A Fresh Start

I once again find myself starting the school year in a completely new situation.  The first year I homeschooled the children, I had never homeschooled before and I had a two year old to deal with at the same time.  The next year I had never homeschooled with a 3 year old and a newborn.  Then this year, I have never homeschooled with a one year old.  These are all totally different situations since a year in a baby/toddler's life makes so much difference in how to keep them happy while we do school work.  An infant takes enough naps that you can work hard during the naps and have the big kids do independent work when the baby's awake.  A two year old can have some room time which gives some undivided attention to the school age children for more involved subjects like math.  A three year old also can have room time and can entertain themselves when they don't want to join in the lessons.  I skipped a one year old because I am not 100% sure how we're going to handle the one year old this year.  He is definitely not ready for room time, but he does still take a morning nap.  That will buy us some time at the beginning of the year, but I expect he will drop his morning nap before he is capable of room time or even blanket time (without me keeping a close eye on him.)  How I will keep him busy is actually for another post though.  I am working on bins for him right now.

My point is, however, that the one year old phase (minus the crawling phase which started at the end of the school year and we didn't really have to deal with it too much) is really the only year you have to baby proof the school room.  Before they are mobile and once they are 2 years old, they can handle crayons, pencils, and math manipulatives laying around the room without feeling the need to taste them.  This brings me to the point of this post.  I had to do an overhaul of the school room for this year.  Drew is more active than my other children and finds trouble pretty much constantly when you turn your back.  I will not be able to give him my full attention and so I have to have that one room fully Drew-proofed.  I worked on it all week with the children's help during Drew's naps.  I am thrilled to say it is complete and SOOOO orderly that I just want to sit down there all by myself and enjoy the organization.  I haven't let any kids down there since putting the finishing touches on it this past weekend, and I am tempted not to ever let them down there.  (Insert sigh.) Alas, that defeats the purpose, and I must let them down there when we start school.

If you need a "before" pic, go back in time to last year.

I feel like there is so much more space.  I needed to create some roominess because our co-op is going to be rotating through houses and we have 20 children, including babies and toddlers that will need to be in here. 

I still not-so-secretly wish that we didn't own the Foosball table, but I know it brings my husband so much joy about 5 days out of the year, so it is all worth the space it takes up in my schoolroom.  :)

 Behind each desk is a picture of a heart.  They drew and decorated one to be their reward chart.  If they fill it with small stickers given for "above and beyond the call of duty" behavior or work, then they can go on a special date with mom or dad.

You can't see this, but I wrote their names on their dry erase boards behind the desks.  I am fully aware that this seating arrangement may not work with them all so close to each other, but I am going to give it a shot because 1.  it is so visually appealing, and 2. it helps me when I am working with them together since we don't have a big table where we can work together.

This was a total mess by the end of the school year, so I revamped it and made room for Drew's bins and activities that he will grow into.  There is a shelf for every kid (the girl's share), a shelf for old books that we don't need this year, and a shelf for extra stuff like math manipulatives and school games.

Can you see the color coding?  I saw this idea in a magazine, and Hannah brought it to fruition by putting colored duct tape on the books in 4 different categories, history, science, Hannah's workbooks, and Genna's workbooks.  I am hoping it will help the closet stay organized when little people are returning books.

That's it, but expect many more homeschooling posts to come.