My Semi-Organized Homeschool #1 - Mini Offices for Mini People

This is the first post of a little series that I plan on doing. I just want to share with you a few of the things that I have done in our homeschool to help things run a little smoother for us. I call it semi-organized because that is me. I am only semi-organized! Oh I am 100% organized on PAPER but paper isn't real life so I have to be honest.

First up: Mini Offices

Mini offices. Honestly this reminded me of the three years I spent in a Christian school. We had “offices” and although they are only vaguely similar I did have flashbacks. Not a bad thing, just flashbacks.

I have to say that I first made these last year but only used them for a little while before we pushed them to the side and forgot about them. This year however, they are getting quite a workout (albeit this is only Week 2!!)

The mini offices have been such a blessing to have! They really do allow my girls to focus on the task at hand. It’s amazing how much more a person can concentrate if only they do not SEE the distractions!!! Yes, they can still HEAR all the noise but not seeing it has made a difference for these two.

Many of the mini offices that I saw were made from file folders. I knew that since my children seem to destroy everything very quickly file folders wouldn’t have survived long here. So I kept looking. Somewhere in the blogosphere…remember this was last year…I saw that someone had used those tri-panel science project boards for theirs. I knew that I had found our future mini offices.

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I promptly had my hubby go out and buy me one along with some of that First-Aid fabric tape (that’s probably not the name but I can’t think of its proper name right now!) so that I could tape off the edges to make them neat. We got our boards from Wal-Mart last year for around $4.00 but now they have them-although not as tall-at Dollar Tree. I purchased a couple and they seem to be durable. I was going to use one for Brother but he isn’t satisfied with one smaller than the girls…I think it has something to do with it stepping on his manhood. A man isn’t to be outdone by the ladies now is he?!!

Once I got my hands on the board I decided what half-way would be and began

cutting. It didn’t come out totally even but the tape covered up most of my mistakes.

Yes, I know it's upside down. I did that on purpose. I didn't want the ugly, uneven side on top.

 I then printed, cut out and attached the printables that I wanted to use. Anything that we were working on for that particular child went into their mini office. This works out to be like a study aid of sorts.

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I have recently thought about removing items from one of the flaps so that the girls can use that space to put up any little pictures or decorations that they want. I haven’t done it yet but I am very tempted to. I also am wondering if the backsides couldn’t be spray painted so that they are prettier. Hmm…gotta experiment with that.

Another plus is that the storage space is very minimal! Can you spy the mini-office in this picture?

Anyway, that is the McMama version of mini offices. I hope that you find it useful! I’d be glad to answer any questions that you might have!!

Some great links for mini offices:

The Teaching Heart: Tons of great printouts for the younger set!! Their offices were made extra mini by using file folders!!!

Mrs. Meacham has some handy idea as well!!! LOVE her calendar stuff!! Look it up.

Lapbook Lessons: I got quite a few of my printables here!! I love this little place!! They have some wonderful printables for your mini office.

A fellow blogger and her oodles of  mini office offerings (links):

Honey-Sunflower Schoolhouse

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!! There’s a ton out there!!! Happy searching.

Lovin' Learnin'