Monday, May 13, 2013

Photos for May: Schoolroom in Progress

This weekend was busy with my daughter graduating down south of us in California (pictures in the next few days I hope!) and the wedding to come next week!

Today I will share our little schoolroom in progress. We've never had a devoted schoolroom area in this house. We basically had our books and materials and then we just worked on them wherever we found ourselves.

However, when reorganizing the house this spring I decided to try to carve out a space in our big upstairs loft. It actually is a very sunny place most days, which is why I settled on it for our schoolroom, but we were having a rainy spell, so these pictures are kind of dim.



Mostly I was trying to take a picture of the armoire.  It is from my oldest boys' room, but they live up in Oregon now, so I brought it upstairs.    In the foreground you can see the old round game table that I hope to use for seatwork.  Both the table and the armoire are from the 30's or 40's, and built like castles.  I bet they will last another 80 years easily.   Kieron and Sean lugged the armoire upstairs for me. 


I love having a place to keep this year's materials.   I bought Kumon resources for Aidan and several Memoria Press books for Paddy.    For Aidan, I want materials he can work on independently, since he loves being independent.   For Paddy, I wanted some basic resources for Grammar, Latin, and Geography that are easy to just pick up and use.    

In front is a decoupaged sandal box.  After I made the customized notebooks I decided to try altering some boxes.    I have Mod Podge now, so I wanted to see what happens when you put it on top as a covering.   There are Mod Podge tutorials here but I didn't really use a tutorial since I was just playing.   I used scrapbook paper for the covering. 

 I thought I would keep memory cards in there but there aren't any yet.   



Here is the open out part of the armoire.  I love it; it could almost be a small laptop desk.  But for now I put Kieron's books for next year in there.  I decided to use mostly Kolbe Academy's Year 12 for him.   

I am not going to get anything more done in home organization this week, since it is all about the upcoming wedding, but I have lots of plans for this summer. 

6 comments:

  1. Love it, Willa!
    Congrats on your upcoming and ongoing events!!

    I was wondering ( and I may have missed this post) what you use for grammar and for geography. I develop my own materials for each, but it is rather time consuming as you know. I just don't like anything I have seen for the older grades out there. My older son will be entering gr8 chronologically next year but is working at a higher level, if that helps...ex, he is in the mid of Wordly Wise 9 and does what I'd consider high school level lit. Plus my dh is a hs sci teacher and has been doing the curr with our son now for 2 years ( he teacher earth sci and bio.) And actually he's beent eaching both the kids the sciences...
    Ex, I dev a grammar "program" using Strunk and White's Elements of Style....but nothing I can even share b/c I kind of use it tailored to my kids' needs...) but since you seem like minded in so many areas, I was wondering if you have a post that outlines what materials you use.
    My younger son is quite bright but has pretty severe dyslexia and so I need to spend a good amt of time rereading his sci and hist ( from mainly living books) to him and discussing it...and working on phonics/spelling/fluency....so I feel I can't really spend too much more time developing my own materials... Luckily I was a rdg specialist pre mommy so I do know of materials for him but of oourse I am always on the look out for newer and beetter.

    Sorry this is so long. No worries abt replying soon; I know you have a lot going on.

    Take care and God bless...
    Thank you!
    ~Chris

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    Replies
    1. Hi Chris,

      I liked reading your comment and will try to reply when I have a chance. Since this is planning season I will probably soon have a post up about what we have done/are planning for next year.

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    2. Willa
      Thanks so much...love the pic of your daughter and her soon to be hubby.Wow, that's a classic one!The setting of ST A looks absolutely gorgeous too.

      Take care!

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  2. Congrats to your girl, and the wedding is only days away!! Are you calm or stressed?

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    Replies
    1. Mostly calm, Erin. Clare was very organized and got 96+ percent done way ahead of time. However, I do keep envisioning forgetting something important and realizing it at the last second. Oh, well, priest, chapel, couple, ring, and food for friends and family, those are the main things : ).

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  3. I haven't been on here for forever Willa but 'saw' you at 4REal- congrats to your daughter on her graduation and upcoming marriage! May God grant her many blessed years!

    Kristie

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