Organized for the Year (original post February)

I'm not sure if it was the fact that it is the start of a new year, or if it has something to do with the potential of having another child join our family... but something got into me and I was ready to reorganize and get a fresh start for the homeschool year!  Since we homeschool year-round, we don't have a summer off to do planning.  Instead, we work 4 weeks on, and 1 week off, all year.

So last week after returning from Christmas vacation, the kids and I worked diligently on organizing our bedrooms and then the homeschool rooms.  I'm so pleased with the outcome!

The best part is, since the kids were so involved in it all, they have done a great job of leaving the homeschool room clean at the end of each day.  It's such a joy to have a nice work space.

This is the extra bedroom that has been acting as our primary homeschooling room since we moved to MO.  We've now converted it back into more of an actual bedroom...  for guests or possibly for another child to move in.  Kailyn kept her flag wall going, however.  She works on a flag each day identifying the country and then making the appropriate flag.  It's a project she's really enjoyed so we're keeping it until she's done them all. 

This is the desk in the bedroom which we're also leaving in place for now.  It's a nice, quiet spot.

We're fortunate to have this little room that sits off the guest room, it's the perfect homeschool storage room and now we've made it into more of a work area as well.  The workboxes are moved in here as well so everything is in one space and the door can be shut as needed.  The window lets in just enough light to make it light and bright in the room.

This desk was here when we moved in, so now we have a workspace in our storage/homeschool room.  It's nice to have two desks in separate rooms, but close enough to hear each other as needed.  The two desks are simply separated by a wall.  Most of the time, however, the kids like to work in the same room as each other!

One set of shelves is dedicated to all the Montessori math materials.  They take up a lot of space so we had to get creative...

 

 

by storing the larger boards such as the square root peg board and the multiplication checkerboard sideways between shelves.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Geography work is all stored here in baskets that are easy access.  They sit on top of low shelves that hold most of our books.  We keep a separate basket that contains all of our library books.  When homeschooling, just go ahead and buy a ton of bookshelves because you're going to have a whole lot of books!

Reading books and files are stored on shelves as well.  I really didn't have enough shelves of the right sizes, so we decided to turn some of them all sideways so we'd have taller openings.  This worked out great.

More geography work

Montessori language materials and extra math books are stored on the file cabinet.

Kailyn helped me finish our home-made Montessori pin maps.  We love Montessori methods for geography but the pin maps are so expensive, so we made our own.  She couldn't wait to start using them so she sat down to work on Africa as soon as we finished them!  Order maps and labels here

I used actual pins since the kids are old enough to keep from poking themselves.  Quilting pins worked well and with a coupon they were very affordable.

I used boxes from Montessori catalog "Small Hands" which work perfectly for storing the pin labels for every map.  I printed a small picture for each one, representing the country for easy identification.  We use just one cork board and the kids just put the map on the cork board and remove it for a different one when ready.

After a day of organizing, we sat back and admired our work and how clean the entire upstairs looked.  And then made hot chocolate and sat by the window looking at the nice snow we had that day.

 

What kind of organzation have you done to your school room?  Would love to hear other homeschooing moms' ideas for making use of every inch of space!

 

Healthy Hot Chocolate:

1 cup raw milk (right from the cow!)
1 heaping tablespoon of raw cocoa
1 t. vanilla
2 t. raw honey

Mix all ingredients in a pan on low heat.  Don't over heat so as not to ruin the healthy enzymes in the raw honey.  Stir until well mixed and enjoy!

 

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.