August 10, 2008

A New School Year and a New Learning Room

We got the table and chairs from IKEA awhile back and they work great! The school room gets alot of natural light in the morning which is nice for school time. Red folder organizer hanging in the back holds daily work folders which the kids can pull down for school time. I fill these over the weekend for the next week. I borrowed this idea from Jessica at Trivium Academy. Thanks!
This is our wall of maps and the kids artwork. The art lessons are coming from Artistic Pursuits. The kids love the program and I'm just happy to have them getting messy and learning a little in the process. I don't feel I have really had a good day unless at the end of it I know they learned something, had some fun, and got a little messy. These days don't happen everyday but I love it when they do.
So far this wall has our skip counting strips and a word wall which I will use to put hard to spell words etc. I have a morning meeting in the corner on the left. Here we cover math concepts like money practice, counting, the kids practice their theology questions (Westmin. Cat. for kids) and we say the pledge, say our morning prayer, and will practice poetry memorization or songs etc. The kids have loved having this morning meeting together. It takes the place of the math meeting used in the Saxon curriculum.
This is our "butlers pantry" or at least thats what they told me it was called. I use the top (not seen) to hold plates and nice glasses. The bottom is used for homeschool storage and our daily binders/teacher manuals etc. Our kitchen came with two pantries. I was shocked. I use one for food and the other is all homeschool organization. Both the above shelves and the pantry are placed leading into the school room (dining room) and that makes their location very handy. I will one day have to add some bookshelves but for now we are set for storage.

I still feel the room needs some color but I don't want to add a rug because of the above mentioned messy projects. This is technically the dining room and seen when you enter the front door so I won't paint the walls some crazy color. Some plants or a fish tank or something might help it seem more alive in there. So there it is....our new school room. Its so nice having a room just for school and I find that the kids gravitate to them room even in non-school time to color or create a project. Hopefully we can fill the room with a wondeful school year. Here we go!!!

1 comment:

Ali said...

Hey! It's so funny that you stopped by, I have visited you before, also from Smooth Stones! What a small cyber world! I love your school room. We have more of a one room school house feel, but I trust that God's grace which saved me, will also sustain me! I am getting better at the organizing, that certainly helps! The table from IKEA is so pretty! You have certainly provided an environment with your school dreams in mind. That is a space that begs to be visited! Have a GREAT year. We just started homeschooling this year, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be with my children during these sweet, sweet, years. I'll be checking in because I'm curious about the art, you seem to do really well with that!