It has finally happened. After years of wishing we lived in a house with room for an actual homeschool room, I finally decided I needed to be proactive and just TAKE a spot. You know, squatters rights. It's mine, because I am there sort of thing. Now, we DO actually have a basement in this house, but after living here for several years, I realize that the basement is NOT where "school" happens for us. If it was a beautiful basement it might, but ours is a basement with very tiny natural light. During the summer it is nice and cool, but during the winter it is freezing and you will find us curled up in the living room near the wood stove. SO. Given my perimeters, given that we do not have money to add on an addition and I know much of the day we "school" either on the couch or at the kitchen table, I hereby claim this little used corner in our living room, right where the front door enters. It's now mine.
This is the view from the front door corner. It's just a little 8 feet by 8 feet space. And, of course, there isn't a lot of wall space and it is not truly an enclosed room, so I can't park large book cases there. But I do have the basement for storage of longer term school items. I just need a place for more of the things that we are using NOW to be gathered all together. So I don't waste time searching for a math item that I KNOW I have, but I don't know where....(don't ask me about this, it's not pretty!).
Behind the couch I have placed my daughter's workbox drawers. We have used these for one school year so far, and I love them still. Helps her be independent in some things, yet she knows when it is an activity I want her to do with me. On top of the workboxes is our math balance, and the pink container with the handle holds her glue, tape, scissors, and pencils. The zebra box on the floor next to her workboxes holds binders with things that we are working on, but are not in the workboxes for today. The hanging chart is her chore chart, with tags that she turns over when she has completed a chore. I like this method because I can easily see what she still needs to do for that day. The red bag underneath holds all our M-U-S blocks. The plastic shoebox stores our magnet letters.
The third wall of our school room has our felt board leaning on it. This is the only "real" wall we have in our little corner, but due to the front door opening and swinging back against it, I only have around four inches of usable space. Also, it heads right into the kitchen, so is a pass-through space. No bookcases can be placed here, but our felt board (made from a 4x8 piece of plywood cut down to a 4x6 size) fits just fine. I thought this is making good use of this space. Since this IS a living room, I don't want to put a bunch of nail holes in this wall for hanging things--but I can "hang" from our felt board with using large clips. One pocket chart has our days of the week and weather, one the math flash cards we are working on, and the third has a Bible verse written out and cut apart to be put back together.
And there you have it. Our little schoolroom. Some work will be done on the floor right here, or sitting/standing in front of the felt board. Some work will be done using a little bed tray, just the right height for my daughter to sit on the floor and use it for a little desk. Stories will be read on the couch. Handwriting and other subjects that need a larger writing surface can be taken to the near by kitchen counter. The drawers in both the "teacher" carts as well as the drawers in the workboxes all can be slipped out and carried to a table to work there.
Behind the couch I have placed my daughter's workbox drawers. We have used these for one school year so far, and I love them still. Helps her be independent in some things, yet she knows when it is an activity I want her to do with me. On top of the workboxes is our math balance, and the pink container with the handle holds her glue, tape, scissors, and pencils. The zebra box on the floor next to her workboxes holds binders with things that we are working on, but are not in the workboxes for today. The hanging chart is her chore chart, with tags that she turns over when she has completed a chore. I like this method because I can easily see what she still needs to do for that day. The red bag underneath holds all our M-U-S blocks. The plastic shoebox stores our magnet letters.
This is sort of "my" spot in our little "room." I bought these carts really inexpensively the day after Thanksgiving at JoAnn Fabrics. Yes, I was one of those insane people who was up around 4:00 a.m., out shopping. But honestly, I was only there because my husband had a store HE wanted to go to, so I decided SOME rational person had better go along with him. And while I'm out and about, well, might as well shop! Anyway, I am repurposing them now for homeschool use. One has been next to my desk for filing, and one in the basement in my sewing room. But I have decided I need them more for organizing homeschool, so this is where I have put any "teacher" type of books that I will be using this next school year. In addition to regular teacher manuals, I also have some hands-on math games, flash cards, etc. Whatever I have that I am planning on using with her for this new school year, I have put in these drawers. No more searching for those lost fraction bars that I KNEW I had somewhere...
The giraffe box holds file folder games. The tub in front has spelling cubes. Our dictionary and thesaurus are sitting close by. The magnetic white board I picked up at a thrift store for $1.00, and the file box on the floor is holding our felts for our felt board.
The third wall of our school room has our felt board leaning on it. This is the only "real" wall we have in our little corner, but due to the front door opening and swinging back against it, I only have around four inches of usable space. Also, it heads right into the kitchen, so is a pass-through space. No bookcases can be placed here, but our felt board (made from a 4x8 piece of plywood cut down to a 4x6 size) fits just fine. I thought this is making good use of this space. Since this IS a living room, I don't want to put a bunch of nail holes in this wall for hanging things--but I can "hang" from our felt board with using large clips. One pocket chart has our days of the week and weather, one the math flash cards we are working on, and the third has a Bible verse written out and cut apart to be put back together. 
And there you have it. Our little schoolroom. Some work will be done on the floor right here, or sitting/standing in front of the felt board. Some work will be done using a little bed tray, just the right height for my daughter to sit on the floor and use it for a little desk. Stories will be read on the couch. Handwriting and other subjects that need a larger writing surface can be taken to the near by kitchen counter. The drawers in both the "teacher" carts as well as the drawers in the workboxes all can be slipped out and carried to a table to work there. I hope this little tour into our new schoolroom has given you some possible ideas of ways to think creatively and "out of the box." Or is that "out of the room?"
3 comments:
What an awesome idea!! You really worked that out well.
Lisa :o)
I love it! It's very nice! Your bin on rollers reminds me of my public school teaching days. Sometimes we had teachers who had no classroom. They had a cart on rollers, and went to whatever classroom could be spared at any given time. By the end of the day they had taught in five or six different classrooms. We called them "tennis shoe" teachers. I think they would envy your space!
I Love it! It's everything you need. I agree, you have to have your stuff where you use it. Your area looks very well organized with pretty colors too:)
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