Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Where we school (most of the time)

We are currently staying in a 4 bedroom apartment above a coffeehouse. Originally designed as a place for bands to stay that perform concerts at the coffeehouse, it is a temporary place for us as we have been transitioning from Texas to Kansas. The apartment's general layout is a very open one and the living area is in the same room as this school area. The furniture was already here, except for the bookcase, filing cabinet and sewing table. We also added the wall maps and whiteboards. The walls here are covered in pegboard.  While not the most attractive thing for walls, pegboard is incredible for organizing a homeschooling room.

On the right is a cart that holds the sewing machine, notions and current craft projects and supplies. It also holds our old laptop that is primarily used by the kids. A hidden table top can be pulled out to increase the amount of work area on the cart. That is where we'll have science experiments and projects. The white shelves hold our modified workboxes/folders. Both students have a folder for each day of the week, held up by plastic folder dividers (that we got when a local doctor's office was moving). The dividers leave room for books to be placed with the folders. Each also has a clear plastic tub that holds binders, notebooks, flashcards etc. On the front of these tubs are their cards that are used with the workbox system. The file cabinet was given to us a few years ago and hold our extra school supplies, consumable pages and other miscellany. Pegboard holds their individual maps and a pocket chart with the little workbox labels on this wall.

A closer view shows tidy white shelves, a reality that changes as soon as baby arrives on the scene! He is learning to leave things alone, but usually not until after he has thoroughly explored them with dexterous little fingers. The white shelves also hold some books and a few board games as well as art supplies in boxes with lids and latches!

The blue bookshelf holds the majority of our supplies; a tabletop pocket chart for anything from language arts to foreign language study, CDs of classical composers and their music, and the books and student sheets from MFW. The small wicker basket holds math manipulatives, DVDs, CD's and flashcards. The baskets on the bottom shelf hold science kits, lapbooking supplies and current lapbooking projects. A basket that is just out of the frame on the bottom shelf holds recycled boxes, newspaper and cardboard tubes for crafts and projects. Shelves with our rock collection keep the corner tidy along with a black and red rolling tote for our book basket. The terrarium holds a Western Fence lizard, affectionately named Yoshi, and a gecko named Gecker who is very reclusive. The wall is occupied by a world and US map, a whiteboard used for Bible verses and homemade posters of HWT cursive letters. The little filing cabinets are a recent find and are perfect for school supplies to which we need quick access. The wooden drawers hold items that will help keep baby busy during school. He loves to open the drawers himself. I put something new in there every few days so it is a fun discovery.  Since he is told "no" so many times for other drawers I think he feels like he is getting away with something!
In Texas we had a huge school room with built-in cabinets and an entire wall of windows. Here I appreciate the need for everything to stay extremely organized. I welcome the chance for us all to develop the discipline to put everything where it goes immediately after we use it. The school area is not visible from the front door to the apartment, so I don't feel so bad if things are left on the table for a while, or if an art project is left out. My favorite thing about this school room is pegboard. I may just have it installed when we find a house of our own. We will take school on the road when we travel, or just to the park on a nice day. We will read together in our beds, couches and sometimes even at our dinner table over a snack or dessert! We will learn together while we cook, shop and serve others.

13 comments:

Grace~The Mommy On the Bus said...

You've made SUCH good use of your space Corrie! Love it!

Katy said...

Wow! I love all the functions in your schooling room! :) Sewing, playing, crafting, learning....soo much to do! Such a nice big room as well! :) I hope you have a lovely school year!

Denise said...

Love it! I am rather jealous!

Lora @ my blessed life said...

Thanks for dropping by my learning room:) Your room is great! Isn't it fun having a pet in there, too?!

Jenny said...

You did a great job of making the most of your situation! The peg walls are perfect for us homeschoolers!

How are you liking Kansas? My BIL was transferred there from Wentzville with GM. He is driving back and forth every weekend to be with his family. They are not moving to Kansas, because our whole family is here.

Cheri Bunch said...

It looks wonderful,Corrie! You are off to a great start! I believe that you are going to have an awesome year!
My kids have been out of our homeschool room for so many years! I still love to go there and remember! I think we only had good days! :0 Now it seems like it!
I wonder if they ever reflect on that
room and what kind of feelings it stirs up in them? I think I will ask them someday.

Leslie said...

Wow, great room!! Thanks for sharing! God bless your school year!

Alison Agnew said...

Looks like a creative and organized space. Those 2 things don't always coexist!

Thanks for visiting my blog yesterday.

Blessings,

Alison

Amanda American Girl said...

thanks for the tour - have a great school year

Kathleen T. Jaeger said...

Looks great. Happy learning to you & yours.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a neat learning room! Have a great year of schooling :)

MissMOE said...

You seem to really be organized. We've recently moved to a smaller space also, and I still haven't gotten the knack of putting things away and keeping things organized. Thanks for the inspiration.

Anonymous said...

I really like how you used your space. Very well organized! I look forward to reading about your year :)