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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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Anyone care to join me today? I'm clearing out my cluttered school room.
I am depressed looking at the space I call a school room :( Really it's a clutter catch all.
I am going a clean sweep of the space. It's going to be empty of everything but the furniture. Then I need to decide how to organize it.
The space was a small dining room: 9x8, only 2 walls, open to living room on one side. The kitchen on the other side. They are perpendicular to each other.
4 -foot window on one wall. And a white board on the other.
in the room...(WAY too much!!) 1 7 foot shelf, little over 3 feet wide, sits beside the window. 2 short(about 36 inches) 2.5 width shlevs, but they are deep, 2 feet. If I could I would run a counter top across and make a long desk...(idea to watch for on give aways) Small table, approx 4x3. 3 rolling carts... not sure when the other 2 arrived, but 1 was dd9 workbox cart. The other 2 are craft supplies. Altogether it's becoming horribly cluttered. I'd show before pics, but I am far too embarrassed and humiliated at it's state to share.
I was inspired by this image at A Bowl Full of Lemons
I thought to buy a cart, I found one of $30, however, I can make one of my small shelves work the same way, it just won't be portable. If I change the floor plan, it could be right beside her to make an L shape desk area. The short shelves will give a little more room, which she'd need. Her binders would be on top, and text books stacked on a shelf below. there is also room, to put a selection of often used craft supplies as well. And room for a small crate that will house a few weeks school work.
I am planning on doing away with all the carts, the plan is she'll be working with binders next year and a file system.
In that photo above, I love the vertical pan organizer for binders. I think that holds alot of potential. i will see what dh can build with the scrap MDF we have in the garage. Maybe with 3/8-1/2 in dowels.
The other shelf will be moved over, I think, to be home for printer/modem/router and printer supplies, and my household binders.
Sorry thinking 'out loud' as I type. It seems to make sense, as it would clear the center of the room, put dd under a west facing window, so no glaring sun during the day and be more functional, new windows, so no draft either... I think this could work.
Anyone care to join me in tackling their school rooms this week?
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Mom to 4,
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 10:43am | IP Logged
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In the middle of my big learning room and book re-org overhaul AS WE SPEAK! It's been great! I've been purging as I go, wiping everything down, rearranging for next year! Looks fantastic! I'm ALMOST done - then next week - delicious BOOKLIST BUILDING!!!
We're going with a more streamlined look, less cluttered overall (well, that's my hope anyway, and so far I'm pretty pleased). I had to swap the kids' tables around - some needed bigger tables, others could work with our smaller tables. And they always enjoy a fresh corner of the room for a new year! Amazing how refreshing such a small change can be in terms of inspiring them and indicating "newness" - just have to move their work area to a new corner of the room! A new view! 
Timely thread, mommy4ever!
Anyone else digging in, reorganizing and freshening before they get into the happy deliciousness of booklist planning? 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 12:39pm | IP Logged
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I wish I were! We had to put our school room renovations on hold for the time being. Hopefully we will get back to finishing the room soon. Sometimes I go down there and wander aimlessly and dream about what it will be like. This week I took time off for burnout recovery. Next week I am re-organizing and re-vamping our upstairs school things. I am having to take a different approach to planning this coming year (and probably indefinitely) because of demands on my time and energy. Relying much more heavily on pre-made book lists from AO.
Anyway... I hope you ladies post pictures. I need some pretty inspiration!
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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I didn't empty to room completely, I did roll the carts out of the area, and anything that had made its home on the floor. Looks better already. I moved the one small shelf and the table. I think it'll work. But SO much to organize! But there are definite improvements in just doing that. This was while dd9 did all her school work. She had motivation...gardening.
I got distracted by the kids and we spent a couple hours outside, I pulled 3 black bags of dandelions, and not even 1/2 done  But it does look better. DD9 cleared out the planters, so we'll be transplanting the garden soon. So many things to do! So little time to do it. lol
Off to eat lunch then put littles down for naps and tackle the job of the school room further..
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Mom to 4,
1 graduated June 2012
1 in Catholic school
2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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This post makes me want to  ! 
Good luck on everyone's projects. I don't have any big organizing projects, but I do need to figure out how to store all the books for our upcoming school year.  Where did all these books come from? And how I'm I going to find a place for them in the school "area". I might start working on that this week since we are stuck at home with a car that needs repairs.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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Erin
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I'm sitting here waiting for the antenna man to come and move the antenna and put up our satelitte (yeah EWTN) so I can move the TV over to another room and then... finally I will be able to move into our learning room
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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Erin
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 4:52pm | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| We're going with a more streamlined look, less cluttered overall (well, that's my hope anyway, and so far I'm pretty pleased). |
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What are you doing with all the materials you had in there then?
Do start a thread sharing your booklists 
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
| We're going with a more streamlined look, less cluttered overall (well, that's my hope anyway, and so far I'm pretty pleased). |
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What are you doing with all the materials you had in there then? |
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Moving it along.
I had some duplicates on shelves, and some books were good, but not the best of the best...and I do so enjoy the good...but with limited space and needing to tidily shelve books for all 12 grades, I need to keep the best and move the good stuff along.
I really don't keep any "curriculum", save a few favorites we've used over the years, so that certainly helps in terms of organization and space use-age. Most of my purging has been in the living books area...
** books we never gravitated towards
** books that weren't the the best living book in a given history period or subject
** books that were redundant
** books that were duplicates
Other materials were judged by usefulness and the specific kid-gravity of the material --> ie. do the kids use it? enjoy it? is it purposeful? beautiful? I moved much along that didn't fit us well there!
Erin wrote:
| Do start a thread sharing your booklists |
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Ok! Sure will when I get them done! Can't wait to dig into them! It's an ancient history year with 12th grade, 8th, 4th, and 1st. Should be fun!
Back to the room! I have a little bit of quiet time left while my big kid helpers watch littles! I'm wrapping up my work in the art center after finishing up the science supplies. All the bookshelves are done! Wahoo!!! 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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4 lads mom
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 7:28pm | IP Logged
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I came here for inspiration, and now I have found it!! Yes!! Now....I am a bit hesitant to dive into book rearranging, it is a bit dusty  no one else’s shelves are DUSTY are they??  My asthma is all askew with a bad cold, so I may wait a few days to get onto the business of shelf rearranging...but I am looking up things and making notes...more later!! Pictures, Friends, Pictures!!
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Scenes From This and That
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 7:37pm | IP Logged
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4 lads mom wrote:
| it is a bit dusty no one else’s shelves are DUSTY are they?? |
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Mine sure were!!!! AHHHHHH------CHOO!!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Kathryn
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 9:10pm | IP Logged
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Anytime I need inspiration I go here Not Back to School Blog Hop.
It is such a feast for my eyes. I eventually put some of those ideas into action.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 9:37pm | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
4 lads mom wrote:
| it is a bit dusty no one else’s shelves are DUSTY are they?? |
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Mine sure were!!!! AHHHHHH------CHOO!!!!
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Mine are sure dusty!
I have a whole box of curricula listed for sale locally now. Will be listing books soon too. And I haven't even touched my big book case yet!
DH noticed, he looked at the space, and didn't say a word Think he's scared to 'jinx' it all. So much more space in there, but sooo far to go yet.
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1 graduated June 2012
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 9:56pm | IP Logged
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I cleaned off our homeschool bookshelf (the novels and all living books just live all over the bookshelves around the house). My son, who is graduated as of now (!!) went to stick something on his shelf and noticed it had disappeared! Probably not very tactful of me I just love spring decluttering!
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 30 2013 at 6:46pm | IP Logged
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Didn't get to work on the space today, spent morning at the hospital in therapy. Blah... 
But did get flower pots planted out front before it stormed. 
I will be working this evening however, as dh is heading out for most of the evening and it will be quiet here, kids are all busy with their own chores, so i could be able to go through some things.
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Mom to 4,
1 graduated June 2012
1 in Catholic school
2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 30 2013 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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mommy4ever wrote:
But did get flower pots planted out front before it stormed.
I will be working this evening however, as dh is heading out for most of the evening and it will be quiet here, kids are all busy with their own chores, so i could be able to go through some things. |
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Hey - this is great!
My own update:
I finished completely refreshing every.single.shelf.and.space in the learning room...AND...made it through all my other bookshelves which are spread out all over the house!
BUT I'm super thrilled that it's done and looks sooooo nice now! Very pretty and sunny and streamlined and uncluttered! The kids are already gravitating to their tables, looking at their piles of potential books and getting excited. And I spent some time refreshing my desk basket of files, too. Cheery! Functional...and my color theme for this year is Robins Egg Blue - folders, notebooks, clipboards. To know me is to know my love for this color!
I finished shelving all of last year's books and then I spent the morning pulling books for next year off the shelf! I'm thrilled that I probably have 90% of the books that we will use for next year already here or on the ipad!
I knew I would have a lot for our year, but it isn't until I got sorted and organized that I can actually *see* exactly what I have and what will work for a particular reader for the year upcoming. So, I'm pretty thrilled. I'm sitting here with my big picture planning notebooks for each student spread out around me and filling in books for subjects so I can identify little holes in my booklists. And I have multiple tabs open on my laptop...how I tabs!!!...with book shopping going on!
My goal now is to finish up my big picture planning, and get my very few needed books purchased ( ) by this weekend...so I can start counting pages and setting up more detailed lesson plans for the year NEXT WEEK!
MORE CHEERING FOR ALL OF US THAT ARE:
** purging
** dusting
** sorting
** organizing
** throwing out
** rearranging
** and thinking all things BOOKS!!!
Keep up the good work ladies!
We'll be so glad we invested this time next year!
Keep sharing your success stories - big or small - they're so inspiring!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 30 2013 at 7:19pm | IP Logged
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WTG JEN!!!
I'm still trying to figure out what the big picture thing is..lol. I'm a little off kilter.
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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pumpkinmom
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I had a hard time getting started, but I got through three-fourths of a paper file that needs to be moved to put new books on the shelf. I also got one term of science planned for my oldest. This took me all day to start, but as usual I go to Jen's website and read her post on a considered booklist for some inspiration. After that and some prayer I was on my way. Too bad it was supper time by then! I have all weekend to work on this stuff though. Maybe I will get all the books arranged . . . . . . which I'm putting off because I don't think they will fit.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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Maryan
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My schoolroom and house are slated for decluttering this summer. Thanks for the inspiration! I love looking pictures for reorganization ideas and hearing other people's progress! 
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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CrunchyMom
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I hope there is a blog post in the works, Jen. I'd love to see the effects of your streamlining and decluttering.
I've done a good bit of decluttering and such this Spring already, and I sort of gave up on having a "centralized" school space for now, which is rather freeing. Ds1's desk is now in his bedroom, which, for the most part, means he can work in a less distracted environment. He still migrates a good bit while working, but it is where he gets most of his math and Latin done and provides a home base for things.
I have a secretary in the dining room where an old laptop and science supplies live behind doors. It works well for having a dvd player in the dining room for art lessons or education videos and an e-reader for DS1's e-books or listening to MP-3s. The secretary is an old, red Ikea one. Their newer ones have cabinets below, too, which I envy, but I keep baskets down there, and the overall look of the piece is sort of "farmhouse" which makes it fit in the dining room without being too obtrusive. Plus, we have our giant world map on the wall in the dining room, which, while we haven't been so good at using it regularly for formal geography lessons, gets referenced often in the course of dinner conversation. Plus it is pretty. And I have it mounted on high quality foam core (old posters from events for dh's work) so that *some day* we can actually add map pins. Someday I want to move a wall shelf so that I can have this Sibley's Backyard Birds poster framed and next to the window where we have our feeder. It seems simple enough, but there are so many other household projects that need to be finished (my kitchen!), it could be next year before this happens.
Ds2's desk is now in the living room which is where the art supplies are. It isn't the best arrangement, but the art cabinet got displaced from the dining room when I got a much needed buffet type piece for dining room type things, but the cabinet looks much better in the living room as a cabinet, and at least having them in a visual spot means I notice when they are left out. Ds2's desk is an old school desk with a flip up lid, so it works aesthetically in the space and stuff is easily hidden away inside. Plus he's the one who most frequently uses the art supplies. He's always making SOMETHING
There is a long shelf of our favorite series (Narnia, LOTR, Mitchells, and some more delicate volumes) in the living room, but most of the children's books are on easily accessible shelves in the family room, which is a good environment for reading (when there aren't bins of baby clothes to sort and wash everywhere ).
And, I finally feel pretty good about the office. I started keeping the books I've specifically used or want to use for school organized by grade on some shelves, and it feels more ordered even though it isn't extensive at this point. I've also gotten rid of a set of drawers I was using for a while, which makes the space feel less crammed full. Maybe someday I can actually paint some of the hodge-podge furniture pieces so that the space feels better, but for now, I just need to clean it. It gets so messy so fast! And I wonder why my boys can't keep their rooms clean
Anyway, for now, it has felt good to have the individual rooms better come together and integrate elements of our learning into them in an orderly but non-intrusive way. If I wanted to really be on top of things, I would be reorganizing the books in the family room, but for now, I'm just glad they are (mostly) on shelves
What I really need to attack before the baby comes is the sewing room. GAH! It is a full-on disaster having also been a catch-all space for all other decluttering projects and never having been well organized to begin with
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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4 lads mom
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I love this group.  Where else can I go to get motivated to tame the homeschool room beast?? I am still waiting for this asthma thing to pass...was up to 2am coughing...but I am building up momentum to spring forth in lightening quick speed the minute I feel better
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Mom of four brave lads and one sweet lassie
Scenes From This and That
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Doing a clean sweep of my school 'room'
