| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Love-in-a-Mist |
Posted - Jun 15 2007 : 4:34:02 PM
I'm taking the plunge and homeschooling!!! Yeah! But I am keeping my "school stuff" on a book case in our dining room. I want to "hide" the clutter, what do you girls do? Where do you keep your stuff?
http://love-in-a-mist-shannon.blogspot.com/ |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Love-in-a-Mist |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 5:54:03 PM
Everyone who offered please send pics. I love seeing them!
http://diaryofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/ |
| UrbanChick |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 4:00:21 PM
Well my daughters summer school had classes here this morning. The church they normally use has Vacation Bible School for the next two weeks so they needed a class room for my daughter and her one class mate, so I volunteered our schoolroom. Her teacher loved the room so much she asked if next year if she could sublet the classroom to teach. I'm not too sure about that, I don't mind one other child but to have several kids in and out of the house downstairs I'm not too comfortable about it. I'll have to talk it over with DH but I'm sure he'll say no due to insurance reasons. The church they have school in is perfectly fine and that is where the private school meets during the school year. It was nice to have it here this morning, no morning rush hour to get her there. My daughter kept trying to come upstairs when she got bored so we'll have to remedy that with a few baby gates. (She's getting good at climbing them however.) If you want I can post pictures of her school room so you guys can get an idea of what it looks like. It's for preschool and kindergarten so it's very colorful.
"Courage dosen't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying: I will try again tomorrow." |
| Love-in-a-Mist |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 11:51:10 AM
Angie, do you do the big Seattle stair climb? My DH went this year.
http://diaryofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/ |
| emsmommy5 |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 3:39:02 PM
Organized? That depends on the season, the month, the week, the day, the hour, or the minute. I hurt my back two weeks ago so I have spent an inordinate amount of time sitting at the kitchen table using a heating pad. So the last two weeks we have been making cards and book marks and other things to mail off to the RAOK list. So grammer, math, art, etc., (plus music, because the piano is in the dining room) has also been done at the kitchen table. Then there are many boxes packed, stacked in various places in preparation for the construction which is due to start. We have bookshelves, cupboards, boxes, it just depends on what is going on at any given time.
My advice is to, like others have said, keep it simple. Make it a lifestyle. We could never pull off the "school-at-home" approach. Because homeschool is a lifestyle for us, everything just works in and work around it. It depends on what I am into at the moment, so if it is EMT class time, then we end up doing more health studies. If it is stair climb season, the PE is a bigger push. If it is canning season, gardening season, it all varies. Daughter #1 just finished spring quarter at college, so we did a lot of math, english and psychology. THe younger daughter got dosed into that because it was the topic of family discussions.
Soon it will be learning to sheet rock and paint, cut trim and other construction skills. I probably won't be able to keep up on all studies, so it will be scaled down for a couple of months to music, writing, reading and math.
I do have a check off chart on the wall for our last full time homeschooler (5th out of 5)and she has to turn in her assignments before she can talk on the phone or go places. So we do have that organizational element at the moment.
WHatever works for you at this time, and remember... things change. So what works right now will need to be adapted to life changes as you go along.
Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth! |
| ArmyWifey |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 07:48:51 AM
Ooh and a dictionary --- yes you can look it up online but there is something to be said for using the reuglar one.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
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| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 06:54:24 AM
Organise? I am supose to be organised?! Somedays I can't even remember where I put the children, much less thier books!
Ok, not really. I like the SISS aproach as well . Table work is done in the eat in kitchen (often while I cook or clean) and reading is done on the couch. I have an old file cabinet with 4 shelves (one for each child) where work books, current projects, and personal art supplies are kept. Read-alouds and personal reading is kept in an old fireplace grate by the couch. Other books and supplies are kept in one of the kitchen cabinets. Small tupperware containers are great for manipultives, flashcards, and art media. I keep very little finished school work, but what I do keep is stored in a large art portfolio that slides between the counter and fridge. At this point, we actualy spent very little time on desk work. Spelling is done while we wash the morning dishes, math facts are quizzed in the truck, Bible verses are learned in song while we tidy up or care for the animals, etc...
A few homeschool supplies that we have found essential are...
encyclopedias--these are our only science and history books for now and my children are excelling in those two subjects
digital camera--inquisitive children will love to take photos of the "new" bug they just discovered so the can look it up and document it (this keeps the beetle collection outside).
computer--there are tons of free homeschool printables available on line and some children learn better through games (computer time is limited to 30 minutes AFTER other work and chores are done) also you can scan in art work for projects or mess free storage
Good luck, Shannon. Hope this helps. Trina
If you would know Love, you must know pain too. -Hannah Hurnard |
| Michelle Marie |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 06:32:39 AM
Hi!
I have tried having a school room and we ended up in the dining room! I have a couple bookcases throughout the house and a dresser in the guest room I keep some craft and school supplies in. The thing I have resorted to is using a matching shelf and pie safe to store our school things...in the dining room. I just try to keep it neat and its in theme with my dining room and I used a few baskets. I can try to take a picture later if you want me to. I like the pie safe though because there are three shelves and both the girls have a shelf and then there is an extra shelf for me. I agree with the keep it simple idea. It makes life much less stressful! |
| ArmyWifey |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 07:14:08 AM
Oh by the way .... I didn't have that many shelves when we started! It was just a small area with books, file folder games and manipulatives. Course now that I have 4 that we homeschool three of which are teens we've xpanded a bit. I also feel it's important to build your own library of great books you love(some of these will go with them when they move out), we use our public library lots too. As far as completed work the bottom drawer of our file cabinet is for that -- each child has their own folder but basically things just tend to get thrown in there as they are done until time to do records. You could just have a specific basket.
Because we do a lot of other life skills instead of workbooks I also include pictures, etc. I really like Mary Hood's Relaxed Recordkeeping and Barbara Shelton's stuff. (http://www.homeschooloasis.com)as far as recordkeeping ideas. Truthfully when mine were younger I didn't do to much beyond a scrapbook - but that depends on what your State requires. Now the kids each have their own notebooks to record what they've done in (barb shelton's ideas). For workbooks I tend to take things from the begining, middle and end and toss the rest. You do NOT have to keep every piece of paper they ever finish! Another great idea is to take pictures of what they've done/them with it - ie art. Cindy Rushton's stuff is great too - especially when just starting and feeling overwhelmed! (Language Arts the Easy Way, etc).
Rebecca is right though, keep it as simple as you can as you start -- Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are REALLY all they need, a few baskets for done work, small things, odd and ends, and you're off! Books for Mom to read too!
Blessings,
Holly
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
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| Tina Michelle |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 06:31:17 AM
I use a small cupboard in my kitchen area (it is a 2 door glass front cabinet with shelves) I put in it the books we will be using for that year as far as text book type books or specific curriculums, plus art supplies(paper, glue, crayons, construction paper, etc.), folders to organize the completed work per child/per subject, and a binder for each child (with pages in a chart format to record what was done per subject/ per day/per week ..there are 36 chart pages for each binder... as there are 180 days required schooling here) so that I can record the daily lessons accomplished.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~
visit me at:
http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and at www.stliving.net
you can also check out my etsy shops at:http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com |
| _Rebecca_ |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 06:08:17 AM
I encourage you to keep things simple. The best part about homeschooling is reading to your children and having them read to you. So, don't worry about having lots of stuff! I had a cabinet in the kitchen to hide our supplies, but it also housed our sewing machine and arts & crafts stuff.
I think that the less stuff you have the less you feel overwhelmed by it all. Just getting the basics in is so freeing. If you have homeschool sets of items, like puzzles or manipulatives, the plastic totes are good for those. Really though, you don't need a lot.
.·:*¨¨* :·.Rebecca.·:*¨¨* :·. http://boinglink.blogspot.com/ |
| ArmyWifey |
Posted - Jun 17 2007 : 07:43:30 AM
Well we just have a bookshelf in the hallway. Baskets with library books. We to do not have a "school room" because I consider all of life to be educational. Each time we move the location changes but we tend to mostly do school at the kitchen table for those type of subjects. I do have bookends and rubbermaid totes. We have 9bookshelves over all -- two for "school stuff" and the rest are just books.
Each child has their own shelf/half a shelf and then science stuff is in a rubbermaid box, things that get easily knocked off are in totes. My books are on the same shelf. You could use those nice canvas bins Walmart has now (we may switch) or wicker baskets if you want things to look more country/pretty. Crayons are in their own box as are pencils /pens, manipulatives, things like that. I like to use things to organize that are pretty or different - a coal scuttle for magazines, bait bucket, things like that. Yours are younger so you may want to do pictures on the outside of the bins or labels.
Yeah!!!
It really just depends on you.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
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| herbquilter |
Posted - Jun 16 2007 : 09:33:21 AM
We have homeschooled for 20 years, 7 children. Homeschooling is a life style for us and our home looks like a house of learning with bookshelves in most rooms. Storage units (plastic, wood & cardboard) in closets, etc. A large basket in the front room holds our current read alouds & working binders. We don't have a HS room, because HS is our life, though that may work for others.
We an eclectic - leadership model (similar to Thomas Jefferson Education)for HS. We also HS with the seasons (we don't start our school year till all the cannings done, drop most things & prep/plant garden, etc. Drawing on my interest, educational pursuits & talents and expanding that to each child. There are a few longterm HS moms around and I've seen that HS has to work for mom. The example that mom gives of continuing her education (not necessarily college, reading, learning new skills, etc.) is a very strong influence on the kids. The schedule , whether loose or structured, has to be what works best for mom.
Blessings,
Kristine ~ Mother of Many & Herbalist
www.herbalmomma.com
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| UrbanChick |
Posted - Jun 15 2007 : 7:05:06 PM
I don't full time homeschool but I use it as a supplement to my daughters education. She has a "school room" set up downstairs in an extra living room we have. I have shelves that has all her toys put up in categories so she has to request a box to come down then she will have to clean up the box if she wants another to come down. Categories like costumes, puzzles, floor puzzles, electronic toys, barbies or dramatic play toys, and sensory music toys, etc. All her homeschool items are on another shelf in categories like music, letters, books, math, language, writing and drawing skills, etc. She's only 4 so we have limited things we study for about 1 to 2 hours in little blocks of time, all while playing and making it seem fun. The room is set up with a weather chart and a colorful rug that you see in daycares with animals on it. There is a picture schedule on the wall so she knows what is coming next and to help her tell time. We only do this for 1 hour or so since she is in summer school and various therapies. When she starts public special needs preschool in the fall we have a different schedule and I cut back to 1/2 or 1 hour per day before bath/bedtime. When she begins 1st grade we are pulling her from public school and placing her in a special needs private school that specializes in children with learning disabilities but they only start in 1st through 12th so we have to wait. In the mean time we are homeschooling and paying a tutor so she will be able to keep up with her peers since cognitively she is working off of a 2year 9 month learning level in some aspects and working off a normal/typical learrning level in others. Our school room is ultra organized in categories with schedules and everything is put up so she has to request it. It helps encourage her to speak.
"Courage dosen't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying: I will try again tomorrow." |
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