A Tour of Our Homeschool

Last year when I started this blog, I mentioned sharing a photo tour of our homeschool.  Well, I am pleased to announce that I finally got around to taking pics of where we do school at home!

First of all, let me start by saying that we've been homeschooling for 3 1/2 years.  The first 2 1/2 years we "did school" in our kitchen.  Many homeschool families prefer doing schoolwork in their kitchens.  It's a convenient location, Mom can do dishes or make food while simultaneously teaching a lesson, you can eat while you study.  I mean, who wouldn't want to learn in their kitchen?

Not me.  After the first few months I got to the point where I couldn't stand the constant cluttered mix of books, pencils, bowls, and crumbs.  I hated having to use half my cupboards to store all our books and school supplies.  I have a huge kitchen with plenty of storage space, but I still felt like there just wasn't enough room for how I wanted my school supplies to be neat and organized.  And I also couldn't stand having our school stuff out once we were done studying for the day.  So we'd always have to spend extra time cleaning up and putting our educational items away.  Not to mention the time it took to get all that stuff out at the beginning of our school time!

Needless to say, I am not a kitchen schooler.  So I dreamed of the blessed day when we would finally be able to have a separate homeschool room.  Thanks to my handy husband and father, last January we completed building a special room down in our basement just for that very purpose.

I love our new school room!  It's bright, cheery, and cozy.  I have decorated it just as I once thought I would decorate my future school room back in college when I was studying to get an elementary education teaching degree.  You know what I mean.  Every wall covered in motivational and educational posters, animal pictures, bulletin boards, chalk boards, dry erase boards...teacher heaven!  I still get a big smile on my face every time I walk into our school room.  I just can't get enough of the smell of crayons and pencils!  That unique "school smell" makes me so happy.  It did when I was a little girl.  And it still gives me that same "I'm excited to learn more today" feeling.  Yeah, I was a nerd who loved school.  So what?  You got a problem with that?  I bet I got better grades than you, so there.

All joking aside, I am very excited to share our school room pics with my readers!  I hope you glean some organizational or decorative ideas from what I've done.  Please feel free to shoot me a message if you would like more info about products or organization methods I use.  Plus, I'm always more than happy to share about what curriculum I've put together for my kiddos.

So without further ado, may I warmly welcome you to the "Bos Family Homeschool Room"!

My desk.  A very happy place.

My homeschool motto.  Oh, and where I got the title for this blog!

At Menards, I found these great blank dry erase posters.  I use this one for our Bible memory verse of the week.  Sometimes I let one of the children write out the verse.  Actually, my daughter's handwriting is much better than mine, I'm ashamed to admit.

My homemade prepositions chart.  Thank you, Easy Grammar!

The north wall.  Hmm, I wonder how I knew that?  And, in case you were wondering why there are birds and insects all over the walls, we are currently learning about flying creatures in science.

My DIY art display!  Yes, I created it all by myself!  I found the wall decal on ebay for super cheap!

Our art center.  Inside those plastic dressers are lots of art supplies and craft sets.  I'm sure you've noticed by now that everything is labeled.  So there are no longer any excuses for putting things in the wrong spot! 

On the south wall, we have our dry erase map posters.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I love it that I can write on them while we're learning about different areas of the world!

This is our American flag we use when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.  I strongly believe this is a very important part of the school day.  Second only to studying the Bible.

And here is the Michigan flag with 2 maps of our beautiful, unique state.

The school room doubles as a play room.  What homeschool room is complete without a Barbie house and horse stable? 

I also really love my cube storage system I found at Target.  I put scrapbook paper behind some of the cubes for added flair.

I hit the school decor jackpot when I found this adorable alphabet ribbon at Michael's!

This is our chore chart.  At the beginning of each school year, the kids get to decide rewards they will work toward together.  For each week they have completed all their chores well, without complaining or bad attitudes, each child earns one sticker.  They get to decide which reward to add their sticker to.  I know it's too blurry to read, but the rewards they've chosen so far this year are Kindle Fire games, Wii games, and an extra Wii remote.  Can you sense a theme here?  My children enjoy playing video games.  The number of stickers required to earn the reward is based on the cost of each reward.

I really love my over-the-door shoe holder as a terrific place to store school supplies!  I used 3M hooks to hang on the wall behind the door.  It's out of the way and works better on the wall than on the door.  Once again- labels, labels, labels!

The Reading Nook.  Doesn't it look like a cozy place to curl up with a book on the fish bean bag chair?

Also in the Reading Nook is my wonderful bookcase, with extra storage and plenty of room for more books that we find at homeschool book sales.

I love these red fabric bins.  Aren't they so cute with the free printable labels I made from Better Homes and Gardens?

I labelled the different book sections so the children know where to put books back.  Unorganized bookshelves drive me crazy!

 And now, last but not least, one of my favorite spots in the school room.  My open closet!

Isn't it an organizational beauty?!

In the center of this shelf are the kids' "file boxes" where they keep all their workbooks and notebooks.

  

At the bottom of the closet are more arts and crafts supplies, puzzles and more. 

My kids do math on the computer (Teaching Textbooks) and this requires them to be in a separate room so that they can hear the lesson and concentrate without distractions while I'm teaching another child in the school room.  Therefore, my husband and dad made a home office/computer area in the closet of our family room in the basement.  I have a bulletin board set up on the wall that holds helpful math hint posters.

Never thought I'd tell my kids to go into the closet to do their math.  But then again, I never thought I'd homeschool my kids.  God's plans for us are always better than what we could come up with!

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.  ~Proverbs 19:21

I'm so thankful that the Lord's purpose for my life right now is to teach my precious children in the comfort and safety of our home, allowing them to learn at their difference paces, on our own timeline, and enjoying extra-curricular activities based on their unique skills and gifts.

So, that's it.  I hope you enjoyed our homeschool tour!  I sure had fun sharing it with you!  From time to time I'd like to share homeschool tips and ideas, curriculum we love, and more here on my blog.  So until then, happy learning at home!

In Christ,

Suzy