Our Learning Spaces ~ 2013-2014

Our home has been taken over by homeschooling. This is on purpose. We want our children to know that learning occurs everywhere and all the time. It is also practical for all of us to be able to spread out at times and learn in different spaces. We moved in November of last year. It was a great move for our family. We got into a home that we had had an eye on for years in a much better neighborhood. However, it was a foreclosure and had fallen into disrepair. As so often happens when a home is foreclosed upon, the previous owner had stripped the home of kitchen cabinet doors, drawers and hardware; ceiling fans; smoke detectors, light switches, etc. There was tons of work to do! So we spent much of the remainder of the school year trying to find a quiet space to learn away from the noise and chaos of workers who were trying to make our home safe and functional. We are so relieved to have our home to ourselves and be able to spread out this year. Also, our oldest dd is working on her own in her room most of the time. She prefers the quiet and a more workbook/textbook approach than the others.

Our main hub is the dining room/kitchen. This area is where we do our table work, spelling, computer math and indoor science experiments. We also use the table for cooking as well as to play board games. Sometimes Tom Sawyer and Little Red Riding Hood work at the counter that divides the dining area and kitchen and sometimes they work at the table.

We do our spelling on the floor in this cozy little corner.

This armoire in our dining room holds the most popular of our games, plus the current quarter's school books and resources.  

In our library, I do lots of reading with Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Sawyer. They enjoy curling up while I read literature, history picture books and living math books to them. Sometimes while I read, they sit on the floor to work on a puzzle or draw.

The telescope was a thrift store purchase last year. We plan to study some astronomy this year and are looking forward to enjoying the night sky. Also, we are planning on creating a bird feeding station outside this window this fall. It should provide some great nature studies right at our finger tips.

Our daughter who prefers to work in her bedroom has a shelf right outside her door holding the materials she is currently using. I use an assignment book to keep all of her studies in order and help her work on organizing skills. Sometimes a small TV/video player is on the shelf and she gets to set it up and watch educational videos. (It's getting harder to buy videos, though.) Other times there is a craft or puzzle on the shelf. She is excited to see what is waiting for her each morning.

We also are blessed with a family room in the lower level of this house. As much floor space as possible is left open, because the kids do lots of spontaneous dancing and theater performances. They also use this space for building with Wedgits, Lincoln Logs, and blocks. In addition, we watch some educational movies in this area and do many puzzles. The white cabinet is filled with our science materials and the other bookcase holds our Christmas books, library books and geography boxes.

Our stairwell is filled with posters. It goes between the family room and dining room, so it is handy when we need to look at a poster for reference.

We also have a small closet off of the kitchen which we use as our art cabinet. It is a bit of a mess because the kids use it a lot.

Lastly, we have our large yard (3/4 of an acre) to explore. We haven't really gained control of it yet since no yard care had been done to it in YEARS, so the education out there is about how to use tools, how to identify poison ivy, how to mow the grass and learning what is edible in the yard (apple tree, grapes, herbs). Then there is all of the running, jumping and cartwheels to do (physical education). Yep, homeschooling has taken over our home and we are so glad!

Thanks for popping in and visiting our homeschool.

Blessings, Dawn