Book Basket

I love baskets! I love books! I love teachers' dirty looks... oh, wait. Sorry, I got a little carried away there. Really, though, I do enjoy both baskets and books. Bookshelves, not so much. I don't know about your house, but no matter how many times I put the books away in an organized and tidy fashion, they always end up in a mess. I use to organize the books according to subject, height, binding, etc. By the time our youngest came along, I had given up on the idea of an organized bookshelf. I'm happy if the books even make it to the shelf now! Without the organization, however, we seem to forget which books we have or where the books we remember we have are. Gabriel especially has trouble finding books which are at his reading level. (This is most convenient when his aunt requests her own personal read aloud.) The bookshelf is fine for simple browsing. It's not so great when a quick grab is needed for our study times. Today I decided to combine my two loves in hopes of finding a solution.

Introducing the Book Basket

Step One: Find a sturdy basket and remove any contents. (The basket I found just had a few toy necklaces in it. No problem. They already belonged somewhere else.)

Step two: Pick out (or search for in my case) frequently used books or books necessary for current subject of study.

Step three: Place them in the basket, organized by subject and facing one direction.

Step four: Using coloured cardstock, make dividers with subject heading on top. (I also included a list of books to be used in the "Readers" subject. I will expect Gabriel to check off each title after he has read it. This will give me an idea of when the readers can be switch out for more advanced ones. Abby and Sam's subjects don't need to be checked off as they require higher frequency right now.)

Voila! That was simple.

It can be Gabriel's job to keep these books organized. It won't be a big task and it will help him to combine his reading and sorting skills.

How do you keep your books neat and tidy?