Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! At the end of November I decided to clean up our homeschool room and take some pictures, but it got a little crazy what with putting our house on the market and selling it, so since it's the new year, I thought I'd show off our spruced up Homeschool room, since the new year is all about clean starts, right?

Here is the view of the homeschool room once you reach the bottom of the stairs.

 Here is where we do school almost every day (sometimes we go upstairs, but it's usually down here). 
 This is our whiteboard. 
 I have our daily schedule posted at the top so I know what we should be doing next.
 I've also adapted the border to serve as a growth chart. The kids are loving it!
I also created a paper to show the kids how to "properly" color a paper so they can earn three stars too. Tommy didn't have the motivation to color as nicely as I thought he could, so when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I quickly created one for him and it works AWESOME for him. His coloring pages are SO much better now. :)
 This is my box of Teacher's manuals - and my kids are only in kindergarten and 1st grade! Crazy!
 I recently reorganized this closet to hold all of our school-related items and a few other non-school items. I love it now!
 The girls love playing in the kitchen here and selling food and toys to each other. 
 Behind the kitchen is another closet that I keep the kids school books and craft supplies. 
 Each kid has a stack of drawers with one drawer per subject so they know EXACTLY where to find their book. It isn't a flawless system, but it sure helps the kids get their schoolwork done quickly. 
 An example of what is kept in the Bible drawer. 
 I also gave each kid a notebook with a copy of their daily schedule. Each kid has a different schedule with a few things overlapping.  
 Inside each notebook, they have a calendar to cross off each day. I also included any special field trips or birthdays for the month so they can have something to look forward to. 
 Tommy has started loosing teeth, so I found this cute Tooth Tally Chart that I let him color in if he looses a tooth in that month. So far he's lost 2 teeth this school year, for a grand total of 6 lost teeth. 
 Then I've also included a blank map of the United States that we color in as we learn about each state. We sing the song "Fifty Nifty United States" and then I let them color a section of the coloring page for that state.  It takes about 3-4 days per state, but they seem to be enjoying it. 
 This is the playroom that the girls play in while Tommy finishes his seatwork. If he finishes early, he gets to play too. 
 This is where the kids turn in their "graded" papers so I can file it away. They also get to work on the date/weather/season on the magnet board. I'm amazed at how well they keep it up. 
 Next up, we have our reading nook. 
 I found this map at walmart and it is perfect for writing what date each state joined and the number in which they joined. We're actually going in alphabetical state order, not order in which they joined the US, since that's how the song does it. 
 The book shelf recently (as in today) got organized and labeled (I love my label maker). We'll see if it helps keep the books in a little better order. Probably won't, but it will at least help me put them back so I can feel sane. :)
 Our last stop is our calendar/morning board. 
 The kids LOVE this part of the day. We start with the number of days in school, followed by the Date/Make the Date. Then I let each kid choose a shape/animal/letter/color/attitude/state of the day. I also have a pictoral representation of the rule for which vowels go with K and C - in case you didn't know (I didn't), it's K goes with I and E, C goes with the other three. (A, O, U. )
What kind of fun things do you do for your kids education?






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11 comments:

  1. Thanks Christy - I Loved the tour of your classroom - even though I've been there and enjoyed participating a bit. It's really well organized and beautifully arranged! What an awesome classroom area you have for you all!! :-) Love love love you all!

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  2. This is AMAZING! I love how you have everything so organized!! Your closet is fantastic, too. I have four kids and I know the challenge of keeping the school room organized - it is always a work in progress. Great job - you definitely inspired me. :) I am hosting a brand new linky party on my blog, Organizing Homelife, and I would love it if you would link up this post! :) http://www.organizinghomelife.com/archives/2768

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    1. Thanks Ginny! I'd love to be a part of your linky party. Thanks for asking! ;)

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    2. Thanks so much for linking up to my linky party last week! I just wanted to let you know that you've been featured in my Top 5 and pinned to my Pinterest board!

      I hope you'll stop back this week and link up more of your great projects!

      http://www.organizinghomelife.com/archives/2863

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  3. what a wonderful space! you've done a great job setting up your 'zones'
    I especially like the maps. You've given me some terrific ideas!

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  4. Lovely! And the K &C rules always crack me up. My name is a huge violation. Whatever! :)

    - Kacie

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  5. What a great job organizing! Your space available is amazing. I will definitely use many of your ideas! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Love it! We are going to be moving next month and I will get to have a homeschool room, so I'm definitely looking for inspiration. Oh, and I totally did NOT know the K and C rule!

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  7. Thanks for sharing this. We start homeschooling this fall and I am a bit overwhelmed at getting organized. We have a room set aside and this is helpful for me as I figure out how to set it up.

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  8. Where did you get your bookcase for the reading nook? I love how it is divided into smaller sections.

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    1. Hi Nicole - I believe I bought those 2 bookcases from Michael's a few years ago. I don't know if they still sell them or not, but you could probably try other arts & crafts stores if Michael's doesn't have them. Good luck!

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