Okay fine, it's not totally done. I still have some organizing and decorating to do, but seeing as we have almost a month before we officially start school, I'm definitely doing an unhealthy amount of self back-patting over here. This is what we have so far...
After we painted the playroom/den, it looked like this:
But I knew we NEEDED a work surface for the center of the room. And I actually prayed about it because I didn't know how we were going to make it happen.
Enter ye olde deal of the century, the cheapest gigantic table known to man, in all it's $15.99 glory (praise Jesus for Goodwill, fer realz!):
Since this post is all about schoolin' in our new room, let's take a little tour, shall we?
Starting in the southwest corner, we discover the red-bust of apron fame, clad in her immodest t-shirt of modesty :
Please note the cutting board haphazardly wedged between the bin of coloring books and extra art supplies. And don't forget the sewing machine shoved under the side-table. Combined with the lack of baseboards, I'd say we've got us a real House Beautiful situation on our hands! It's okay to be jealous, really.
Now let's take a few steps back and to the right to observe tall bookcase #1, which holds such classic titles as "The Complete Works of Plato" and "Dave Barry is not Making this up". Both integral to a child's education, don't you think?
Also note the random bird box on the wall that Tommy found, yes, at Goodwill. Something is wrong with the door and it doesn't really belong on the wall up there, but by golly, it's gonna be useful and good someday, you mark my words!
On top of bookcase A, one will discover the contraband art supplies that shall not be accessed by the unsupervised hands of children under the age of 7. This collection currently includes (but is not limited to) clay, chalk, play-doh and paint:
The juxtaposition of some of the books on that shelf is quite jarring, by the way. Aren't you just so impressed that I used "juxtaposition" and "jarring" in the same blog post? Does it make me seem qualified to teach my children the...um...stuff that they need to know? Whew. That's a relief.
Now let's hop over to the other side of the room and take a gander at bookcase #2 (or B. Whichever). It's obvious that we support the study of small, soft animals. My kids are going to know about cartoon rabbits and young Labrador retrievers, so help me!
Oh, and dragons. Small, purple, clay dragons named Cheese who live on bookshelves out of the way of sticky toddler fingers.
Alongside the bookshelf, the observant reader will come upon the stack of containers holding folders filled with papers that I never look at. I am not at all joking when I say my original SAT scores are in that bottom drawer. They have moved with me 10 times. Literally.
The crate on top is specifically intended for our homeschooling journey though, with a snazzy week-by-week organizational concept inspired by this great post from a veteran homeschooling mom.Before we stop talking about the crate (you've been waiting all day to hear those words, haven't you?), allow me to direct your attention to 10 brand-new, single subject notebooks, leisurely reclining in said vessel, patiently awaiting their first task:
Those bad boys are going to be the big girls' journals for their nature walks/artist of the month/poet of the month/science experiments/history-tying-it-all-together studies this year. Go ahead and ask me how much they cost. ASK ME!
$0.29 each.
Twenty nine cents!
Go to Goodwill, my friends. You will not be sorry.
Alright, I do believe we are ready to mosey to the right once again and peruse our music/geography corner. What? Those are pretty much the same thing, right? Practicing Tchaikovsky while finding Djibouti on the map is....useful, isn't it?
We even still have Tommy's French Horn from his marching band days (someday ask him how he feels about white dress shoes) as well as his sister's flute (Mary, if you're reading this....Cecilia sat on the case and broke off handle the other day. Mea culpa!).
Now let me stop you right there as you are about to ask me "Where are the personal computing devices?". Never fear, observant reader. Just around the bend, in the Land of the Internet Router Access, lies an island I like to call "A Desk".
And atop that desk one will find the world's most ancient, yet still functioning, computer monitor as well as your standard array of office supplies, bin of crayons (oatmeal container), container of colored pencils (another oatmeal container), and standard writing utensil jar (raisin bucket). The laptop is not pictured as the offspring are not allowed to touch it unless I am hovering three inches from their faces
And finally, for the most anti-climactic ending to a tour you ever did see:
The printer! And the tower! And some drawers filled with more supplies!
We are definitely getting ready and getting excited. With new supplies and a practically-new room calling our names, it's sometimes hard not to just start early. But then I remember that I have zero lesson plans completed and no schedule mapped out whatsoever and then I'm all "Hey, who wants a popsicle?!?!?".
Hey, I want to go to school there!
ReplyDelete29 cents each? You're slipping, Dweej, here at Bi-Mart they are 12.5 cents each aka 8/$1. Even though I'm not in need of them, I stocked up. I figure, you can never have too many notebooks. Your homeschooling room looks great!
ReplyDeleteI'll buy that french horn off of ya!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Dweej meant she bought the WHOLE pile for 29 cents. Right? Right? :)
ReplyDeleteWow Jordan, I need to go to Bi-Mart! They're $1.25 a piece at the "regular" stores here!
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish, Neens. And there I was feeling all proud of myself for saving $1 a pop.... ;)
You've been working hard there Dwija. You need to plan a West Virginia field trip : )
ReplyDeleteLesson plans, eh? I used to teach and, while it was a LOT of work, writing lesson plans was kinda fun :D Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYes, I was VERY impressed with the use of "juxtaposition" and "jarring" in the same sentence. You made my day!!! Actually, what was more impressive was the table - oh my, that is so cool! Love the pics and the commentary!
ReplyDeleteLook at you, all organized and ready to get the children down to some learnin'. I'm super impressed. My poor kids were subject to my insane "organize by pretty colors" method. :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent! The first year we homeschooled, we cleared out the dining room and turned it into a school. Then we realized we had no other place for the whole family to sit and eat, so we moved the school room to the kitchen. You can imagine how that went down. So when we moved, we made sure the house had a place we could put a dedicated school room- far away from any food.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, this past winter, we discovered our room was too cold, and we spent 6 months doing school- where?- at the dining room table.
*sigh*
Hey, I love the anti-climactic printer and tower storage unit! I need something like that!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys are all set! We did our back to school shopping yesterday. Target had amazing deals on all supplies...I'm talking .20 for notebooks, .15 for folders, .20 for boxes of crayons and pencils. Even boxes of markers were .50!! I was so excited!
ReplyDeleteI was going to make this comment about how you should go to target because 1 subject college or wide ruled notebooks are .20 each.. but then I saw you can get them somewhere else for 12.5 cents and that made my .20 seem pretty... well, unimpressive so never mind. BUT I love the room your kids are in for a spectacular puppy bunny education!!!
ReplyDeleteHow am I missing out on all these great deals?????????????????????
ReplyDeleteThis rural livin' can have it's downsides!
Dude, every year Office Depot has its filler paper on sale for $.05 for a limited time. Check it out in your area, you never know! I am glad you are so excited! It is exciting isn't it?! We just got our first real home-school materials for this year today and I am mentally mapping out lesson plans as we speak. I can't wait to get started!
ReplyDeleteThat table is wonderful and so is the room, Dweej! Now...you need lighting right over the table. And, that bird box is perfect for storing small books or an artificial plant that swoops (I like that word....so birdy) out of it and hangs.
ReplyDeleteYou did a terrific job!!!
It's fabulous! I love the table! Goodwill finds will always hold a special place in my heart too. I'm sorry but I laughed so hard when you got down to the oatmeal containers, raisin bins, and the printer! I bet they work great though! ;) Necessity is the mother of invention.
ReplyDeleteI am so cheap, Krista...for realz! I'm having too much fun trying to put this all together on an almost zero dollar budget :)
ReplyDeleteAll stores have a doorbuster deal or two, like Target had a 24 box of Crayolas for .24. Spiral notebooks are often featured for .19, glue too. (I buy extras when I see them to give to needier kids during the year.)
ReplyDeleteOur kids start on the 23rd, we start meetings on the 18th, and I haven't been over to my room yet. Hope you can check in for my "after" photos on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week!
"It's obvious that we support the study of small, soft animals" Umm yeah, what else would you teach them?
ReplyDeleteIt looks great, Dwija! Can I send my two on over? I will pay for any damages. Promise.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if I were a super hero (like you), play-doh would be my arch nemesis.
Well done Dweej! You all are going to have a great school year!
ReplyDeleteWow! It all looks great!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job! It looks absolutely amazing...can't believe it's even the same room!!
ReplyDelete(Because I am insane and my brain automatically thinks of all of the disasters than can happen at any given time, please tell me you have those book cases strapped to the wall. It's suddenly all I can think about!)
Hah! You are so sweet and funny, Heather. Yes, hubby anchored those babies right quick after we moved them :) Especially with that dang climby baby. She is always up to something naughty!
ReplyDeleteLooks great! Y'all will have a fab school year!
ReplyDeleteLooking good! Can't believe how organized it all is. Not because I don't think you're an organized person, but because back in my day, we just gathered around the kitchen table for a couple hours every day and called it good.
ReplyDeleteDjibouti!!! When I was homeschooled, my sister and I had this interactive electronic globe... thing. "Find Poland!" It would say. "Find Antarctica!" And we obediently would. Then it would say "Find DJIBOUTI!" and we would grab our respective behinds and yell "Found it!" and "Got mine!"
ReplyDeleteOh, such little scholars we were!
I bet, since you used the words juxtaposition AND jarring in the same sentence, that your original SAT scores were pretty stinkin' high. Just a hunch. :)
Looks like a great room! Baseboards are over-rated. :)
ReplyDeleteThat table is marvelous. I love a large table. Especially for sewing projects.
You do look all set up for home school. I'm in no hurry to do anything about that yet with the Little Tiger. Time will come though.
A very entertaining tour!
ReplyDeleteSo, what did you get on your SAT's?
ReplyDeleteWow! What it must be like to have a whole room;) Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteUsually it's covered in toys and scraps of paper, if that makes you feel better! :)
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