Is it Cool to Be in School?

I love our homeschool space. My kindergartener gets pretty pumped about working in the room. But, my younger children are just not ready for that amount of structure. I imagine it is easier to birthday wrap a live duck than to keep the under three crowd back there (and out of trouble) for 2.5 hours.

I am working on making a play corner in the connecting room. My sister-in-law converted her stairway closet into play area for her youngest child. She revealed the concept to me as being very effective in the success of educating her older children. I am learning that a variety of homeschool households use this method.

In the meantime, I am embracing the idea of doing our lessons in the rest of the house. It is easier to keep tabs on the whole crew. Also, Tad did not hide in his closet and polish off a box of cereal like yesterday. Currently, it is most successful and the whole family seems in brighter spirits.

I am considering converting an armoire into a kitchen homeschool storage cabinet. I have also met a number of families who do not use a distinctive place in their home to conduct school. These parents exclaim their methods work best for their immediate stage of life.

Both methods appeal to me and I am wondering if there are any homeschool families who have mastered using both methods in their home. I would love to hear about these and other successful methods, please contact us to share your concepts and remember,  pictures are always an A+.


Photo above: Tad and his coyote hat. We are doing a desert unit. For this project we used scrap fabric, cardstock, googlie eyes, and faux leather cut from an old checkbook cover. The boys howled like coyotes until bedtime. This photo was taken at 11a.m. Bedtime is at 8p.m.

Bargain Map Alternative

Bargain Map: I have been wanting a giant wall map for the home school room. The frustration has been that all the neat wall size maps are rather pricey.  You can imagine how I jumped for joy when I found this world map shower curtain at Target  for only $14.99 Score! It even has the capitals listed! I wonder if I can use dry-erase markers on it?!

Martha, Martha, Martha

I love Martha Stewart Crafts for Kids. The kids and I just added some rock pets to the home school room. We borrowed the frog concept from the Martha Stewart Website. Let's just say our frogs are heavy on personality. The boys really had fun with this project.

Fresh Smelling Books and Rotten Timelines

The kindergarten curriculum has arrived. When I noticed the first box tucked by the front door, I eagerly ripped it open with more stamina and excitement than a child on Christmas morning. I sniffed the fresh pages and thumbed through the Singapore Math Early Bird books with such excitement and confidence. It was love at first sight.

The concepts were great and the ease of teacher comprehension was better than anticipated. I promptly took them back to the home school room and put them among my other guidance books. Then, flipped off the light, peered at the shelf as if to say to the books, "Tomorrow I will come for you" accompanied by an evil villain laughter and hands cupped together in the plotting of a master plan. Yes, I felt confident upon the first shipment.

A few days later, the next box arrived. The box was larger and thus my excitement greater than the prior days. I pulled it in the house like a pro, my dry morning bagel grasped by my front teeth (who has time for cream cheese with three kids, anyway), my hip served as a handy "little" shelf, and my coffee rested upon the box, while my other hand managed the door, with the other mail. All the while, I tried not to slobber as I muttered through my bagel to Tad a firm warning to stay inside and to put his pants back on.

This box arrived via amazon and a used book seller. I tore opened the coffee splattered box, the fragrance was that of vinyl and an old stuffy closet. But that is what a fraction of the price smells like and I was all the happier for the money saved. This time the feeling of savvy-homeschool-mom washed over me as I unwrapped the bubble packaging. Then it happened.

The giant intimidating Riggs Manual spilled out onto the counter. I reminded myself that one should not judge a book by it's cover. I cracked open the manual and begun to read. Then I stopped and put a movie in for the kids. I felt justified in using the TV as a babysitter because I picked from the educational selection on Netflicks. How many episodes of Diego will it take before I can toss my hair back and tell people they are bilingual?

I returned to the manual and suddenly felt as though I should repeat my elementary years. I am now wondering how I slipped through the cracks not knowing half of the information in this manual. I had them all fooled. I am a fool. Really, I have got a lot to learn this year. How did I ever think I could prepare in two weeks.