I love seeing how other homeschoolers are set up.

I have never really shown our ’set up’.

Mrs C was sharing their area the other day, and I thought maybe I would too.

Firstly, our homeschool area has changed many times. We just haven’t been utilising the space in our house well and as a result, it has always seemed overly cluttered.

A couple of weeks ago, we painted the  ’spare room.’ It was going to be the music room, but as we talked about space around here, it became the homeschooling room.

When we first officially started homeschooling, I didn’t believe in ‘an area.’  In fact, as I type, the boys are playing a geography game I made up on the coffee table.  I know of people whose ‘house’ is the homeschool area.  We tried that concept, but I began to think that really, we were talking about where to store resources. When the children were younger, storing resources at eye level to engage the children was a good idea. Now they are older, taking things in and out of cupboards is perfectly acceptable.  While I believe in being kid friendly, and my house doesn’t have to look like something out of Home and Garden, it is also a home where adults live, and a toy free area doesn’t mean I am a horrible parent who doesn’t let my kids make mess. There has to be a balance.

I belong to a Montessori group online, and often there are pictures of how their rooms are set up. I am always jaw dropped, mouth open, as the set ups are IMMACULATE !!!  A place for everything and everything in its place.

I am …. um, no so immaculate, and storage has always been an issue.

We are getting there however.

Here is the view from the door:

The left of the table is our book shelf:

It also contains DVDs like the yoga one, Sir David Attenborough (he rocks !!)  Whales, animals, Lost civilisations and Celtic Dingos Favourite DVD, Dingos. The top of the shelf has ’stuff’ the kids have made. There is a language shelf with audio tapes/cds and dictionaries.

The right has my ‘resource centre’, on top of my desk with stationary supplies and some Montessori stuff. (I should call it resources)

I love the Sandpaper letters and geography map. Most Montessori resources can be made (I have made Maths and English equipment) but I had neither the time nor patience for cutting out map shapes of countries. Alot of games etc. out in shops are along the lines of Montessori thinking, so I use those as well.

Is it becoming apparent, that we don’t follow one set idea? That’s what I love about homeschooling. We do an ecletic mix of different ideas and packages, and somewhere in the midst of it all, ‘learning’ takes place and the children are ‘educated.’

Amongst my resources are Spectrum Spelling and Spectrum Maths (I bought them purely because the boys are on the Spectrum) from Curriculum Concepts who are now Zenith Publishing. In the early days, I also used resources from Smartkids because I believed I had smart kids (Yes, pretentious, I know) I also order things from Teacher Direct

I still have my Five in a Row which I will be sharing with WGO. I had to order alot of the books directly from America. Some books are very rare now and hard to find.

And beside the door are 2 cupboards:

Top shelf:  Science

2nd Shelf: WGO’s stuff

3rd shelf: English games (though I notice cuisaniare rods that don’t belong there)

Bottom shelf: Maths equipment

The cupboard on the right is the games cupboard.