For many, it's that time of year. Another homeschool year is ending, and homeschoolers have either purchased or are getting ready to purchase next year's curriculum. And that often comes with assessing the current stash. There is a mass declutter of homeschool books and supplies.
We school year-round here, so there's never a set time of year for this to happen. This year, however, I just happened to have recently finished accumulating my materials for next year. I discussed in previous posts the massive change we are making in our homeschool next year. This means more books and supplies than if I had just stuck with what we were doing. Since our space is limited, this also means I need to go through and make room!
Now, I am a lover of books. And I have to tell you, I despise getting rid of them. I'll bet that there's many homeschool mamas out there that feel the same! But for many of us, there comes a time when you just have to go through and declutter those homeschool shelves. In this post, I will share some of my thought process behind deciding what needs to go. I will also share a few ways that make it easier (for me at least) to let those things go.
What Needs to Go?
Books
As I go through the bookshelves, I start out by asking myself some questions. The first is usually, "How long has this been sitting unused?" If it hasn't been touched the entire school year, or maybe it was shelved in the beginning of the year, it becomes a suspect.
Once a book becomes a suspect, I ask myself, "WHY has it been sitting unused?" If I know I'll use it down the road, because it just didn't go with what we're studying that year, I will probably keep it. However, if it hasn't been used because we tried it and it just didn't work for us, that makes it easier to let go. Sometimes, us mamas want something to work because we love it. And we're frustrated that it's just not clicking for our kids. Seriously, unless it was just over their heads and you're waiting to see if it will work down the road, let it go! There are just some things that we will be excited about, but it won't work for the kiddos. And that's okay!
Another thing I need to do more often, and will definitely be doing this year, is assessing the readers' ages. I know for a fact I have books on my shelves that are way too young for even my youngest kiddo. Now, if there is a book that is beloved by your child or sentimental to them, by all means keep it! There is nothing wrong with having a beloved book below their reading level. When I find "younger" books that my kiddos are adamant in keeping, I give it to them. They have shelves in their bedrooms that they can then keep those books on. Everything else goes!
School Supplies
I know that I'm not alone in the fact that I am also a lover of school supplies. Pens, pencils, erasers, sticky notes, bookmarks, paper clips, markers, colored pencils, notebooks of all kinds, etc. I could go on, but I'll do you all a favor and not.
For homeschool supplies, I tend to obsessively organize rather than declutter. I mean, unless something is broken or I know for a fact we'll never use it, it stays. For instance, my boys are "too big" for crayons and never use them, so I ended up giving our stash to a friend who would. By obsessively organize, I mean I will dump a plastic shoebox of markers all over the table. Then, I will test each one and toss the markers that are dead or almost dead. I will do the same with colored pencils, sharpening each one and tossing the ones too small to fit into the sharpener. Any notebooks that still contain paper are great for scratch paper. Most homeschoolers know, when it comes to school supplies, we will find a way to use it up or wear it out! 😂
By the way, I love those plastic shoe boxes you can buy! They are my favorite way to organize all of our school and craft supplies.
Craft Supplies
Speaking of craft supplies, in this house they pretty much go hand-in-hand with school supplies. I can craft and figure things out if I have to. Or if I become temporarily obsessed with a certain kind of craft. But I am by no means a naturally crafty person. And I'm okay with that!
As I mentioned, plastic shoe boxes are my favorite way to store crafts supplies. Most of our supplies have been obtained because they were needed for school projects. I have quite a bit to go through, because many were used once and then never touched again. The staples we use over and over are paints and brushes of all kinds, sharpie markers of all colors and sizes, wooden dowels, craft sticks, a few different kinds of glue (including a glue gun), glitter, and yarn or twine. When my kiddos were younger, we also had a supply of beads and ironing beads, stickers of all kinds, and pipe cleaners.
In order to declutter these, I will just dump out the shoe boxes one at a time, and anything that my kids will use regularly goes back. The rest will either be tossed or given away. I have a few crafty friends and homeschool friends nearby that I know will use whatever we don't want.
Get it Gone
And that brings us to the point of letting stuff go. How do I declutter the homeschool stuff?
Give it to someone. For me personally, this is always my first preference. My sister-in-law lives close to me and also homeschools her kiddos. So anytime I have a pile of books or supplies I'm getting rid of, she gets first dibs. It always helps to let go of things, when you know they're going somewhere where they will be a blessing and get good use. After that, any non-curriculum books that she doesn't take, I will donate to our church library.
Do a giveaway! On the same line as the point above, give it to someone in the form of a giveaway. If you have a blog or a YouTube channel that discusses homeschooling, why not do a giveaway of curriculum you're not using anymore? I recently saw a YouTuber run a giveaway of curriculum she no longer needed, and I thought that was a genius idea!
Sell it. Sometimes, we tend to keep those curriculum books and let them take up space because we paid good money for them. There are plenty of ways these days to sell those books, especially online. If you don't like the online route, there's always used curriculum fairs! Will you make all of your money back? Of course not! But it will be better than taking up precious space on your bookshelf doing absolutely nothing! Plus, you will be blessing someone who either can't, or doesn't want to, pay for brand new.
Donate it. If you can't give it away, and you can't sell it, you can always drop it off at your local thrift store. Or, see if there's a library nearby that will take it. Another option is to see if there are any charities in your area that could use the books or supplies.
Toss it. Finally, if it's broken supplies, or a book in tattered and poor condition, that's probably a good indication that the best place for it is in the garbage can.
Get Decluttering!
I hoped this post inspired you to declutter your homeschool areas! For many of us homeschoolers, this is a difficult thing to tackle. But I also know from experience, that once our homeschool area has been freshly decluttered and organized, our days go so much smoother! Things are quicker to find because we don't have to dig through a bunch of stuff we never use. And I know that for us personally, our brains are more ready to learn when the area around us is not a distraction.
I would love to see in the comments your tips for how you go about tackling the homeschool clutter issue! Please share, because I know we could all use some help to declutter our homeschool things, especially this time of year.
Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great day!
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