Two Weeks In

Hey there!
I can hardly believe that I have been a home schooling mama for two weeks already. Things have been going really well!
It was super cute. One night this past week, the kids had gone to bed at 7:30 (which is normal for them). At 9:00 when we went to go to bed, both the boys were singing songs I had taught them about Canada at the top of their lungs. It was the best feeling to know that something I had taught them had stuck! They remembered it, and apparently enjoyed it enough to keep on with it hours later!

It feels like we kind of have a routine that works for us now. Things might still change a little, but I'm happy with where we are at right now.

I'll check back next week again. We are taking this week off as my inlaws are moving and need our help. :)

Carmen.

After listening to my boys beg relentlessly for days about wanting to begin homeschooling early, this morning I caved. Yesterday was rainy all day, and the rest of this week isn't looking any better. Perfect for sitting inside with a nice cup of coffee!

Before I get into the whole 'homeschooling' thing, I want to show you my classroom. It's not totally finished yet, but I love what's going on in there already!

This picture illustrates perfectly what I was dealing with in this room.  The walls were apparently not treated properly between the brown and blue paint, so the blue was literally just peeling off the wall. You could walk past, and your shirt sleeve would remove a whole strip! 

I'll have to get other pictures from off my phone of the rest of the walls now, but the bottoms are a nice, crisp board and batten, and the tops are a nice soothing light teal. MUCH better!

I wanted shelves in this room because I knew there would be a lot of books/art supplies/ and 'things' involved. There is a stairway that goes under this room. In order to have head room for the stairs, there is a piece that juts into this room. I doubled the size of that, and framed in a wall. Now I had somewhere to build shelves, PLUS, I had somewhere to build in a giant bulletin board on the side facing the desk!

These shelves are wide and deep enough to fit a large rubbermade container, so we have room to put our 'off season' clothes. Plus, each boy (and our class pet, Hammy) have their own shelf to keep their supplies on.

Each boy has his own basket, too. In their basket are their work books, and a little container for their scissors, pencils, glue, erasers... you name it. Lots of room to add other things as we go, but for now I just want to keep it simple!

Let me know what you think!

A Ramble... And a Change of Thought.

So, apparently I'm terrible at blogging. Wow! 2012 was my last post? It's been 3 years! My babies are now 5 and 8 (I KNOW! When did that happen), we are happily settled into the house, and life has gone on.
We are making a big change this year, however. We have decided that we are going to home school the boys in September. James will be doing grade 3, and Tyler will be doing kindergarten. Things are going to be a little different around here, but I am hoping that maybe, by venting into a blog, things will run smoothly. :)
I have a couple projects I have done since my last post. Maybe we should turn this blog into a once a week posting, so I don't get too carried away.
Up next week, then, will be the pile of lumber I turned into bunk beds for my boys.

Cheers!