Many My Father’s World curriculum users prefer to store the sets we aren’t using during the “off” years.  (Or at least the majority of each set.  There may be a few all-purpose-type books that get left out in between.)  The reason for this is not that the resources aren’t good for enjoying all the time — they are! — but that many of us simply lack the space to have all those sets unpacked on the shelves at all times.

With apologies for the quality of my photos (these bins aren’t in a very well-lit location), I wanted to share what we’re using to share our “off year” sets, because they’re working really well.  These are Rubbermaid Roughneck totes.  The totes come in various sizes.  We have them all the way from about 18 gallons (which we store kids’ clothing in) down to some very small, maybe quart-size ones that store toys in the kids’ rooms.

These particular bins are the 10-gallon size.  They’re roughly the size of a case of paper, although the proportions are slightly different (a little bigger around and a bit “squatter”), but they’re watertight and stack very nicely.

Rubbermaid Roughneck Tote Storage Container, Steel, 10-gallon (1841371)Rubbermaid 2214 10-Gallon Roughneck Storage Box, Dark Indigo Metallic, 8-Pack

I printed out a set of labels on “mailing labels,” which is what you see here.  (My labels actually didn’t stick very well, so I’ve since had to put clear packing tape over them in order to make them stay put.)  You can see in the image below how I’ve varied which portion of the information is in large print and which is in smaller print; this is based entirely on what my own mental processes are.  I think of the Discover and Declare sets in terms of their grade levels, but the Investigate (Family Learning Cycle) sets in terms of their titles, so that’s what I emphasized on my labels.

Our ant farm doesn’t fit in the kindergarten bin, but so far everything else fits nicely.  I tossed a spare silica gel packet into each of the bins that’s in storage, just to provide a little extra protection against moisture, since I had them lying around.

In a few upcoming posts, I’ll show you how we’re organizing the more “active” portions of our curriculum.  (We do have our current year’s curriculum sets in these bins in the school area, just storing the resources that we don’t need until much later in the year, have finished with for the year, etc. in order to save us some “working space.”)