My kids begin school in 2 weeks (yikes), so I have been spending the past several days preparing our home for a new routine, schedule, and with that – a brand new menu plan. I designated a spot in our kitchen for all of this and I call it our “School Command Center”.
Our school command center includes:
- School binder
- Budget binder
- Recipe Binder
- Cooking Magazines
- Sports schedules
- Sign & Return Sleeve
- Homework Caddy
- Art Boxes (Crayons & Markers)
- Keepsake Accordian
- Kids Money Saving Jars
I used a Martha Stewart magazine bin (from Staples) to store my cooking magazines. When it’s time for me to create our weekly menu, I pull out the bin & start planning. Its very handy.
Next is the kids “Homework Caddy”. I shared how you can put one together yourself, last year on the blog (here). I’ve updated it a bit and placed it on the second shelf of the “School Command Center”. It’s very convenient.
The extra crayons & markers are stored in shoe boxes from Target.
- SIGN & RETURN: I keep a sleeve attached to the door of the cabinet for all “sign & return” papers. If the kids have something that needs signed for school, they put it in this sleeve & every evening after dinner, I go through the papers. Once Im done signing, I hand them over to my kids to put in their backpacks.
- SPORTS SCHEDULES: I also hung a clipboard on the door. This is for all sports schedules. My kids are in so many sports! I’m sure many of you can relate.
This fall, I am beginning a new chore & allowance system to teach my kids about money & responsibility. I am using the printables created by Modern Parents Messy Kids. (You can find out more about this system here). I keep their savings jars in this cabinet. If they want to deposit or withdraw chore money, I have it all right her for easy access.
My Homekeeping Binders (Purchased at Staples):
- Recipes – I have so many favorite recipes, printed from different sites. Learn more about this binder here.
- Budget – I can’t imagine life without my Budget Binder. Find out about it here.
- School – This binder contains all of the printables in the “Back to School Printable Bundle” found here.
The rainbow accordion (purchased from Walmart) is used to temporarily store my kids school keepsakes in. Every month, l go through it and file the papers in my kids keepsake boxes. Learn more about them here.
Meal planning is fun with these cute sheets from the Back to School Printable Bundle.
I hope I got your mind spinning with new ideas for your home & back to school routine. Happy Organizing!
To see more school related blog posts, visit this page.
Tags: back to school, command center, organizing, school command center
August 2014, autumn, back to school, back to school bundle, binders, Blog, Cabinets, command center, Kitchen, menu planning, Organize, Planners & Binders, recipe binder, schedules, school supplies Posted in
21 comments
21 comments on “School Command Center”
Wonderful post! We were blessed with lots of cabinets in our new kitchen. I have a mini office with school supplies galore right next to our refridgerator. I hadn’t thought to have the recipe binder in there too. That makes sense to have meal planning with homework, because meal planning is well, like homework!
Our kids started school Monday. So much for starting school the day after labor Day like when I was a kid.
Thanks for always producing beautiful blog posts!
What would be some suggestions for a command center for a mom of high schoolers, would you do anything different?
I have kids in elementary, middle and high school. I wouldnt do anything different. You might not need the crayon boxes but you could add index cards, highlighters, flags and post its for a “study box”.
Perfect, that is exactly what I am going to do this weekend…thank you every day for the inspiration and knowledge you give us aka your followers, you are one of kind Toni!
I am a high school teacher and mother of a high schooler. I also keep extra binders, loose leaf paper, Thesaurus/Dictionary, folders, and sheet protectors.
You are so organised! I am in awe of this, congratulations for being a Super Mom.
Where did you find the caddy for the school supplies? I have been looking everywhere for something like that.
If you look in the cleaning aisle of your local ‘box’ store (Target, Walmart, etc)
That looks great, Toni! So many helpful ideals to help streamline the daily routines!
I love that you used a cabinet for this project. Our station is in a china hutch, but my 4 year old has already gone through and explored it all. Now I have to start from scratch… again. I love the homework caddy. That’s such a great idea.
Toni – ever since you changed up your page, I can’t view your blog! I can go to your blog tab, view the list but as soon as I click one of the topics, I get a page where all I can see are ads and the comments about the blog! I have tried accessing it from different computers, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. and the same problem. I LOVE your page and your blog and want to be able to view it. Is there anything you can recommend that I may be doing wrong or are there certain requirements that maybe I don’t have on my computer that have caused this to start happening? Thanks!
if you’re using IE, the blog is not compatible. You’ll want to try another browser.
Love this….and really hope one day we can meet in person! xoxo
I also haven’t been able to read the blog since the update and I thought maybe there were just some glitches to work out. Doesn’t most of the world use IE? I don’t have a computer at home. I can do personal stuff online at work during breaks or lunch but I don’t have permission to install a different browser : (
Im sorry to hear that. We will work on the issues. 🙂
We tested the blog on all browsers, including internet explorer. The website loads great for us. One thing you can check is to make sure you have the most recent version of internet explorer installed on your computer. It’s version 11. Also, sometimes if you are viewing the website from work, a firewall could be blocking the website. I hope this helps.
Hi! Love your command center! Is it possible to just purchase your printables from the back to school bundle?
Sara, the sale ends today and they will not be in anyones shop for at least a month. Now is the best time to get them. 🙂
This is perfect! I plan to homeschool my son and was thinking about doing something similar, but now I have a LOT more ideas in mind! Thank you!!
Also, I just purchased the Emergency Preparedness ebook and I am so thankful that I did! Instead of making it it’s own binder, I currently have it as its own tab in my Home Management Binder – once I acquire all of the paperwork and fill out the printables, though, it’ll be on its own. It’s absolutely amazing, so thank you! My question is if I can talk about it on my own blog? I plan to properly link everyone to your site, of course, but through showing my HMB, I’d kind of have to show it, so I was wondering if it was okay to do – or if I should just wait until it’s out of the binder? Thanks!
Jessica
Love your command center, especially adore the clipboard! Would you share your source? I want to use several for a photo display. Yours looks so much nicer than the mass produced ones available at the local office supply and big box stores.