I haven't participated in this for a long time but I thought I was due for a big tackle project and the schoolroom was the perfect place to start.
I've been wanting to have an actual school area away from our dining area since we started in August. It was not an easy task moving our school stuff around each day at meal time or before and after our school time. But, I couldn't decide WHERE to have our school area.
I had some options:
Abby's room - moving Abby in with the other girls so her room would be available for our school. I like that it would all be in one place but it was too far away from the playroom so I wouldn't always be able to hear the other girls when they weren't doing school.
The basement - we have a great area down there but it is dark with very few windows and we have storage stuff down there. I didn't know where we would move the storage stuff if we moved our school down there. And, spending a few hours a day in the basement did not sound fun.
The playroom - There is a half bath off the playroom and lots of windows. Perfect spot for our school room but it takes away a huge area where the girls normally play. Where do I put toys if I move our school into the playroom?
So, I weighed my options and knew the the playroom was the best choice. They really don't need all of those toys anyway and as they get older, I can trust them more with toys in their rooms. Space chosen, we took a trip to IKEA.
The next decision was what kind of table for our school room. Jeremy and I were having a minor disagreement about the whole "school room" thing anyway. He is completely, 100% on board with our homeschooling the girls but he thought that the dining room was a great school room and didn't see a need for anything else.
Obviously, he is not the teacher.
I convinced him that we needed a space but now I needed to convince him about a table. He did not want another dining table, like I had hoped to get. He wanted something to collapse like a folding table. Yes, a folding table. He said, "We'll get a good one, like the white ones from Sams Club."
"You want the girls to learn to write on a bumpy-surfaced white folding table??"
"Yep."
Obviously, he is not a writer.
I knew we would find something we could agree on at IKEA. They are the masters in creative design and they just had to have invented something with a smooth surface that had folding legs and was sturdy. Right?
Well, they sure did! And, the folding leg attachments were ON SALE. It was a sign.
Along with a few more, 5 to be exact, cute IKEA glasses and a new hand broom, I purchased our new folding, sturdy, school room table. (with 4 chairs that are sturdy but not folding as my space saving hubby would have liked)
In the above picture, you can see my messy stacks of books on the bookshelf and my empty book organizers on the table.
Well, I went to town tackling the piles of books today, sorting them and organizing them into their new schoolroom homes.
Elayna said this shelf looked like a "real" school. Imagine that. I told her that in the coming months, we were going to be studying time and money. She thought the clock book made a great addition to our "real" school shelf.
With the snow flying, we can read our winter books.
Here are the books we use everyday. Her science book, Bible Reader, Journal, notebook, folder and my "real" teacher guides look great in a place where they can stay even if it is dinner time.
While putting this room together, a room that really does look a little more "real", I felt the first time homeschooling jitters rise again. What am I doing?
I had to remind myself, that in just a few directed hours a day, Elayna is reading and spelling like a pro, adding and subtracting like crazy, having a blast in science and learning more about her Bible every day. We take weekly trips to the library and do school in our PJs. Annalise is learning to read and she isn't even supposed to be in Kindergarten yet. They love school and I love them!
Sounds like a successful first few months of homeschooling to me...
And, let's not forget, my bearded husband. He gets in these beard-growing kicks. Hmmm...
Now, I can't believe I posted these pics because you are seeing my messy office-basement!
