and glue sticks in a room already full of action. And stuff.

All of us know how difficult it is to store the stuff that NEEDS to go in the kitchen, let alone find EXTRA storage.

Hmmm...I thought....HOW will I do that?

I started with paper storage. I found two of these paper storage boxes at Target. They hold hanging file folders, so I've used one folder for each color of construction paper, and one for looseleaf notebook paper. Didn't so much like the red lids, though, as I want to store these on the bottom shelf of the baker's rack in my APPLE GREEN dining room. I'm just NOT in to the "every day is Christmas" color scheme.


I had some of this fabric leftover that I had framed for "art" in the dining room.

This is what I came up with. Now the boxes will blend in with the dining room decor, and be easily accessible to the kids when they need paper. (I just used duct tape to attach the fabric to the inside of the lid, easy to change if I decide I want a red dining room!)

This seemed like a perfect time to clean out the kitchen cupboards, and after I got rid of all of the JUNK in them that I never used, I had three shelves available for storage of workbooks, folders, markers (in the basket), crayons (in the Thomas the Train tin), colored pencils (plastic container), scissors (clay pot) and highlighters (in an "upcycled" food container).I'm betting that most of us can find at least a LITTLE bit of room in a cabinet or drawer for homework supplies. Do you have a cupboard full of seasonal dishes? Maybe they could be stored somewhere else, leaving room for items you use EVERY DAY, like school supplies.

Do you have a fondue set, like me, taking up space in the cupboard when you've only used it once to BURN cheese fondue? Just sayin'. (it's in the basement now, I'll get it out when I get up my nerve again...)

These strategies for storing homework supplies in the kitchen/dining room make my life easier, while not interfering with my decor obsession, so I'm sharing them at Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family. Check out all of the other back to school survival tips!

Also linked to Kimba's DIY Day!