Using what you have - a tour of our school room

Not every family that home educates has a school room. It's not required for a great education. A dining table and some great cabinets can work just as well. For us though, a school room just works better. Last year as our school room became less then *ahem* organized we transitioned to working on school in the house. It was more relaxed in a way but it wasn't as structured as I like and too many school items were being left around in the house. We have spent the last couple weeks getting things back in order and I am loving it. I love seeing the spaces that other families are using so I am sharing ours here.

We have a shop to store bikes, clothing boxes and tools so we are able to use our garage to school in. We had a large piece of carpet left from the remodel three years ago and so we coupled that with a nice area rug for the play area and we have a softer floor.

Our five year old is working on some school this year. Here he has a nice little table to work at that my grandfather built for my me and my sisters when we were little.

He only work for bits of time at this point so close by is the rug within my eye sight for him to play on. We also have a four year old boy that comes one day per week and he plays here too. The two rocking chairs work for them to "read". I have filled the bins with lacing activities, animals, blocks and Leap pads to use.

Here you can see my desk by the side door with our computer counter behind me. It's nice to have a window in there so we don't feel so closed in. The door is also handy when I realize that I forgot to put put out the garbage can and I hear the truck coming. Moving on.

This computer is so nice to have set up. The kids watch their Math DVD here as well as play fun educational games during school. They also earn time during the day that they can use in the afternoon to play some other games. It's also going to come in handy this year as we do some research projects. It's important to us to be close by when the kids are using the internet.

Steve built this desk for me a long time ago for an office in another house. It worked so great for what I needed it for then and now it is perfect for our little school room. Each child has a work space that is their own. They have a place for supplies and books and for a few other things they like to have out there.

These wire cubes were recently gifted to us. (Thanks, Kelli!) I love them for our school. They are a place for me to keep our science kit, some manipulatives and our bins of supplies. I have things like ribbon, art items and stickers in the bins so far.

I use our chalkboard quite a bit. Sometimes for lessons but most often I write there what I would like that kids to work on that day or a special project for the day. The kids also come out and draw with colored chalk in their freetime. Honestly the kids spend a lot of time out there when they aren't schooling. They love the workspace and it's a place to be alone when they are working on a surprise for someone. To the right is my filing cabinet where I keep work samples, future ideas and other supplies.

So there it is. Our little one room school house if you will. It is not fancy but it is organized and I love it. I am looking forward to many projects out there this year. For my personality it works better for me to have a school area that is seperate from the house. If you educate at home, what's your space like?