On this week’s Not Back to School Blog Hop, the theme is your homeschooling classroom or area. We are beginning our third year of homeschooling, and I have to admit that we have done just about everything as far as having homeschooling areas in our house.
We began homeschooling at our kitchen table. We moved to taking over one of the rooms in our house (which we didn’t really have to spare), with an occasional move (for a day or two) to our kitchen counter. I realized during last school year that I didn’t like being in a separate room. I like being in our main living area (we have an open floor plan in our house, so it includes a couple of rooms).
The main difference this year is that we took over the bookshelf that it is closest to the coat closet we also claimed for our homeschooling supplies. In order to help the older kids be more independent with their work, we gave each child their own shelf for their books and their supplies. We also have one shelf with all of our books that we use together on it. (I do have to note that we were originally going to buy something to make this work, but after just some moving of items, plus passing along books that we didn’t need anymore, we were able to just use what we had at home.)
Our shelf take over:
And here is the former coat closet. We do miss having a coat closet, but it’s wonderful for homeschool storage (especially since Eric did a lot of modifications for us):
(I’ve had several comments about the supply caddies that the kids have. My sister, Kristin, decorated those for the kids. She has some in her Etsy shop, All That Scrap, as well.)
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I love the layout. Since we’ve officially made our decision to homeschool this year, I’m trying to get more ideas. I’m loving the organization you have! And what a pretty Holy Water Font too
@beth aka confusedhomemaker,
I really loved that Holy Water font. I found it very inexpensively, so that was even an extra bonus.
I love the little supply caddies! I made a space on one side of the entertainment center. Originally, each child had a shelf and I shared my oldests shelf for all of the teacher manuals and extra books. However, I kind of crowded him out of his shelf….so, I shifted down. Since the girls (especially my preschooler) don’t have that many books….they are sharing a shelf.
It’s been interesting for me to realize that, homeschooling does require some SPACE….
My son has a desk in his room….but the girls and I will be working on the kitchen table…coffee table or on lap-pads on the couch. We’ll just have to do the best we can.
Thanks for this post…I’m very visual and the pictures really help me to get my mind working!
Oh, I love how you decorated the utensil turnstyles! Did you use fabric or scrapbooking paper? And what did you use to attach it? I have one from Pampered Chef that’s all marked up and ugly, and I’d love to make it beautiful again!
@Amanda,
My sister decorated the Pampered Chef tool turnabouts for the kids. She did one of them for a Christmas gift, and then later I trade her some web designing for her to decorate the others for me. (We got to pick out the papers on those.)
@Amanda,
Oops! Forgot to answer the full question. It is scrapbooking paper and elements all stuck on (and then covered again) with Mod Podge.
Thanks so much, Angie! I hope you have an awesome start to your schoolyear!
That was a great idea to use the coat closet! I’m sure it will be so nice to have everything near you this year.
i love your art caddy’s!!!! GREAT idea!!!!!!!!!
thank you for sharing,
have a wonderful week,
Angela
@Angela @ Kinder Days,
Thanks so much! My sister made them with scrapbooking paper and elements on Pampered Chef tool turnabouts.
@Angela @ Kinder Days,
Angela – I realized after my sister left a comment that I should have shared her Etsy shop too (she has some tool caddies on there: http://www.etsy.com/shop/allthatscrap)
I love the supply caddies!!! Did you cover them or did they come that way? Do you have a post about them? I hope you have a great homeschool year.
~Lynn
@Eclectic Education,
Lynn – thanks so much for the compliment! My sister actually decorated the supply caddies for us. She has then in her Etsy shop as well: http://www.etsy.com/shop/allthatscrap
Hope you have a great school year too!
Wow… great space sister!
Hope I am not stepping out of bounds, but I do have some of the tool caddys on my Etsy shop if anyone is interested. AllThatScrap.
@Kristin Cherwinski,
D’oh! Didn’t even think to share your link. (How silly of me!) I’ll add it in to the post and then left it here in the comments too. Silly, silly me!
@Angie,
Thanks sister! I do have a few blank ones here as well, in case anyone is interested in a certain color theme or whatnot, I can do custom orders.
A year ago we moved from the “den” – a tiny little room, about 8×10 to the “family room” – main room off the kitchen. We have an open floor plan, too. LOVE IT! Originally I wanted to have school in the den so we could close the doors, but it got cramped in there with so many people. And really, we use the school room for hours each day, it just makes sense that it would be in a main room since it is a main activity.
I love all the storage in the closet! Do you not put up posters or anything on the walls anywhere? Thanks for sharing your space!
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