Where Do I Put All My Homeschool Stuff: Tip #4 Hide it in Plain Sight

We ask a lot of our houses, don't we? They provide so much more than simply a place for us to feed and house our families. For homeschoolers our houses also serve as school buildings. And then for many of us, our homes also have other functions. My husband runs a remodeling business, so his office is here, too. Right in our bedroom, to be specific.

I started writing this series after a request from a friend whose home hosts not only the study for her pastor husband, but also the church office as well. With just so much space, she was wondering how to manage homeschool paraphernalia on top of all the usual home stuff plus the church equipment.

With the multi-function needs of our homes in mind, doing what we can to keep our houses still looking like a warm and friendly place to live, here's tip #4:

Hide your homeschool (or office equipment or what have you) in plain sight!

Baskets and pretty bins can be useful for this.

The baskets above, which were ones I already had in the house, sit on a shelf in a little alcove in our kitchen. I made simple liners using these instructions to help them fit into our kitchen decor.

Here's what's hiding in them, from left to right:

- Bags full of preschool learning activities for the visiting grandgirls
- Small office tools: 3 hole punch, scissors, calculator, rulers, etc.
- Pattern blocks
- Counting bears (We've grown beyond these, and the pattern blocks too, but they are enjoyed by young visitors, plus my kids still pull them out when they need markers for game pieces)
- Computer equipment and DVDs
- Picnic basket with plate holder, etc.

Kind of eclectic, isn't it? But we find it handy to keep those things fairly close, and stored this way they are reasonably attractive.

Baskets aren't the only way to hide something in the open. Sometimes you can tuck  things inside furniture which feels like a natural part of the room. Our master bedroom doubles as office space for both Tim and I. With two desks, two computers, a file cabinet, and more in here, after a while it began to feel that every surface was overflowing with something office related. Not exactly the feel I want for our bedroom. A partial solution was to buy a wardrobe which could house paper, printer ink, envelopes, and all sorts of other office stuff.

This wardrobe didn't solve all our office space problems, but it sure helped!

(Here's the funny story behind our wardrobe. We both liked this one which Tim found on Craigslist, When he contacted the owner, it turned out to one of our very close friends!)

A friend of mine uses a big wardrobe to hold much of her family's homeschool materials. She's able to store a large amount of books and supplies, and then close it all up behind her pretty doors.

As you think about locations for your homeschool supplies, particularly the office-y types of things, consider if there are some creative ways you can keep those things readily accessible, but "hidden" - in plain sight!