We did a much needed remodel in our classroom at the end of August. I'm real pleased with the final results. 

The old carpet needed to go. We finally have no more carpet in our house. I like laminate wood floor as it's durable and easy to clean. I don't have to worry about it getting scratched up easily. 

 In reality I now have a 6th and 9th grader and my kids needed some space during school. Both of my kiddos are working more independently-especially my 6th grade son. 

The desk in the middle of the room is actually a craft desk. I liked it because of all the shelves and storage areas on all sides of the desk. This is my daughter's desk. She needs a bit more help with school and so I sit on the opposite side. I found that she needed a bit more room to lay out her books and schedule so we keep a TV tray in the room that she puts up during school. 

I can turn around and help out Little Man easily from my location. When we do our subjects or read out louds together I'm right in the center of them. The layout works nicely.

 Little Man has the corner desk and he loves having a desk all to his self. He can organize it to his liking. Eventually I plan on saving up to get him a desktop of his own. 

Of course we can't forget about Mercy so we make sure she has a box or two to sleep in and to gaze out the window.

 He keeps his school books up above his desk. This year he is learning chemistry and wanted the periodical table on his white board.

 My desk is just opposite of Little Man's desk. The shelf above has all my storage of curriculum. I love my desk as it has its own build in book shelf. I keep all the current year curriculum on it. The desk also has our main computer for our homeschool.

Next to my desk I have a shelf that holds all our reference books.

 On the other side of the room is all our chapter books and a few odds and ends. I still have my plastic storage drawers that hold school supplies. 

I love my white rotating caddie that I found at Michael's. It holds a lot of pens, pencils, and misc.

I have some paper goods that we use a lot on the end of the desk.

 Bug keeps her workbooks and supplies on these two shelves.

 I have a drawer to keep supplies. I also have a bin of super balls when the cats get distracting and want our full attention. I can throw a ball and they forget about us for awhile.

Hopefully this is the last time I rearrange a school room. The only thing that we may have to do is to get a thicker curtain. Our current one lets in a lot of light which is nice but, it puts a glare on the computer screen.We need to put a light in the ceiling in the center of the room. It only has a light at the edge of the classroom over the computer desk.

Have a blessed day! 

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.

 

Our school year is approaching fast. I have been planning our lessons, and gathering up all the new school materials for the current year. Are you ready for the school year to begin? I am almost ready to start this year.

I love having a dedicated space just for homeschooling. I don't like things to spread out and I want to be able to find what I need quickly. I tend to fall in the area of being extremely organized when it comes to the classroom. Our schedule is just too busy to not be organized.

A few years ago we decided to build a wall on the far side of our basement. It has been the best thing for our family having a designated space for our homeschool.

This is what the classroom looks like when you walk into the room.

This is the other corner with our new computer desk.

I have not changed too much over the years. We added a much larger table, a computer desk, and more plastic bins to organize everything. Honestly, I have no more room for plastic bins, drawers, or shelves.

 Every area has a destination. Under our computer is our reference books that we use throughout the school year, All About Spelling Cards, and other items we need to be able to get to quickly.

 Plastic drawers that hold art supplies, school supplies and other needed items. I invested in a label maker so every thing is clearly marked and we know where every thing is.

The flooring in the classroom is rubber mats which are so easy to clean up. I don't have to worry about paint, or other messy homeschool projects ruining the carpet. I love it!

 This book case is our current curriculum that is actively being used when we start school up again. This shelf is starting to sag and is going to need to be replaced in the next year as I can see the wood cracking. It has lasted 8 years of homeschooling. On top of the shelf is a paper divider bin that I keep our writing paper, passport books, and other useful supplies.

 The back wall is our map wall. It's a long board with coat hangers on it. The maps are hole punched and attach to the hangers with metal rings. Then our white board and the other side is a chalk board. I have two magnetic white boards hanging on the wall. One board is for our spelling program and the other I have used for various things.

 I love the hanging shelves as it created a lot of shelving space. I used commercial grade brackets  and standards. Books can get heavy and like most homeschoolers I am not lacking in the area of books-just book space.

On the others side of the room I have another set of hanging shelves. On the left is a plastic garage cabinet. I picked this up dirt cheap at a garage sale. 

It has more plastic bins that are labeled. I store our construction paper, felt, odd size papers, microscope, and other manipulative's in this cabinet.

 

This is were I store all our past curriculum that I am holding on to to reuse with my younger son. Everything is organized by subject on the top shelf. 

The second shelf is Sonlight and a few other items.  The third shelf on the left is where I keep the current year items that we will be using later in the year. The bottom two shelves are hardback books, poetry books and also an overflow of Sonlight books that I am not ready to part with yet.

 I have lots of mini plastic drawers that are also labeled.

I love this storage drawer that you can find in a hardware store that holds screws and such. It works great for small things like rubber bands, metal rings, dices, and game pieces. 

Books are stored and put together by subjects in magazine holders. They are labeled so I can locate them quickly. The kids can also navigate easily when they are looking for a book to read.

Our homeschool supplies migrated out into the family room. I keep supplies that we don't use to often in here.

You can see that we have paint, and science kits. Not to mention lots of other items! It just couldn't be helped with the school migrating into the other room.

Another bookshelf out in the family room is all of our references, Bibles, and some odd size books.

Homeschooling doesn't have to be in a set place as we all have different needs, spaces, and teaching styles. Sometimes we school on the couch, family table, and on the go. Don't fret if you don't have a designated classroom for your homeschool. I think the most important thing is being organized so your school day can run smoothly without out too many distractions. Homeschooling is not always easy and it's worst when you can't find books or your supplies. When I can't find things the kids attention seems to go quickly also. This is how I have set up our homeschool classroom and I am very pleased with how it functions in our homeschool.

Our table in the classroom just wasn't working out anymore. My nerves were getting frazzled with all the bickering that was happening during school. " Scoot over, I need more room!""Your crayons are in my way!"
Then one would purposely scoot the others crayons on to the floor. Then tempers would flair, along with tears and much drama! I couldn't even put them on opposite ends because mom needed her books to teach. I knew I needed to give the two of them some space.

Even when they were sharing the table it was hard when we needed to spread out for some activities and we would have to set a pile on the floor to retrieve when needed.

What a lovely sight. The table is 60" round. I was hoping for something along the line of 48". I would of had to order it online as it was not a size in stock at the stores. By the time I paid shipping it would of been more money. I picked this up at Sam's Club for $99. It takes up most of the floor space in the classroom. Which I hated to do. For the sake of sanity I went with a 60"!

I love being able to put my book holder and pile my own books on the table. I even added our office carousal on the table. In the purple box I put our scripture memory verse cards, books of the bible cards, ink pad, and other items that I use daily. I even put our bell and timer on the table. WE still have lots of space.

The funny thing is that I catch them scooting closer to me and I have to tell them to scoot over when because I need some elbow room. They even walk around the table at times to be next to each other when working on some projects. My jaw dropped the first few times they did that. They now look for excuses to be near to each other! Don't you love it!

What I don't like about it is if I am reading a book with pictures in it I use to tell them to scoot in closer and then tell them to scoot out again when I was done. ( I had to retrain myself)  A lot of times when we are reading picture books they may be working on something else. For Bug that much of a distraction can cause a lot of loss of concentration. It is hard to get her back in sync.  If I am able to I will purposely show them (her) the book where she is. I have had to retrain myself to read those types of books with them. I miss the closeness of a head on my arm or shoulder! Little Man lately comes and sits on my lap! Bug stays put in her area the majority of the time. Once in awhile she ventures over or she will sit on her knees and lean into the book.

For the sake of sanity this has been a wonderful edition to our school room. The days are more peaceful and productive!

I am surprised at some of the Emails I get from time to time. You never know that others follow or have even enjoyed certain post. Much less even pay attention to certain post. I have been asked several times this year what kind of updates have I did to the classroom this year?

My classroom is overflowing. Really not to much more I can do or should I say add to. My container days are coming to end in the classroom:0(. I bought one of these garage organizers at a yard sale for cheap. I paid $20.00 for it. I use to have a file cabinet here. I needed more book space on the top shelves.

It holds all my odds and ends. The cabinet was a good fit and I can still see everything quickly to grab things. All my containers use to be on the top shelve. I was running out of room up above as I still was in need of other odds and ends for the school room. I needed some more book space also.

I also bought this cabinet. I was looking for a book shelf. Instead they had a special order return that was slightly damaged. It was originally $130. I talked them down to $35. I think they just wanted to get rid of it. I was at the right place at the right time. I had to get creative to fix it. You would never know it has damage to it. The person who ordered it drilled holes in the wrong places, stripped the screw holes and didn't know how to built it. My years working at a hardware store came in handy and I knew I could work with it. The store didn't know that I am pretty handy. $35 who's complaining.
Unfortunately, it is out in the family room. My school room has now overflowed into the family room. It hides everything so I won't complain to much.

I would love to move one of the walls out to make the school room larger. For now I can still hide everything. Enjoy and have a blessed day.

 On my quest to try to organize our little classroom to make my life a little easier. I came across the Gerber plastic baby food containers. I was looking for something to organize my Geo-board rubber bands and my All About Spelling marker chips and many other small manipulative's that I wanted to keep in a specific location. Originally, I was using small plastic jewelry bags. Overall they worked okay, but they kinda get lost in my drawer. I was having to take out the larger items to find the items in the bag on the bottom of the drawer. Sometimes when the kids put them away well they don't get closed properly and end up spilling all over the drawer.

They are the perfect size for my drawers, stack easily and they don't come open easily and dump out. The best part is they don't get lost at the bottom of the drawer. I tried a few different containers that I had on- hand and they were too bulky for my drawer. The best part is that I am re-using something I already have on-hand. Unfortunately, I have thrown out quite a few before I discovered their usefulness. Have fun organizing! Many blessing and have a wonderful day.

This is the new part that we added.

My father-in-law added the coat hanger. At first I thought it might be too long. It's perfect. I can put the maps that we use all the time on the side that the chalk board doesn't cover up.
Actually, my father-in-law hung all the shelves for me this time. THANK YOU!

These are the shelves I put up last year. I added a small shelf on the bottom other than that I just rearranged the books around.

I have more shelf space. Time to buy more books! LOL! I also put in two plastic drawers to do the workboxes. I will tell and show you more about those in another post.

The only thing I need to do is to finish the floor. I have those connecting rubber mats on the floor. I like them alot. They are so colorful and the best part is that they clean up so easy. We have had paint, clay, play- dooh and drink spills and it cleans up so easy. Did I mention potty training also. Yep! I know that is disgusting. That is just part of potty training at times. Trust me we try to avoid those accidents as much as possible.