Sunday, August 7, 2011

"Not" Back to School - Our School Room {2011 - 2012}

Two years ago we set up a school room area in our family room. It was great while I had just two children I was homeschooling full time. Now with the addition of Ava Mae doing school with us I decided it would be a good idea to move to a bigger table. Our dining room is really a wasted space in our home. I love our dining room table but, realistically we only use it a few times a year for special holidays and when we have company or a party in our home. The table seats 8 comfortably so more than enough room for the 4 of us to sit at it which means my only big purchase this year to finish out the area was a new bookcase from IKEA. It has worked out so well for us that my good friends Jennifer and Tammy both decided to pick up one or two for their school rooms. {I mean seriously, this bookcase can hold a large amount of curriculum and supplies!} Each child has a green basket and a straw basket. The green basket holds daily work such as Math, Reading, Spelling, etc. The straw baskets hold items such as individual art supplies, drawing pads, and reference materials for their curriculum {items they will not necessarily need every day}. The shelves have more than enough room to house all of our curriculum for three children with room to spare. Plus, I have plenty of room for all of my homeschool notebooks, supplies, and lesson plans. In our family room we have lots of bookshelves that I am using to store general books and old curriculum that we may or may not go back to using. The kids also have bookshelves in their bedrooms to store reading they do for fun.

The wonderful thing about the new space I have chosen is because of the bookcase location, behind the half wall, when guests walk into our home and come upstairs their first view will not be of a school area - it still appears to be a dining room {other than the tripod that holds a white erase board and map that I can easily collapse and put away}. I am so happy for this new arrangement ... plus, the bonus, I now have a dedicated craft area in our old school room and, because I still had one extra school table left over, our girls now have a craft/sewing table in their bedroom too! So that is our space ... hop on over to "Heart of the Matter" and see all the great school rooms fellow homeschoolers have in their homes!

Not Back to School Blog Hop


{Note: For those of you who have asked ...the IKEA bookcase we bought is the EXPEDIT.}

27 comments:

Jamie {See Jamie blog} said...

Wonderful room! I adore IKEA shelves; we have two walls full of them! Your room still makes a pretty dining room, too. :)

Unknown said...

I love your book case and school table! Thank you for sharing and Happy Homeschooling. See you on the blog hop! ;)

Anonymous said...

Very nice and I'm an IKEA addict and love your shelf! :)

Theresa said...

It looks great. I am off to IKEA's website to look at bookshelves.

Miller Moments said...

What a great space! I love your bookcase!

Sam said...

I wish we had an Ikea! Love that shelf~

DSLA said...

Love the shelf...wish we had the space for it!

Nicole @Team Pipkin said...

i love your set up for school. IKEA always has wonderful things. My first time there I spent 2 hrs in the store & had no idea I was there that long.

BlessedMom said...

I love the IKEA shelves! That place gets me into so much trouble!

Brenda said...

:) Member of the black IKEA shelf club here!! **waving**

Kim said...

Looks great!! BTW, I'm also in a suburb north of ATL. ;) Hope you have a great year!

Celee said...

We also use a dining area. Love the shelf and your basket organization system!

Celee

Jennifer said...

Beautiful and neat! I dream of such organization.

In Everything said...

I love those bookshelves too:) The baskets for each child are perfect... I have piles on the shelf for each of mine. I love the simplicity and the use of the dining room:) Very inspiring;)

Mom Guide said...

Loving the shelf. Searching IKEA site can not find it.....

Carrie said...

I love the look of the straw baskets and the cute green ones on that black bookcase background - cute, organized, and fun! ;)

Hope you have a great year!

Mom Guide said...

Yeah! Found it. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Kelly said...

Looks nice! My maiden name was Kramer. :-D
Ps- Nice to meet you fellow crew member!

Kelly

Candace said...

I'm a basket addict, and so I love your baskets! I also like how your dining room still looks like a dining room. Have a great year!

fixedonHIM said...

Love your shelves with the baskets! Have a great year!

Theresa said...

i love ikea. i love simple things for homeschooling. that bookshelf looks perfect.

stopping by from the nbts blog hop!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! We have these same shelves. They are a mess, however. You may have just inspired me to clean them up and organize them better. :-)

Sarah said...

Wonderful space! I love how you were able to keep it so that it still looks nice when people come in.

Christina said...

I love seeing pictures of people's spaces. My house is just a hodge-lodge really, but I am thinking about putting (most) everything in one spot this year. Thanks for sharing!

Kym said...

What a beautiful space!! I'm working hard at not being jealous! ;-)

Mozi Esme said...

LOVE the bookshelf! We are in dire need of bookshelves throughout the house - so I'm drooling a bit over the ones you've mentioned in various rooms...

the Mcclanahan 7 said...

I love your room. I have never been to IKEA but we are goin on vacation & I plan on finding one!!