Our New Classroom

I just thought I'd share with you our classroom in our new house. It's actually a bit larger than the one at our previous house. It's also longer rather than square. Which at this time I am not sure which one I prefer. It doesn't seem so closed in. At the same time the room seems a bit tighter getting around our large round table. In our old class room it didn't seem like we had that issue. We also have much taller ceilings. I have a harder time reaching for things and I am always looking for a chair to stand on.

We don't have a basement in this house. Our last school room was in the basement and had a small window up by the ceiling. We now have a large window and a patio door in our classroom. The room is a garage converted into a small family room. I have less wall space which I miss but, we enjoy the windows. It was a good trade off.

There is a small hallway in this ranch style house that has a laundry room off to one side and then you step down into the classroom. The classroom has carpet while the rest of the house has hardwood flooring. One day I would like to get rid of the carpet.

One day I would like to put up a curtain just to close off the classroom. It might help when we have guest. I have never liked my kids in the past using the classroom as a playroom with their friends. My kids know what they can get into and well lets just say we have had quite a mess with other kids like puppets getting hair cuts, all the items taken out just to see whats in every drawer, and glue smeared to be smeared are just to name few things. I don't have the time to clean up huge messes 

The book shelf on the right side is for my cookbooks and Bibles, and other Biblical resources. I actually donated a lot of cookbooks before we moved. I had two shelves packed with cookbooks. It was hard to get rid of them but, at the same time I was glad to unload them.

 The first thing you see is the computer desk. I have all my curriculum and teaching material on this shelf. I actually have less space for my teaching material and decided to donate and sell a lot of items. We had a large bookshelf at our old house in the family room in our basement which had held a lot of books like encyclopedias and other resources. That's okay as I really have to think now about what I need or want to hang on too. Before if I wasn't sure if I needed it or wanted it I had the extra room to think about it.

All of these items use to be on the same shelf as our games and chapter books. Some of the material was tucked away out of site. One day I'll need to eliminate a few more things on this shelf. The wood cabinet use to be our TV stand in the basement. Now it holds homeschool items that I need like a laminator, comb binder, and all those gadgets that every homeschool mom should have! The black cabinet is construction paper, drawing paper, paint, art supplies, craft supplies, and other material. I actually need to organize both cabinets better. That will be a project for the summer time.

 This is all of our readers, chapter books, games, and a few odds and end. Underneath is all of the craft, science, and odds and ends.

 Our table and white board. I don't really like where the whiteboard is but, I still use it and I don't have any other options since I am wall to wall shelving. One day I would like to get rid of the sliding patio door and put a single door there. It would give me a more wall space for putting my cabinets on and not being so tight in the classroom with the chairs. 

One day I may trade out one of a longer table in the classroom that we have in storage. That is another summer time project.

 With all the windows we have animals wanting to look outside. Little Man actually brought in the TV tray and we put a large beach towel on it for the cat. Now I think its a permanent fixture in here.

 Mercy spends the majority of the school time on the school table or on her perch gazing outside. She is a very social kitty and likes to be around you. She takes her naps here also.

 We have lots of birds and squirrels for her to look at. We actually have pulled out a bird field guide and binoculars that we keep by the window. It's been a lot of fun learning the names of birds.

 Then Rascal discovered he could get up on the TV tray and look outside.

Like I mentioned the animals seem to like the classroom and spend a lot of time there also. Mercy wasn't too happy about Rascal discovering one of her many favorite places. She use to chase him off. She has had a change of heart here lately.

Overall, I like the schoolroom it will just take some time tweaking it like I did at our old house. Which of course took a few years of trial and error. I like that I am downsizing without having as much storage space. It will just take time for me to adjust and to remember where I put everything. That is the hard thing is not feeling totally organized.