I am well aware that our family is very blessed to have a house big enough that we have a schoolroom separate from the rest of the house. Most homeschoolers have a living room or dining room that is pulling double duty, and while we've done that and will probably do so again sometime in the future, we are grateful to have this dedicated space for all things "school".
May I show you around, mess and all?
Please, do come in...
We were able to pick up the two desk-and-chair sets for free when our church school closed, and the big desk and white board are items Toby found going spare at work.
The pull-out couch was a freebie from a friend (thanks again, Danielle!), and is perfect for our guests when they visit.
I have big plans for turning those closets into useful work spaces, but that's going to have to wait for now...
A couple clever ideas: Toby mounted the white board on batons to give a gap between the board and the wall for storing a variety of maps that are mounted onto thick display board. If you're short on wall space and like your maps or whatnot, this could be helpful.
Another clever thing he did was mount an old plastic tub next to it, up high, for the dry erase markers and eraser. Some families may not need such things, but for us, storing the markers on the board's marker tray puts them within reach of Daniel. Need I say more?
My last clever idea was to record the kids' school assignments on schedule sheets, stick them in clear, plastic sleeves, and mount them on the wall near my desk. This is helping them to grow in self-government a little, rather than depending on me to tell them each little thing they have to do for each assignment, and they can check off when they've finished something with a dry erase marker. Then they (and I) can see at a glace whether they are done their work for the day.
The room is by no means perfect (the closets are an issue and I need to figure a better way to store toys and crafts), but it has been a great blessing and really goes a long way toward making our homeschool work that little better. I'll take that, any day.
