Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

Our new school room (pics)

babysparkler

By babysparkler,
in K-8 Curriculum Board

 Share

Recommended Posts

babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
Posted

Well, after 4 weeks of school, I'm finally getting around to posting pics of our new school room! We just moved from the dining room (which was darker and smaller) into what used to be our second living area (AKA Dh's office). Dh and I have converted the dining room into our together-office so that we can have our computers together again :cheers2:.

 

I put the pics into an album (just figured out how to do this)... here is a link (please let me know if it is working or not).

 

OUR NEW SCHOOL ROOM PICS

 

ETA: Oops... I meant to put this in "General" :blushing:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest ME-Mommy

Guest ME-Mommy

Posted
Posted

:drool5: I *love* your room...

 

Couple of questions:

 

- How did you attach the pocket chart to the back of the wire shelf??

- What type of baskets/bins do you have the books in? (under the cork board)

- Where did you get your "c-shaped" table?? That is COOL!! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tardis Girl

Tardis Girl

Posted
Posted

Wow. That's all I can say. Just... wow. OK, now that I feel like I do NOTHING! around here, let me scrape my jaw off the floor and ask a few specifics. lol

 

Does it... um, how to say this.... Does it always look like this? Or rather, does it STAY looking like this?

 

In Pic2 you have some charts and lesson books on the table. I would love to hear more about this. Based on your sig, it looks like your curriculum picks are pretty eclectic. Can you tell me more about what's on the charts, if you have specific assignments planned out every day for months, or what?

 

Thanks! And thank you for the inspiration as well! :)

 

Stacey

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Irishmommy

Irishmommy

Posted
Posted

Whoa! I wish mine looked like this! I love your table. I am just using a dining table and it works okay, but it is too tall for my dd and I'd love to have something more her size. She can hardly practice handwriting because it is precarious for her. Okay, off to shop for tables!;)

 

Thanks for the inspiration!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
:drool5: I *love* your room...

 

Couple of questions:

 

- How did you attach the pocket chart to the back of the wire shelf??

- What type of baskets/bins do you have the books in? (under the cork board)

- Where did you get your "c-shaped" table?? That is COOL!! :)

 

I attached the pocket chart using small plastic zip ties through the holes in the chart. The wire shelf I got at Sam's Club originally for dollhouse piece storage back when I owned an online dollhouse store and had to have easy organized access to the pieces. Now it works great for school supplies.

 

I found those book holders at Target... they pull out forward about half way, so sometimes the ones in the back need to be rearranged to the front so that the kids can access them. I like them b/c they fit the books well and we had so many. I also used zip ties to hold them all together so that they were sturdier and don't move around when you pull one bin out.

 

I got the kidney table at Sam's Club a couple of years ago. I LOVE it! It has adjustable height so it is growing with the kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Wow. That's all I can say. Just... wow. OK, now that I feel like I do NOTHING! around here, let me scrape my jaw off the floor and ask a few specifics. lol

 

Does it... um, how to say this.... Does it always look like this? Or rather, does it STAY looking like this?

 

In Pic2 you have some charts and lesson books on the table. I would love to hear more about this. Based on your sig, it looks like your curriculum picks are pretty eclectic. Can you tell me more about what's on the charts, if you have specific assignments planned out every day for months, or what?

 

Thanks! And thank you for the inspiration as well! :)

 

Stacey

 

Lol... during the day it doesn't look like this, but at 3:00pm we have clean-up time and we get it all put back like the photos. On Thursdays (our last full day during the week) the kids vacuum and sweep & wash down the table. I give out 3 tickets at the end of each school day, and the kids can't have them until it is clean. This is great motivation, since they save up the tickets to redeem for money or prizes (like silly bands:001_smile:). (You can see our blue ticket holder on the shelf to the left of the human body chart.)

 

On the table I have my lesson books, weekly schedule (colorful), and an overall-yearly-curriculum-plan (yellow & gray). You can see them a little better in pic1.

 

LESSON PLAN BOOKS: During the summer I plan out my year and enter it into EduTrack Software, then print out my daily lesson checklists for each child. Then I bind them and use them to enter grades as we go during the day. The kids use them to see what is expected of them during the day and love to check off the little boxes to show that they have finished the work. When work is done, they get free time :) I do make adjustments and just write them in as we go... like this week we had a playdate with a friend, so we moved things around and will use some of our "off" day tomorrow to finish up what we are behind on. I am pretty good about planning in a lot of "margin" time into the lesson plans so that we don't get behind if we choose to be spontaneous. Many times we even work ahead... DS is famous for waking up at 5:45am and having his independent work finished before breakfast:lol:.

 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE: This is somewhat flexible (because I am more flexible by nature) but it keeps us focused and organized to know what we "should be doing". I have it organized so that some of the kids are paired up when I need individual time (for Math, Kindergarten, etc.) with one of the kids. My 3yo is better supervised and integrated this way.

 

CURRICULUM PLAN: This is my overall school year calendar (on the left) with the units or general themes that will be covered in most subjects written out. I'm an "overall picture" kind of person, so I need to see my year on one page so that I know how it all fits together. This works really well to keep ME focused. It also shows when our breaks will be (and how much time I have to get the house ready for upcoming grandparent visits on those break weeks).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
i.love.lucy

i.love.lucy

Posted
Posted

WOW! I love it. The only thing missing is your computer so you can surf the boards while the kids work...:tongue_smilie: Oh, er, that might just be me.

 

I love how open and spacious it is. My "school room" is really the formal dining room for this house and only has wall space on 2 walls, currently occupied by 3 bookshelves on one and my armoire and filing cabinet on the other. No place for any wall hangings at all. No maps or cursive charts or fun posters. No white board or cork board either. It's a drag.

 

I LOVE the wire rack with the gray boxes.

 

Terrific space!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I love it, too!!!

 

Do you remember what paint color you used on the walls? It's the EXACT shade I want to get for our schoolroom. I was going to use Hush by Benjamin Moore, but your color looks even prettier!

 

Cat

 

I wish I could... we don't even have any touch-paint left. We did it about 7 years ago... but I think it was something yummy like "hot chocolate" if I remember correctly. I don't remember the brand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
WOW! I love it. The only thing missing is your computer so you can surf the boards while the kids work...:tongue_smilie: Oh, er, that might just be me.

 

I used to have it in the school room, but it was way too tempting to me! :lol::lol::lol: Now I keep it in the other room so that I can stay focused. It was very intentional :lol:.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
What a fantasy homeschool space! Amazing! Awesome! Hats off to you!

 

 

Thanks! It really is my fantasy room! I am so proud of it :D. I LOVE being in there and the kids do too. Now if only I could keep the rest of the house so nice and neat.:glare: :lol:

Edited by babysparkler
Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
I love your school room! I am sooo jealous of all the wall space you have! Where did you get the wired rack with the bins that has the pocket chart hanging on the opposite side? I WANT ONE!

 

Sam's Club! It is sturdy, and the bins naturally fall into place because they have little grooves under the bins. I've had it for about 6-7 years now. They still carry it for around $100... It is well worth the price. It rolls very easily too!

 

I discovered that the pocket chart fit perfectly on the other side by accident... I was holding it up wondering where I would possibly put it (this was before we had a designated school room) and walked over and saw that it fit. :D

Edited by babysparkler
Link to comment
Share on other sites
nd293

nd293

Posted
Posted

Lovely! How do you organise your bookshelves? I also have the Billy bookshelves, but the only way I can think to keep track of the books is to sort them into categories. This is not very efficient, as I end up with empty space at the ends of shelves - but then don't have enough shelves. I can't imagine finding anything if I don't sort by subject, history rotation etc etc.

 

Nikki

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Luckymama

Luckymama

Posted
Posted

Fabulous!

 

Re: the paint color. We have had/have similar paint in our old house (dining room) and in our current house (family room). I couldn't use the same paint in the new house because the natural light in the space was so different. What I did was to get all the paint chips in that part of the color palette and tape them onto the walls. I looked at the colors in the morning, in the afternoon and at night with artificial light. Some colors looked great during the day but turned "muddy" in the night. Eventually we ended up with 2 choices and I bought the first one that went on sale :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Lovely! How do you organise your bookshelves? I also have the Billy bookshelves, but the only way I can think to keep track of the books is to sort them into categories. This is not very efficient, as I end up with empty space at the ends of shelves - but then don't have enough shelves. I can't imagine finding anything if I don't sort by subject, history rotation etc etc.

 

Nikki

 

Since they are tall and hard for the kids to reach, the top two levels are designated for my curriculum, organized by subject, with the right side set aside for my current things that I want easy access to. Third level down on the right each child has their own little "cubbie" for their own school books. Reference books, series books (like Moncure A-Z books, etc.) & puzzles are to the right side, while picture books are to the middle and left. The non-fiction section is in the corner section. I have the picture books organized by hardcover or softcover and, believe it or not, this helps me find things pretty easily! The kids are great at putting things back on the same shelves that they pull it from, and if they can't remember, even the 3 year old knows to put it back according to soft or hard cover as a default.

 

I don't have room for any of their board books... still trying to figure out where to keep those. Right now they are all in the boys' room, but they end up all over the place every night :glare: so it isn't working for me.

 

The chapter books are kept in the wire bins on the shelf minus the ones that the kids like to keep in their rooms (DD's pony books, DS's classics & chess books, etc).

 

Dh is in the process of tagging all of the books in the house with their Library of Congress number (:lol: He loves organization!), shelving them in our "office" by LOC number, and entering it into our book tracking software with his handy little scanner thing... but he hasn't gotten to the kids' books yet. I warned him not to mess up my organization, and though it kills him, he promised me he wouldn't try to re-organize them by LOC number when I wasn't looking :lol::lol::lol:. The book tracking software should make it easier for me "view" our collection and sort it to find what I need or see if we have a certain book & whether it is hardcover or softcover... then I will have a general idea where the book actually is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Whoa! I wish mine looked like this! I love your table. I am just using a dining table and it works okay, but it is too tall for my dd and I'd love to have something more her size. She can hardly practice handwriting because it is precarious for her. Okay, off to shop for tables!;)

 

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Here is the Kidney table at Sam's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Satori

Satori

Posted
Posted

Thanks for sharing!

 

You reminded me I have two of those shelves with all the drawers. I used to store BabyLegs legwarmers in them back when I had my store, they fit perfectly. What kinds of stuff do you store in them now? I was going to sell them, but maybe school storage might be a better idea.

 

I wish I had more kids so I could take advantage of a kidney-shaped table!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
babysparkler

babysparkler

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for sharing!

 

You reminded me I have two of those shelves with all the drawers. I used to store BabyLegs legwarmers in them back when I had my store, they fit perfectly. What kinds of stuff do you store in them now? I was going to sell them, but maybe school storage might be a better idea.

 

I wish I had more kids so I could take advantage of a kidney-shaped table!

 

Do you mean the rolling cart with gray bins? I store most of our school supplies in that: pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, lined paper, drawing paper, flash cards, folders, rulers/calculators, etc.

 

In the white drawers that make the counter behind my table I store my art supplies, science supplies, math manipulatives, language arts manipulatives, playdoh, my pro-click/laminator/binding machine & supplies, etc. The open shelves in the corner near the flags & calendar I call "Kindergarten Korner". There I keep the Betty Lukins felt stuff, magnetic letter boards, and other things that the littles can do when I need them to be occupied with something. I keep our games stored in the hall closet just outside of the school room.

 

The school room opens up to the family room where we have more play space within view. The radio is in there too for when we have a CD to listen to.

 

This is my 4th year of homeschooling and I finally feel like I have everything at my fingertips that I've needed all along. Though I love the thought of having a homeschooling "home" (and did have it that way for a long time), it truly drove me crazy having everything spread out around the house.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Binalina

Binalina

Posted
Posted

What an absolutely gorgeous room! I am so tempted to just copy it!:drool: Is that terrible? It really is just the perfect room! I've been struggling with trying to fit everything for school in the dining room while still maintaining a dining room look - and it's not really working anymore. hmmm.....I wonder if I can get hubby to part with the tv. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...