One of the main sources of frustration for me during the homeschooling year is the lack of time for homemaking projects that require many consecutive hours. Our playroom had been in disorder for months as we diligently accomplished schoolwork.It was unappealing to the kids who had too much work scheduled to enjoy free time to play there anyway. When the school year ended, I couldn't wait to dive into some home organization tasks. What amazed me most of all, was that in two weeks time I had finished most of the rooms that had bothered me the most. When the Fall comes, I will be scheduling LESS seat work and allowing for more free time for the kids to play, as well as giving myself days off as needed to keep up with the large homemaking tasks.
To clean and organize the playroom I took everything off the shelves. Our church was having a rummage sale a few days later, and I intended to be generous! One of the characteristics of a big family is that toys may be outgrown by the original owners, but there is always another kid coming up right behind them who can enjoy those toys! Most of our toys don't "go bad" either. They are still in great shape! I got rid of the junk and carried out at least 2 large bags of trash. I was able to donate 4 boxes of stuff to the church sale.
For some items it was hard to determine how many is too many! We probably have about a hundred horses, but the kids do play with them so we kept them all.
Part of the organization is to gather up and group "like" items. Pictured here are horse jumps and fencing. When sorted and put into an open container, the kids are more likely to grab them and set up a game.
This is the left hand section of the play room. Years ago, we bought 6 sets of these "assemble yourself" shelves from Lowes. They have worked out beautifully especially because we had to move our playroom into a different room to create another bedroom in its original space.The picture above is "The Agony in the Garden".
The shelves wrap around the space.A play rug for cars covers the carpet.
This is the finished product. Miss J. Set up a tea party while I was finishing up.The wooden utensils on the wall were purchased during the first few months of our marriage by Larry at a thrift store. We both love them and they have been hanging in each of our homes for 27 years.
I was thrilled to get this done and we have been able to keep it up since. They still prefer to grab their toys and bring them up to the living room to play but now at least they can see what they have!
