Homeschool Room Updated

It's that time of year when homeschoolers are all sharing pics of their school spaces. We updated our room since last year (when it was all shiny and new) so I wanted to share the changes.

First up is a new timer. Last year's got dropped on the floor a few too many times and stopped working. We use this for every math lesson (and sometimes just for motivation for other tasks) so a new one was definitely needed. I found this cute school themed timer at a local education store. It was on sale; I couldn't resist.
It's magnetic and hangs on our new file sorter.

Our Ikea desks/work table have all stayed in the same place. Here's a view of my work area and where we do any group table work. We also moved the 'school' computer onto this table. We did move the map and cork board up a pinch and moved the clock over.
Those all moved because we added a shelf to hold my supply basket and added a mini file sorter.

Here's a closer look at my 'command central'. All of my supplies are in the mesh baskets. I keep my MFW teacher manual and weekly folder in the green magazine file. All other teacher manuals are either next to it or in the bottom 2 shelves of the file sorter. 

 

Love, love, love this sorter. We found it at Ikea in March and it has totally helped with keeping daily paperwork organized. During the year, the younglings put work that needs to be corrected in the top slot. After their work is corrected, I put general work to be filed in slot 2 and MFW work to be filed in slot 3.
The drawers pull out and can be put in either direction (cork side up or smooth side up.) Best $20 we spent in the school room!

Our cork board is about the same: it has our classroom rules, pledges, place for weekly memory verse printables, and mini calendar. I added a spelling homework sheet that I found online somewhere. (I don't have the source anymore but if you know where it's from, I'll happily link it.) I also updated our daily schedule.

We'll use these ideas for spelling word review days.

To the left of the long work table, Tenor's desk area is very similar to the original set-up. He still has his clipboard (which will hold his weekly log sheet), his supply box, and lamp. On his cork board, I hung his new required reading list for the year. On his shelf, we added 2 Ikea brackets to keep his heavier/thicker textbooks and Bibles handy and out of his workbox. 

Moving left around the room, we have a bigger change. Originally this part of the wall was missing, and we had curtains wrapping the corner. It was fine but I'm thinking that I'm going to need the wall space. We had left-over paneling from a recent kitchen update that Bass cleverly fitted to fill-in the missing wall. After framing, lots of nailing, puttying, and painting, I was able to remove one curtain and scoot our reading chair back a pinch.

On the long, cement-block-covering-curtain wall, we have an addition. The books were quickly taking over all available space so we got a small cube bookshelf at Ikea. It's not an Expedit but a cheaper version.

Details for the left bookshelf:
On the very top, my file box. It has a folder for each subject for each youngling. At the end of each week, I put all of their worksheets and papers in it. Every 9 weeks or so, I weed through and shift the 'keepers' to our portfolio binders.
Next shelf down holds classic literature books. Nothing for specific curriculums, just good classic books that I put on the younglings' required reading lists.
Next shelf holds curriculum for future years (ie. MFW Rome to the Reformation, 4th grade stuff for Soprano next year) and homeschool reference books.
The shelf with the file boxes has a range of things. Soprano's nature study binder is on the left. The first pink box is her 'workbox.' I use the next 2 pink boxes to hold other extras for Soprano (like elementary writing paper.) The green box and both orange boxes hold my weekly folders.
Next shelf are all of our MFW Creation to the Greeks curriculum books and book basket book suggestions that I happen to already have on hand.
Bottom shelf holds Bible, Language Arts, Music, and Art books, plus a few extra boxy Creation to the Greeks resources.

Our new cube shelf now holds the canvas bins. They fit perfectly!
On the top, I have the younglings' travel storage clipboards (great for school on-the-go) and our globe.
The top 2 canvas bins have Soprano's math manipulatives and some miscellaneous resources.
The next 2 cubes have our art materials for this coming year and our science observation box.
The next 2 are a little empty (not for long I'm sure!) On the left, I have our "What's in the Bible?" DVDs that we'll use this year and a bunch of Answers in Genesis resources that are on loan from my folks. We'll use them this year too.
On the bottom, I have our book basket/library book bin and a bin of educational games (card games, flashcards, the MFW ECC geography game, and some Brainquest.)

The bookshelf on the right scooted down a bit to make room for the cube shelf but it still fits just fine.
On the top, I have last year's MFW and portfolio binders. I have their lapbooks from last year in the file boxes. We also added a mascot ($5 at Ikea.)
The top 2 shelves have more classic literature books (alphabetical by author, of course.) :)
The shelf of file boxes comes next. The orange ones hold teacher resources for this year that I don't need everyday like a folder of fire safety stuff, my teacher sheets for MFW, etc. The green one has catalogs.
The blue file boxes are for Tenor and function as his workbox and extras storage. 2 of them may actually be empty currently. I also have his Spanish curriculum for this year on that shelf along with his nature study binder.
The next shelf down holds a double-stack of history books. Yup, in chronological order, 'cause that's how geeky I am.
The bottom shelf has geography stuff on the far left and science the rest of the way across.

Soprano's desk is the same set-up as last year. We added bookends on her shelf (just like Tenor's) to hold her Bible and English textbook.

Outside the school room, we have 3 strings with clothespins that held art and various creative projects. This year, I think we'll use it to hold history timeline sheets until we put them in our timeline binders. It's going to be hard to clear this off. :)

On the other side of our family room, we have our board games and arts and crafts area. I usually keep this pretty well stocked with general crafting materials because my younglings love to create.

That's the tour. I think the room is ready!
One more last pretty picture:

Come see other great homeschool spaces and where people 'do school' at:
 
Life with My Giggly Girls
The Nature of Grace 

Linking up to these great blog parties:

Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; 
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tutes and Tips at Home Stories A to Z; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor and Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;