The New School Room

I've been meaning to post a few pictures of our new school room for quite awhile, and just haven't had a chance until now.

This room has gone through many different stages.  When we first purchased our home over 9 years ago, just a few months before our oldest was born, it was to be the room for our children.   At one point it belonged to our three oldest just before we added on more bedrooms.  At that time, the closet was removed from this room (to add a little extra space to our small living room) and a hallway was built into it to attach the addition making it much smaller than before.  With the new bedrooms for the children, it became a storage guest room.  After Snuggles was born it then became the nursery.  Though, honestly, Snuggles rarely slept in this room.  In the winter months it is just too cold at night for a baby, plus being so snugly, he always preferred being close to his daddy and momma!  Now with another baby on the way, it was time to shift everyone around to make a little better use of our home.  The boys went to the old school room (which also was our old master bedroom when we first bought this home), the girls moved into the boys old room, Snuggles moved into the girls old room for now (he'll join his brothers in a year or so) with plenty of room for the baby to join him, and that left this room for school.  (Our home doesn't have a dining room, and the kitchen is just too small...)

It is much more cramped cozier than our old school room, but it should work just fine.  Plus, trying to figure out just what to do with everything has really helped in making our home a little more organized.

Well enough explaining, I'll get on with a few pictures!  I took these pictures a couple weeks ago (or so) and I am still in the progress of fine-tuning the room, which I am sure will be an ongoing process as we begin using it more often starting tomorrow, our first day of school for the year!

~ From the Doorway ~ 

My desk is just inside the door (it is a bit cluttered right now with two computers as I work on transferring everything over), the boys desks are on either side of the window, and the table takes up the rest is in the middle of the room.

Since taking this picture I did give-up on trying to squeeze around the end chair, and it has been moved out for now.  We don't really need it right now anyway.  You can also see the beginnings of the girls Madeline Lapbook in the basket on the table... It is still in progress and the girls have been having so much fun with this one.

~ The Boys Desks ~ 

The desk on the left has a built in bookcase on the end which I use for our CD's (Glory Stories, Music Masters, Wee Sing, and a few others) as well as all of our Father Lovasik books and other religious books.

The desk on the right didn't have a bookshelf, but I placed one I already had at the end to use as well, since I never seem to have enough room for all of our books.

The boys also have their shared American History timeline above their desks...

... as well as a basket each for their binders, geography scrapbooks, science lapbook, and Book of Centuries .

~ A little more artwork by my Aunt ~

~ Liturgical Year/Seasonal Shelf ~

I am hoping to paint this someday either brown or green... I will have to take a picture now that it is filled with all of our Feast of the Assumption books and crafts!

~ On the Opposite Wall from my Desk ~

There is our United States map... I am still trying to decide whether or not to hang up our World Map, or just stick with the globe.  It could go above my desk, but that's about it...  We'll see.

Our Art Shelf is below the map, on top of some stacking shoe organizers which are now holding puzzles, pattern blocks, lacing shapes, and other school time toys.  (Thanks again Jen for the inspiration!)

~ Just inside the Door ~ 

Just inside the door are some darling bells I purchased at the Homeschool Conference in May from Our Father's House, a picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (from the Monks in WY ) since she is the patron of our homeschool, a magnetic calendar for our saint magnets, and a little cabinet which holds some more books and craft supplies. 

~ From the Window ~ 

I have my bookshelves along the hallway wall.  Here is another picture from a different angle... They were SO hard to photograph!

 

~ Lots of WONDERFUL Books ~ 

History and Liturgical Year Picture Books

Some of My Favorites!

And LOTS of paper and file folders.

As you can see, I've managed to cram quite a bit into a pretty small area, but right now everything has a place, it is organized, and it seems to be working much better than the old school room...

Now, I do have one area that still needs a little work... It is the shelf on TOP of the hallway, which you can see above the bookcases -- just not in any of the above pictures.

Here is a closer look:

It looks kind of funny right now with just the one curtain hanging down in the middle, but what my children don't know is that behind that curtain are quite a few of their Christmas gifts all wrapped and ready for December.  

My plan is to keep items I am not using this year (or season) up and out of the way. I also want to try and find (or perhaps make) a few curtains that would nicely hide it all.  The rest of the craft supplies, the ones we use on a frequent basis, are now being stored in my closet -- and another work in progress as I try to organize it all, but it is coming along nicely.

So, there you go... A little peek at our School Room.   Now I am off to finish getting ready for tomorrow!!   I have a few Schultütes to make.

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