My Semi-Organized Homeschool #2

Here is my 2nd installment of My Semi-Organized Homeschool. You can read my first post on mini-offices here.

I have been sharing my desires for a “school room” with the Lord for quite some time. He, as always, listened and gently reminded me to
1. “be content with such as ye have”
2. be patient
Although difficult at times I did try to remain that way. Well, for whatever reason, this week I began to feel very claustrophobic  about having all of our school stuff mixed in our living/dining/kitchen space (it’s an open space.)  I wasn’t really experiencing a complaining spirit – for once – just felt like I needed to do something.
I kinda mentioned it to my hubby and then said, “Ya know, we could just combine the kiddos-3 girls, 1 boy-into the bigger room and use the smaller one as the school room.” He said  yeah he thought we could. I kinda stopped for a minute wondering if the boy would even survive in a room with 3 girls or if we would be ruining him for life etc. etc. My hubby later reminded me that it is probably more common throughout the world to have family members all sleep in one large space…why be so worried about it? That was Tuesday…by Thursday I had a mission in my heart.
The kids and I slaved diligently worked all day to get the job done. I can tell you that although it was back breaking work (and I made myself promise not to buy any more books for a little while…we’ll see how long that one lasts) I feel so excited, fufilled, renewed!! Working in our new room today was so nice!
Now, it’s not a large room by any means, a little more on the small side and with four kids and me in there it did get a little tight but the Lord finally gave me my school room and we didn’t even have to move!
I LOVE IT!!!







I painted the Noah’s ark mural for my little guy when he was born. We’ll paint over it eventually. Kinda breaks my heart!! The black bookshelf homes all of our books and some math manipulatives. You can see a part of the table and I put the chalkboard between the table and the wall for easy access, better view for kiddos and it saves space. It worked out great today!!

This shot is to the right of the door as you walk in. The armoire will be explained later. The animals will be gone a little later. The boards have our artist study painting, lit. theme, character trait sheet, memory verse cards and there is a nifty map underneath.
We also have a picture of our favorite President. (That is now framed!)
 
This is what you see when you walk into the room (I know, my pics. aren’t in order…it’s late). The board above the easel now has my kiddos lovely and colorful artwork hanging from it. This art easel has a homey spot by the door so and can roll out and away from the wall so that another child can use the other side. The containers underneath hold paper, art books and foam stickers. Our art caddy is also tucked in there…no, there’s no paint in here…we have carpet.

This is a shot from the door looking at the far corner of the room, across from the armoire. You can see the table and chalkboard better here. The shelves hold games, my narration basket and our flags and Bible. The toy shelf is to keep Littlest occupied. There are about 8 bins with a few toys in each (nothing major so I won’t have a hurricane of toys to clean up after we’re done).  The basket and pillows are for a quiet read.

This is inside the armoire. You can see our workboxes, baskets with color coordinating pencil boxes, index card boxes, rulers etc. We have our computer subjects kept in the cubby on the right (i.e. forgien language and typing CD-ROMs). The cubby on the right holds my folder. That is where the girls put their work when they are done so that I can go back later to check it. It is an 8 tabbed accordian style folder so they each have their own section. I also have extra report covers in there so when I put their completed work in their portfolios they are within easy reach. I also have stickers and a red color pencil for marking and rewarding.
The drawer on the bottom left holds all of our audio cassette books and our tape players. The bottom drawer on the right hold felt letters and numbers, felt board, craft items etc.
I just LOVE it!!! The Lord does give us the desires of our hearts doesn’t He?! God is good.
Tune in next time as I talk about how color coordinating the McKiddies school items has saved my sanity!!