Small Spaces

I am so very thankful to have the wonderful set up we have in our home which allows me to dedicate an entire room (well two rooms really) to school. That has not always been the case, and I know that many get frustrated when they see photos of other homeschoolers' "perfect" school rooms (you know of course that they are only perfect for the photo shoot - trust me, my school room rarely looks that clean!) and wonder how to keep sanity in limited space. I have had experience with this in the past - last spring we had extended family live with us for 3 months while they were in transition between homes - and I lost use of my entire school space and office. Currently, I am briefly dealing with this again (the aforementioned septic issue the week before Christmas resulted in much ripping up of flooring, carpet and drywall - have you ever tried to find a contractor to work over Christmas break?) So I thought I would share my "down and dirty get-it-done" school space. This assumes that you have some other place in your house to store books you are not currently using (a bookshelf in a closet, basement or bedroom). I have all of my "extras" stored right now on bookshelves in the basement until the repairs are finished. I chose the books I considered most crucial for us to cover over the next few weeks. Then I cleared off one shelf on the baker's rack in my kitchen. Any bookshelf, dining room hutch or even pantry shelf works.

These are the most important items for me to access on a daily basis with the kids. The black boxes contain flashcards and writing supplies.

The books on the top shelf were already there - mostly cookbooks and prayer books and the bottoms shelf holds all my copies of the most practical and useful cooking magazine ever published. The baskets on each side contain art books (left) and nature study books (right). This is a great way to scatter books on different subjects throughout the living areas of the home. I have about 6 of these baskets in various parts of the house and school room areas - and each one has books from a different subject area. The kids can access them when they want, and I can send them to the basket to read something specific if I need to. So, while I miss my school room and am grateful we do have the space to spread out - really, this is not bad. I have everything I need in one place, and we can enjoy school in the kitchen for the next few weeks.