Keeping It Real

I can't see the top of my desk.  I keep tripping over things.  The perpetual calendar still says March.  My 14 year old son's desk is the cleanest spot in this room.  I guess I know what I'm doing on the lovely Saturday afternoon.

School Room Overhaul

I've posted the various transformations our school room has had over the years, but this one is the biggest change.   The boys keep getting older, which means:

1. New needs
2. More books!

Here's the first post from 2007 (teaching grades 3, 2, & K with a preschooler and toddler).  Here's the second post from 2010 (teaching grades 6, 5, 3, & 1 with a preschooler).  And finally, the third post from 2012 (teaching grades 7, 6, 4, 2, & K).

Obviously, a big change is the paint.  It was time to get rid of the cheery elementary yellow and make the room a little more grown up and serious.  This year I'll have grades 9, 8, 6, 4, & 2.  We sold the loveseat and went with these two IKEA chairs for reading.  For some reason, when more than one boy needed to read on the loveseat, we ended up with a lot of wrestling matches.  I still have plans to paint the filing cabinet, and in the closet are books we aren't currently using.

The treadmill and the older 3 boys' desks.  We do most of our work in this room.  It's what we're used to, and it helps keep us focused.  The older two boys will take their work up to their rooms every now and then, but I'd say 95% of our work is done here.  I've got my eyes open for something for the wall by the treadmill, and we just got new white wooden blinds for the window.

The younger two boys' desks, and the bookshelves.  Oh, my.  The books.  So many books.  I also painted my desk and updated the drawer pulls.

This is taken from the back of the room by the reading chairs & treadmill, just to give you perspective.  I've got plans to add another piece of whiteboard to the wall, and we'll also be replacing the TV with a touchscreen computer that Craig's parents gave to us.  You can see the printer in the corner (I also painted the table it sits on).  On the side of the desk are two small IKEA stools for when I'm teaching 1:1 or 1:2.  It's nice to be right by the white board for this.

The maps--I think I paid around $10 for these when Luke was in Kindergarten.  I think we've gotten our money's worth out of them.  You can also see part of the "library" door.  It's a closet under the stairs that holds most of our non-homeschooling related books. 

Finally, the cabinet that holds the boys' current books and binders.  When they were little, we needed a cabinet with doors I could put a lock on to keep out little hands.  Now we need the cabinet with doors to help hide the fact they cannot consistently place books and binders neatly back on the shelves. The door to the left is the door that leads to the playroom & stairs.

The boys & I are thrilled with how it turned out.  They love the colors, and they have more space with this room configuration.  I feel like it's organized and like I have room to work, so I want to be in there.  It'll be a great place to start our new year!

School Room Redo

Shortly before we began our school year, I realized that the room we've been using for school was designed 6 years ago when I had only 2 official students in early elementary (I've got links to two sets previous setups in the sidebar). I'd made minor changes as boys were added to our school, but we had really outgrown the community table, and I didn't have nearly enough bookshelves.  I added the single bookshelf before the school year started, then the individual desks and chairs for my birthday.  For Christmas, I received money I put towards the two bookshelves behind my desk.  I moved the table we had been using to the playroom, and I moved the full size couch to the playroom and moved the loveseat from the playroom into the school room. The room is so much more functional now, and we all are enjoying the new space.

This is from my desk, looking toward the door.   The closet to the right of the bookcase  holds books for another year and crafting supplies.  The door to the left leads to the playroom & stairs.  The door on the other wall is a closet that we've turned into a library.  The loveseat for reading, and my treadmill.

This is taken standing by the closet.  I'd like to paint my desk black--maybe this summer.  I'd also like to repaint the room green.  The stools in front of my desk are for when I'm teaching the boys one on one (or one on two).

This is taken from the treadmill.  Each boy now has his own desk and chair.

This is inside the cabinet by the whiteboard.  It holds the boys' daily binders and the textbooks they use daily.

The computer cart.

From the whiteboard.

Updated School Room Pictures

Our school room is an L-shaped room. This is the view from the door. You can see a portion of my desk, my copier/scanner/printer, my treadmill, the guinea pig cage, and the couch. Above the treadmill is a wall pocket chart that I use for current memory work lists.

This is the view from the couch. Once again, my desk, the school supply/craft closet, and the school cabinet. That's the backside of my printer, and I keep our pencils and pencil sharpener there, along with a box of kleenex.

This is the view from the wall with the treadmill and my desk. Obviously, that's our work table and the whiteboard. This is where most of our work is done, though each boy now has a desk in their rooms and the older boys will sometimes take their work upstairs. Above the whiteboard, I've got maps and educational posters hung by clothespins on a thin rope, so it's easy to change them out. On one wall is the couch and a computer stand, on the other wall are the boys' crates and a stack of drawers. The larger drawer set is currently holding our Sonlight readers & read alouds, and smaller drawer set on the top holds crayons, colored pencils, and markers.

This is the school cabinet, and it contains all of our books for the current year, along with general reference books (Kingfisher encyclopedias, dictionary & thesaurus, etc.). On top are all of our math manipulatives.

This is inside the school supply/craft closet. All of the school books that are for another year are stored in here (loosely arranged by subject), along with extra supplies (paper, page protectors, etc.), my laminator, and paper cutter. The shelves are made from neat idea cubes. Eventually I'd like to install real shelves in here, but we've had these neat idea cubes for years (they were once used as a rabbit cage when we had 3 house rabbits) and they work well enough. There is another 3 drawer set in here that holds extra school supplies (pencils, glue, and other stuff I can't help but stock up on at the back to school sales). Tucked on one side is a bookshelf that holds paper left from when I had time to scrapbook (the rest of my craft/scrapbooking supplies are on the top shelf in this closet), and puzzles, catalogs, and a few educational toys for N & M.

This is the boys' computer table (though the desktop died recently, so it just holds their two laptops and gives me a place to put books when I'm teaching).

Each boy also has a crate. Last year they all had quite a few individual books, and these crates were used with hanging folders so they could easily transport their books. This year, though, most of their work is contained in their binders or they're sharing books, so I flipped the crates on their side so each boy has a place to store their few individual books and their binders. These also hold their Help! tags. Each boy has a laminated card that says "Help!" with a clip on it. When they have a question, instead of interrupting while I'm working with someone else, they are supposed to bring the tag and either clip it on me or place it on my desk, and when I have a minute I answer their question. They know to keep working on whatever they can until I am able to help them.

Our School Room

Every now and then on a homeschooling board I visit, someone asks to see pictures of other's school rooms. I finally took new pictures of our school room and thought posting an entry here would make it easy to share our room. It's nothing grand, but it works for us!

This is the view as you walk in the door. This couch used to be in our living room, but we moved it down here when we got new furniture upstairs. I'm looking forward to having a couch we can sit on without worrying about messing up the slipcover! Its matching loveseat is down the hall in the playroom.

This is the boys' work table, the whiteboard, and the boys' computer. I love the whiteboard, and could even use a bigger one at times. The posters are hung with clothespins on white nylon string that I ran through small screw eyelets. This allows me to change the posters out as needed.



This is a view from the whiteboard of my desk and our storage cabinet and shelf. Having a lockable storage cabinet for our texts has been a must for us. On my desk is my Brother DCP7020 copier/scanner/printer. I'm so happy that we bought this.



This shelf is new to the school room. It was in the playroom holding the animal cages, but now that we're down to one hamster cage I decided he'd be better of in the school room with us. It also provides a great place to store our art supplies, leap pads, and school room toys (fun, educational toys for the younger boys that are only allowed to be played with in the school room during school).

This is a picture of inside of the school cabinet. It holds all of our books and workbooks. On top are our everyday markers, crayons, and colored pencils. Down the hall is the playroom, so the little guys are still within earshot while I'm working with the older boys. The closet next to the cabinet holds all of my scrapbooking, crafting, sewing, and gift wrapping supplies. There is also another closet that runs under the stairs that serves as our "library".



With the ages of the boys, I find it easiest to have a room devoted to school. If we work at the kitchen table or patio, I tend to get distracted and lose boys (they finish what they're working on and wander off). But if we do want to work somewhere else, it's simple enough to carry our books to where we need them.