Our School Room

I have seen so many other blogs where pictures of school rooms have been posted. I figured it was time for me to get around to taking some pictures of ours. All of the furniture, bookshelves, etc. in our schoolroom were bought at IKEA.

These are the children's school desks. We have four chairs so that Mom can sit with them while they are working. 

This is the other side the wall where we keep all the kid's toys. They usually play on the the cool rug you see which is from IKEA as well. 

I made this bulletin board because Devin was learning his color words last year and was having a bit of trouble with them. It was a great visual for him. On the top of the bookshelf, we have a few games and a box of craft supplies.  The bookshelf below is separated for each child. One box is poetry, another early  readers, another my 2nd grader's readers, and lastly my highschooler's readers from last year. 

Here is Mom's work area

This is a full view of one end of the schoolroom (all I could fit in the camera from the small space I had.  

This last one is Devin showing off their new chore charts.  I love these.  They were definitely a lot of work, but I am sure they will be worth it.  The kids can't wait to get to use them (we still have not started school yet).  I found all the printouts for these at Homeschool Creations which is one of my favorite blogs and is also listed in my sidebar. Be sure to check it out! 

Wordless Wednesday

Trip to Dish It Out

Last Wednesday, we were bored.  I decided I wanted to take the Leanna and Devin to do something they hadn't ever done before.  We ended up at Dish It Out.  You start by picking out your pottery and your paint colors.  Leanna loves horses so she ended up picking a unicorn and Devin loves anything that goes fast so he ended up painting a motorcycle.  He actually wanted the army tank, but they were all out.  We are going to go back one day soon so he can paint that army tank.  Here are pictures of the kids painting their pottery.

We just picked up our finished work yesterday.  I will say that I helped Leanna with hers A LOT. It turned out beautiful.  I love the colors she chose. Devin didn't want any help.  He just decided to slap some colors on it and piled color over color! LOL But, thats okay, because thats what makes his special, right? Devin has been counting down the days until he could go get his pottery, "Mom, it was 7 days yesterday so now  we have 6 left".  I think I heard this everyday.  I am so glad the pottery place wasn't late. Anyway, here are the final results.  

 

Today's Amazon Order

I must say, I LOVE Amazon! Or maybe a better word would be....addicted? I usually keep a cart of the things I want to buy and watch them as the prices fluctuate.  When they go down enough to a price I am willing to pay, then I buy them.

Today, my order consisted of one find which was mentioned on the WTM boards. I love this book.  Leanna has been browsing the pages since It came in the mail and hasn't stopped asking questions.  Of course, she had a few giggles at the naked pictures of which I explained to her were works of art by famous artists and should be respected, not giggled at.

I also picked up a couple resources to use with Galloping the Globe as we take our "virtual trip around the world".  I found the suggestions on this blog: Homeschool Creations - Geography. I love this blog! It has so many printables, resource suggestions, lesson plans, etc. to use alongside Galloping the Globe. Although, perusing it, has cost me some money (money well spent though since it was on books). We can NEVER have too many books! I find I am constantly adding to my children's library. These are the two books that came today as well.

I received both of these books on the 4-for-3-promotion.  If you purchase 4 books, you end up receiving one for FREE.  I love Amazon deals! I have made the mistake a couple of times of adding books in this particular promotion to my cart and not buying enough, thus, not receiving the free book.  I always check now and do separate orders to make sure it checks out correctly. 

Finished Binders

Well, I just got done making Leanna's weekly binder. I will start on Devin's next.  I used scrapbooking paper to decorate the binder and put her picture on the front.  I found the idea online when I searched for "decorating binders".  I might do a bit more later, but I think it's fine for now. Here is a picture.

Inside, they will both have a pencil case which they will carry their pencils, erasers, glue, or whatever else they may need for a school day. There are dividers for Monday through Friday so they know exactly what is expected of them each day. I figure doing things this way will make things extremely easy if we need to leave the house and take school with us. Everything will be all in one folder! 

I also completed Devin's binder. It is organized the same way as Leanna's, but his is decorated with Optimus Prime since he loves Transformers.

My Homeschool Filing Method

So, I have this blog...now what? Seriously though, I only made this blog after finding so many others that I have become interested in and have actually been following on a weekly basis.  They are usually blogs on homeschooling.  I have found so many great ideas, resources, etc. Some of which I have actually utilized in my own homeschooling (or will in the Fall).

We took an extra long break this Summer because I (as well as the kids) really needed it.  We stopped schooling in May and will continue our new year on September 13, 2010.  We will most likely end up schooling further into the Summer in 2011, but thats okay since the long summer was greatly needed.

I have spent the last few weeks organizing our school room, decorating, making sure our curriculum was all sorted, etc.  Here are a couple pictures of the bulletin boards I have just finished working on in the last couple of weeks.

You probably can't get a good view of the school desk because I took this with my iPhone camera and was trying to get the whole bulletin board in the photo.  It's covers the whole wall and is HUGE.  Notice each child has their own bulletin board behind their chair to post artwork, schoolwork, or anything else they are proud of. 

This year, I have implemented a filing box system I found here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189482&highlight=filing. I just finished cutting apart and filing the last of the workbooks.  I do still have Science and Geography to finish though which will probably be the most difficult, time consuming bit of it. Here is a photo of what I have finished thus far.  I have labeled 36 hanging folders for each week of the school year. Inside each hanging folder, I have a manilla folder for each child with that week's work. On Sunday night, I will remove the current week's work and file it in a binder by day.  I will post pictures of the binders when they are completed which is the next thing on my list of "To Do's".

I also have another crate just for my teacher's manuals, resources I need throughout the year such as weekly book logs, lesson plans, weekly schedule, etc. 

Well, I wanted to get a start on this blog. I can't wait to add to it.  I still have a few things left to file so I am off to get that done now and make their binders.  I will post more pictures when it is all complete.