"School Room" Tour 2015

As a new school year approaches, here is an updated look at DJ's "schoolroom," which I put in quotes because this is actually our living room.  We don't have a spare room large enough for all of his school supplies but I also like having his school work as part of his daily life and not something we do in a special space.  Making learning a part of life is one of the many reasons that I choose to homeschool anyway.  Of course, the downside to having school in your living room is that you never get away from it.  It's always there in front of us, for good or bad.

DIY Wall Mounted Art Easel

One of my favorite parts of DJ's play area is the wall mounted art easel.  My husband made this for DJ for his 2nd birthday/Christmas and I can't be happier with how it turned out.  And it has inspired a lot of free form art from DJ as he's able to access writing tools (crayons, colored pencils, markers and paint pens) and paper whenever he wants.  He can also see art supplies like paint, glue and scissors at all times to inspire him to ask for them whenever the mood strikes.

"School Room" tour 2014

While it is common for homeschool blogs to give "school room" tours, our school room is in our living room.  So welcome to our house!  Our living room is long and narrow so it's difficult to get an overview picture of the whole room.  The picture above is DJ's play area.  These shelves have mostly toys, although there are some educational benefits to most of them.  The brown box is full of books.  Too many books, I know, but I find it really hard to choose which ones to leave, so I just put them all in.  Well, not all, he has a bookshelf in his bedroom too.  Tucked between the books and the shelf, you can see DJ's rolled up work mat.  It's a 2'x4' piece of carpet that he rolls out to define his work space when doing Montessori activities.  On the wall, you can see his art easel that daddy made for him.  I'll have to do a detailed post on that soon.  The roadmap quilt on the floor was made by DJ's grandmother for his birthday.  It's not always there, but it was today.  The child's table is a great work area for DJ and he also eats many of his meals there.