My Unpinnable School Room

There have been a flurry of bloggers sharing their picture-perfect school rooms this week.  Every year, I want to be able to participate, but feel like my room is too much of a disaster.  

Then I realized, if I'm feeling this way, I bet there are other moms who are, too.  No more!  Here's my imperfect school room!  It works for us, and your school space probably works for you, too.  Even if it's not Pinworthy.  

We are very blessed to have a dedicated school room in this house.  Our school room is a "loft" or bonus room upstairs.  One wall is all bookcases, and they're full to bursting.  We have a lot of books.  (Probably has something to do with 17 years of homeschooling, right?)

The table in front is theoretically where we do most of our work.  The reality is, it happens all over, and I'm okay with that.  Although I do think we need to buckle down a bit more about handwriting, and it would probably help to do that at the table.

The purple ball hanging from the ceiling is actually a lamp.  Under that, you see two pictures.  One is a collage print of our 7 Safe Families kids, and the other is a picture of Katie when she lived in China.  On the right side of the room, in the black frames, are two pictures of Eli & Jack, taken several years apart.

On top of the bookcases are science kits, toddler activities, reading games, and various other supplies.  The pink bucket on the floor is school supplies we've stocked up on when they go on super sale at Staples.

This shot gives you a better idea of the room's openness to the rest of the upstairs.  My room is behind me, and the dark area on the right leads to more bedrooms and bathrooms.

The interior windows are a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, free shelf space!  (Which I wish I was better about keeping on top of, really.)  On the other hand, no walls to hang maps/charts on.

Standing by the exterior windows, you can see the kids' computer on the left, along with the required couch potato.  There's always somebody on, and usually a line waiting for a turn.

My desk is on the right.  We have a clock in the classroom, although very few of the kids can actually tell time on this thing.  Makes me crazy.  I think they ask me what time it is on purpose.  Under the clock is an apple wreath the kids and I made the year Hannah was born.

Between the two chairs, you can see our art bag on the floor.  Behind that, I have a couple of file boxes, which seem to attract piles, unfortunately.  If there's stuff piled on top of the file boxes, I can't file anything, which means more things pile up!

The hall wall.  The volcano poster should probably come down to make room for something new.  Under that is the art cart, with more "stuff" piled on top of it.  Next, we have two more bookcases full of books.  They're multiplying, I tell you.

The white board is a new addition last year.  I resisted the idea at first, but now I like it.

The basket on the floor is all board books.  Again, they multiply.  I think I need to go through and set some free to be read elsewhere.

The "window seat" is 3 cubes from Target.  I really love the seating and storage.  I'm not so crazy about how dirty they've gotten!  I wish there was a way to buy just the lids.  One cube has reams of paper in it (bought on sale, of course!), one has more books in it, and one has gardening supplies in it.

I think I need to reconfigure the shelves on the bookcase on the end.  If I move them all down a bit, I can fit more shoebox sized tubs up top.  Those house various craft supplies, such as pipe cleaners, paper punches, glitter, etc.

If you peek down the hall, you can see into Eli & Jack's room.

No, our school room won't win any contests for design or decor.  But it's chock full of resources, and happy memories.  Learning happens here.  I can live with that.


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