New School Room

We recently moved to a new place and I’ve set up our schoolroom. We are pretty much using the entire basement as a combined school room and play room.

This is our “desk” area made up of a couple old Ikea tables and chairs. I have a few things on the wall related to what we are learning. On the “desks” each child has a stackable file to put things like workbooks or journals. I also keep a printer there. On the left you will see a black cabinet with a fish tank. We are using this as our terrarium. Right now it is home to a couple plants, but soon it will be home to a praying mantis egg case. On the left is a tall wooden table that I put most of my things on.

Same view, just a little different angle. I have a few toys stashed at the bottom of the teacher’s table. My 2 year old has been playing with these. I have many different containers of toys in closets and the adjoining laundry room that my 2 year old enjoys during the school day. Once she is finished with one we pick it up and get out a new container of toys. At the top near the ceiling you will see our Fact Car Road Rally that we are using to learn math facts.

On the other side of the room is my little girl’s table that she likes to use to draw and color. There is a little toy box full of larger car toys and our make-shift couch. The couch we had didn’t fit into the basement so we will be getting a smaller one. Meanwhile we have cushions. We spend a good deal of our school day on the “couch” reading.

There is a large assortment of kid’s books on these easily accessible shelves. The kids like these shelves and books. Notice the books on the floor. My 2 year old had come by and pulled out a few after I had them all put away. Often I will catch my little girl “reading” during the school day and I’ll often find my boys in the bookshelves too.

Here is the computer area with a bunch more books. My little girl enjoys playing in her toy kitchen (on the right) during the school day as well. We use the computer quite often during our school day. My boys are big fans of the computer.

On the other side of the “couch” I have a cabinet filled with school books and supplies. The black cabinet holds all the books we currently have checked out of the library. We are using quite a few library books this school year.

In the corner near the desk area I have a chalkboard and whiteboard screwed into the wall. They are from a broken Melissa and Doug wooden easel that I had. On the whiteboard I have our expected list of activities for school that day. On the door I have papers taped that the boys use in the morning to keep track of their exercise as well as one that tracks their daily pedometer count. Our schedule that day (a full day for us) was:

Bible: Music, memory work 30 minutes
PE: Weigh and measure update 20 minutes
Younger son: Read the Sword in the Tree to me, Older son: Typing 30 minutes
Younger son: Koine Greek workbook, Older son: I read Huckleberry Finn to him. 30 minutes
Arabic: Alif Baa and word review 30 minutes
Younger son: I read Hugo Cabret to him, Older son: Koine Greek workbook 30 minutes
Math: addition and subtraction game 30 minutes
Younger son: copywork and free reading time, Older son: Grammar Island with me 30 minutes
Geography: I read a book on China to them 30 minutes
French: Start L’Art-de-Lire 30 minutes
Do logic puzzle together 15 minutes

This messy desk area is mine. I keep my large notebook full of the year’s lesson plans as well as necessary items like CD-Roms, school supplies, and books that are in use most days. I also keep a clipboard with the current lesson plans for each subject. On the wall I have various drawings done by my little “artists” as well as an adjustable calendar. I also keep track of a few things for each child on the bottom portion of the calendar. Near the ceiling I have our flags posted. When we study a country we color or make a flag. So far we have covered the USA, Canada, Greenland, Italy, Scotland, and the Ukraine. This school year we are covering China, India, and Thailand.

Well, there you have it. We also sometimes do school in the dining room. That isn’t because it works better for school, but because my 2 year old sometimes needs a change of venue. If you have pictures of your school room online please post a link. I’d love to see them.