Back to (Home) School 2012 - Where We School

For the first couple of years of homeschooling it all happened at the kitchen table. Four years ago we moved out to the country. There was a small out building on the property. Immediately I said I wanted to convert it to a school house. Instead we converted it to a chicken coop. We ended up doing school work in one of the extra bedrooms which was my scrapbook room/school room. It was perfect with just having Nico. Then Luca came along. It was always very distracting for Nico to have Luca running around the house and me trying to keep track of him. I once again got the idea of a school house. We often drove the out building place and one day I saw the perfect building! I stopped, looked at, discussed, and found out it was a repo and I could have it at a great price! I jumped on it. We had it delivered and my wonderful husband helped me by running electric from the house to the building, insulating, drywalling, and painting it for/with me. We absolutely LOVE it! Last year was the first year using it and our days went so much eaiser. Also dad works night shift so he can get some sleep in the house where it is quite while we get our school work done without worrying about waking him up.

This is our school house. I could sit out here for hours on end. It is so peaceful and comforting out here. We love having the space to keep all of our things out and all in one place. Often we can be found working on our lessons outside too.

As a wedding gift we received a school bell. The kids race out there to see who can ring it first in the morning.

This is Luca's desk. As you can see it has his alphabet chart and a nice work table where I can sit next to him and work with him. I love IKEA. We don't have one close to our house, but my friend took me with her on a trip to Ohio and we went shopping! My desk is from IKEA. I also absolutely love the wires hanging across the top of the room. I bought 4 of them while I was there to have on hand. This one holds Luca's pipe cleaner letters he makes.

 It also holds our timeline. This is the reading corner with a comfy futon. One the right wall is the daily schedule board. On this board I write briefly what the lessons are for the day. Nico can quickly see what is expected. Usually I let him decide the order of the day.

This corner holds our bookshelf full of goodies. This has readers and lot of reference material. The roller cabinet on the left holds science goodies, math flash cards, etc. The red hanging files on the right is the assignments for the boys. If there is a worksheet that needs to be completed that day it is in the appropriate subject slot. Nico also turns in his papers in one of the pockets if I am busy and can't check it right away.

 This is Nico's desk and the other half of the school house. It is heated with portable heaters as can be seen on the far left. Also my 'twirling teacher helper' is on top of it. I love to store papers in there. I found Nico's desk on Craigslist. I love it because he can keep all his books, binders, and notebooks handy in his desk. Another IKEA addition (above both boys desks) is the bar with the hanging cups. Love these for pencils, glue, etc. All those little things that you tend to lose elsewhere. We also have our bulletin board with current subjects posters on it. Our world map and another desk and bookcase. I have a printer on the desk now to use as a copier. (It gets old when I have to keep running in the house to make copies)

Here is our room looking in from the front door. I love my big white board (shower board actually). I also strung another IKEA wire across the front. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our space. It is only 100 feet from the house. The only thing missing is a bathroom but that's okay. It gives us a break to walk into the house. We usually grab a snack at that time.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our school space. Nico is working on making a sign for the front.