OUR SCHOOL {barn} 2011

Today, July 5 marks the first day of our 2011-12 school year.  It has been a crazy, very busy past few weeks of preparing curriculum, schoolroombarn recovery, & lesson planning.  Lot’s of late nights for this mama!  But it has all paid off because our schoolbarn is no longer in recovery mode!!  Wanna see what I’ve been up to?

Our schoolbarn hasn’t changed a whole lot since last year, but there are a few changes.

I did a little re-arranging & got another Expedite from IKEA (love that place!)  The 2 bins on the end are the Itso large bin’s from Target (*on sale last week for $7ea!!).  The 2 middle ones are from IKEA.  The left side is for arts & crafts (paint, stamps – things I don’t want Truman in!!!), the bottom left is supplies for future science, history, or Spanish projects & the red bag holds art supplies – drawing books & such.  The right side is our writing/grammar side.  It stores writing materials, HWOT manipulatives, & references.

*The blank poster above will be our grammar/writing cheat sheet.

On top you will find…

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Caddy (from Target w/ a little DIY touch), I have this blue caddy to hold markers & crayons (inside an old basket), & the red bucket (I think I got at Target) just holds glues, scissors, & rulers.  You’ll also notice the glass jars.  One holds the kids (color coded) dry-erase markers, the other pencils (all of my kids use a different type of pencil & none of them keep up with them very well).

The little blue cubby that used to hold our arts & crafts is now part of our new “command center”.  On top is our Family Rules, If-Then Chart, & Brother offended me list (framed) & our timer.  Inside each cubby are my teacher guides.  The top holds guides I’ll need for morning activities together, next to it holds afternoon guides for group work.  The cubbies below each hold guides for Tyler, the other for Tucker & Trevor.  It was way too small to hold all our supplies & boxes/bins would not fit in it.  Which caused a MAJOR problem with my WILD Lil’ Buckaroo who is into EvErYtHiNg!!!  Most of the time is was turned backwards to keep him OUT – & was not exactly easy for any of us to get to!

Another semi-addition to our “command center” is the info board.  Last year the kids did AWANA & the memory verses took up the entire board, but this year our church is doing a different Wednesday night program, so I decided to make the chalkboard our information board.

 

The information/titles that won’t change are written in “chalk paint” (washable) – it is so stinkin’ cool!!  I love it.  The weekly info I wrote in regular chalk to make it easier to change each week.

I slightly rearranged our workbox area to make room for the new Expedite.  On top stores the kids binders (totally color coordinated) & some personal supplies.  Each kid has their own timer, dry-erase board, eraser, etc.  I am not currently using the workbox system the Sue Patrick way.  I have read the book & implemented it as it was designed.  But the daily updating task got old.  The daily “work” is not a problem for us – it is the extra that is the issue.  So I put extra fun activities inside the boxes weekly.  You’ll find doodle pages, geoboards, magazines, drawing pages, etc. inside.  When the kids need a break or are waiting on me or a sibling to move on I rotate them between our centers & workboxes.  It works for us!

 

The other areas are pretty much the same.

Our library area hasn’t changed much – other than the AC/Heater & a little rearranging.  *There was a HUGE issue over the AC.  Big Daddy wanted to put it in the middle of the room (right where my Grammar/Writing Center board is) & I was having major issues with that idea.  I really wanted it cut into the wall (right beneath where it is).  A window was NOT either of our first choices, especially because the view is so beautiful, but it was our compromise.  At least it isn’t permanent!  My next IKEA trip I will be adding an Expedite section under these windows & maybe a few more small Billy book cases in the corner to the right. 

The bottom left pix is our pathetic history/geography area.  I know the bucket says “comics & magazines, but it really holds our geography books.  I just haven’t changed the label.  Big Daddy hasn’t finished the walls on this side of the room, but I’m planning on hanging our U.S. map over here (soon!)  The bags you see are our “book bags”.  Since most of our books are in the schoolbarn, I made these bags for the boys to transport free reading books to & from our house.  I pick a few & they add their choices as well.  I try to make sure there is a variety of reading – magazines, short stories, biographies, etc. 

 

My desk area is still a slight disaster after all the planning that has been going on.  My absolute favorite is my desk apprentice.  It is just amazing.  Last year the files were for daily handouts & subject files.  This year we have quite a bit more hand-outs with our curriculum, so I made weekly files for the first half our school year.  The hanging files are just from Walmart & I used the already #ed stickies from Stapples – much easier than using the traditional file lables.  Plus the colors are pretty :)  The sides of my apprentice hold dry-erase markers, favorite pens & pencils, highlighters, & permanent markers.  I REALLY REALLY want a 31  file bag like Sam’s.  *In fact, if any of you are Thirty One consultants let me know – I’d love to order from you.

Since our schoolbarn is not attached to our house, snacks & drinks can be a challenge.  Each of the boys have their own little “saddle bags” with snacks & I got the little mini water jugs from Walmart & used paint pens to right their names on them.  They are a huge hit with all the boys & super convenient. 

And that is it.  My sweet homeschool haven.  I LOVE IT!