A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

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.

Homeschool Classrooms

Top Mommy Blogs - Click To Vote! Thanks for clicking for us!

34 comments:

  1. I like your schoolroom.... and it is pinterest worthy. :) What works.... works. :) Thank you for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I think I get wrapped up with what someone else can do with more money and time and set unrealistic expectations for myself.

      Delete
  2. That's a terrific space. If we ever move, I want a room for school. We gave that up a couple years ago when the youngest was born. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We didn't have a dedicated room in our old house. This is such a treat for me! :)

      Delete
  3. Your school room is great, and just as good as most of the other homeschool rooms I've seen. Except for the ones that could be in a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine... I know the ones you're talking about. They make me drool!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. About the time I have the spare time and extra money to create an amazing school room... I won't need one any more. :/

      Delete
  4. I think your school room is quite pinnable. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is definitely pin worthy! I'm starting a Homeschool Classrooms Pinterest board and yours will be pinned with others to show all the time, love, and creativity that it takes to organize learning spaces in our homes. I love how open your loft is and your organization is inspiring! I too like to collect books and store them as neat as possible with little hands constantly "reorganizing" them for me! Love the wall of bookcases! We too have a clock in our homeschool room and I always have to resist the urge to tell my kids the time (the kids that should know how to tell time) Have a blessed school year and thanks for sharing your Pinnable school room! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is it with the time thing?? It's like when my husband used to pull something out of the freezer and ask me what temp to cook it at. And if I was silly enough to answer, he'd ask "How long?" as if the answer to both those questions wasn't PRINTED ON THE PACKAGE, lol. I think kids asking the time is similar. Thanks for pinning. :)

      Delete
  6. The space where we keep most of our school supplies is probably not pinterest worthy either but it works for us and that's what counts, right? Thanks for sharing your space with us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely! I'm big on doing what works these days. :) One of the perks of getting older, I think. Spending less time worrying about what everyone else will think.

      Delete
  7. I love how many books you fill your classroom with!! Always a great thing :-)

    Thanks for sharing at the #SHINEbloghop

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And we really have gotten quite a bit of use out of most of these books. Having such a large span of ages, I see the same books around the house every few years as someone new grows into them.

      Delete
  8. I like it. The bookshelves look like they are full of great books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's certainly a huge variety! Everything from board books to grown up books, in quite a few genres. One of my high schoolers last year asked, "Who's Mother Theresa?" (I know! Sad!) and I got him a biography about her.

      Delete
  9. I used to have a beautiful classroom for my kids when they were younger. I went to a dollar store and got inexpensive posters and the alphabet. Bought a globe and gave my kids their own desks and own computer. I had loads of books and an extra large bin shelf of school supplies that could be accessed at a glance. It also was a dedicated space and I loved it! Every year In early August, I would spend the day organizing it, steam cleaning the floors and rearranging the classroom so it was different each year. I always felt a little change was necessary each year so my kids didn't get bored with the same space year after year. Each year, they loved the " new" layout. Now with them being older, their bedrooms serve as class space and I long for the classroom back but time marches on, so enjoy these times as they go so fast! :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every year, I think I'm going to refresh our school room over the summer, and every year, it just doesn't happen. :/ I'm well aware how fast time flies; my first homeschool student is getting married in a few months!

      Delete
  10. I think your school room is great! Look at all those books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Melissa! I must have voracious readers. I still hear, "There's nothing to read! I've read all these already!"

      Delete
  11. What a great space!! That's so nice you have a designated room. I taught in a public school, so I don't know much about homeschooling. Honestly, I always assumed you just taught wherever. I like getting a glimpse into a different way to teach!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many people do teach wherever. :) And learning happens all over the place, of course, but this is "home base" so to speak. Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  12. I would much rather see real homeschool rooms than just pin worthy ones! Mine isn't pin worthy either, but it works for us! Both of my kids have desks, but their learning happens everywhere. Like yours, ours is mostly a home base so frequently used items are easily accessible, and less frequently used ones don't disappear into the recesses of shelves and closets! And i was so excited as I looked around yours to see how many of the same items we have in ours! We have the pink balance disc instead of your yellow one, my eight year old loves our geopuzzles, and many other similar tools. That made me very happy! if these have helped you succeed over the last 17 homeschool years, I feel reassured we are on the right track! Can't wait to read more of your blog! Nice meeting up with you on the Manic Mondays blog hop!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thanks so much, Judy! :) There are so many neat products out now, aren't there? GeoPuzzles are a serious favorite of mine. Have you seen the world map blocks?? LOVE them. And we have a purple balance disc, too (used to live under my desk for my feet!) but it needs to be re-inflated.

      Delete
    2. I haven't' seen the world map blocks! Do you have a link? I'll have to look that up! A fellow homeschooling Mom was over here a few days ago and she commented that we must really love the world cuz we have world maps everywhere including our shower curtain and Scentsy warmer!!

      Delete
    3. Here you go! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008UWTU42/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008UWTU42&linkCode=as2&tag=greatbless-20&linkId=3KVQK2RMPA6ZK2XG
      Our whole family took turns doing the map puzzle on one side. It's harder than you might think! Love the world map shower curtain idea. :)

      Delete
    4. Thanks! I'm putting it on my list! We got our shower curtain at Bed Bath and Beyond. But I see it's cheaper on Ebay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/301225611970?lpid=82

      Delete
    5. Oooh, I like the all blue map one, too. :)

      Delete
  13. Looks great to me! That's a lot of kiddos. You are Super Woman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! I don't feel super. Maybe super tired. ;) It's a lot of kids, but I'll only have 2 "real" students this year, plus Katie doing some preschool stuff, and Hannah home 3 weeks 3 different times during the school year. So, 2-4 students, lol.

      Delete
  14. Your schoolroom looks great! We use part of our kitchen for a homeschool room :-) you have a great looking family!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! :) I think they're pretty cute, too.

      Delete
  15. I like your room, I think it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Debbie! We certainly have a lot of fun in here. :)

      Delete