A Peek Into Our School Room

In the Top 5 list of "Things Homeschooling Families Want to Know about Other Homeschooling Families," probably just after curriculum and scheduling questions, is "What does your homeschool room look like?"

I've posted before about how we used to school in our basement schoolroom/playroom/office, but have now moved our entire operation upstairs. As the kids got older, it just made more sense to move our school space back to our general living area. This allows me to prepare meals and take care of laundry and other household chores when I am not activity involved in schooling. The kids get more done and I get more done.

And, we're closer to the bathroom. And the sweet tea. It's a vicious cycle, that.

Our main school area is now our dining room, although the kids do their independent work all over the house, sometimes here:



Or here:



Or in their bedrooms (of which I was going to post pictures until I saw their current state of disarray), the basement or even in their "hide-out" in the backyard, if the weather is nice.

I'm really pleased with the way my new bookshelf has helped me to organize our school stuff in the dining room. Because, you know, everyone has a bookshelf in their dining room. Just this weekend, I re-potted the two still-living plants from the basket I brought home from my grandmother's funeral. (Actually, there is one other plant that isn't completely dead yet, so I'm holding out hope for it and a second one that probably is dead, but I haven't given up yet.)


The plant also houses our classroom pet: a tiny, little snail.



When I went to re-pot the plants Friday night, I discovered him in one of the pots. I figured if he'd been in there all this time, he wasn't hurting anything and he might even be useful to the plants in some way. And, seriously? They can use all the help they can get under my care. We'll see the snail climbing up the stems of the peace lily from time to time.

This nifty little basket holds frequently used supplies in a neat, easily accessible spot:



And, we have our new globe on top of one of my hidden storage spaces, sitting in front of my bulletin board (because everyone has bulletin boards on their dining room walls), which looks pitifully bare right now. Give me a couple of weeks and it won't look so sad.



The cabinets in my China hutch hold supplies that are used less often or that are just big and bulky and would look junked up on my bookshelf. The gray file box inside holds paper: loose leaf, construction, printer, cardstock, etc.


I've given up on having the top of the China hutch empty, but at least everything is contained and fairly organized.



So, there you have it. That's our school space. What is yours like?

This post is linked to the Not Back to School Hop at Life with My 3 Boybarians.