I placed a child-friendly spin on the traditional “get organized” New Year’s resolution this year by resolving to organize an educational home—one that will nurture creativity, curiosity and a desire to learn in a self-directed way.

I began by sketching a layout of our home and thinking about the activities that my child enjoys doing as well as the activities that I would like for her to do more regularly. On the sketch, I plotted out all of the spaces throughout the house that could be transformed into child accessible storage:  the lower portion of the coat closet, one lower cabinet in the kitchen, an under-utilized corner of the living room, and so forth. My vision was to transform these areas into categorized learning stations that could be utilized and explored  -- and cleaned up afterward -- with very little supervision, thus increasing her sense of responsibility and self reliance. 

Art supplies present a perfect opportunity to create a learning station. Previously, my daughter’s supplies were not accessible to her without my help.  I found that we were doing less and less art simply because of the time it took to dig things out, supervise the process to assure the carpet and furniture weren’t ruined, and clean up afterwards. Now that I have arranged an “Art Station” on some shelving in the lower portion of a coat closet, she can clearly see the items that are available for her to use, decide upon and complete a project without my direction, and put the supplies away when she is finished with her masterpiece. I continued by placing an easel in a nearby bathroom with a roll of paper and water paints. Because the bathroom flooring is linoleum, paint spills are not a problem.

I have found it useful to utilize baskets that can easily be moved from room to room yet belong to a designated station. A basket underneath our coffee table holds manipulatives and building sets while a basket near the stairs is designated for borrowed library books.  In addition, an attractive storage bench placed in our living room has become the new home for dress up clothes—the “Pretend Play” station.

I am also considering creating stations for: Sensory, Nature Observation, Art Gallery, Reading (several throughout the home), Gardening Supplies,  Writing,  Music,  Creative Electronics (old camcorder & camera), and Cooking.  With limited space, my plan is to rotate through these areas throughout the year.

As I finish with each new educational area, I explain to my daughter that I have created a new special place just for her so that she can explore and learn on her own.  Her response is one of immediate appreciation and I see a renewed interest and a higher level of creativity in the station I’ve developed.     

With feedback like this, I think my “get organized” resolution will surely stick through 2007.

If you have a personal experience with homeschooling that you’d like to share, please contact me at Scoop@MBayKids.com and place “Homeschooling” in the subject line.  I’d love to hear from you!

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