"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Emerson

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Cliche Homeschool Mom Room Tour

What's a discussion of homeschooling without a cliché room tour post, right? First question new or potential homeschoolers always ask besides "what curriculum do you use?" is "do I have to have a homeschool room?" The answer: absolutely not. But, if you start to amass a lot of homeschool related materials and you have a space in your house, it may be something you want to consider. I've seen people convert all kinds of spaces: dining rooms, offices, nooks in their house so think outside the box if you decide to do one. This is actually our second homeschool space in this house. Our first was upstairs in a tiny room off the bonus room, but it got too hard the more kids I added to the mix to be that far from the kitchen, laundry room, etc. So, my poor husband agreed to convert the biggest kid bedroom off the main living space. It serves as a playroom as well and it required us giving up a bedroom and ultimately the upstairs bonus room because that is now where two kids share a room.
 
It's nice for the kids to be close when I need to run to throw another load in or make a snack or lunch. Downside is this room is one you walk by when you walk in to our living room so it is always a disaster, BUT it has doors! I highly recommend a space you can shut/hide because homeschool rooms can get messy :)
 
So this is as clean as this room is because I'm prepped for school starting Monday and I've been keeping kids away. However, its usually a hot mess. So envision this, but messier in the day to day. Oh and sorry for the low quality iPhone pictures...I am not quite a legit blogger yet with a fancy camera but I am working on it.
 
Our board/book area:
Sonlight gives you a ton of books and we are now on our 4th year of using it so I had to get more storage. Bookshelves get destroyed by Toddley-Tot so I resorted to these plastic drawers for storing our Sonlight books and our science and holiday ones. . 
 
 
 
 
This is the view from the door way. If I were to do this space again, I'd invest in a bigger table. We are always running out of room on this one and pretty soon, Toddley-Tot will be joining us at the table.

 
On the other side is a closet that we took the doors off of to keep little fingers from getting pinched. We were going to add curtains but it just hasn't happened.

 
This is my craft supply/school supply closet. I bought this cabinets from Lowe's I think and they have been super handy. I HIGHLY recommend child locking the top, otherwise expect many craft supply explosions (which often happen when big sister forgets to lock it back). Oh and these are anchored to the wall for added security.

 
This is our math manipulatives (top shelf), current curriculum (middle two), and teacher resources (bottom) cabinet. Again, locked. Because my kids are like small natural disasters.

 
This is my desk and our computer which we use daily, mostly for cd's/music. Flower Child is an artist so music is a must for her. I used to have a classical or Seeds Family Worship only rule which I am going to get back to this year. I allowed way too much Kidz Bop and Disney Pandora last year. Music really can set the tone for the day so we need calm or Jesus.
 
Seeds are AMAZING! We actually won the entire set from a Facebook contest they held, but basically they are scripture verses set to music in a non-annoying way. It's helped us all learn God's word, which is a huge struggle for me.
 
The wall is pretty bare because usually we hang all of our art and projects. I just took down all of last year's so now we just have our My Plate nutrition chart and our 1st day of school signs. I also can't take down the cute Dr. Seuss craft from my oldest's preschool days.
 
The green bin is all of our current books. It helps to have a place for them to go back in to after our lessons each day.


 
This is the reading corner. Target saves the day with a floppy elephant bean bag chair and book rack. I try and keep my classics in the book rack, but with 3 kids, that is always short lived.


 
This year I'm trying something new with workboxes. Flower Child will have a lot more independent work so she needs a place to store all her work. I found this boxes at Walmart and filled them with fun school supplies. Our first day we are having a treasure hunt and these will be at the end of the hunt as a treasure. The Dude had to have one to of course to keep from any threenager meltdowns from occurring. 
 
This is another new add for our year. I printed a daily checklist for Flower Child to complete. I laminated it and will update it each night. This is what I will use in those moments I need time with the other two. She can get started without me having to tell her what needs to be done.
 
Basic calendar/weather area. All finds from the Dollar Store and Target dollar bins.


 
This is also a new addition to our year. I really wanted to do some character training and vocab stuff. These are dry erase boards from Walmart. I started with diligence because that is something that is a definite struggle up in here. Ha! Oh and look, impatient is our first vocab word of the year. Coincidence? I think not. 
 
Another new add this year is this cool Grace and Courtesy Chart I found here . I laminated it and am going to check each time the kids show one of the graces and courtesies like: saying please or thank you, asking "can I help?", or using kind words. I'm going to have them pick a prize like an ice cream at our local Fro Yo place and when the chart is full, we will take the day to do that. Just a little way to encourage kindness for us all.

 
Well, that concludes my first ever homeschool tour blog. The truth of the matter is that the beginning of the year is always filled with high hopes and organization. By the end, we are just making it through. It's life, mamas! Don't stress. Do what you can. Focus on what's most important and call it a day. Don't let this make you feel anything other than just a chance to see how someone else does things. The way you do it is perfectly fine so don't let this be another discouraging point of comparison!  

Your turn: Do you have a homeschool room? If so, what are some cool areas you have? If you've liked these homeschool posts, what other stuff would you like to see?

Here's to trying to get some order in the chaos!
-C.

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