Our Happy Place (99% of the time)

-
When I needed a break from researching state homeschooling laws, curriculum choices, and co-op options, I turned to Pinterest. We decided to let the girls share a room and use our third bedroom as a classroom/playroom/craft room. By first world standards, the space I was working with wasn't very big, so I tailored my search of homeschool rooms specifically to small spaces. Here are some pictures of how it turned out.

To create some extra space, I removed the closet door and added an additional shelf (behind the magic curtain.) The two shelves hold all craft supplies; the curtain hides the "visual noise." To the left of the bookshelf is our little reading nook. Not pictured is the push on light stuck to the inside wall. 

Frequently used supplies are easily accessible on the back of the door. The hanging buckets are dry-erase markers, sharpies, and colored pencils - things the girls use only with supervision. The hanging chalkboard reminds us of everything we have coming up for the week.

I've since shifted one of the chairs to the other end of the table, but each of us has our own. The whiteboard is now used for our Classical Conversations memory work. I have since hot glued mini clips to the bottom so I could hang our timeline cards each week.

The bookshelf on the right contains all curriculum and educational supplies, games, and books. The shelf on the left has toys such as blocks, purses, dolls, trains, kitchen, etc.


Now, just to show reality, below are some pictures of what things looked like through the transition. I was super fortunate to have my mom watch the girls every day for a week so that I could attend a Parent Practicum for three mornings and put this space together in the afternoons and rest of the week. Not pictured are the nursery that this room was to begin with and the many stages of change that the girls' now shared bedroom went through.



One final note about siblings sharing a room... L was 5 and the little one was 2 when we made the switch. I was super nervous it would have a negative impact on their sleeping (and thereby MY sleeping!). While there was definitely a transition period, it only lasted about a week, and I feel like they have only grown closer together. It also seems to have aided in the sharing department - they don't see things as "mine" and "yours" as much since most things are shared.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollercoasters and Treasures

-
Image
It's been a while since I've written a blog post. Ok, like years really. It's not laziness or apathy. It's not that I'm too busy, if I'm honest. I think it's probably because writing blog posts was not on the list of priorities. When I very first started this blog at the beginning of our homeschool journey ten year ago, my thought was to document all of our sweet, little, learning moments and adventures. Ha! That didn't last long. Lack of follow-through and the tyranny of the urgent got in the way of that vision. Through my great mental health crisis of 2017 and breast cancer diagnosis of 2019, however, blogging became an outlet. More than an outlet really. As God was teaching me, shaping me, sanctifying me, the Holy Spirit was prompting me to share. Words and concepts would be rattling around in my brain, and I couldn't focus on much else until I put them in black and white and shared them publicly. I never wrote anything unless that burning urge wa...
Read more

The Prayer of Saint Patrick

-
Image
The Prayer of Saint Patrick I arise today Through the strength of heaven; Light of the sun, Splendor of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of the wind, Depth of the sea, Stability of the earth, Firmness of the rock. I arise today Through God's strength to pilot me; God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's hosts to save me Afar and anear, Alone or in a multitude. Christ shield me today Against wounding Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. I arise today Through th...
Read more

Today and Eternity

-
Image
A glimpse inside my mind when I'm struggling: what if the chemo doesn't work? Ok, what if it does work, but not enough? The percentage they gave for "total response" was only 6% - that means that while it will certainly treat the cancer some, there's only a 6% chance that it would cure it completely. Ok, ok, but that's why we will still do surgery. But what if they can't get it all in the surgery - they said it was attached to muscle, and because I already had a double mastectomy there's not a lot of tissue to work with. Well, I guess that's why radiation may be an option again. But I always thought that once you had radiation on an area you couldn't do it on that area again? But the doctor said maybe they could - grey area. Too many grey areas. Ok, radiation wasn't a big deal for me the first time around; if I need to do it again, so be it. Hmmm, my cancer both times was on the left side though...the side where my heart is. Speaking of hea...
Read more