Innovative ways to use color to organize everything in your homeschool from books to supplies to assignments and more!
As a large family mom, I’m used to color-coding my kids. When they were all little, I would put them in matching colors any time we went out in public. When I made up a new chore chart, I would assign each child a color so they could easily follow what chores they needed to do. I still use “their color” in my calendar so I can track when my teens go to work or my adult children are coming for a visit!
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Color coding is the absolute easiest way to organize your homeschool too! It’s like a secret weapon in your homeschool mom arsenal that will create order from chaos quicker than you can say color me happy!
Here are some innovative, yet simple ways to use color to organize everything in your homeschool – from curriculum to assignments, supplies to seating, and more!
It’s time to get colorful in your homeschool!
This post is sponsored by ChromaLabel.
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How to choose colors for your homeschool
Before you start coloring everything in your homeschool, you need a system, and that requires you to choose colors. There are a few things you need to consider when choosing colors.
Who and what you are organizing –
Some color organization will be based on your children. Some color organization will be based on your curriculum. You may also want to choose a “homeschool palette” for your homeschool – a set of colors that go together that “personify” your homeschool. (We’ll talk more about homeschool colors in a bit!)
What colors should you use to organize –
The easiest colors to use are primary colors because they are usually readily available in stores. However, take a look at these colored dots from ChromaLabel – they come in a huge variety of beautiful colors! *happy sigh*. So, you totally are not limited to primary colors if you don’t want to be.
My kids’ colors were BLUE, LIGHT PINK, YELLOW, GREEN, PURPLE, ORANGE, RED, WHITE, HOT PINK, and AQUA. For the most part, I chose these colors. However, you can let your kids pick their own color, but you will need to give them options to choose from that you actually have access to!
Ways to organize with color in your homeschool
Now that you have an idea of what colors you want to use, let’s dive into all the neat ways you can use color to organize your homeschool!
Organize your curriculum with colors
When you read through my Large Family Homeschool Organization page, you’ll see that I like to put the books I need for the entire school year on their own bookshelf where they are easily accessible each school day. But recently I realized every year I have to scour my bookshelves for the books I need. This is not efficient in any way, shape or form – especially when we are following a curriculum that has a 4 year cycle to it and I’m using these books over and over again – meaning I have to search for them over and over again!
So, I decided to add colored dots to the “books of the year” – one color per year for Years 1, 2, 3, and 4 of our main curriculum – Tapestry of Grace. This will allow me to easily find the books of the year each year and move them to the bookshelf where we homeschool.
When adding colored dots to your books, you simply center them on the spine of the book where they {preferably} won’t obscure the title of the book. However, it’s more important to me that the dots are all near the bottom of the spine of each book, so I can overlook the dot obscuring the title.
If the dots are larger than the spine of the book, wrap them around the edges of the book. You can even add a bit of clear packing tape over the top of the dot to secure it even more, but if the dots have a strong adhesive, this shouldn’t be necessary.
You could use this same concept to organize books that go with a certain curriculum or a certain age group. For instance, Peaceful Press has several different curricula from The Peaceful Preschool to The Playful Pioneers and others. You could use different colors to mark the books that go with each of those curricula, making them easier to keep track of.
Organize your child’s supplies with colors
As I mentioned earlier, each of my children have a color and as long as I can find their color, I am able to buy them notebooks, binders, and bins in their color. However, rarely am I going to find all of my homeschooling supplies in enough of a variety of colors to assign a color to each child and be even remotely consistent about that color choice.
That’s where colored dots or colored tape come in handy! Use them to mark everyone’s stuff with their color. You can mark pencils with a strip of tape wrapped around it near the eraser. You can mark scissors with tape wrapped around one of the handles. You can mark notebooks with a dot or strip of tape near the top.
You can add dots and tape in each child’s color to nearly everything they use during the homeschool day! This will simplify school shopping because you can buy any item of any color and just add a dot or tape to delineate which child that item belongs to!
Organize your child’s assignments with colors
Years ago, I made each child an assignment card every morning with their daily lessons and chores. In the photo below, you’ll see I was using one color of index card for everyone (because that’s what I had!), but eventually, I started adding a dash of color with a marker in that child’s color to the top of each card. (I still put their names on the cards as well, but the color helped them to easily see which card was theirs.)
You can find index cards in different colors or you can use a dot, highlighter, or marker like I did. You can also look for sticky notes in enough colors to cover each of your kids and use those for writing out assignments each day.
And if you are keeping track of assignments in a planner, you can mark each child’s assignments by their color using a highlighter or marker as well, helping you to easily see what each child has done each day.
Or you may opt to assign each subject a color for your planner or your child’s assignment sheet. For instance, Bible is BLUE, Science is GREEN, History is BROWN, etc. This makes it easy to see at a glance what subjects they will need to do that day.
Organize sections of your homeschool with colors
If you’ve assigned each subject in your homeschool a color or each child a color, you can then translate that to sections (or “stations”) in your homeschool.
For instance, the Art station has a red sign with red clothespins on jute to hang the latest art projects.
OR…
The Art station has jute with clothespins painted in each child’s color so they always know where to hang their personal masterpieces.
Another idea is to use colored tape to make seating assignments for your children. ChromaLabel has a myriad of different colored tapes that could be used to mark each child’s spot at the table, the desk, or on the floor. This is especially helpful if you have children who bicker and need to be separated or children who tend to take up a lot of space at the table and need borders to stay within (ahem…looking at you my sweet 6 year old!)
You can also use colored tape to mark off certain areas in your homeschool room or home. Make a Reading Space for each child by using their color of tape to mark off a section of floor space just for them. Make a place for Science supplies to be placed by using the Science color of tape to mark off a section on a table or bookshelf. The possibilities are endless!
Organize homeschool field trips and outings with colors
In my post on Matching Outfits for the Large Family, I talk about how putting your kids in the same color when you go on an outing or field trip can help to keep them safe and easy to find in a group. (In the post, note the colors that DO NOT work well for this!)
You may also want to have tote bags or backpacks in each child’s color for field trips and homeschool co-op. Can’t find enough colors? Buy white canvas totes and dye them or decorate them at home in each child’s color.
Field trips and outings are also a great opportunity to show of your school colors! (see below…)
Organize with “homeschool colors”
Remember when I mentioned making a “homeschool palette?” These are like “team colors” only better, more unique, and way more fun!
Peruse inspired color palettes at Design Seeds or use a Color Calculator to find just the right shades for your homeschool. Go to a paint store and grab paint chips that make you happy. Run a favorite image through a Color Picker to find all the different shades in the photo or graphic. Then, use those colors to organize your homeschool!
Get a Homeschool Mom Basket in your homeschool colors. Buy homeschool field trip shirts in your homeschool colors or better yet, get white shirts and paint on them or add an iron-on in your homeschool colors! You can even make a logo with your homeschool name on it using Canva!
All the different ways to organize with color that I shared in this post can be done in your homeschool palette! You can use the variety of colored dots or tape from ChromaLabel, you can use acrylic paints, markers, or your home printer to make your homeschool palette not only a fun way to organize, but a fun way to build cohesiveness in your homeschool and beyond through color!
Time to make your homeschool colorful (and organized)!
This post is sponsored by ChromaLabel.
Use code: AMY20 for 20% off your first order!
CLICK HERE TO SHOP THEIR SELECTION OF COLORED DOTS & TAPE!
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