Tag Archives: homeschooling

The schoolroom is starting to take shape

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Our schoolroom/playroom. Click the image to see a boatload of other homeschoolers' learning areas!
We’re going to be starting school next Monday, and my new school room is not ready. When we moved Petey and Poppy into the same room, I had grand plans for transforming the extra room into a schoolroom/playroom hybrid. It’s definitely served its purpose as a playroom, but my schoolroom ideas have only sort of come to fruition.

I did find the Ikea bookshelf that I wanted for the room on Craigslist for $75, and I love it. It has more than enough room for what I need to store (for now). I don’t have the whiteboard I’d hoped for yet, though, nor have I finished moving all of my books and supplies up there. I’m hoping they’ll migrate themselves. (Oh, and everything on the walls? It’s Petey decor, which I really ought to try to incorporate into his new shared bedroom.)

The schoolroom corner of the room looks pretty orderly so far. The rest of the room, over, looks like Toys ‘R’ Us exploded on it. Right now we have four small pieces of furniture holding toys, not to mention the basket of stuffed animals, the play kitchen and the various Little People houses. One of my other yet-to-happen plans is to get six more bins for the larger white shelving unit so I can consolidate the toys into one piece of furniture and get the others out of there. If everything doesn’t fit in those nine bins, we’ll rotate the toys out every now and then. The play kitchen and the Little People abodes are still well-loved and played with frequently, so they’re just going to have to keep taking up real estate for now.

Last year we did all of our schoolwork downstairs, either at the kitchen table or on the couch. There’s a good chance that we’ll still do some of it downstairs, but I think it’s going to be really nice to have all of the supplies in one place. Even if said space doesn’t look exactly as I’d hoped it would.

The important thing is that I have all of the supplies for what we’re doing this year, and I have two small people who are so excited to learn. (I would still like that whiteboard, though.)

What kindergarten looks like at our house

When did the years start going by so quickly? When I was 13, the distance between me and 18 seemed epic and endless. Then yesterday I had a baby,* and in fewer than two weeks she’ll turn 5. The day after that, she’ll be a kindergartner. Gather ye rosebuds, I’m home/schoolfeeling old. But this isn’t meant to be about me and my feelings. I was going to tell you what my kindergartner is going to be doing this year, schoolwise.
Continue reading What kindergarten looks like at our house

My artsy preschooler thanks you, government

"The People Who Are Always Stuck in Mud." From P's rose period.We’re using Mary Ann Kohl’s “Discovering Great Artists” this year. The book features a little bit of information about each featured artist, along with an art project in his or her style. It’s a really nice resource — so far we’ve done a collage in the style of Hans Arp, a Ghiberti-influenced relief and a some “one-color” paintings a la Picasso — but it doesn’t have terrific illustrations of the actual art.

I’ve been trying to find an inexpensive source for that, so I was just thrilled to discover that the National Gallery of Art has an awesome education department. They’ve put together downloadable teaching kits, and they also have a mail-order loan program for DVDs, CD-ROMs and the like. I used their Picasso kit last week, and the quality of the art and instructional materials was wonderful. Next week, we’re going to be talking about Degas and how to portray motion — and the National Gallery has materials about that very thing! Way to go, National Gallery!

Do you know of any other free art resources? I’d love to hear about them.

The painting is from Poppy’s “rose period.” It’s called “The People Who Are Always Stuck in Mud.” Creepy, yes?