At the entry of our home is a room.  It’s called a Flex Room.  Basically because it’s flexible.  It can be whatever you wish.  Several homes we looked at had them but this room had a  huge one!  It’s designed to be a dining room/sitting room.  We opted for a giant dining room/school room/office room.  And I love it.

Now before we get to my wonderful organizing I have to confess.  I totally took “before” shots.  And then in my haste to download from the camera, did not download them.  And promptly deleted all on the camera.  I’m mad.  While this room was the first to unpack, my mom and I basically pulled things out and threw them on the shelf.  It was a total mess.  I needed to do some organizing.

So, I did.  Learning play shelves are the bottom of the left book case.  Reading books for the year are above that and then office papaer supplies and markers (yes, top shelf, very important) and cutting, laminating machines at the very top.

The center cubes I love.  I found them at Target first but then found them on Amazon (not paid to say that) for a bit cheaper.  They are not super wood sturdy but they are definitely sturdy enough for our use.  I keep the kids individual books, office supplies, and scrap paper on these 12 cubes.

Each kid has a crate with their school books, assignment books, pens, crayons, colored pencils and scissors and glue.  Now, several children, who shall remain nameless, continue to leave their pens, pencils and what not out.  I’ve started a collection and when their supplies are gone, they will be paying me to have them back.

The other tall bookshelf has curriculum arranged by subject.

 Yep, Malachi’s crate is the loner one on the bottom of the tall bookshelf.

Okay, 31 People!  Why have you not told me about this amazing little file doohickey.  I love it!  It’s a great little file holder that I thought I would try out after attending a 31 party.  Seeing as how I don’t get to tote bags around much (unless they are full of diapers).  This is wonderful.  It holds all my PAL games and supplies and holds the cds that came with the curriculum.  Takes up half the space too.  I want 31 of these (I’m so punny).  Thirty-one did not pay me to say this either, but they are more than welcome to send me more!  I am in love I tell ya.

This is our corner “office.”  We are keeping the filing cabinet upstairs and since Mark does a great job of keeping it organized, I didn’t feel the need to attack that area.  This however had to be cleaned up a bit.  I keep our lesson plans out on the left hand side so the kids can check back and forth and know what the should be doing.  That quote and complementing picture are from my mom.  She retired from teaching high school English (among other things) last year.  She taught for over 40 years and I remember this poster being up with this quote from Mark Twain, “Never let school interfere with your education.”  I just knew that was totally appropriate for our “classroom.”  I snatched it up pretty quick when mom was handing out her school stuff to my sister and me.  The poster had a tear so I just grabbed two frames and chopped it in half.

 We have table time teaching at breakfast and lunch so I grabbed one of the three shelf ClosetMaid (not paid either) shelves and sat it beside the desk.  This keeps all my table time books/notebooks in it with a few phone numbers, addresses included.  The red crate is my individual teaching and what I can grab if we “home” school somewhere else.

And, finally, to prove that I’m not completely organized and need a ton of help, I present to you, my office supply drawer:

I need help, ya’ll.  What in the world can I use to organize this?  It’s 12X12 and about 6 inches deep.  It holds staples, pushpins, ring clasps, hole punch, velcro, post its, tape, those little reinforcement things for paper.  I’ve been looking for small containers to put everything in but have come up empty handed.  So, any and all suggestions would be great.

Okay, we painted this room before we moved in too.  It’s Guacamole (Olympic paint, didn’t get paid by them either but I should take out stock for how much we use them) and I think it suits an entry room well.  Mark says it makes him want tacos.  All the time.

Want to see some more offices in all shapes and sizes?

Next week you totally get to see my amazing laundry room closet.  I think I have been looking forward to this one the most.