A School Room That Works

Welcome Blog Hoppers!  This post was originally published exactly one month ago today.  Weird.  What can I say?  I’m a woman before my time.  That or I’m out of the loop.

We’ve tried numerous school room/school nook scenarios.  They haven’t worked.  They were out of the main part of the house where I couldn’t keep an eye on the little ones, with all their desks separate I couldn’t stack their school books by them, I didn’t have everything I needed at hand, or it was all so exposed on wire shelves that it made the room look not so great.

With 5 kiddos ranging in age from 4th grade to 10 months we had to get creative.

Here’s what’s working right now:

We keep all the art supplies where they can get to them at all times – on the computer desk.  I separate them by type:  all glue in one bucket, all paints in another, all chalk, all crayons, stamps, etc.

This is just one of the basket collections on the computer desk.  It takes so many, you know.  I keep one small handy bucket for everyday schoolwork so I can grab just one bucket and get us started right away.  That little silver one up there with the assortment of supplies.  Pencils, glue, scissors, crayons, chalk for me, pencil sharpener all in one little bucket to set in the middle of the table for our table time.

I keep all our paper in the computer desk drawer where even the 3 year old can reach it.

Here’s another handy tip we use:

When I open a new ream of paper I take a stack of it and cut it in half before putting it in the drawer.  With all the quick scribbles of the 3 and 5 year olds – we go through a lot of paper.  This way we go through it half as quickly.

I can’t wait for all the back-to-school supplies to be marked way down so we can stock up again!  Did you know we’re still using some of the glue sticks we got last year on sale?  Whee!!

So, how’s your school room look?  What’s your plan for the new year?  What works for you and what doesn’t?  Do you also eat where you learn?

This is linked up with Heart of the Matter Online’s Not Back to School Blog Hop. Jump over there to see where a bunch of other people “do school”!

Not Back to School Blog Hop

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  • http://familyrevised.blogspot.com brenda

    Wow! Your school room looks NICE. It looks like part of the house and not a kindergarten room, and yet still child-friendly. I still love the chalkboard. REALLY like that everything is hidden. Man, I just like it! That’s one thing I would change—we won’t have a computer in our school area. Bummer.
    .-= brenda´s last [post] ..Resolve =-.

  • http://homeschoolinggoodness.blogspot.com Amy L

    This is gorgeous! I have to love the fact that your kids needed to be close to the main areas. Baker and I (and, one day, Anna Marie) do better AWAY from the main areas. Mine will not look as awesome as yours, though.

  • http://mdd5.blogspot.com Maury Draper

    Girl, you better get to Walmart, b/c last weekend, already, I got some 25 cent glue and 30 cent crayons!! Our school will be right in the middle of our everyday life as well, I just haven’t figured out how to organize it yet. Yours looks great!

  • Ann

    It does look great. I can see your organizational skills at work.
    Back to School Sales have already started (Crayola 24 count crayons @ Walmart- 25 cents, assortment of BRIGHT colors sticky notes – $1.00, some nice composition books- 25 cents. Sorry, I didn’t notice the glue sticks. I’m sure they’re there. Oh yeah, they had some permanent markers for 2 for $1.00 (just what ya need). I am looking forward to when Staples has their Back to School Sale.

  • http://www.othersuchhappenings.com Marsha

    cutting the ream in half is a rather brilliant idea!

    we don’t eat the in school room, but we do school in the eating room. :)

    i did notice that target already has all their school supplies out on the shelves. no big giganto sales just yet. my boys hate to write and draw so we’re still going through paper and supplies from over 2 years ago!
    .-= Marsha´s last [post] ..my boys are back in town =-.

  • http://fromthenarrows.com Susan

    I am just starting to clean up the school room. I need to organize for the new year. Hopefully I will get photos and a post about it closer to Sept. Our school room is an extension of our dining room and we have two tables, one for eating, one for school.
    .-= Susan´s last [post] ..Horse Camp =-.

  • http://www.pollyskitchenwindow.blogspot.com PollyS

    Your room is awesome!
    My husband was in Office Depot one day and saw the guy in the copy center putting a bunch of paper in the garbage. My husband told him “stop! why are you throwing that away?” The guy told him that the paper was leftovers, or slightly bent, etc, etc.
    My husband asked him if we could have it. He agreed.
    We go to OD about every 3 months for scribble/scratch paper. Many times the bunch has colored paper or textured paper. Lots of fun when you’re a short person and drawing a masterpiece!
    We also made the same request at our local childrens’ museum and came home with a CASE (less one ream) of leftover flyers from an event. We just use the plain side.
    Between scribbling, school and coupons, we were going through paper like crazy. This has cut down that cost tremendously.

  • jules

    Awesome room!! I like how functional it looks… purposeful things really appeal to me :) I really liked your craft basket, and I had to laugh, b/c all of our crafty things would probably fit into that wardrobe you use for your school books! (perhaps I need to rethink some things… like do we really need all those colored feathers, felt, tissue paper, sequins of all shapes and sizes, ribbon, colored paper, paint in four different mediums, paintbrushes of all different sizes, styrofoam shape thingies, blah blah blah…) I think we like art. Yeah, we have a few school books too:) Actually, I’d probably need 2 wardrobes, one for art, and the other for more schooly books and things, and an alarm system that tells me whenever the kids try to break away and go to Narnia when they’re supposed to be doing school. AND I really thought your idea of cutting the paper in half… Brilliant! I won’t go into just how great I think your chalkboard is, either:)
    Inspiring!

  • http://seethefam.blospot.com kelly@ In everything

    I love the set up you have:)

    This month is set-up the school room!!! I’m blessed with plenty of shelves space and a great room, but I’m lacking inspiration and know- how…. maybe it’s just trying new things to see what works for us;)

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Absolutely – I wish you knew how many times I’ve changed things around. It’s ridiculous really.

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Oh we have more craft stuff – but that’s shoved in my closet ;) and i wish we had more!

    The chalkboard, girl, was like, 10 bucks. Though, if I had it to do again I would sand the wall down some first – the roughness makes it harder to write, harder to erase, and uses more chalk. Just thought you should know!

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Thank you! And what a great idea from Office Depot – I hope everyone was listening – good stuff.

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Two tables – I can only dream about math without jelly.

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    “we don’t eat the in school room, but we do school in the eating room.” – you crack me up!

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Thank you. I’m headed to Wal-Mart soon – I can’t wait!

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Thanks, you know, it’ll probably change a hundred more times, but this is my favorite so far.

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    I might would do better away, but I seem to be chasing baby, making sandwiches, turning on Dora for the 3 year old, and a million other things all while overseeing math. Argh! (oh, and I might be checking facebook too, but we won’t talk about that, right?!)

  • http://thejoyfulchaos.com SillyMe

    Oh, I couldn’t live without the computer in the schoolroom, however would I maintain my sanity without facebook while sounding out c-a-t for the umpteenth time!

  • http://robinh35.blogspot.com Robin

    Ok, I am totally jealous! That chalkboard is amazing! Unfortunately, I think it’s the size of our entire room :( Awesome school room… LOVE IT!
    .-= Robin´s last [post] ..2010-11 Curriculum =-.

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