10 Simple Homeschool Organization Tips For Busy Homeschoolers

Homeschooling involves so many parts and pieces – from all the stuff we use to the day to day life skills to logistics of going places. In my head, I am a great organizer. I have all these practical solutions to make our homeschool life run more smoothly. The biggest challenge is implementing them consistently. Here are 10 homeschool organization ideas that I’ve found really helpful over the last 15 years of homeschooling (when I remember to use them properly!)

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1. Backpacks/Bags. Some women collect shoes. Others collect purses. I collect backpacks. I have several and they each have their uses. One of the big tricks I’ve learned from trying to balance out all the extra stuff plus 5 kids is that assigning bags for each activity / event is a lifesaver.

For example:

• Every week, we used to go to a homeschool gym class and swimming lessons. For this, each kid had their own pack filled with their indoor gym shoes, a water bottle, and their bathing suit and towel. When we get home, we wash their suits and stick everything back in their bags for the next week. A small step, but it saves me the agony of tracking things down last minute. Their shoes always stay in their bag so we know exactly where they are!
• One evening a week, we go to church. When all my kids were young, they each had a labelled bag filled with their stuff for kids’ club. It included their Bible and activity books, their t-shirt for the program and anything else they need to tote around every week. By keeping everything in a bag on a hook just to grab on the way out – it saved me oodles of time and stress. And they know exactly where to pick them up and find their bags.
• I have one backpack with all our “out of the house” stuff. Depending on life at the time, it included our bus tickets, library cards, first aid kit, a package of wipes, a Ziploc with a game of UNO, and sunscreen. All I would do was pack a bunch of juice boxes and some simple snacks like granola bars of fish crackers, then it’s just set to grab on the way out when we are going somewhere.

Now that my kids are older, I don’t need as many backpacks and bags ready at the door for our adventures out, but my “out of the house” backpack is always on standby for any adventures we are about to have.

2. Kid Of The Day. I implemented this program when my boys were younger. We had one computer for the three of them to share – 1 hour each. They started arguing about who got to play first on the computer and it got out of hand. So, we started a day of the week plan – Kid 1 first on Sundays and Thursdays, Kid 2 on Mondays and Fridays, and Kid 3 ion Tuesdays and Saturdays. This plan seriously saved us much fighting and keeps things predictable.

We were also able to use the kid of the day idea to expand to other areas – such as when you are “kid of the day” you also needed to shower and do the dishwasher. It helped us keep a routine and encourage being helpful and not just expecting things.

3. Room of the Day/Cleaning Checklists/Chore Chart. I am admittedly a horrible housekeeper. Best intentions never work. In order to successfully keep my house clean, I find the only solution is a housekeeping schedule. I’ve tried everything – like assigning myself a room a day to focus on, such as:

• Monday – bedrooms

• Tuesday – bathrooms
• Wednesday- living room
• Thursday – kitchen
• Friday – office
• Saturday – front hall
• Sunday – basement

It has worked sometimes to do that. I’m a big fan of the housekeeping program Motivated Moms – especially the simple “Clean My House” checklist. When I remember to use it and keep at it, my house looks terrific, I feel productive and my husband is happy. It’s a life-saver, and my life always feels calmer doing this.

For the kids, I’ve tried many things over the years. Two have worked really well. The first was that I created a chore chart system where I made a chore card for each room of my house and broke down what steps I expected done in order to consider that room complete. For example, a bedroom could be:

1. Pick everything up off the floor and put it where it belongs
2. Take sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry pile
3. Put new sheets on the bed
4. Dust the furniture
5. Vacuum the floor

When they’ve completed everything, they bring the card back to the board and flip it upside down. Every Monday morning the cards are shifted to the next person so they have new chores for the week. Simple. Defined. Helpful.

The other is to take the checklist from Motivated Moms and either stick it to the whiteboard in the kitchen or write out the list of chores for the day so that the kids can help me completed. It’s easy and they get to pick what they want to do for the day.

4. Lesson Plans. When I write down exactly what we are going to do in a day, we are 1000000 times more likely to accomplish it. Over the years, I’ve used daily lesson checklists for each kid to know exactly what is expected out of them for that day. They just do the lesson they are supposed to and mark it done. When they were younger, we used a set of picture cards instead of checklists. They just flipped over the image of whatever subject we did as we finished it. Same concept. Easy. Visual. SO helpful. These days, we use the whiteboard in the kitchen the most. I put each person’s name on the board with a list of things they need to complete. They love being able to check things off or erase them when complete.

5. Label Things. Things feel SO much more organized when I have labels on them. You don’t need to use a fancy label maker if you don’t have one. Paper and/or tape works terrific too. Knowing where things go makes it more likely that they will go back in that spot again when done. I’ve labelled all the containers of art supplies and games, there are even labels on the shelves that I store all the extra curriculum books. It makes me feel like I’ve designated with intention spaces for things and that really helps my brain feel less overwhelmed when I look in a cupboard for something.

6. Meal Planning. I admit, I’m almost renowned for the 5 o’clock stare in the fridge and pray plan. Whenever I’ve been able to have the plan ahead of time my life has been much calmer, my bank account much happier, and my family better fed. Knowing that I need to slap something the slow cooker at 9 am or get together at 4:30 so it’s ready to eat at 5:30 has made a HUGE difference in our days. If you can even make a meal plan for a week, try it out. It means you can spend more time with your family instead of more time in the kitchen. Plus, the kids can be involved because you don’t have to plan at 5 pm – you are cooking! I’ve used everything from Hello Fresh to the weekly meal plans from Tastes Better from Scratch to flipping through my file folder of recipes to write down ideas to going through my freezer to use up the food we already have around. It’s really up to you how it will work best!

7. Use Bookmarks. There are thousands of amazing websites out there related to homeschooling that are so helpful and inspirational. I swear I have pages and pages of bookmarked sites. I recommend organizing your computer bookmarks into folders – by subject or topic. Then, when you need to remember where you put them, it’s easy to find. You can also use a visual bookmark site like Pinterest for quick reference if you like to. It’s just a great way to find what you want without having to research them again.

8. Schedule “school” time. At our place, school happens in the morning. It’s when I’m the most able to focus, it gives me the ability to plan other things in the afternoon, and it gets the official schoolwork part of the day out of the way. We have a rule in place that the kids can’t turn on the computer for free time until after lunch, IF they’ve done their school work and chores for the day (unless they have school ON the computer.) The faster it gets done, the more free time we have. The kids know that this is a routine and it makes accomplishing our daily plans much for likely. I don’t have a specific school bell start time. It varies on when people wake up and when I’m ready to start, but we know the rhythm is “Get up, Eat Breakfast, Do School, Do Chores, Have Lunch, Have Free Time.”

9. Sort extra materials by subject/level. I have SO many extra workbooks/sheets/resources that we don’t necessarily use daily or even right now because they are the wrong grade or level for what we are working on. I have taken them all and sorted them by subject – putting them onto a set of labelled shelves. Time consuming? Yes, but it will make life much easier when we need them again! Plus, it means I’m able to take inventory of what we have, watch for extra things we could use and need, and, if there are duplicates – can sell or donate them! I’ve also taken the time to go through the curriculum and resources that we have and get rid of the things that we aren’t going to use anymore – whether that’s because it wasn’t a good fit or because we’ve outgrown it, etc. No need to keep anything we aren’t going to use!

10. Do an annual purge and clean. Every year, I take all the work we’ve done, find a box or binder to put it in, label, and put in storage for future reference. I go through the paperwork and keep the things that show important learning skills, or projects we’ve done, worksheets for language, etc. Sometimes I keep a math book. Sometimes I keep other things as well. The rest – lots of loose papers and miscellany just goes right into the recycling bin. We don’t need to keep it, so out it goes. This year end clean up is also a good time to get rid of the things we don’t use or want. If there’s a program that didn’t work or didn’t fit our style, this is when we should consider putting it up for sale or donate it to someone who needs it. By doing this, the homeschool “stuff” doesn’t take over your life.

When I discovered that I wasn’t the only person in my homeschooling community to feel overwhelmed by all the STUFF they have, I put together a 20(ish) day, step-by-step challenge. Each day walks you through one step to help you get things organized and your homeschool space calmer and more practical.

Hopefully some of these tips help your homeschool be organized and your life feeling more at peace!

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Other Homeschool Organization Tips from Homeschoolers

This post was originally published in 2016. I updated the above post in 2024. Below you will find some more homeschool organization tips from other homeschooling bloggers to help everyone get organized!

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Alexandra – How I Stay Organized in Our Homeschool

Over the last 10 years of homeschooling, I have tried many different organization systems, from Homeschool Tracker to trying to set up a homeschool room in a basement! I have learned what works for us, and now that I only homeschool one child, it is even more simple.

Alison – How to Use the Library Without Paying a Fortune in Fines

Library books are an integral part of our homeschool — but how can a busy homeschool mom keep track of up to 100 books, CDs, and DVDs on loan from the library without losing them (or her mind)? Check out (pun intended!) the simple ways this not-so-organized homeschool mom manages library lending!

Annette – How to Organize Your LEGO

Get tired of messy LEGO bins? Here is how we organized ours.

Bonnie – Tips for Organizing Your Homeschool

I usually consider myself an organized person. That is, I like things organized and I try to keep them that way. As a parent with children running around the house, however, it’s been harder to stay organized. Homeschooling adds extra pressure, because now my child’s education hangs in the balance of my organization skills. Okay, not quite, but being organized does help the homeschooling run more smoothly. Here are my tips for organizing your homeschool.

Joelle – Organizing Our Homeschool Space

Keeping items organized in your homeschool is an important aspect of your homeschool day. It does help you from being frazzled and wasting time looking for things.

Andrea – Organizing Your Homeschool Space

This is just the bare bones of how I organize our space. You might not have a specific room, and that’s OK. The key is to keep organizing simple, consistent, and find a system which works for you and your family.