Our Home School Home | Continued

Our Homeschool Home | September 2016

School table in the living room and math station on the table. Lab coats hung on the wall!

I moved the 4x4 Kallax to the home library/office. It collected a terrible amount of dust in the dining room and never stayed clean and orderly. It sits behind me now and has stayed clean for a month now! In its place, I had my husband install a 4x8 white board! I'm geeking out over IEW's writing - I've converted to using pens in my homeschool, of all things! (I love pencil!). If you've watched the TWSS you'll know what I mean.

Our books are in stations around the house - Bo has a desk and his own whiteboard for All About Reading Level 1 and his books are stored neatly on stop like a little station, while his handwriting and supplies are neatly in the drawer. His Math U See is on the living room table, where we have room to spread out and use the manipulatives. We do projects and science experiments at both tables, depending on which is in use at the time.

Malachi is often found camped out on the blue couch with his basket of books on the table or floor next to the couch. He can also be found at the round coffee table or the white desk in the dining room to do his math or Veritas Self Paced History at the computer (or watch a documentary). The cat can be found in any of the windows - preferably an open one.

I keep both Malachi and Eliana's spelling and reading in the 2nd white desk in the dining room at their white board (with all of the tiles on the board). The board is a little high for my liking, but I can't lower it because of the outlet beneath it. But, I finally had the idea to put the letter tiles at the bottom of the board!! Now, I don't have to stand to build a word. So nice. I keep Eliana's binder which houses her activity book for Level 4, to the right of the desk on one of the lower shelves. She pulls out several lessons at a time and puts them on a clipboard for lesson time.

We do our IEW at the couch and have tea or hot cocoa while watching the DVD. The kids hand write their rough draft (in pen!) and then type their final draft on the computer at the white desk in the dining room.

I love our little stations around the house! It feels more organized and I have everything I need where I need it.

My office library has still not been tidied of books. Sigh. I do have them more organized than ever before but many still need to go.

Living room with school table and coffee table... the far corner under the cork board is where all my Prairie Primer stuff is, including the book basket on top of the bookshelf. I haven't really decided what will go in the 2x4 by the stairs.


Bo's reading station to the left. Malachi's hang out to the right. Cat in the window... :)


Bo's reading books and supplies. 


Malachi and Eliana's reading/spelling station and rolling cart with their books and supplies. 


Reading and spelling in the right drawer. Left drawer is my stuff. 


Close up of the rolling cart, shelves with reading binder, and basket with cloth napkins and placemats at the bottom. 


The 4x8 whiteboard! That is 1/8" white panel board from Home Depot, hung with mirror clips. The markable map was put up with duck tape on the back, but has already fallen down. 


The 4x4 moved to the office library. Elli helped me decorate it with Five in a Row books and stuff to go along. 


Where I'm sitting right now... 

...still some organizing to do!

We just moved the boys into the big boy's old room, so I need bed frames for them still. But here they are on a sleepy morning - Bo with all his stuffed animals ♥...




and Malachi with his...


Elli is in the little boys old room, so she has their twin/full bunk bed to herself. 


I moved all my sewing up to the laundry room. I love having my machine out at all times! Bo asked me to sew a pocket for him and I actually did it right away. When he asked me again, I told him I had already sewed it! He was so surprised, haha. This isn't a great pic, but here's Elli working on her nine patch pillow for Plum Creek.


Here's a favorite corner in my bedroom, which is connected to the laundry room/master closest. 


The book, which was a gift from a dear friend, sits on the chair for times when I am able to slow and enjoy the peace and quiet while kids are at soccer or at play. It sits opposite our king bed, which is where I often sit to read to the kids on chilly nights (I have an electric blanket!). I will often also sit in the rocking chair in the little boys' room to read in the summer where the fan blows cool air from the east windows of the house. 


This is the closest I'll get to photographing the 16 year old's room, which was Jordan's old room... :) 


That's all I have taken photos of. I've rearranged the kitchen recently as well, but not sure I have a pic... nope - just a pic from when the school table was in the kitchen. I kinda miss it in there, but it was too crowded.


Playing around with cloth napkin curtains! :)  


Aren't the poppies pretty, though? They were growing wild along the walking path by the creek, so Elli picked some to bring home. 


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Here is the before, updated January 15, 2016...





and in 2011 shortly after Bo was born. 


I am always rearranging. It's how I clean and organize. So, this post will be continued... :) 


2 comments

  1. Thanks for sharing! We're in the process of rearranging and we will have a desk and kallax shelf setup too

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    Replies
    1. Oh, that's wonderful! I hope you love all that space! I really love the Kallax!

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