Our Schoolbarn–TOTALLY Exposed!!!

We are very blessed to live on a family farm of about 800 acres.  I can’t imagine raising 4 boys anywhere else!  Our house is rather small – it was soldiers quarters in WW2 – my husbands great grandfather took it down board-by-board & rebuilt it on his property.  The house, windmill, & hog wire was a whopping $200!!  The house has been added onto twice, but our family of 8 & growing continues to outgrow the space.  When we started homeschooling our learning areas were all over the house.  Then we got an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny schoolroom that I was just thrilled with  … Until I had 3 big kids & 2 toddlers in & was expecting another :)  My husband offered to build a schoolroom above the barn he was planning.  Nothing around here is ever completed – every room in the house needs some project finished, but at this point – I am way more about function & space than I am “pretty.”  You can click HERE to see past areas & the construction of our schoolbarn.

This is the kids play area & tree house which is in the pasture directly in front of the barn.  This is actually the view from our schoolroom.  This area is big enough & has served for many kickball & baseball games.  But with 800 acres to explore, they are rarely contained to this!  They are often riding around on their 4-wheelers, or sneaking off on nature walks.  During cool seasons I have been known to move desks out here & we school outside.

So that is a little piece of their outside schooling area . . . Here is the inside – TOTALLY EXPOSED!!

*WARNING this is probably the L-O-N-G-E-S-T schoolroom post EVER!!!

THE FRONT AREA:

 

The “Command Center”

On top is our Family Rules, If-Then Chart, & Brother offended me list (framed) & our timer.  Inside each cubby are my teacher guides.  The top holds guides what I’ll need for morning activities together, next to it holds afternoon guides for group work.  The cubbies below each hold guides for Tyler, the other for Tucker & Trevor. 

 

Our Chalkboard & Dry-Erase Boards:

This area is frequently used!  I love it!  The best part – it was FREE!!  Originally, it was 2 chalkboards, but our old dry-erase board fit perfectly inside.  I use the chalk side for our memory work, to-do list & my toddler activities.  I write our weekly verse, character trait, & person of focus for that trait at the top.  The side is for misc. memory work throughout the week (eventually I copy to notecards for review later).  *The information/titles that won’t change are written in “chalk paint” (washable) – it is so stinkin’ cool!!  I love it.  The weekly info I wrote in regular chalk to make it easier to change each week.  The only thing I plan to change about this area is below.  I need to take down the weather stuff & instead add hooks or a long coat rack across the bottom for their bags & jackets in the winter.

 

My Desk:

My desk is in the front corner of the room & has a wonderful view.  I love looking out the window & watching the kids play while I work on lesson plans & such.  I have 2 calendars (one for the current month & another for the following month – it is much easier to plan this way)

On the side of my desk is a shelf that holds our print, printer paper, my sentsy candle (LOVE IT!!) & misc. office supplies, along with my laminator & iPod deck. 

Below is a couple cubes I stacked.  On top is our hole puncher & proclick.  Inside holds different printer papers, bulletin board stuff, & extra file folders.

 

The top of my desk usually isn’t visible :)  .

Technically the only thing that “should” be on my desk is my Desk Apprentice from Staples, weekly file system (*I can’t wait for my new Thirty-One file bag like Sam’s to arrive to store this one in) & my Well Planned Day Binder.  My desk apprentice holds weekly files for the first half our school year & I also have files for each subject.  The hanging files are just from Walmart & I used the already #ed stickies from Staples – much easier than using the traditional file labels.  Plus the colors are pretty :)  The sides of my apprentice hold dry-erase markers, favorite pens & pencils, highlighters, & permanent markers.  The Thirty-One file bag will hold weekly/daily files & items I take back & forth from the schoolbarn to the house.

 

Inside my desk . . .

 

Tot Area:

Considering we live on a farm, most of this is familiar to my Lil’ Buckaroo’s daily life, so I’ve created a little farm theme in is area:

*Please note: this does NOT mean he just hangs out here perfectly content, playing with his workboxes all day.  No!  No!  No!  - that is what I’m saying 99% of the time.  He is ALL OVER THE PLACE.  This is his area, but not necessarily where he hangs :)

Here is the top of his workboxes – the stacking numbers are from Lakeshore, the stacking cups are from Discovery Toys, & the beaded maze & hammering toy are from IKEA.

Inside the tot boxes:

Animal recognition & sounds & farm theme activities (animal signs, coloring books, stickers, & water capsules)

Counting, play animals, & colors

Balls, cars & more color recognition materials (not farm themed)

MORE BINS . . .

Inside these bins (starting at the top left):  numbers & counting, first words, alphabet, nature.                          The middle: music toys, touch & feel plastic animals, magnetic tracing boards, car mats & mini cars              The bottom:  blocks, parachute & doodle mat, large lacing, & foam lacing.

Here are his shape sorting toys:

 

The Center Area:

This is the boys’ favorite area!  Most of this is toys for building & creative play centers.

The red bucket (half shown) stores our trains & tracks.  On the other side of the unit in the blue box is toy cars.  Inside the unit itself is (left to right):  legos, legos, legos, legos, colored blocks, big legos, trinkets, lincoln logs, knights & castle figures, puppets, plastic animals (around the world), army men, pirates, & music toys. 

This side holds lots of manipulatives (mostly for reading) – Building words, word families, phonics, ABC, tangrams, pattern building, language arts games, preschool games, color & shape manipulatives, & our science/nature center. (*please ignore the hanging blankets in the background – we are in the middle of Texas summer & haven’t seen rain since MAY!! – temps are well at 107*+ & we are desperate to keep any heat out & cool air in.  Ghetto or not!!)

   

Our science/nature area has flashcards, sea shells, a little critter habitat, snake skins, animal skulls, a jarred baby shark, & rattle snake, & the boys bug collection.  This is “their” area – not my favorite area.  Most of the stuff here they found on our property or couldn’t leave a museum without.  We also have magnifying glasses & a box with misc. science materials for experiments.  I also keep some of their nature magazines in this are.

Now moving to the other side of the room . . .

 

The lockers.

The lockers hold our math manipulatives:  time & money, counting, number recognition, workbooks, measuring, games.  It is somewhat organized, but not necessarily pretty.  On the side of the lockers are file folder games (hanging) & the boys each have a pocket to keep their school store money.

 

Workboxes:

 

On top shelf stores the kids binders (totally color coordinated) & some personal supplies.  Each kid has their own timer, dry-erase board, eraser, etc.  I am not currently using the workbox system the Sue Patrick way.  I have read the book & implemented it as it was designed.  But the daily updating task got old.  The daily “work” is not a problem for us – it is the extra that is the issue.  So I put extra fun activities inside the boxes weekly.  You’ll find doodle pages, geo-boards, magazines, drawing pages, etc. inside.  When the kids need a break or are waiting on me or a sibling to move on I rotate them between our centers & workboxes.  It works for us!

 

Arts & Crafts, Writing & Grammar:

On top you will find…

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Caddy (from Target w/ a little DIY touch), the blue caddy inside the basket holds markers & crayons.  The red bucket (I think I got at Target) just holds glues, scissors, & rulers.  You’ll also notice the glass jars.  One holds the kids (color coded) dry-erase markers, the other pencils (all of my kids use a different type of pencil & none of them keep up with them very well).  I also keep our pencil sharpener over here.  Originally, it was at my desk, but they use it way more than I do, so it is much easier for them to get to in their area than mine.  At the end is a bunch of construction paper – my boys use A LOT of construction paper!!

  *The blank poster above will be our grammar/writing cheat sheet.

The 2 bins on the end are the Itso large bin’s from Target.  The 2 middle ones are from IKEA. 

The top left side is for arts & crafts, paint, & stamps – things I don’t want my 2 year old in!!

  

The bottom left is supplies for future science, history, or Spanish projects & the red bag holds art supplies – drawing books & such.

 

The right side is our writing/grammar side.  It stores writing materials, HWOT manipulatives, & references.

  

 

The Kitchen Area:

The table & paly kitchen are from IKEA.  I just painted the top of the table with chalk paint.  The baskets on top hold all the play food.  One is for felt food & one is for wooden & plastic food.  This is Truman’s favorite!!! 

Montessori   Items:

 

Next to it are bins to hold some of our Montessori items – the top holds bowls & small containers, the middle is all spooning, scooping, transferring, etc. & the bottom is empty because that seems to be the way he likes it.  I quit fighting that battle & just let him “hide” whatever he wants there.  He uses these items a lot while playing in the kitchen area & they don’t create a mess, but the rest of our Montessori materials I keep in our under constructions (STILL!!) bathroom – which serves as a storage are for now.

It is nothing fancy.  Just an old cart we had.  It holds play dough, rice, dry noodles, sand, sorting trays, trays, plates, bigger bowls, water play toys & just a bunch of misc. items I’ve collected.

Snacks:

Since our schoolbarn is not attached to our house, snacks & drinks can be a challenge.  Each of the boys have their own little “saddle bags” with snacks & I got the little mini water jugs from Walmart & used paint pens to write their names on them.  They are a huge hit with all the boys & super convenient. 

 

The middle of the room:

In the middle of our room are the kids’ desks, a smaller table, & bigger table.  My younger boys usually work at the smaller table & the big table my older son uses frequently.  We also spread out on the bigger table for group projects.  My husband thinks I’m crazy because we have “soooo many tables” but they each serve a purpose for us :)   

 

 

The Library:

 

These are the billy bookcases from IKEA.  The very top is just antique old books – I love books!  Each year I reorganize this for the current years books.  The top shelves on the wider units hold history books we aren’t currently using (by time period).  The next shelf on the left holds the “extra/supplemental books for the era we are currently studying or plan to study during the current school year.  Below that shelf is our display shelf – books of week or weeks.  Next is the history books used with our Winter Promise curriculum.  Below that is the Winter Promise & Time Travelers guides.  The next shelf holds Story of the World guides & workbooks, as well as, misc. workbooks.  The very bottom shelf holds Five in a Row books & other favorites. 

The other wide unit holds science & nature books on the second & third shelves.  The next two shelves below are for preschool & kindergarten books & curriculum.  Then there is my story time display shelf for my younger kids.  And the very bottom is more short story books.  I try to keep them organized by theme or author or interest.

The small unit in the corner is our reading books.  The top shelves hold long chapter books.  I sort these by interest & or theme as well.  I have a “girl” book shelf & a boy book shelf.  The next shelf is Tyler’s favorite books he has either already read or will read during the current year.  Below that is a shelf full of Pathway readers.  Next are short chapter books (mostly Hank the Cowdog & Magic Treehouse).  Beneath this is a collection of easier readers organized by reading level.  The very bottom are beginning readers (“I Can Read Now”, “I Can Read It”, & All About Spelling readers).

The last unit – The top shelf holds seasonal books.  Then next shelf is for picture study & music appreciation books.  Then another display shelf.  Under that is poetry books.  The next 3 shelves are for Bible & character study books.

Across the windows is our geography books & materials not currently being used.  This is organized by World geography, US geography, State, & community.

Then we have a mini little geography center for current studies.  We have a book basket of current geography books, our globe, & a US map (from Geography Matters).  This is also the home of our laptop (it kinda floats around the room).  The basket next to the laptop holds the DVD’s we are currently using (Spanish & math mostly).

Under the geography shelf is books for my little one.  The red bin holds his favorite books he refuses to keep on a shelf & a little mat I used when he was littler.  The little book shelf is from Target.  The big blue bin holds story manipulatives – felt, games, etc.  Next to this are themed units (currently Farm & Dinosaur).

Having an area away from the house & devoted strictly to homeschooling is such a blessing; however, it has a few down falls – especially being pregnant, off & on bedrest.  The schoolbarn is on top of the barn which means a hefty journey up-stairs (not always easy at 32 weeks pregnant).  There are times we need to do school in the house or take it on the road.  For this I had bags made for each of the kids & we keep them in our Family Message Center (*which is also where our Chore Chart is):

I store homeschooling units or curriculum we won’t be using for YEARS in plastic tubs in our cellar.  98% of school materials are kept in the schoolbarn, but I do have a few books & unused curriculum in my office.  (This used to be a porch & was converted to my office/scrapbook room, but is now in the process of becoming an office/scrap room & half closet – hits the walls & window) The top shelf is curriculum, the middle shelf is parenting & homeschooling books (how to’s & inspirational).  The bottom shelf is an inbox for my husband, my home management binder & homeschooling binder, current books I’m reading & an in/out box for me. 

WOW!  I think it is safe to say that is IT!! 

I’m so enjoying seeing other homeschooling rooms at the Heart of the Matter Not Back-to-School blog hop!          I’m looking for suggestions for All About Spelling work spaces.