Wednesday, October 8, 2008

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


34 comments:

  1. I'm jealous! I want my own room! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I second that LOL. I am very jealous now LOL!!! How cool though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is cool to have a whole room dedicated to schooling. We have a big room with a couple tables and bookcases and most of of school supplies. And a long table with my husband and son's computers. It's messy and not organized like I want it to be. I also wish we had a room for school with no computers in it, but at least I have a room. We sometimes do school in there or at the dining room table. When we read together we like to do it on the couch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just love your hope . . . it looks so cozy! I am right there with Laurel, I too especially thrives on organization. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your rooms (school and craft) sound positively delightful! I'd love to have my own school room, the picking the books up daily to make room for meals does get tedious.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love your house! Having a designated school room has made a huge difference in our home.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your house! Having a designated school room has made a huge difference in our home.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great house, it is beautiful! Great school room too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. oooooh, i like your purple tree!

    and yes, it is cold and rainy this morning. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, I love your little brick house!!!

    I agree that a schoolroom makes a big difference. We made the move this summer, too & it's been so worthwhile!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the book organizer! And I love your house, too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, how cool is that! I love how you found yourself with that much extra space to dedicate to school related stuff. :) Oh and I want to hang out in your sunroom!!

    I'm bookmarking your blog to read tonight. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! That is so cool to have such a nice space.
    Blessings,
    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a great blessing to have use of that room for school. More space is certainly helpful for our sanity. :-)

    JM
    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolshelter/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sounds like you have a great set-up! I love the photo of your home, it is so pretty.
    On a different topic-Love your Autumn header!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love the look of your blog! I will be back to read more. ;-) I am so very jealous of not only a room but a whole separate spot entirely! I get very tired of cleaning off the table to do such mundane things like eating. LOL I love the set up as well!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I just gave you an award. Check out my blog to see it. :-)

    -Stacie

    ReplyDelete
  18. You're welcome, and I edited the post and wrote your name. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. how unacceptable that I read this today without posting...
    I am so glad you have this new found room! and I forgot how great those racks are for school books...I will have to do that...glad I still have your other one! and my margarita chicken smells so good...I almost drank the marinade!...but am waiting to make it until tomorrow...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow! Great school room! Have a wonderful week.

    Renee'
    http://rmboys1.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love the room...especially that book rack!

    Judging from your blog, I think we may be not-too-distant "neighbors," as well. I've visited your neck of the woods, at any rate.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you SO much for sharing. I love the photo of the sunroom.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Your shelves look so much like mine! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a great weekend! And I love your blog! Planning to read more of it as soon as I send this comment to you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Okay, I promise not to look in your windows at night :D

    ReplyDelete
  25. Your house looks like a school house. Do you spend most of your time in the classroom, except for winter months?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thank you telling me about the blog template problem. It must be a html code conflict between intenet explorer and firefox.

    ReplyDelete
  27. That book rack would be awesome for our daily books.

    What fun glimpse.THANKS!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love your house! And I think it is great to have a separate school room!

    Leah
    http:www.homeschoolblogger.com/lcourtneymom

    ReplyDelete
  29. I can tell I have following your blog for some time now, because I have seen at least a couple winter-spring transformations of your covered 'porch.' It makes me chuckle. Personaly, I still covet your front porch where you can sit and watch all the people that don't walk by.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I dream of having a room dedicated completely and totally to school!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'd like to have a room dedicated to school, but then someone would lose a bedroom! Your bookshelf looks a bit like ours overflowing with books and supplies. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  32. I am loving that book rack!!! Where did you find that? Do you have an extra one laying around that you do not want. LOL

    Thanks for the tour!

    ReplyDelete
  33. How very nice! My 9yo daughter sounds very much like your own daughter. She also thrives on organization and routine. She'd absolutely love it if we had a more formal homeschool *spot* or room...

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Thanks for taking the time to leave one. I have comment moderation on, so your comment will take a little bit to appear.