Study Spots in SmallWorld

First of all, this is our house. (Actually, this is our house in April, not October, but it's dark and rainy outside right now so this photo will have to suffice.) The door in the photo goes into our sunroom, which is our craft room. This room holds all the playdough, paint, construction paper, glue, inventing supplies, and other essentials like cast-off calendars and wallpaper sample books. We don't use this room in the winter because it isn't heated, and it gets positively filled with junk each winter. One of my early summer projects was to clean this room, which I did quite thoroughly. I love having a room where all the messy projects can be done, out of sight.

We've always done school in a variety of places around the house, mostly the dining room table and the living room couch. This year, however, we've changed things around. Another of my summer projects was to figure out how to use our attached apartment, which was, until this year, my parents' winter home. I made the bold move to turn it into our schoolroom, and I cannot express how much I love have a separate space for schooling! I've taken the majority of our kids' books, games, puzzles and other materials out of various places in our house and put them in our new room. Finally I have the space to put up my book rack, so that our daily books are easily accessible.

I also moved our old dining room table in there. We do the majority of our work either at the table or on the couch in our new room. I can't believe what a difference it makes in my personal sanity to have all our materials, for the most part, in one place. I love being able to stick maps up on the walls with abandon and not have to pick up stacks of books and papers for meals. Laurel especially thrives on organization, and she's really enjoyed making our new space more "official," with cubbies and nametags. (This is the girl who likes to play school.)

Of course we do school other places in and around our home, too: outside and in the kitchen, especially. And Jesse, our high schooler, does the vast majority of his work sitting right here, at the computer.

See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me