School Room Tour

When we began to design the plans for our new home, homeschooling was not even on the radar.  Even as we broke ground we didn't realize this was in our future.  Once we felt the calling to homeschool, I knew I would want a "school room"...one location that would contain all of our supplies and where the majority of our learning would take place.  (Although our learning actually takes place all over the house). :) 

So we discussed with the builder our desire for a school room, and we decided to close in an unfinished attic space.  Here is our result:  

I used one corner of the room as our "reading area."  With my rocking chair and floor pillows, I hope we have an inviting and warm place to have our read-alouds and storytime.  I included a pocket chart that holds our weekly Bible verse and character education poster.  I also have a world map to help us follow the travels of early explorers in our Heart of Dakota curriculum.  There is also a "God's Promises" poster I bought from our local school supply store.

We have found that the workbox system is a wonderful organizational tool for scheduling the daily school work.  Each box contains an activity.  For example, Box #1 contains History (read alouds on American Pioneers and Patriots), Box #4 holds our Bible activity, and Box #8 is our math activity.  This 10 drawer rolling cart is ideal for holding books, folders, papers, and any supplies needed for each activity.  

Here is our calendar and USA map.  Although Old Crow will not need the calendar activities very much this year, it is ready for Crazy Horse and Memphis Belle.  And I also made sure to include the little desk my Papa refinished for me as a little girl.  :)

This year we will adding Nature Studies to our activities.  I set up a nature center to hold all of our supplies and treasures.  I used a bookshelf my father built and actually turned it on its side so that it would be low for the kiddos to reach everything and have room enough above for our nature posters.  It holds our field guides, nature notebooks, treasures from our backyard, and our roly poly terrarium.  Here is a more detailed look at how we set up our Nature Center.     

We had bookshelves built in between the attic trusses to help maximize floor space in the room.  These bookshelves hold all of our manipulatives, games, supplies, and materials that we use regularly.  I also have a second bulletin board that holds our daily routine, our "Why We Homeschool" mission statement, and 3 Rules poster from We Choose Virtues. I left room at the bottom to display Old Crow's projects.  Now I just need the hubby to hang it. ;)

In the hallway outside of the school room is another cabinet that houses our art supplies, file folder games, and bulky items that are not used frequently.

Well, that concludes the tour of our new school room.  Now I can't wait to get in there and let the learning officially begin. 

Jenny