This is our magnetic wall currently.Note that I've already taken the first steps and have a custom made week-by-week calendar (it looks like one piece, but each week is a seperate strip), to do list, and menu boards; mesh containers for the PECS I need to integrate (already have magnets on them) and for dry erase markers; and a shopping list (currently sheets of paper, but this may dissappear entirely as I continue to use Cozi to keep track of such things now).
Still lots of usable space that I need to organize.
What I know I need ideas for:
- Separating paper for each child's schoolwork (since the FridgeFile went out of business and I cannot sew, I've no idea what to use) - 3 children
- Some type of removable magnetic boards that are safe for children to handle, and that are themselves magnetic - to apply our PECS to for chore charts and routines. Also needed for 3 children. (Thinking, maybe, to do the files on one side and pecs on the other?)
- Some nice magnets to put up important upcoming school papers/event reminders - I don't really like the thin, or ceramic, ones we have.
- There is a long desk (8 feet) below this wall center. I want to keep most of it clear so the older children can use their laptops or books to study at supervised. But I think something to hold pens and supplies and such sitting in the middle would be a good idea.
- There are 3 drawers under the desk in the middle, one for each child, as well. Drawer organizers? They are not large enough for papers, only smaller supplies or objects.
I don't want it to be too crammed with stuff so that it appears nice and clean, but I want to make as much use of it as possible to be as functional as possible.
To an extent, price is not an object - I'm more concerned with making it beautiful and functional than just functional - I'd like to stay away from white plastic and the like and opt for more beautiful possibilities. On the flipside, there is, somewhere, an upper limit to the budget for this. The calendar was fairly expensive but I think an excellent investment at $60 including shipping from Etsy. I loved being able to choose my own size, colors, font, and the number of weekly strips - along with the matching to do and menu boards.
I recently made a kitchen command center of sorts. It featured it at my blog here:
ReplyDeletehttp://controllingcraziness.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-can-do-hard-things.html#more
I have a dinner meal planning area at the top left that isn't shown. I have the school calendar and my daughter's behavior chart (you could do a chore chart there). The bottom right is for my grocery list and other notes. As for the kids schoolwork and homework, they each have their own drawer in the kitchen with important school papers and their homework box (crayons, scissors, pencils...) I also have a larger box that I store all their school work, awards, report cards, drawings in. That box is in a closet and stuff gets put into it weekly or monthly from their drawers in the kitchen. It has helped make my life easier/simplier.
Good luck.