Our schooling area will actually be in the loft, or B's bedroom. There are a few linen closets that do not get used, so we are taking advantage of them for our supplies. In one of them, I have dress up clothes on the bottom/floor, children's dvds on the first shelf, children's books/puzzles/color books on the 2nd shelf, games on the 3rd shelf, and grown-up dvds on the 4th shelf (with random things on the very top).
The loft has its own bathroom with a large closet along with a smaller linen closet that also leads into our attic. My husband and son thought it would be a fun hideout, and have turned it into such. It still needs to have the framing done around the "door" and I plan to add a floor cushion similar to this one (I have material for both kids to have one). I had a floor mat from B's baby room decor that fit nicely across one side of the hideout. We added a lamp for light and there were already shelves so we chose a few of B's favorite books to place on one, a few others for LJ on another, and then put a basket under them that can hold a few more books. While it is technically B's hideout, he has been very sweet in sharing his area with his little sister. It will be a space that he can get away and read, color, or just imagine whenever he has free time. I have to say, I kinda wish I had my own little space like this!
The little door leads into B's room. See that plaid bag on the other side of it? Here is what I've got going on over there:
Next we have the bookshelf/desk:
The top shelf holds reading books that are collections such as Sesame Street (they were mine as a child), Curious George, Dr. Seuss, etc. The second shelf holds educational books that can be used for busy work, road trips, or even taken to the grandparent's house when I'm working. It also has our Etiquette Factory curriculum/place mats and our Apologia Science curriculum (that will be implemented at a later date). On the left side of the desk top has our file folders for MFW units, labeled "Creation" and #1-#26 with subject focus, and holds each weeks student sheets. The right side has our cuisinaire rods and MFW books/cd/flash cards. B's kindergarten book and my teacher's manual is in the middle. The desk drawers hold old markers/crayons in the top, busy games (from our MFW pre-school package) in middle, and puzzles in the bottom. The colorful rolling drawers were on sale this week for 50% off at Joann Fabrics (!!-woot!!). They hold the rest of our school supplies. I have a snap container to the left of the desk that holds all of our play-dough and toys. The bag to the right of the desk is currently empty but will be used to take to the library every month to get our reading books. I'm hoping this will encourage us to keep track of them and can be used to take in/out of the hideout, in the car, in the living room, etc.
I took a panoramic picture of the area, as it looks right now:
I got the calendar, days of the week, and weather stuff from our local Teacher's Aid and had it laminated. I bought a caddy (on the top of half-wall) to hold all of our pieces.
Well, there you have it! C'mon Monday, we are ready to rock-n-roll!
