Monday, August 9, 2010

The School Room That Isn't

One of the most exciting things when we moved into our house was having a dedicated school room.

Yes, we only had two desks with the cubbies, but I assumed that when two of the kids were working quietly at the desks I would probably be teaching the others at the table.

Old habits are hard to break. They are still all at the table. I guess that's what happens when you homeschool for 10 years without a dedicated room and at your kitchen table. But at least we have a dedicated school room to keep all of our books stored and organized and easy to locate now.

And so I just sew on the desks that were intended for school!

When I originally had the room organized, here is what it looked like. It's had some tweaking since then.

I try to dedicate only three cubbies to one year of our Tapestry plus the books that go with it.

That's pretty easy to do since I'm getting rid of some of the 'youngest' books since I won't have any more children rotating through and I won't get the 'older' books until we get to each year plan with the girls. Plus there are books that overlap from year to year that stay with the current year we are working with. The current year we are working with usually takes more than that just three cubbies.

I have a dedicated spot for logic and math supplements.

I keep science type stuff together, geography books together, etc. We have some biographies that I keep in the school room that are specifically for the kids, but all of our other books (fiction and non-fiction) that are not dedicated to their curriculum is located in other bookshelves throughout the house.

There is a rolling cart for all of the school necessities.

This cubby is located in the living room right off of the dining room. It has two boxes for each child for consumables (math, etc.) and then some of my teacher guides. These are the things we access daily. And they need to be close to the table since I mentioned that old habits have been hard to break.

This lives in the middle of the table. We eat with it often. It's only not welcome when we have company. Right now it doesn't have many pencils since it's summer. Soon it will be more pencils than anything else.

These are the pockets I made for the backs of our chairs. Here's the link to the tutorial if you're interested.

This is our game cabinet that is right outside the school room, which should really have another name. The school room, not the game cabinet.

I've linked up to the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop. Click the box to visit other homeschool rooms that really are probably homeschool rooms.

Not Back to School Blog Hop

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the organization of the bookshelves! Very nice! Have a wonderful year~

Wendi said...

The bookshelves look great, and wonderfully organized. The chair "backpack" looks great too...I may have to attempt making one (or three) :)

Mary said...

I love seeing the TOG so organized! This will be my first year using TOG and I am so excited!

Mary

Dana said...

Kayren,
What do you use the chair pockets for. They are cute but I was just wondering?
Thanks for sharing

Lacey said...

WOW! I hope our "school room" will look that great when my kids get old enuf :)

Ronnica said...

That makes me drool. Everything about school always does.

Mom Guide said...

The magazine holder are awesome. Where did you find solid color magazine holders? The organization is amazing.

Mari said...

Everything looks so organized, which doesn't surprise me a bit!

Kayren said...

Dana,
The chair pockets make cleaning up the table quick and easy. Each person has one on the back of their chair, and whatever school work they are doing at the time (like at meal time) gets cleaned off into the pocket. Sometimes it might just be loose papers, or in my case, my mom planner.

Kayren said...

Mom Guide,
I found the solid magazine holders at Ikea, probably my favorite store in the world! They are not the typical thin cardboard style...they are very thick and sturdy and have a textured feel on the outside. They come in a set where one is slightly smaller than the other and is packaged inside the larger one.

Theresa said...

Hi! Stopping by from the Blog Hop! I love your nice, clean, organized space!! This is our first year homeschooling! I look forward to learning from those that have been at it for a little while :)

Sheri said...

very nice-and yes habits are hard to break, but golly yours seem so nice! Have a great year ahead!

Lora @ my blessed life said...

I still love your room with all of those great shelves, Kayren! And where did you get those *magazine* type organizers (the brightly colored ones)? I'm looking for some (very) inexpensive ones. I'm considering covering cereal boxes--if I ever have more than one the same size...lol

Angela @ kinder days said...

hi!
I love how organized you are. Great room!!! Thank you for sharing at the blog hop this week!

May the lord bless you this season,
Angela in Germany
www.dailythoughtsonmytots.blogspot.com

Mom in High Heels said...

Very nice! I like the chair backpack! I've been to tons of blogs that linked up and I'm amazed how many of us are using the Expedit shelf/desk combination. We use it too and I love it. You can see my room at my hs blog (there's a link on my regular blog)

*~ Tina ~* said...

I enjoyed seeing all the pic's of your school area! This was my first stop from the bloghop. Your thumbnail of the bookshelves stood out to me among all the hoppers - they are fantastic. Did those come from Ikea too? We have a "game shelf" as well :)

Blessings,
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Tina ~
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*
http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com

Love Bears All Things said...

Maybe if they didn't have to put away their work every time, they would use the school room instead of the dining room...For years, I disliked sewing because I had to clean up whatever I was working on every time i worked. Now with the studio, I can leave it spread out and walk away..I like that so much better..I get more accomplished, too.
You are such an organized person.
Mama Bear

Anna P said...

I love the back-of-the-chair storage. I have seen a few of those on the blog hop already. I think I might attempt to make some out of pillow cases...thanks for sharing your space-I love it!

Bookworm Central said...

I really like your book collection Thanks for sharing ...

 
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