"Not" Back to School Blog Hop: Week 2: School Room Week

Heart of the Matter Online's "Not" Back to School Blog Hop's 2nd week is "School Room Week!"

Just like last year, we are utilizing our split level's convenient "lower den" as our school space. It is big enough for learning space and hanging out space, letting it still have its identity as a "den."

Ready to take a little tour?
Let's go!

The kids each have a desk, though neither are assigned; they love them both and rotate between the antique-ish Jenny Lind desk and the more modern desk I recently scored off Craig's List.

My husband made and installed this wooden hook bar on this wall for our calendar, 100 chart, and sentence charts. I stack them all for storage when we're not using them.

The cubby shelf in the corner has items organized according to subjects: Art & music at the top, phonics and reading next, science/history/geography third, and math on the bottom. The totes and baskets hold all of our manipulatives, flash cards, electronic games, and tools (like the microscope).

The other corner is "my corner." The cart holds all of my planning books and lesson planners, pens, hole punches, motivation stickers, etc. The other drawers hold our colored construction paper, manila drawing paper, and writing paper. Our iPod docking radio has been an incredible asset -- we use it both for music and audible podcasts and stories.

Another photo of the workspace. (What would we ever do without our electric pencil sharpener?!) I cleaned out all of these drawers over the summer and they are now 95% empty. What a nice problem to have!

The love seat and entertainment center is where we cuddle together to read aloud or watch DVDs. (Mr. Demy from Math-U-See and, this year, La Clase Divertida lessons! We also watch Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVDs for extra topic exploration....the same ones I remember watching at the library with my class as a kid.)

What isn't pictured is the newly organized "craft cabinets" in the laundry room, closed off just to the right of the entertainment center. I condensed my cleaning products and laundry what-nots and made use of every spare box and tote I could find all over the house. Whenever art projects call or creative inspiration hits, we're now ready.

(Because of the carpet in the school area, most messy art is done outside on the patio or at the dining room table. I don't like cleaning THAT much!)


Thanks for dropping by and seeing our school room!
Take a look at all of the others for more inspiration....there's plenty out there to drool over and give you great ideas!