025 | Books Galore
I spent the weekend on organizing projects. If I were expecting a child, I would say I’m nesting; instead I’m expecting and preparing for a new season of life (more on that later). One of my tasks was finishing some details in Miss T’s closet—including labels for the books.
Even though I had a plan and was waiting for the Elfa system to arrive, implementing the plan for this closet project was jump started by my energizing conversation with the Tara Bremer and Penny Thomas at House Peace about organizing Miss T’s books. I got off our Rapid Fire Organization session and almost immediately gathered all the books to purge and sort.
A couple of ideas were especially helpful: grouping by categories and using magazine files to contain thinner, floppier books. Here is the result.
🌈 On the bottom shelf that she can reach most easily are storybooks in rainbow order and easy reader books grouped by reading level.
📖 On the next level, which she can reach with our help or by standing on a stool, are books on:
𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 (transportation, engineering, other cultures besides China)
𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 (plus Pokémon because their in the wild and the books fit there)
𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮—Miss T is Chinese. This section includes books on culture, language, rituals and holidays, and stories that are China or Chinese-American specific.
𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲
𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆—to build up her sense of self plus all the books on emotion and listening to her body
𝗚𝗼𝗱—books on who she is as a loved child of God, God’s work in creation, her children’s Bibles, the Nativity
𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿—these are books we only read during this time of year. These Christmas books are not faith based.
📖 Finally, I put a bin on the shelf in her bedside table that is only for 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 books—whether from school or the public library—to keep them separate but easy to find. So far, so good. This system has been in place for a couple weeks now and is helping to keep her room tidier. This goes along way in contributing to my sense of sanctuary in our home.