Our Homeschool Room 2011-12

I am so excited to be {practically} done with our homeschool room.  This has been in the works since spring with much planning, online browsing, shopping, painting, reorganizing, redecorating, assembly, etc.  The kids are anxious to purchase their school supplies to complete our preparation but, overall, I think we're ready. 

1st of all, let me say that Brian and I were chuckling as he hung the "ABCs" on the wall because we had been to the NICHE conference {which we loved} but it was all about not making homeschool "school at home".  Brian said, "We aren't making a classroom, right?"  :)  While I get what they are saying, I also am thrilled to have a space set apart for this purpose.  It's actually the little room (barely a room since it has 2 windows and 4 doorways!) between our kitchen and living room so it's right in the center of life here, which is necessary with Nathan!!  And, things like "ABCs" are not only cute decorations but I figure it can't hurt to have them around!!!  There's my defense for our room.

The kids are super excited now that it's come together and they keep talking about wanting to start school NOW and how much better it's going to be.  It's very sweet and I hope the excitement sticks around awhile!

I did not take pictures of the living room because it's not clean right now but that room ended up being repainted and moved around, as well.  We got rid of the old TV/entertainment center in order to streamline things and it looks awesome, I think.  A hand-me-down piece of furniture from my parents now sits in front of the fireplace with our new, thinner TV.   Our desk was also able to move into the room and it still leaves plenty of open space.  I'm really happy with how it turned out!!

On to pictures...

 Here's one partial wall with...obviously has our calendar, etc.  The twins are excited to show Samuel how this all works, since they are pros at it by the ripe age of 7.  :)  My green storage bins (IKEA) hold construction paper, white paper, writing paper, coloring books and some cool clipboards that I mod-podged to make pretty.  The white drawers hold some learning toys that Samuel and Nathan can get in.

 Another partial wall.  The fish bowl is to count to 100 and it will be blocked by the door most the time.  The door to the right is the boys' bedroom door and we keep it open and the stairs gated most the time (this was nap time).  The white frame ledges (IKEA) were such a fantastic day to showcase books.  I love it!

 Showing the doorway of the above walls.  There's a number line from 0-9 but it kind of bugs me that it's not centered above the door.  I tried to move it but it took paint off so I left it. I guess that gives me more space to hang something else--or get a larger number line someday.  To the left is my art line (IKEA)...wire with metal clips.  Another fantastic idea.  :)

 Here is the beautiful wardrobe (IKEA) we picked out.  I can't say how much I love this.  We also got hanging buckets (IKEA) for pencils, pens, tape, etc. (NOT scissors, though!).  The white board was a big purchase but it's been a lot of fun to have.  We've been using it to write chores on and then they "get" to erase their name/chore.  It's a reward to them so it all works out.  Milk it while it lasts!!  We've also done some Hangman and used it for Hunter's therapy homework.  I'm glad we splurged on it!  The ABCs are there, too, since it's our biggest wall.

 Our heaviest purchase was this bookshelf (IKEA).  The open shelves are kids' books.  I recently read {and loved} "Honey For A Child's Heart" and weeded through books with those ideas in mind.  I also purchased some great older books and classics off the online Goodwill site for super cheap. 

 Here's the finishing element (ALL IKEA).  How pretty!  Why do my kids have to touch any of this??  Ha!  They love the chairs because they swivel and go up/down.  We {wisely} chose to leave the wheels off.  There are 2 extra stools in the corner for extra kids who want to sit up at the table.  The cabinets hold the kids' school books and supplies that are not shared (which isn't much).  The desk lamps are a huge hit.  The curtains are gorgeous and Brian did a fantastic job of hemming them with the weird tape stuff that came with them.  We measured and hemmed before the table was put up so it could have been shorter but it works.  Once we got this table put together, we decided we didn't like the 2 cabinets and wanted to order 2 legs to put at one end and have a free-standing cabinet.  The legs are $3.50/each so no big deal, right?  Wrong!  Shipping was $22.50.  So...we'll be living with it this way until someone we know goes to IKEA.  We may change our minds, anyway.

 I got something for me, too!  A new computer chair that matches the kids' chairs {only bigger} and a planner {a $50 planner that I got free!!!}.  I already filled it.

 Inside the wardrobe...paint/craft supplies, art stuff/laminator, puzzles (finally hidden from Nathan!!), educational misc (math manipulatives, pattern blocks, magnetic letters, etc.).

 These are the shelves behind the doors of my bookshelf.  I'm sorry if it bugs anyone that these bins (IKEA) are 3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3.  I just threw them in there and put stuff in them.  These are all *my* books--teacher manuals, living books for history, read alouds, future assigned reading for the twins, preschool books that I've collected over the years, art books, etc. 

 The pink drawer holds my misc. supplies...labeler, velcro, stickers, folders....

The blue drawer holds my binder (which is FULL of organization in itself) and usually holds my folder of homeschool catalogs and my planner.

I think that's it!  Who's excited to begin our year?  We've actually started doing some phonics review--they actually asked to do it at 7:15 this morning because they wanted to use their chairs/lamps--but don't plan on officially beginning until the week after Hunter's therapy is scheduled to end.   I can't wait to see how the room works out as we go through our school year.

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