Well, hello there! It’s another week on the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop. If you are hopping over, WELCOME!
Be sure to hop over to the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop to check out all of the bloggers who have linked up their school rooms.
We are entering our 15th year of home education.
Our first year, we did use a school room. We made a trip to Orlando (a 3 hour drive) to visit the Lakeshore Learning Store. Oh, what fun I had wandering those aisles! Every school supply imaginable was on display for me to touch (and want!). We purchased a large table, 4 small school chairs, along with a plethora of “stuff” we’d need to home educate (okay, so maybe we didn’t technically need all of it). This was the trip where we had a tire blow out on I-75 on our way home. Quite memorable, eh?!
So, we set up this room with a chalkboard, copy machine, file cabinet, and said table and chairs. We were ready to venture onto this journey called home education.
It was nice to be able to leave projects in progress on the table. It was nice to shut the door when the room was less than tidy. But, what wasn’t nice was being stuck in that room while “life” was happening elsewhere in our home. When we first started homeschooling, it was 1997 and we had 2 children. Rebecca was 4-1/2 and Thomas had just turned 2. What it meant was that when I needed to tend to something for Thomas, I had to leave Rebecca alone in the school room. Or when it was time to start lunch or supper, she was alone. It just meant either I was neglecting something or leaving Rebecca alone. I didn’t really care for either choice.
Within 2 years, we were blessed with Natalie, our third babe. We needed more room in our home. And the school room just didn’t make sense any more. So, it became a bedroom. And our kitchen table became our school room. It’s been that way ever since.
This isn’t an ideal situation, but it’s what works for us. I can do most household tasks while the children complete their schoolwork and still be available to them. It also means that we have a pile of schoolbooks in our kitchen all year long. It also means that we have to pack up everything at the end of our school day. I plan to purchase some hanging file folder crates this year. This would allow all of our school books to be in the crates and, thus, more easily transported from one area to another. It would also allow us to keep all of our needed items together.
{This is a small stack of books on the kitchen stool. This is a common sight all school year long. I hope to change that using file crates this coming year. We shall see how that works out!}
I have seen many school rooms, either in person or online. I will admit to being a bit envious of some of those school rooms. We’ve never lived in a large home, so it’s simply not been possible to have a separate room for a school room. Even our “office” (and my work area) is in our bedroom. It’s not my preference for that, but it’s where there is room. We make it work somehow.
{My work desk is that same table purchased in Orlando way back when. }
Our dream would be to move to a larger home with a full basement. In this basement, we would have many “stations”….such as a crafting area, sewing area, gaming area, puzzle & board game area, and a tv area. This way, no matter what we were doing, we could all be together in the same room while doing it. Until that move happens, we are making the best of what we have!
We have several bookshelves, all handmade by my Honey, in our home. They are full. We could have 10 more and still not have enough book room. I think most homeschoolers are alike in that regard. I can’t imagine our home without the tons of books we have. 😉
And now that you have seen my messy bookshelves, it’s time for me to get to work organizing them!
Thanks for visiting. Next week on the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, it’s the student photo week! Be sure to visit again!
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Don’t feel bad about your smaller house. We once lived in a 936 sq ft house, no garage, with 9 children! Our dining room was only 8×11, and yet we were able to store all of our homeschool supplies, even a small desk with a huge chalkboard, plus our dining room table and a huge bookcase in that tiny room!
Thank you for your encouragement!
I don’t feel bad exactly, I just know that we’d all be happier with more room. We have only one bathroom, and it is located in our bedroom. We make do, it would just be nice to be able to work together on projects in one room…and to have room to spread out or have company over. 🙂
Just a thought – I’m using a file box in a 31 organizing utility tote this year so that pencils and such can stay together (I’m posting soon; the bag is on the way). Maybe that would work (and look presentable even if it stayed in the kitchen)! http://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/productdetail.aspx?prod=3105
Great idea!
I am thinking about using a lazy susan idea for art supplies.
While I don’t currently own any 31 items, I sure have drooled over them enough! Enjoy your new tote!
I tried a lazy susan for a year, but it was more awkward than helpful. The cups holding the supplies would often fall off mid spin even though they were glued. *lol* If you have a Michael’s craft store nearby, grab a coupon and get their spinning scrapbook supply organizer. It serves the same function as the lazy susan, but it’s actually more portable and takes up less space. BTW, we live in a tiny house and don’t have a “room” either, just the kitchen table. 🙂
The lazy susan idea I had was for a basket that is also a lazy susan. It’s sort of hard to describe, but it would not fling off as it’s all one basket. I have another idea I may use until I can get over to Amish-ville for the basket. I’ve drooled over that basket for several years now, just never had a use for it to justify its purchase. 😉
Thanks for your suggestions!!
Occasionally I have “schoolroom envy as well”. Then I remember that when we dedicated a space to homeschooling, we never used it once. That space currently holds the foosball table, we do school all over the house, and it works much better. 🙂
I can well relate.
We tend to do schoolwork at the table or in the living room. Or, if it’s nice outside, we’ll sit on the porch or the girls will work on the trampoline.
It would just be nice to have everything in one place….though with the sheer volume of books and “stuff”, it would have to be a rather large room!
Yay! Finally a schoolroom post with a space that doesn’t look perfectly neat yet contain a note apologizing for the mess.
🙂
We have had years when we have a school room and years when we didn’t. Even though we might not spend much time in the school room things go much smoother when we have one! It gives us a “home” for everything. Though school itself may take place on the trampoline, on the couch, on the floor or in the school room, at the end of the day everything goes back ‘home’. Also years when our household was extremely active, a school room was critical to accomplishing anything. I needed a place we could go in and close ourselves off from everything else that was happening in our house. We make do when we don’t have one, but those years are much more stressful.
I have found that not many have a dedicated school room and more of a dedicated school space. I do love the pictures of the bookshelves though! They look just like mine do.