Tour Our School Room & Link Up With Me!

Hello! Welcome to our school room and Link Up!
I'm just going to take you around the room as I teach my little ones today.
I don't have anything fancy and nothing has been professionally designed. Over the years I have accumulated pieces of furniture that I have adopted into our school room and they work. Everything in here has a function and serves it's purpose.
These are my shelves that hold all my teaching supplies.
I keep it simple :)

This is where two of my children are busy doing their school work. I am using Horizons from Alpha & Omega Publications to teach them this year. I like it so far. We are half way through this curriculum and I plan on using it with my 4 year old next year as well.

I put up this screen so that Jared could focus on his school work. Bland walls and a cubical setting help keep his mind from wandering.

I store my oldest boy's curriculum underneath my bakers rack. They have been using LIFEPACs from Alpha & Omega Publications for years now. It's challenging and has Bible throughout the lessons which is a plus!

Joel, has started practicing writing his b's :) He also uses LIFEPAC from Alpha & Omega Publications but I prefer Horizons for his age. It has brighter colors and a simple layout. I purchased his curriculum way before I knew about Horizons so we are using it to save on cash ;)

Counting chips, fries, hot dogs and fruits.

Grouping foods into categories.

Playing a game of grocery store :)

Browsing the aisles...

Checking out

Clean up on aisle #9

The kids call this "Jorja Money" after my daughter Jorja's name ;)
She loves money lol

Work trays hold completed and uncompleted work from my two eldest boys.

This is another work space for one of my sons. The chalk board is also a dry erase board or "white board" on the other side. As you can see I love maps! I have two sets. One is for the younger children and this set is for the older.
So that's it! That's the tour. I hope you enjoyed it.

To link up with me just click on the little blue frog underneath this post. Copy and paste the URL of the post you want to enter and there you have it :) I can't wait to see your homeschooling space and any posts having to do with homeschooling, homemaking, photography, devotionals, before & afters, parenting, marriage, vintage, really whatever you'd like to link is fine :) I have no preferences just keep it clean ;)

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First Day Back at Homeschooling

So it's 8:00 in the morning, school starts at 8:25 and all the kiddies are still in bed.

I've got to have a cup of coffee before I start this first day back at homeschooling. For some reason all my coffee cups have vanished so I resorted to the tea cup. Then I reach for the muffin mix, whip up a batch of Triple Berry Muffins and put them into the oven. I've got to get the children up and going.

15 mins later, the muffins are ready

The children are rising and making their way into our tiny kitchen to grab breakfast and start their first day back since the last week in May. We took June off to rest, get Mt. Laundry under control and get the house back in order. One of my son's went on a trip with the church during this time as well. We spent some days being lazy and playing all day and we needed it.

Jared's first subject is Spelling so we're reciting his spelling words and he writes them 3 x each. He enjoys his subjects but can become distracted throughout the morning so I have to stay on top of him like you would not believe!

Jorja loves math and wanted to show off her work. She wasn't all smiles during penmanship. She is in a mood every morning but lightens up after the first 2 subjects. She's a tenacious little girl and I wouldn't change a thing about her.

Joel is practicing writing his numbers. He hasn't been doing school very long and he's not very interested in learning anything at the moment.

But I do my best to encourage him to get it done.

It's not long before he's had enough. I know his limits and can tell it's time to stop. At least he completed his Phonics and Math.

It's Bible Devotion Time! My favorite time of the day. Although naturally the kids are not always eager to read the Bible but most days it ends up being a blessing. It's a time that we have set aside for God to read his word, pray and sing praises to Him. It's a time of worship and the children know this. They like to laugh and play at the beginning but I teach them to show reverence and respect for this special time we have set aside for Him. I believe that I am responsible for teaching my children the Word of God and anything they hear at church and Sunday School is extra credit ;) I've been doing this for 6 months now and I don't believe I'll ever stop.

Jacob completes all of his schoolwork in my bedroom because he is the class clown. He cannot sit in a school room setting without picking at someone, cracking a joke or telling a funny story. He likes to cause a ruckus and play. He's very talkative and social just like his daddy. He's not interested in learning the material but just wants to make the grade. School isn't for everyone. I know I didn't start enjoying learning until my early twenties. I have to be careful with him because he will have me rolling on the floor laughing before I know it. Then we're both distracted.

Jon is a very pleasant boy. He lights up the room with his smile. He enjoys his work and you can tell by how precise his work is. He's a dreamer and I sometimes catch him staring off into another world but he's good at catching himself. He loves History and likes reading his lessons aloud and discussing them with me.

I decided to go ahead and change my calender in the school room / dining room, since there were only a few days left in June.

Jared is finally on his last subject of the day. He'll get to play on the computer after this because he was such a good boy.

At the end of the school day this is what my floor looks like. Cluttered with self tests I have to grade, completed work I need to file and school work to get into their folders for the next day. Yes, this is my desk. I really prefer it this way. There is so much space to utilize. The day ran smooth thanks to the schedule I created a few months back. It's been a blessing and help to me. And everyone completed their work so I was happy and encouraged.

My Kid's New Schedule

So this is my kid's new schedule. The 'Boys' stands for my two eldest sons, who follow the same exact schedule. It's just easier to do it that way and my other children are named. I didn't add their wake up time or bed time because it wouldn't fit but they wake at 8:00am and bed time is at 9:30.

I haven't had a schedule written down for about 2 years now. I just got burnt out sticking to it. I had too much scheduled and my expectations were too high. After trashing my first schedule a few years back I developed a skeleton of one in my mind...we all did. We all had the old schedule memorized and chunked all the parts that were not working. To be honest I was sick and tired of being bonded to a schedule. I was ready to be liberated. LOL Well the problem I had with that was there were no time restraints on what was to be done. I eventually became burnt out on that. I think I have found a nice balance between the two.

The first step is to be realistic! There are a number of things that are good for our children and that we would like to put into the schedule but there are only 24 hours in a day. Don't set the bar so high that you cannot reach it. Make sure to allow enough time for the job to be completed or you will stress out when it's time to go on to the next thing. Realize that nothing is permanent. If it doesn't work, remove it from the schedule. I've cut small strips of paper the size of my slots just for this purpose. I simply write what I want to change on the strip and tape it on top of the previous slot. Note* I always write the schedule down on notebook paper before transferring it to the final one. That way I can make changes easily.

It takes a while to find your kid's nitch. Just keep playing with it until you find that groove. I must say this schedule works so far and if I find any kinks, I can iron that out. At least this way everything gets done in a decent time frame. Note* Your schedule and your child's must coincide or it will not work well. I'm currently tweaking my own schedule and I'll post it another time. I just wanted to go over what 'Free Time' is at my house and you may not think I'm the best mother but it works well for our family. During 'Free Time' the kids are allowed to pretty much do whatever pleases them, whether that be computer time, video games, books, coloring, playing outside, sleeping etc. Free time is never scheduled play. They are trained to play nicely or else ;) Scheduled 'Computer Play' is always educational and Joel's 'Independent Play' is a choice between coloring, puzzles, books, toys, stamps or outside play. I always let him choose :) So if you are a homeschooling mom like me or just want a little structure in your life. I recommend creating a schedule and try it out for a few weeks. You may be surprised.

Schooling On My Front Porch

It was such a beautiful day today and I just couldn't stay indoors. So I drug all the desks out onto the front porch and we began school.

It went well. Spring time is the best time to do school outside :) It's not too hot and it's not too cold.

This was my work space for the day. Really it was my break space lol you can see my facebook is up. I was just catching up on my morning news ;) I really didn't get to spend much time here but I did get a few mins in ;)

At the end of the day my son Jon brought me these tiny clovers from the drive way after Bible devotion down by the creek. It's the tiny things in life that I think are the most beautiful :)