Our Schoolroom

As we near day 1 of this adventure (Monday already!), the kids have been growing in their excitement as a result of watching their new schoolroom take shape. The purpose of this learning space isn't to limit them to these particular walls, of course. Learning is going to happen all the time (and some of which I'd rather them not imitate or mimic from me!). But this space will provide a gathering place each morning ... a rallying spot so to speak. It will give us time to organize, set some goals, teach and learn together, discover, question, and labor for parts of the day. I suspect we'll use the whole house, yard, community, and world for that matter on our learning adventure this year. But for now, I wanted to share our meeting place - our little "learning playground"- with those of you dear to our hearts who are also miles away.

The room we have to work with is a generously sized "bedroom" in the basement of our parsonage. This view is looking toward the schoolroom side. I'm SO thankful about the space we have for homeschooling, and the windows will also add some much-needed sunlight (YAH for vitamin D!) during the long winter months ahead.

Here we have a closer look at the corner we'll use for Circle Time, calendar math, morning movement to music, and a green bulletin board for displaying our learning. I ordered the blue calendar hanging chart as well as the math counting chart from  http://www2.scholastic.com, while the little school desk was donated by a friend-of-a-friend. Abbie's already staked her claim at it while Ellie wants the darker desk beneath the green board. : )

This is a closer look at the Circle Time board. We'll start each day with Bible reading, Scripture memory, daily prayer focus (Monday-Missionaries, Tuesday-The Church, Wednesday-The World, Thursday-Those Taken In, Friday-Family & Friends), music & motion, and calendar work. I took a lot of the calendar and weather chart ideas from another homeschooling mom and can't wait to use them! If you're interested, check out her ideas for your own kids at http://www.mamajenn.com/MamaJenn/CalendarTime.html.

This is a closer look at the reading corner we created. I believe this is the girls' favorite place in the schoolroom so far!  The quilt was handmade by a dear friend in Grand Island, NE when Ellie was born. We thought it added the perfect touch to our room! We'll also use this as our guest bed when you come stay with us. Of course that might mean I take a break from teaching and leave you in charge for the day! ; )

We'll try to incorporate work stations a few times a week while I'm working with each girl. We have listening/audio books, theater/drama, writing, blocks, computer & typing, among others. And several of my friends have advised me to have LOTS of bookshelves as a homeschooling family! The few I already have in here are already full. I think we might need more in time : )

On the other side of the schoolroom bookshelves are these cubbies in the "playroom" side. I loved the ideas Susan Stewart gave me from Perfectly Placed Professional Organizing to use baskets with picture-labels for the smaller toys! If you haven't already, check her out asap!!! She's an organizational genius! Check her out at http://www.perfectlyplaced.org.

More of the playroom ... the girls often play "house" or restaurant here. The dark brown cubbies have also been wonderful for storing and organizing toys (Target).

Here is a shot of the girls' costume corner. Everything from prairie girls and princesses to cowgirls and fairies! I think this will remain a favorite side of the "schoolroom" for all three of the kids!

These shots might just give you a better image now of where we'll spend part of our days learning from each other this year. I've probably very likely spent WAY too much time, energy, and money on this project - but it truly is one of my favorite places to be and we're eager to discover and learn great things in here this year! Come see it in person SOON!

Lovingly,
Jenn