One of my favorite parenting pastimes is saving catalogues dedicated to kid rooms and, come some quiet Saturday morning alone with my coffee, finally sitting down to get super envious of be inspired by all the rooms on the pages. My question always is, who are these kids? Did, like, the parents knock down all the walls in the house and give up the use of every other room to accumulate square footage for one grand palace for their kid? Is the rest of the family sardine’d into what I assume is the only 2-foot space left? How can you fit a tree house in a kid’s room and still have room for a performance stage, a vanity “nook” and a “study area” three times the size of my own office? It’s the study spaces that always get me though–gorgeous built-ins, neat desks, staged computers that never have cords showing (Dear God, why aren’t there cords in these photos? Where is the ugly Allstate mouse pad they got for free from their insurance agent? And why isn’t some kid hunched over the screen, eating dry Fruit Loops, watching weird slime D.I.Y.s from a questionable grown woman with the world’s most annoying voice?) And the shelves. The shelves! Rows and rows of shelves with colorful matching baskets labeled with things like “Henry’s Flash Cards” and “Clara’s Stationery”, except Lord knows not “Miscellaneous” because the mother of these children certainly puts everything in its place, throws needless things away and would never have broken calculators, Command hooks that lost their sticky backs, and–oh, I don’t know–random light switch plates thrown in with her kids’ school supplies. And there are posters of periodic tables and color charts, peg boards and cork boards and chalk boards that say, in the world’s most perfect handwriting, “Henry, Practice Oboe!” and “Clara, Horseback Riding, Tuesday, 5:00.” Certainly these children are thriving and happy and bound for greatness.
I’m here to tell you that you too can have thriving kids with whatever ramshackle corner in your house you call a study space. I did it! I turned a sliver of available wall space into our homework headquarters, and WE LOVE IT. We’ve done the whole designated study space thing in our house, and Lainey still has a desk in her room, but do you know where my kids always end up choosing to do their homework or write a story? Our kitchen counter. As long as it’s not necessary for them to be in a quiet zero-distractions space, they seem to work best when they are out in the open and near us where they can ask for help or read us something they’ve written or yell for Alexa to give them an answer.
Ladies and gentlemen, our fits-all-our-needs, does-everything-Clara’s-palace-does-without-hogging-all-the-square-footage-in-our-home Study CART. That’s right, a cart.
There are a few things I love about our cart system, and I use the word “system” lightly because terms like “system” and “chart” when referring to parenting give me hives and are usually code for “something I will implement for two weeks and then disappointingly fizzle out on” (I’m looking at you, chore chart). We started using our cart system (you have no idea how responsible I feel throwing that term out) to organize our school schedules and learning materials toward the end of the year last year, and it’s been the easiest thing to maintain. Plus, we use it frequently which brings me to my favorite thing about it–it’s centrally located where everyone can see it and have access to it. That means we are more likely to pull out writing practice, learning games, flash cards. etc. and are reminded to encourage our kids’ learning goals. Technically, I’m one of those moms who likes a living room to look like a living room, not a day care; but the cart doesn’t scream “kids!” And besides, that smiley face Dash wrote on the wall at our entrance? The jig is up; we have kids.
Other arguments for a study cart:
*It’s easily moveable if a child wants to roll it to a more quiet space.
*It doesn’t take up a lot of room
*It’s low enough where even kindergarteners can get their own paper and sharpen their own pencils.
So, what’s in our study cart?
First of all, we use this 3-tier cart from Target. I’m obsessed with it. I have one in my office, Dash has one in his room for little toys, and I’m damn near tempted to just line up all the walls in our house with them for all of my MISCELLEANEOUS things. You heard me, Henry and Clara’s mom. Light switch plates and Command hooks.
Above our cart is a large paper roll (we use this one) that’s been great for displaying lists and fun quotes, but at least for the start of the year, we are using it to keep track of school information we refer to often–things like the little ones’ related arts schedules, lunch times (if we want to surprise them at school), student numbers, etc.
On top of the paper roll, we hung a large calendar (I bought this large kraft wall calendar – a nice subtle design that blends in with the paper roll and one where you can choose your start month and either a Sunday or Monday week start) to keep track of the kids’ events and family appointments. I spent a good twenty minutes the other day transferring all important dates from the school district calendar to this one so we can have everything in one place.
In the cart:
notebook paper
electric pencil sharpener (gets used sooooo much!)
cup of pens and pencils
crayon box filled with crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue stick, kid scissors
blank books (like these) for writing stories. We pick up packs of them from the Target Dollar Spot a lot. I love having blank books for creative writing in our home, and they are cheap enough that the kids can write a book a day if they like.
leveled readers I love this set we have for Nella and Dash with recognizable sight words and small sentences.
…and lots of learning manipulatives and educational games. Our favorites in the cart include…
Montessori Phonetic Reading Blocks (you can flip any one of the three letters to see how letter components change the word)
Sight Word Flash Card Ring Deck
Counting and Arithmetic Manipulative
We have a lot of early literacy materials in our cart because it’s important for all kids but especially for Nella. Because her learning goals take a little longer, they require patience, hard work, consistent practice and a FUN approach; and our little study cart is stocked to help us stick to those goals.
Now, what to keep and what to throw out from all the things they’ll be bringing home from school this year? That’s a whole different post! Happy Studies!
Mary H says
I have one of these in my craft space. It’s from Michael’s. I bought it when they had a 50% off coupon, but every week they have a 40% off coupon, so it’s really inexpensive to buy one there.
Kelle says
Okay, one of my goals this year is to use my Michael’s coupons and keep them organized in my phone! I forget so often and then am in a hurry when I check out. But I know it saves a ton of money!
Vickie Buchner says
They also have the coupons right on the app!
Also-thank you for this today!! I was literally looking at pottery barn kids yesterday – my daughter wants a desk for her room. But $500++ later there is no way!! plus I doubt she will ever even use it ( she’s in 3rd) (But have you seen the cute fur desk chairs- omg so cute!!) I can’t wait to show her this cart idea- brilliant ????
Shannon Underwood says
Michael’s does accept Hobby Lobby Coupons. You can pull up the Hobby Lobby coupons right on your phone when you are checking out.
TRACY says
Kelle,
I cannot get the link for the calendar to work. Alternate suggestions?
~Tracy
Kelle says
I just re-linked it to the item (I think I linked the transaction of the item before). It’s from an Etsy shop called “letter c designs”. Hope that helps!
Reenie says
Nella’s outfit is adorable on her. xo
Sarah says
Love love this idea!!!! Thank you. I have been struggling with keeping all the things we use daily together. This will be the perfect solution.
Amy says
Love this post! I’m really dying to hear how the first day of school was… did Dash adjust? How was middle school for Lainey? Is Nella happy in her new class? You have had some epic first day posts….
Susan says
We just moved our family of 5 including 3 kids ages 13,12 and 9 into an apt for a year. I have this exact cart and transformed it into the perfect homework cart. Because God knows we will be missing all the things even in 1425sq ft!!
Micah | Home Faith Family says
I absolutely love the cart and calendar idea. It has everything you need without being overwhelming and too crazy.
Gabbie says
Your honesty about the reality of parenting makes me laugh so much! My littlie is only 2, but I’m a former primary school teacher and I can’t wait to get set up with things like this when he’s bigger. Thanks for the great ideas!
Stori says
This is the best idea! I am going to get to working on something similar.
Laura Sufka says
Anyone have the cart above and/or the one from IKEA? Preference? Looking to purchase one soon, just thought people may have a suggestion! Thanks!
Pamela says
Hi Kelle! I wonder what tools you use for your older daughter with homework/supplemental learning as they are working up through the grades. Ours are now 7th and 4th grade and I wish I would not have missed a few things in the earlier grades to maybe better prepare them. They are both awesome straight A students, but from moving & the differences in school curriculums and standards I see where I could have helped more at home with supplemental materials had I realized. Never too late I’m thinking and hoping! Khan Academy is a neat site for them to go over (or refresh) so many sections of all subjects! Love your set up for the littles =)
Maria says
I have these carts everywhere too…bathroom, my room, and I just bought one for my college child too (his request). I definitely need more more for school stuff since I need to get our sharpener off the kitchen desk that no one uses.