By Sun and Candlelight

Spring Nesting: Getting things started ...

Ok, I'm pushing things a bit because really, spring is nowhere in sight, but ... Lent has begun and that naturally turns my thoughts to spring cleaning. And though I may be only six months pregnant, my "nesting" instinct has really kicked in! So Wednesday morning, with the sun streaming through the windows, and the screens letting in just a little breeze, I set to work in the learning room ...

My first stop was my reading corner which had become a complete mess.

(Convenient, how I only got the "after" shot, isn't it?)

The chair was pulled out (not by me) and the floor and walls were vacuumed and wiped down. Everything came off the shelves - the books were sorted and the shelves dusted before they were rearranged.

Even when I don't even have time to crack open a book, just seeing them all lined up so prettily is enough. Sometimes. :)

Next, I cleaned up the chair itself and then had the boys push it back into place.

I next sorted the bins in which I keep my reading materials, journaling stuff and weekly file folders ... then I washed down the desktop (oy, was that a mess), under the chair mat (ugh) and organized my end of things ...

(The notebook on top that says, "Nov 2" is indeed my current active journal - the date indicates when I started it, and I've been slow to fill in this one.)

*Meanwhile, Archie enjoyed being right in the middle of things. Natch.*

I cleaned out the seasons corner, and asked the boys to bring the bulk of our winter books back downstairs. I am hoping to get our spring/Lent books organized this weekend. 

These are the seasonal books (and videos) for this week ...

And finally, I started re-working the classroom "calendar" wall.

I love this large family-sized calendar!

I'm tweaking it to reflect liturgical seasons and days that are important to us. (For this post, I'm showing the March calendar because it doesn't have any personal family information on it yet - e.g. activities and schedules, etc.)

After a while the room shone with sunlight and possibility ...

I still have more to do here - the windows all need to be cleaned. Badly. But that task will most likely not involve me ... and the ceiling will need dusting, and floor will need to be washed  ...

But all in good time. :)

(This is where I'm posting to you from, my little corner of the world.)

My friends, when do your spring cleaning urges kick in? Is spring cleaning a part of your yearly routine? Do you schedule it at a particular time, perhaps in accordance with Lent?

I like to spend time over Lent working through a spring cleaning plan - mostly decluttering and general cleaning - and then I spend the first half of Holy Week really giving things a nice polish and airing out. This year will most likely be a little different because I'll be in the last trimester of my pregnancy, so I'm slowing down a bit and getting decidedly less agile! Bill offered to hire someone in to help but - call me crazy! - I just can't do that. I figure I have three able-bodied and energetic young people here who, with a little direction, can help out in numerous ways. Spring cleaning is something I relish - feel free to call me crazy again! - and with a few adjustments and a little forethought, it should continue to be a relatively simple and deeply satisfying endeavor.

*❤*

I'll be posting more on spring cleaning over the next couple of months, so stay tuned and please share your own thoughts on seasonal cleaning. You know I love to hear from you!

Have a great weekend, everyone - see you here again very soon!

Organizing the Nest Survey, Part 6 ~ Home Learning (& an Internet Query)

Hello there everyone, and Happy Thursday!

So let's talk about home learning, a subject near and dear to my heart - *raises hand* - 12-year veteran right here! There's a lot to manage when you add home education to your family's already full plate - so naturally, there's a lot to discuss when it comes to organizing it all - but I tried to keep my questions simple. ;)

And so as not to leave anybody out, I have an "internet" question at the end of the post that I've been meaning to ask for a while, so if you'd like to leave a comment for the giveaway, please feel free to check that out ...

So my "organizing" questions for today are as follows ...

1. Do you work with a formal lesson plan each week?

2. (And if so) where do you write down/keep these lesson plans?

3. How do you keep your kids on task/aware of their responsibilities?

4. Do you have a separate learning room or space?

5. How do you keep "school stuff" in order? What do you find hardest to organize?

6. Do you find it a challenge to balance time spent outside the home (field trips, get-togethers, clubs, etc.) with time spent on academics at home?

***

And, my question for those who don't have homeschooling comments to share, is about two online activities - Pinterest and Instagram. Are you using either of these sites, and how do you use them? I'm somewhat familiar with Pinterest but I really have no idea how Instagram works. It seems as though everyone's using one of these sites these days - or both!

Information, please? :)

Now if you'd like to revisit previous survey comments (to read through or add your own), please click on the following links:

1. to-do lists (daily and someday)

2. family food

3. calendars

4. file folders and paper management

5. family finances

(Remember - each time you comment your name is entered in the contest!)

***

Well my friends, it is BEYOND frigid here in New England today - a high of 19 today, I think? We'll be in the deep freeze for some time, but there is relief in sight for next week. Rain, too - but I'll take it if it means temps in the 40s! I'm getting itchy for spring which is kind of dangerous when it's still only January! As for me and the babe, I'm still taking it easy here, and things have quieted down nicely. Well, except for the little boy himself who is VERY active inside his mama! He's now moving around so vigorously that others can feel him from the outside, and you can even SEE him moving my tummy around. (Sorry if that's TMI, lol!) It's a miracle, honestly - each day I give thanks that we have been blessed this way once again. Late May seems way off and yet, things seem to be moving along pretty quickly!

 Friends, please have yourselves a nice Thursday ... I'll see you here again very soon!

*❤*

ETA - It seems some folks are having trouble leaving comments, and I have no idea what's up with Typepad, but I appreciate all the more the time and effort involved in leaving your thoughts! No survey post tomorrow - look for one over the weekend! :)

A Look around the Learning Room

Good Sunday evening, my friends!

I hope you've all had a nice weekend. I'm a bit exhaustified myself ... a wicked busy week led up to a very busy weekend, then a late night last night and early Mass this morning was followed by teaching our first CCD class and then Bill took the older two over to my folks' to watch the Pats play (and WIN!) ... and while those guys were out, Earlybird and I did some crafts and I cleaned up the (poorly neglected) learning room.

Phew!

{I need another weekend!}

It was such a fresh, sunny day ... and I took pictures ... so naturally I came here to share them. :)

***

Well, thanks for stopping by today, and taking a peek at what we've been up to. I hope you have a very nice night ...

I'll see you here again very soon!

❤

Getting Ready for a New School Year

As much as I hate to rush summer along, it's right around this time when I start getting ready for a new homeschool year. I thought I'd share this overview of the steps I take, and then, in future posts, I'll go into further detail. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, because we all approach September differently - some of us homeschool, some don't; some of us have kids, some don't! - and I think it's always nice to share ideas.

:)

* Planning & Preparing for a New School Year *

1. Tie up last year's loose ends.

I first pull out last year's educational plans (one for each child, filed with the town) and begin a "year-end report" document for each child. As much as I love paper, I do this on my laptop. And to refresh my memory, I go through our in-basket, last year's file folders, my calendar, and this blog, in order to remember what they/we did this past year. I then draft the three reports and after showing them to Bill, I print them out. We mail in the reports (along with our new ed. plans) in early August.

2. Start a planning page for "new year" thoughts and lists.

I have a tab for this in my home management binder. I just take out last year's pages and file them, and then insert new pages for this year.

3. Think, think, think ... and envision.

I like to spend a good bit of time imagining the year ahead, and thinking about what I'd like to see happen - what we need to work on and how I'd like things to be different. I have to make time to do this - even schedule it in! But I also often have to reign myself in, because I do love to think ... and time can get away from me! Some of these ideas will be more concrete than others: (re)teach cursive and listen to more audiobooks ... immerse ourselves in nature and work on independence. I have some pretty strong feelings and ideas about this year because this is Bookworm's senior year! So it's my last year with all three boys enrolled in my "class." *sigh* 

4. Meet with my family.

This is a chance for us all to sit down and talk about our hopes and goals for the new year - activities outside the home, both academic and not (classes, sports, clubs, volunteering, etc.). I also talk with the boys about their curriculum - which subjects and topics we'll be covering this year. 

5. Write out the 2012-2013 educational plans.

I write a plan out for each one of the boys, which we submit to the school system for approval. This includes an outline of topics to be covered and the curriculum we plan to use. (I always make sure to note that we will include these resources, but not limit ourselves to them.) Then, along with the year-end reports and a few other requirements (notice of intent, instructor qualifications, hours per subject, etc.), I send the whole kit and kaboodle to the superintendent's office. (A copy gets filed under my home education tab.)

 6. Ready the space.

Some families have designated learning rooms, some learn all over the place; we do a bit of both. We do call our sitting room off the kitchen our "learning room," but we hardly limit ourselves to this space. For all intents and purposes, however, this is the heart of our homeschool. Sometime in August - when the weather's not too hot! - I like to do a thorough cleaning of this room. I wash the windows and birdfeeders (ok, Bill does this) and vacuum/dust/mop and polish ... till everything's shining bright and smelling fresh. (I also think about our outside learning spaces - all around the yard, the garden and woods.)

And as I weed out old bins, baskets and bookshelves, I begin a list of things to replenish. This becomes our "back-to-school" shopping list ... 

7. Gather our materials.

If I was really on top of things, I would order our curriculum in the spring, when Oak Meadow is having its 20% off sale. Unfortunately, I'm never ready to order that soon. So I decide what curriculum we need to purchase as I write out the education plans. Then I place our orders and cross my fingers it's all in stock! After I've made those purchases, I finalize our school supplies list and then I'm off to shop. Once I have it all home (or delivered, as the case may be), I keep our supplies set aside until our first official day. 

At this time we also look at the boys' clothes and see how things are faring in that department. Having all boys has been wonderful for reusing clothes - huge savings there! But there are always more things we need - new shoes, backpacks, jackets, sports gear, church clothes, pajamas and slippers, etc.

8. Reasses our routine.

I look at what our weekly schedule will be like - how many days are we at home vs. how many days are we out and about? Every year is different - some years we are more active than others, but I always try to have a balance. I can't function (and we can't get our work done) if we're out all the time, so I like to have *at least* two days that are free from any outside activities (at least during the daytime). Depending on what days are busy, I may need to change up some of our home-based activities (i.e. craft days, faith @ home, nature walks, baking, etc.).

Then there's the daily routine ... now, I know not all homeschooling families get up early, but we do - partcularly on days we have outside classes or Mass. Summer mornings have been much more relaxed, so it's good for us to start waking a little earlier each day - and getting ourselves "together" earlier too (i.e. dressing, eating, etc.). It's really not that big of a change for us, since we are already fairly early risers, but it helps ease the transition all the same.

 9. Pow-wow.

I have a group of dear friends - homeschooing mamas I've known for years - with whom I meet for coffee once or twice a year. We usually try to make one of these meet-ups at the end of the summer so we can give ourselves a little boost and see what's up with each other. We don't see each other as often as we did when our kids were small, so it's really nice to check in and catch up. And the ideas we exchange - resources, upcoming classes, etc. - are wonderful. And of course, it's great to talk with like-minded women whose "school year" will look very much like mine. I always walk away from our time together feeling inspired, invigorated and truly connected!

I am also quite fortunate to be part of a wonderful homeschool support group. We have participated in many acitivites and many ways through the years, but my favorite annual event is our "September Planning Meeting." At this meeting - run like a true business meeting - we make plans and share ideas and I diligently take minutes for the newsletter. We schedule things too - like parties and fairs and community events. This meeting always gets me fired up for a new year of home learning and happy living! 

10. Create a lesson planner.

I've used different planners and methods through the year, but I always need some way of keeping track of our academic plans and goals each week. My new planner is still under construction right now, so I'll have to get back to you on this point!

11. Plan for kickoff!

I am often asked if we have to sync up our schedules with the public school calendar, and the answer to that is, thankfully, no. We have to commit to the same amount of hours, but it's up to us when those hours fall. So we don't have to take February vacation if it's not convenient (and most years it's not) but we can take Holy Week off because that's important to us.

So we "start" our school year the day after Labor Day - every year, without fail. The older boys also take elective classes at a local homeschool center, and those start up this week, too. So we'll really be getting "back into the groove" that first full week of September! I like to plan special meals for that week, and I also like to take a "class" picture of the boys, every year.

It's always nice to mark a special day - a turn of year - in happy, familiar ways. These are the things that make fond family memories, and let our kids know we are proud of them and we're excited about learning new things, too!

Well, this got to be quite longer than I originally intended, but I hope you found it somewhat of interest. For me, and my household (and homeschool), a successful "new year" has its start here in the dog days of summer. As I stated above, I don't like to rush time along - goodness knows, it needs no help! - but I think a little forethought and preparation makes any season more enjoyable.

(Speaking of, does anyone else think about Christmas in July?)

:)

Have a good Monday, my friends ... I'll see you here again very soon!

Sunday ☼ Snippets

Just jotting down a few thoughts from my day ...

☼

There's a PBS preview here ...with a bit more information on Downton Abbey AS WELL AS a new Martha Stewart Cooking show! As many of you know, the MARTHA show was cancelled this year, and though I must admit I was an infrequent viewer, I will miss that big pretty studio she had! Actually, I still like her original show best - the one set at Turkey Hill, where she just showed you stuff but didn't try to "banter" with celebrity guests. Still, it's nice to know she'll continue to be a presence on TV! (And here's another article about the new Martha show from way back in April. Clearly I've been out of the loop!)

☼

This was a beautiful song sung at Mass this morning. I'm sure I've heard it before, but it really struck me today ...

I just love it. ❤

☼

I have more skls/bnls chicken breasts in the crockpot today - which means more shredded chicken for salad, pizzas, wraps, etc. I'll keep my portion plain, since I'm pretty sure it was Bill's bbq sauce - or rather, the chipolte pepper in Bill's bbq sauce - that set off my crazy reaction.

(Note to self: call an allergist first thing tomorrow.)

☼ 

And Crackerjack took this picture of Archie ...

He's holding his own - still sneezing now and again, but also still acting completely normal otherwise (eating/drinking/playing, etc.). Hates the meds of course, but what can you do?

But I love how we all flock to the learning room, whether we're learning or not.

But really, when are we not?

☼

The older boys are at a "big boy" birthday party this afternoon, so EB and I made crafts and had "Sunday Sundaes" at home. The boy just loves to paint, and he'll paint whatever I give him ... though funnily enough, he absolutely refused to paint rocks today, lol ...

And I had planned to do this frame craft mid-week, for the Feast of St. James, but we made them up today since the mood was just right. :)

EB did the painting, I did the pictures. :)

And in another window ...

I love putting starfish and sand dollars in the windows at this time of year. I'm not sure if this is strictly a New England thing, or more of a coastal thing, but I see them here and there and they always make me smile ... so I hope our "seaworthy" windows make passersby smile, too. :)

☼

Going a bit further with the shell theme - since shells are a symbol of St. James - I'm planning to make lemon madeleines and scallops provençal this week, and we may make this adorable seashell koala craft. Of course, I've been hunting high and low for my madeleine pan without any luck ... but I did find the minifig cake pan! Just in time for CJ's birthday next month! (You're not going to believe this, but he'll be 13!)

☼

Lately, we've been enjoying the goldfinches enjoying our lavender bed ...

I had kind of been kicking myself (as I do every year) for not doing much with our large patch of lavender... but seeing how dearly the birds love it, I feel somewhat less guilty.

☼

Also, I wrote out a rather lengthy post on how I get ready for a new school year, since I've had a few requests for a post of that nature. Alas, I was on Benadryl at the time, so it needs a little polishing before it posts, lol.

(It should be up sometime tomorrow!)

☼

Well, I'm going to sign off now, my friends - I expect my older boys and Bill home any minute, and I'm sure they'll be eager for supper. I hope you all had a nice weekend ... and I wish you a lovely Sunday night. 

I'll see you here again very soon ...

❤

Pretty Pineapples!

When I made up Earlybird's learning wall, I had to move out the somewhat superflous nature shelves. I pared down and relocated our nature stuff, but then was left with a small yet useful, unfinished bookcase. Never one to waste a good bookcase, I asked Bill about moving it to the dining room, as storage for the boys' schoolwork (which previously had been stashed in tote bags). The older boys do the bulk of their lessons at the kitchen island on the dining room side, so it makes sense to keep their materials nearby. And yet, we finally got our dining room looking somewhat "formal" (i.e. like a dining room), so I was hesitant to introduce the inevitable mess of school materials into the space. 

ALL THAT SAID ... we did move the bookcase to this room, and we did fill it with schoolwork (textbooks, binders, paperbacks and the like) ... and it did look kind of messy ... but then I had a thought:

What about curtains?

And since curtains usually involve sewing, my next thought was:

Call Mum.

So that's just what I did! And over the weekend we got over to the fabric store and purchased a tension rod and a yard of some pretty patterned cotton. And just a couple of days later, thanks to my mum ...

We had curtains for our bookcase!

And we just love them!

❤

I happy with the bookcase here, and I just love the pretty fabric against the yellow walls, but as my mum pointed out, if we move the bookcase back to the learning room someday, the curtains will also go very nicely with that room's green walls. :)

But the first issue at hand, is to make these curtains decidedly less interesting to Archie, who is seemingly convinced this is a new playspace just for him.

Lol.

Well, my friends, thanks so much for stopping by today. I appreciate your time and attention! And wow, it's Thursday already? That's a "desk day" here for me ... but whatever your day brings, I hope you make it a good one!

See you here again very soon ...

Just Loving those Cork Tiles!

So when I posted about Earlybird's routine cards last week, a few people mentioned (here and elsewhere) that they liked the idea of a "to-do" board for themselves ... and that got me thinking! I had actually picked up two packages of corkboard, so I had an extra four tiles just hanging around ... waiting for me to do something with them ... ;)

And then the other day my friend Leslie posted a picture of how she used her tiles - in the kitchen, as "to-do" boards for herself and her kids - and I loved it! So today, in the midst of a major bedroom cleaning spree, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration and knew just where to hang my own board, and how to use it:

So my "reminder" board displays my daily routine, with to-do's separated by colored time cards (early morning, midday, afternoon and evening). Instead of flipping around like EB's cards do, my cards will stay put. I just listed out the tasks that need doing in that portion of the day.

Now, you'd think I'd know all these daily to-do's by heart now (and mostly, I do) but I'm the type of person who really benefits from visuals like this. On busy days when I'm running on fumes, I like to give my brain a break. Reminders like this help with that.

I stuck my cork board on the side of a bookcase, smack dab in the middle of "command central." When I stand at the kitchen island and work at my binder/folder/laptop - whatever -this is what I see when I look to my right. And obviously I embellished a little ... with lace doilies and a paper ribbon across the top. I used sticker letters to spell out "Dawn to Dusk," which is a bit silly, really ... but I couldn't resist.

:)

And, because I had cork boards on the brain and I was right in the middle of cleaning the older boys' bedroom, I decided they could use reminder boards as well. :)

I haven't decided exactly how we'll use their boards, but I like them here just on principle.

And now I have just one cork tile left ... so Bill had better look out!

***

 Well, my friends, I hope you've all had a nice weekend. Ours was quite nice indeed ... even more so because Bill has tomorrow off! Which is always a treat. :) Beautiful weather today - sunny and warm, but not as humid as it's been. The sun's on its way down now, and it looks to be a very pleasant evening. I'm going to sign off now as it appears dinner is here (takeout tonight!) ... but I thank you all for stopping by and leave you with a wish for a good night and a promise to see you sometime tomorrow!

❤

Earlybird's Routine Cards

So here's what I'm doing with those new cork tiles ...

Routine is good for all of us ... we talk here a lot about our household and personal routines, and how much they help us keep on track. There's a lot that can, and must, happen in a given day and it can be overwhelming for anyone, but especially so for a child with autism. So I decided to use this space as a place for posting Earlybird's routines. My hope is this card system helps him with the concepts of time, patience, independence and responsibility. :)

So the four tiles are divided by time of day: morning, noontime, afternoon and evening ...

Each timeframe holds six routine cards, and on the front of each card is an action - something that EB needs to do, or gets to do, at that time of day. I've listed his routine cards at the bottom of this post, but generally speaking, these are just simple everyday things.

And as EB completes a card, I just flip it around ...

:)

I just put the cards up this morning, and so far EB seems pretty amenable. My initial plan for these cork tiles was to use them for displaying subject-related matter, but we'll see how this goes. I'll most likely change things up come September.

Here's what I wrote on the 24 routine cards:

Morning

wash and brush

dress

make bed

feed cats

breakfast

computer time

Noontime

lunch

help with dishes

play/jump

bath

read with Mom

draw/write

Afternoon

bring in newspaper/mail

clean up toys

snack/read on own

journal with mom

computer time

help make supper

Evening

supper

wash and brush

pajamas

prayers with Mom

read with Dad

say goodnights/go to sleep!

***

So I'll let you know how it goes! As of this moment (1:10 p.m.) we've just turned two more cards on the "noontime" tile .. and EB was the one who remembered!

Well, I hope you're all having a good week - and it's a holiday week at that! Any big plans for tomorrow?

Whatever you do and wherever you go, I hope you all stay safe and happy!

See you again very soon ...

Another Learning Room Corner ...

Because I'm on a roll!

Yesterday I set up Earlybird's "learning wall" and today I reorganized his (our) nature/world corner. The map's the only new thing here (our old one was battered to bits). Everything else is old stuff - just rearranged in a new way.

I had to scooch down the loveseat a little ...

You could say it looks a bit cramped, but I call it cozy. :)

Now here's how that corner looks, close up ...

A basket of field guides ...

Favorite nature books (with magnifying glasses lying on top), and a new family nature journal. I find it gets too scattered, insisting on individual journals, so instead, we'll keep one family book in which we can all add observations, sketches, etc. (I just wrote: Spotted the wee bunny in the front yard after a brief rainstorm. 7/2/12 4 p.m.)

A storm candle - every summer we must have a storm candle! - and our Birdsong Identiflyer (currently sans batteries but I've got some charging downstairs). Also, a favorite little book of "Summer" poems and prayers.

Baskets of books on the shelf underneath, and a basket of science and nature magazines. In the narrow space between the table and wall we have oversized atlas books.

And of course, the world map is here, with EB's sticky notes marking places he'd like to visit. :)

The windowsill holds a small cache of clutter ... a jam jar and candle pots holding nature bits and bobs ... our clamshell nature angel and wooden St. Francis doll ...

(We don't open this window as there is no screen. I forget why it's down, but I'm sure there's a reason. It remains to be seen whether or not I keep these small items out on display ... so far the cats have not bothered with them.)

Looking up ...

... clearly, this basket is for me. :)

And looking down ...

... clearly, this basket is for Archie.

:)

So now I'm working on the family computer corner and mama's reading nook ... making summer changes, weeding out last year's stuff ... I'll be back soon to share more on all that!

Have a great night, everyone!

Summer Learning Center

With a quick trip to Staples, and a half-hour of my husband's time ~ I made up a new "learning center" for Earlybird!

The breakdown ...

Classroom Clock = $24.99

Cork Tiles (set of 4) = $5.00

Adhesive, Dry-Erase Week @ a Glance Calendar = $6.99

Folder bin & supplies = we had on hand

The clock was a bit of a splurge, but we don't have an analog clock anywhere in the house, and I am working on the mechanics of "time" (and "patience") with EB this summer. The cork tiles were pretty cheap, but I will tell you this - the adhesive they came with was just awful. We ended up using some of our own thick, double-sided tape. I'll write more about how I'll use those four separate tiles later ...

The weekly calendar is a Martha Stewart Office product, and it's adhesive, so it just sticks onto your wall. (So you need to be sure you won't need to move it - it will most likely tear up the paint beneath it.) I bought this type of calendar because EB loves to "consult" the big family calendar that hangs on the fridge - and he loves to talk about "what's coming up next." But he gets a little obsessive sometimes about an event - say, an upcoming party, holiday or trip - and he often thinks it's coming much sooner than it is. Even though he can see on the calendar it's not for many more "blocks" he gets anxious for it to happen now.

So I thought it might be helpful for him to have his own ONE-WEEK calendar so that he can focus on what is happening NOW (or at least this week). So that 4th of July party he's so excited about? It will be on Wednesday's block ... we'll cross off the days as we get closer. But that road trip we're taking later in the summer? That won't be on there, and he'll see that ... so hopefully he'll get a better feel for what's happening sooner rather than later (and vice versa).

And finally, the clear bin is holding his summer reading binder, some folders (for future use) and a composition notebook as well as some reward stickers. (More on all that later, too.)

So yes it's July 1st and yes, I'm putting up school stuff! But you have to strike when the iron's hot and I got really inspired to work on this project today. Thankfully I was able to dash out and pick up the supplies and thankfully Bill didn't mind helping me out. I have a good eye for getting things straight, but he's much better with tools. :)

***

So, that's all for now, my friends! I hope you've all had a nice weekend ... and if you live where the weather's been fierce, I hope you and your loved ones are quite safe. It's been quiet, but hot and humid here in New England, feeling very much like summer - and well it should because it is July after all! Did you remember to say "Rabbit, rabbit" this morning? :)

Well, thanks so much for stopping in ... hope you all have a nice night ...

I'll see you again sometime soon!

❤

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Ok, technically, the holiday weekend doesn't officially begin for oh, another 24 hours or so ... but Bill has taken tomorrow off, so we're starting our holiday early! And this makes me so happy ... as does finishing up Earlybird's science fair project today! So I thought I'd pop in to say hello, and share a few photos with you all on this fine Thursday evening.

My new summer bag. I'm in love with those colors!

Earlybird conducting "tree research" today.

I love how appealing school supplies look "basking" in the sun.

Our little scamps - in the middle of a "friendly disagreement."

(Note the terse ears.)

Look away, Mother. You don't want to see this.

And how sweet are these pansies?

And one more thing ... I found this bracelet today while I was cleaning a drawer in my bedroom. Bookworm (and Bill) bought this for me at a craft fair when my firstborn was ... oh, two maybe three?

It's quite dingy and worn, but that's only because I wore it ALL the time for many years. It sure brought a smile to my face to see that bracelet again. :)

***

Well, my friends, I hope you've all had a good day, and I hope your evening is stretching out nicely before you. I'm going to sign off till tomorrow ... but thank you so much for stopping by. I'll see you again very soon!

❤

Cleaning Up the "Mom" Corner

Fridays are the day I clean the learning/sitting room, and today I decided to spend a little extra time on my "mom" corner. It is, after all, Mother's Day weekend, and it is my sincere hope I'll be spending most of it parked right here ...

:)

So, I pulled the chair out and swept in back there (found Earlybird's long-lost Percy train) and then took apart the book shelves, which had become quite disorganized and dusty.

As you can see, I had the usual help:

On the top shelf I keep my collection of Everyday Food magazines, my favorite food magazine of all. (I have every issue!) I'm going to look through them this weekend for meal plan inspiration.

Next shelf down, I have yummy books I own or borrowed, and a few DVD collections, too.

Just a few momentos on this shelf ...

On display I have one of my favorite pictures of the boys, my reading glasses, cheerful little knicknacks and my Mary Engelbreit page-a-day calendar.

And then there's the shelf where I keep magazines to look through, and my clippings journal:

I keep a pair of small folding tables beside my chair when I'm "working" in this spot. The table on the right holds my laptop, and the table to my left holds whatever it is I'm working on at the moment. 

Here I have a planning binder with next week's file folder on top.

And I have to show you the cleaning checklist I stapled to the inside folder cover:

This was an idea I gleaned from a kind reader, Suusi. (I loved reading how she utilizes her weekly file folders - her thoughts can be found in this comment thread.) I'm not sure I'll end up using this checklist (I already have those daily chore cards and now my online diary) but I thought I'd give it a try. I basically just took the whole weekly chore list (divided by days) and printed it out on one sheet of paper. Then I stapled it to the inside front cover (the weekly planning sheet is on the opposite side). I envision checking things off as I work through the week ... but we shall see how it goes!

And finally, here is my reading basket. I've let a lot of things pile up recently. :)

I'm really looking forward to poring over all these magazines, catalogs, newspapers, etc. and working in my clippings journal a little. Puttering like this is a little slice of heaven for me.

Aside from all this reading, my Mother's Day weekend will also include an early soccer game, a trip to the nursery, and breakfast with my family after Mass. It will all wind down with a Sunday supper I have not prepared, and then my two favorite shows of the week: Once Upon a Time (season finale!) and Masterpiece Theater. (Can't wait to see what Sherlock gets up to this week!)

*

Well, my friends, I'm going to wrap up now, as my kitchen timer is ringing it's third alarm, reminding me I need to start supper early as it is the boys' practice night. So I'll be off ... but I thank you for stopping by ... and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

(And if you're curious what I'm serving for supper tonight, pop over to my housekeeping blog. I'll be posting today's entry in just a few moments.)

:) 

See you all again very soon!

Spring Nature, Spring Books

Happy Wednesday, my friends! I hope your week's going well. :)

I put the learning room back together today - meaning, I moved out the "table for four" from Easter Sunday, and returned the loveseat to its rightful place. (Mama's reading chair, too.) It felt good to sweep up, sort out, and then settle things back where they belong. :)

The library corner needed to be set up again, so I retired the "March" books and set out the April nature-related books. Our theme this month is "our marvelous earth."

The books you see above are as follows:

Little Farm by the Sea

Grow It, Cook It

Wildlife Gardening

Recycle!

Compost!

Miss Rumphius

The Golden Guide to Endangered Animals

A Guide to Northeastern Butterflies

Respect the Earth Flashcards

Mother Earth's Children

The Nature Connection

First Nature Encylopedia

Whoever You Are

This Year's Garden

Wonders of Nature 

 Naturally Fun Parties for Kids (I just got this book the other day and Earlybird is enthralled! I can hardly get it back in "my" pile, lol.)

*

Now, yesterday we met up with some of our homeschooling friends and took our kids on an informal nature walk. ("Informal" in that, the parents walked and talked - the kids mostly ran ahead.) I provided a "scavenger" list of things for the kids to look for at this time of year, and I'd like to share it here with you all in case it might be something you can use. :)

Take a look around and see what you can find ... use all your senses to “Search for Spring!”

*

signs of nest building

buds

a spring flower

three shades of green

a fresh smell

mud

tracks in mud

a new bird sound

an early spring insect

a fiddlehead (young fern)

a migrant bird

an amphibian or reptile

earthworms

running, dripping or trickling water

a cold spot

a warm spot

something red

something yellow

something blue

something purple

something that has more than 3 colors

*

Have fun, and remember to be gentle with Nature!

I hope this list might inspire you and your kids to go outside and "search for spring." We had a lot of fun finding it for ourselves!

:)

Have a wonderful evening, my friends ... I will see you here again very soon!

Outfitting a Home-Centered Desk

But first, a Good Sunday evening to you all. :)

Here we are at the very close of the week, and I finally have a desk post to share with you! It was such a nice sunny day (and fairly mild, too), so I had lots of light and fresh air to work in ...

And here's my new desk, situated in the southwestern corner of our learning/sitting room:

As you can see, I now have an honest-to-goodness "desk chair" for my desk! Bill and the boys brought it home from Staples today, and it's very comfortable, I'm happy to say.

So first off, I worked on filling in (i.e. organizing) all the drawers ... 

The lower drawers are for file folders. On the left I will keep recipe storage and household information. (Seen in the picture at the top of this post.) And on the right is my File Crate System (my weekly file folders).

The top drawers are devoted to the various materials I need as "home manager." On the left: a correspondence basket, stickers and labels, and a master to-do pad (suspiciously empty at the moment, lol).

On the right: my budgetkeeping drawer.

(It may not look very organized, but honestly - it is!)

There is a metal basket nestled in there, and inside that is another small basket holding coupons and gift certificates. Also in the metal basket are current bills to pay, weekly church envelopes, business cards (held together by a binder clip) and my calculator. In the front section of the drawer is a plastic zip-top envelope in which I will (temporarily) store shopping receipts. On the left side of the drawer is a stack of monthly statements (held together by a binder clip - boy, do I love binder clips, lol!). 

Now, I showed you the right hand side of the desk when I first arranged it the other day. It looks pretty much the same, only I made that little letter holder a bit more purposeful. (It now holds a task binder, the "active" weekly file folders, my notecards, shopping notebook, and daily routine index cards.)

Above the desk I hung my projects clipboard.

On the windowsill, just behind this side of the desk, I used those pretty planter pots for some tiny desk accoutrements. :)

Orange holds tiny multicolor clothespins (for a neat project I'll tell you about soon), yellow holds small binder clips, green holds nothing at the moment but I had stuck my reading glasses in there, and blue holds medium size binder clips.

(So far the cats have left these little pots alone, but that could all change in a moment - most likely an after-midnight moment - so we shall see.)

Now, the left side of the desk I've kept mostly open because I can't decide what I want to put here, but for now, I have a small crate with my clipping journal.

(Which was promptly taken over by Archie.)

I think I'd like to get a two-tiered inbox for this spot. A place in which I'd keep things to look at - correct, address, file, etc. I'm thinking about getting something like this.

So here's the desk view to the left ... my reading (and tea) corner.

And here's the desk view to the right ... the family reading corner.

A closer look at Earlybird's February "library" nook:

Underneath that table there are nature puppets, a portable dvd player and a basket of videos, puzzle buckets and a few games.

So I think it's coming together quite nicely! The desk fits in well here, and it feels great to have a space devoted to home management. The family computer is located here, so the boys do share this desk with me sometimes. In fact, as I finish this post, I'm sitting in my reading chair working on my laptop, while the boys are at the desk, laughing at some Star Wars website ...

And Archie's still in that crate!

:)

Well my friends, I hope you enjoyed this tour of my new desk, but I'm going to sign off now as it's getting late and I've kept you here long enough! I'm looking forward to a quiet Sunday evening with my fellas, having supper and watching TV ... but I'll be here bright and early tomorrow to kick off our Downton discussion, so I'll catch up with all again then! 

*★ Good night! ★*

Flowers at the Office ...

My goodness, but it was a long and busy day! But I wanted to pop on quickly and show you a better picture of my desk ... as well as these pretty things:

Remember the tiny white carnations yesterday? Well, ladies and gentlemen ~ we now have ourselves rainbow flowers! (Honestly, they started turning color after only 30 minutes! I think the short stems do the trick.)

Anyways, here's a better view of my new desk, a birthday present from Bill:

I'm very glad it fits in this corner so well! Bill took numerous measurements to be sure that it would fit, but it can be tricky ordering furniture on the internet. And I like the location of the desk ~ the windows let in lots of natural light and give us a nice view of the birdfeeders (so of course, the cats think of this as one big window seat, lol).

So the learning room has changed quite a bit from when I first started this blog! Some of you might remember the deep wine-colored walls and the large, dark table. I can be funny about change - I tend to like things to stay as they are - but these changes have been gradual, so I'm feeling comfortable with it all.

And our needs as a homeschooling family have changed - one large table around which all the kids work is no longer necessary (or even sensible, lol). The older boys like to work at the kitchen island, while Earlybird and I "learn" all over, depending on what we're working on at the time. I've enjoyed sitting with EB on the loveseat with a library book, a magazine, the iPad, or just watching the birds. The wood flooring is ideal for puzzles and games and other random projects. I also like sitting here in my chair (as I am now) while one son is reading comics on the loveseat, another is playing on the computer and a third is talking to me from the family room just beyond ...

So it's all good! 

(And when it's all tricked out - with a few desk accessories and just a wee bit of clutter - it will be even better. ;))

But of course, this is still a learning room, so I still have baskets of books, puppets and seasonal displays like the nature shelf:

As well as a special spot for the class mascot:

(Who seems to be feeling better ... thank you for your prayers!)

❤

Well, Bill just got home so it's time for me to sign off. I hope you all have a great evening ... thanks so much for stopping by ... I will see you again very soon!

Calendar Crafts & Paper Play

* Happy Wednesday, everyone! *

Now, I don't know what it's like today where you live, but good gravy is it COLD here in New England! I think we peaked at 17 degrees just after lunchtime? And here we had ourselves fooled into thinking we'd have a mild winter this year ...

Well, depsite the rather "brisk" weather, the boys spent almost an hour playing outside after morning lessons (what we like to call "recess"). More power to them, I say, lol! They came in all rosy-cheeked and out of breath ... to find the fireplace cracklng and a lunch hot from the oven. I'm so glad I can give my boys days like this. :)

Anyhoo, I've been playing around with all that pretty paper I showed you recently, and making up some fun things for my "home office" space. I thought you might like to see what I've been working on ...

First of all, it was time to make up a new "clippings" journal. My old one was filled to the brim:

I've blogged about this journal before ... it's just a simple, spiral-bound notebook (a Mead 3-subject, college rule to be specific) that I cover with seasonal paper and a Mary Engelbreit calendar page. Inside, I keep clippings I take from magazines and newspapers, as well as ticket stubs, jar labels, meaningful receipts, ribbon scraps, post-it note sketches and other random bits and bobs ...

I've kept these humble little journals for years now; I generally fill them up in about three months' time. I think of them as a colorful, mostly cheerful, collage of my thoughts - and to a smaller extent, the world - at that time in life. Someone once told me it was what they would call a "brain dump" - a term that made me laugh and cringe at the same time. ;)

 I'm also in the process of updating my big homekeeping binder ...

To start with, I gave it a pretty new cover - all red and cream, to go with the new colors in our sitting/learning room. This print above (also seen at the very top of this post) has what looks like an old-fashioned, crocheted coverlet laid on top of a vibrant red background. It's homey and feminine, I think.

I made up the date label myself - it's just an ecru tag with number stickers. I also used those tiny red stickers to make up a new clipboard:

And here is the homekeeping binder resting beneath a calendar I'm working on ...

(See how nicely it all coordinates? :))

In that thick stack, I have many soft ivory pages and several seasonal dividers ...

As well as a cover page still under consideration ...

(I can't decide if I like tiny calendars or crocheted roses for the cover!)

And all those inside pages are still on the drawing board, lol.

I'll post more about this project once I get it further along, but for now I'll just call it my "daybook." Because I'm really taking my time with this ... I've already missed the January 1st deadline, so I figure I might as well putter to my heart's content! And maybe, if I don't rush it, I just might create something useful. I made a calendar book like this a few (several?) years ago, and while I loved the overall look and idea of it, it just didn't stick. Now, I could blame this on me being fickle (which I certainly can be!), but I do think I rushed the project and didn't really think it through carefully. This time around, I'm spending a lot more time designing the pages. I started by calling to mind exactly what things I need to address in a given week or day, and once I had my lists I started in on the designs you see above.

As I say, this is still very much a work in progress, so I'll post more details once I have it all buttoned up and home from the binder!

Well, for now, I'll be off ... but not before I wish you all a good night and, of course, thank you for stopping by. It will be a quiet night here ... Bookworm is out for the evening so we've had an early supper (in fact, I'm finishing this very post while ignoring the dishes in the sink, lol). And sadly, we're all caught up on Downton Abbey so we do not have a new episode to watch this evening. Both Bill and I absolutely loved the whole series and can hardly wait for the new season to start! How fun to have something really good to watch again - and mull over - each week. :)

So good night for now my friends ... I'll see you all again very soon!

*❤*

Making Room for Christmas

Happy Monday, my friends! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

We were very busy here on the homefront, decking the halls ... peeling cats off the walls.

>> o.O <<

Yes, it was a bit crazy here for a while, but now that the finery's been hung and the storage bins stashed away, I'm trying to get back to that atmosphere of relative ...

(Cat antics notwithstanding.)

So the sitting room - aka learning room - has been transformed for the season! We got our tree up, and added holiday touches all around the house, inside and out. So it's really beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here ~ even if temperatures will reach 60 degrees today, lol.

I thought you might like a little look at our sitting learning Christmas room this morning ...

(Honestly, I didn't choose the paint and fabrics specifically for Christmas - but I knew they'd look great at this time of year!)

Here's the tree we brought home last week ...

Our ornaments, as you can see, are very homespun and child/cat-friendly. Someday we might graduate to fancy breakable bulbs but materials like wood, felt and foam work best for all involved now.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but here's where we'll display our Christmas greetings this year:

I lined the windows with this pretty holiday ribbon (held  by a few pushpins), and all along it, I attached tiny wooden clothespins. The pins will hold the cards very nicely!

 

And in the corner of the room I organized our nativity set.

 

Only the wooden donkey is safe to be left out - Oliver is quite obsessed with the soft nativity dolls!

*

*

He kept raiding the manger Saturday night! First it was the angel, with her fluffy hair and sparkly star - she was hard to resist - then it was the shepherds with their wooden twig staffs.

He was relentless.

So the angel moved to the top of the tree ...

And the rest of the dolls were tucked safely in a basket.

We also had to make a few adjustments to the tree skirt ...

Namely, snipping off the "holly berry" beads and "pinecone" seeds. The cats thought those seemed pretty tasty. I do love our tree skirt, but I love my cats (and their digestion tracks) even more!

And here we have the nature shelf, with our Advent Tree on display:

(The God's Eye hanging from the tree is a craft we made a few years ago. It's hung in honor of two upcoming feasts: St. Juan Diego (12/9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (12/12). This week EB and I will explore Mexican Christmas customs.)

And above the doorway into the kitchen, we have a little reminder:

~**❤**~

It's good to remember how blessed we are! In the midst of all the "merry mayhem," it's good to find (make!) time to sit and remember our blessings ... to take comfort and joy in each one.

Sure, it can crazy out there, but we are in control of in here.

Hearts and Home.

:)

I wish you all a wonderful week! Thanks so much for stopping by, and please take care ...

I will see you all again very soon!

A New Year, a New Room!

Happy September, my friends!

And thank you very much for all the wonderfully kind comments about our "new" learning room! I'm so very happy with it, and I'm glad to think you all like it too. :)

So, as promised yesterday - in that post that kind of got away from me, lol - here is a little tour of the learning spaces in and around our "new" learning/sitting/keeping room.

Now I have always liked this corner - it's been my corner of the learning room for years now - but sitting at the table was never very comfortable. I really like having a (soft!) chair here where I can work on my laptop (as I am right this very minute!) or read or even write and plan, if I use a lapdesk. We left the "teacher" bookcase here because it provides great storage and fits this wall space really well. I tried to declutter the shelves a little as they had really become an eyesore - a catchall for extraneous books, magazines, papers, and random craft supplies, etc. 

  

And here's how it looks now!

  

What I have here is:

At the very top of the bookcase is a basket filled with my seasonal craft supplies - things I will need on crafting days, but don't really need out in the open. As much as I love the visuals, it can get messy pretty fast - and I can just see the kittens having their way with all that stuff! 

On the top shelf is my collection of Everyday Food, my favorite cooking magazine. The next shelf has a basket which holds my camera and the binoculars. (I make sure to keep those long, dangling straps well *out* of sight and tempation!) Then I have my beloved birch logs standing behind a sweet little cross reminding me of something I try to think about every single day. :)

Next I have a small birch bucket filled with unsharpened pencils, a couple of Sharpies, two pairs of very sharp scissors and, oddly enough, some twisty little silk flower vines. (They just look so lovely poking up through the golden pencils.) Next is the iTouch for listening to music or, more often, newsradio. And tucked in the corner are two pretty boxes holding personal stationary (bottom) and prayer slips (top).

Next shelf down holds a pretty jar (not yet filled with treats) and my books of the moment: Jamie at Home, The Gardener's Community Cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa's How Easy is That?, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and What to Cook & How to Cook It. Finally, there's a basket filled with our field guides.

On the floor next to the chair is my reading basket:

And just to my right is my "work" countertop - where I park my calendar and computer, etc. 

 

You may remember, a while back I showed you how the cabinet directly beneath this counter now houses my file crate - so far that's working out well - but, I also made better use of that old tea drawer:

All (or most) of my desk supplies are now stowed here: scissors, stapler, tape, stamps, mints, binder clips, paper clips, pushpins, rubber bands, hole punch, favorite pens, pencil sharpener, glue sticks, highlighter, post-it notes, mouse and mousepad (when not in use), camera stick, lip balm and hand lotion.

It gets really nice light and lets me feel in the middle of things and yet, kind of in my own little sanctuary at the same time. :)

Moving on, I used an old desk from the boys' room as a console table under the windows here:

I borrowed lamps from the front room and filled the drawers with a few of EB's things - i.e. his LeapFrog Explorer, a collapsible magnifying glass, a new stash of crayons, etc. On top of the table I placed a basket filled with our standard containers of pencils and child-friendly scissors. Also on display, some of Earlybird's magazines ... as well as two dear little owls that may or may not remain here. They belonged to my grandmother and they are ceramic - absolutely precious - and pretty much in the line of kitten fire. So far they (the kittens) have been good about them (the owls) but just to be safe, the "breakables" retire to a safe location roundabouts 7 p.m. every night - just about the time kitty "happy hour" kicks in. ;)

Speaking of kitties and happiness, here's EB playing with Archie earlier today:

Beneath the kitten window seat - which they love - is the old book-bag bench, redisgned to hold some of EB's educational materials. 

Maps and atlases in the corner, and then three baskets with placemats beneath each designating the subject within - science, social studies and math (L-R). I'm slowly filling these baskets in but so far we have things here like whale models, planet puzzles, birdsong gadgets, math picture books and "good manners" flash cards.

(The school bags - those monogrammed totes we've used for years to hold the curriculum texts, workbooks and notebooks - will be kept in another location. I'll blog more about those in a future post.)

(I must take a moment to point out that the kittens heartily approve of the new digs. This here is Archie, and he is especially fond of taking his afternoon nap here, preferably on somebody's lap.) 

In the corner which used to house the nature shelves, we now have the family computer desk:

Bookworm and Crackerjack use this computer - for personal stuff (fun, games, creative writing, etc.), but also for their math and French lessons. They also do supervised internet research for projects and reports.

On the wall above the monitor I wish to hang a classroom clock (yet to be found/purchased) and a couple of picture frames I already have. In the basket beside the desk (also something of my Gram's, made by my great uncle if I'm remembering correctly) we have our seasonal books, recently refreshed with all our favorite "autumn" titles. (I'll put up a sidebar booklist very soon.)

More of Gram's owls ...

(The little red dish in the background holds our supply of wadded up scrap paper - the very best kitten toys we have found.)

By the way, you might be wondering what we've done with our nature shelves, because as longtime readers will know - they have always been a very important part of our learning room. Well, I miss them, but we have taken them down for the time being. Mostly because the kittens would claim them as a self-service snack station, I'm sure. (All those "yummy" bits of dried flowers, crab claws, dead moths and snakeskin, etc. would be absolute fodder.)

So when we emptied out the room for renovation, Bill packed up all my nature project and reference books and stored them in an accessible location downstairs; I know where they are shoud I need them. The binoculars and field guides now reside on my "teacher" shelves shown above, and as for the "treasures" we inevitably will start collecting (such as the toppled sunflower head I picked up just this morning), well - I'm working on a way to display them in a cat-friendly way. Presently, there seems to be hardly any surface these fellas can't reach!

I may set up a small freestanding shelf somewhere "safe" (if there is such a thing) or we may use the kitchen windowsill since it's narrow and (so far) they've not ventured up there. Or I may do a collection/shadow box mounted on a wall such as this one ...

For years we had a bulletin board mounted here, but lately I haven't found much use for it. I'm thinking of hanging a set of framed (educational?) prints here - OR - I may start a wall photo collage project (something like this). I'd start with September and add pictures as we move through the seasons. I think it would be a fun way to showcase/remember/celebrate our year. :) I'm excited by the idea, but it's a project I need to think about some (and discuss with Bill) before diving in.

So now we're leaving the learning room, proper, and entering the familiy room just beyond. Since EB has a nice little "work" corner here I thought I'd include it in my learning space post.

This is Earlybird's computer - and before you ask, yes he does need his own computer separate from the main family computer. It was in everyone's best interest (and peace of mind) that we did things this way. ;)

To his right is the biggest bookcase we have in the house - and it will most likely never move; it's too huge to fit anywhere else!

Off to EB's immediate right I hung a round bulletin board just for him:

There will be more here next week once we "officially" begin lessons, but so far I have a few leaves from the backyard and a "good manners" card for contemplation.

Looking at the big bookcase a little more closely, here is our "Family Faith" shelf where we keep all kinds of things - reference and instruction books, storybooks, Veggie Tales movies and miscellaneous booklets. (I'll make some sidebar booklists for this shelf as well.) I also have our statue of the Blessed Mother here (it belonged to my father's parents) as well as our nature puppets and a lovely little St. Francis doll - our family's patron saint.

I am in love with these little saint dolls; you might remember I posted about them around Easter time?

We keep EB's book baskets here ...

From left to right we have science books, social studies books and just plain good reading books. 

He (and Archie) think it's a pretty neat set up!

Honestly, we do some of our best work all stretched out (dare I say, just like a cat?) on the floor ... ;)

So there you have it, my dear readers! I hope you enjoyed this tour of our "new" learning room! We're enjoying it very much - especially on this fine first day of September. As I finish up this post I have all the windows open and the overhead fan is spinning that fresh air all about. The boys are all out here - figuring out how to install "Angry Birds" on their computer, lol! I'm hearing the dishwasher running and a cicada whining somewhere off in the woods, and the kittens are enjoying the windows, too ...

It feels like a pretty good way to kick off our September ...

I hope your month is off to a good start, too! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and taking a peek at our "doings." Until next time please take care and take joy! I will be back here again just as soon as I can.

:)

Thoughts on the Learning Room ...

Or, Where Do We "Do School?"

As homeschoolers we're quite fond of the saying, "the whole world is our classroom," but it's still nice to have a designated space in our home for storing and displaying our "school stuff." In our house, the "learning room" is a small-to-medium-size area situated between the kitchen and family room. When we bought our house 11 years ago, it was a 3-season porch: there were seven storm windows, two doors (one to the deck and one to the kitchen) and no insulation whatsoever. (Hence the 3-season availability!) 

Within our first couple of years here, we (meaning, Bill) opened it all up - he began with the wall between the kitchen and porch, and then eventually the rear exterior wall came down too, as a family room addition went up. Bill also raised the ceiling, installed "real" windows and insulated the floor. (As you may have guessed, I married a very handy guy!) Eventually - once the family room was done - it became our dining room, but the many windows afforded the room lots of air and light, and its position right off the kitchen made it a great space for homeschooling. Over the years it became less of a dining room and more of a "classroom."

Well, our classroom (or learning room as we usually call it) recently underwent another makeover, and I've been blogging about it a bit recently. Basically, I felt we weren't making the most of this room - which is my favorite in all the house for its windows and "central" location. For one thing, the older boys use the kitchen island for seatwork, and Earlybird and I can (and do) work all over the house. And for another, the dining table only gets used as a dining table on occasion - we take most of our meals around the kitchen island. (That's actually something I'd like to change ... but more on that project later!) Ultimately I felt that the room would be more enjoyable with a bit more elbow room and some comfortable seating. I wanted to make it a place for curling up with my boys and/or a good book, or chatting with company, watching the birds, or just "hanging out" ... learning and living as the days go by.

So I talked with Bill about my ideas, and was very glad when he readily agreed! After some discussion (and a wee bit of debate), we came up with a plan, and once our schedule afforded us some free weekends, we dug in. :)

The first thing we did was to move the large table out to the front room which will now serve as formal dining room - and by formal I mean "official" not fancy. ;) Then we took out everything else! The bookcases, the benches, the bags, the crates - all the kids' "stuff" as well as my "office" paraphernalia. 

Then Bill got to work - while he primed the walls, I looked for a new paint color. (We had decided on moss green, and our eventual choice was called "dark sage.") While he repainted, I shopped for a couple of modest-sized seating pieces. It's not a big room so I didn't want anything too bulky - but I was looking for comfort! We ended up purchasing an upholstered chair and loveseat in coordinating red/cream patterns.

With the furniture ordered, Bill next installed the wood flooring. I've always been a "carpet" girl (it's what I grew up with and it feels nice underfoot - especially in winter!) but Bill has been itching (literally) to get rid of our carpeting and replace it all with more natural flooring. It's so much better for everyone's respiratory systems, but especially Bill's and Earlybird's who both suffer from environmental allergies. And since it's not a big room, it didn't take too much time to install, once Bill got the hang of the nail gun. And when he was done I was a convert! I had no idea I'd like wood flooring so much!

Finally it was time to move the furniture back in and arrange things to our liking. Or I guess I should say "my" liking ... this room belongs to everyone of course, but we all seem to be referring to it as "Mama's Room," lol. ;)

So, here's a picture of the room late yesterday afternoon ... but since I've taken up so much of your time with all of this "backstory," I will do another post tomorrow, giving you all a tour of our new learning room and all its nooks and crannies ...

And we'll need to talk about school supplies and schedules and curriculum choices, etc. There's much to do these days, with September pressing upon us! 

So I'll be back tomorrow with more on the learning room ... but for now, I will wish you all a pleasant day and offer my thanks for your time and attention.

See you all again soon!

:)

My File Crate's New Home :)

I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was very busy here, with our construction underway and the year-end reports due a.s.a.p. I got a good start on the reports - Bookworm's is all done and I have plenty of notes for the other two. By this weekend I hope to have all three reports done and the ed. plans for next year all set, too. I'll mail the whole package off to the school system in about a week's time - God willing!

Now, about that "construction," well, really we're just changing rooms - switching the dining room to the front room (which served as a living room) and changing the dining room (aka the learning room) into a sitting room. Bill is repainting the walls and re-doing the floors (lifting ages-old carpet and installing wood flooring). We've ordered some new furniture as well. :)

I'll keep you all up to date on the "remodel" but for now I'd like to show you the new home for my file crate. As most of you know, I like to keep the crate as accessible as possible; to my mind this is a big part of its success. In the design for the "new" sitting room, however, there isn't really a place for the crate to sit out in the open. I could keep it on the island, but it would sit too high, and it's really too bulky. I mulled over ideas for using a smaller (and more attractive) crate, but Bill came up with a great solution - a way of keeping the crate conveniently close and easy to access, but still out of the way. He reconfigured the under-island cabinet - the one that faces the sitting room, the one which sits under my "workspace" ...

... and fitted it with a handy roller basket for my crate!

This cabinet used to hold a whole bunch of hodgepodge - bread machine, electric tea kettle, ice cream maker, snow cone maker, cupcake carrier ... some holiday light strings, a garland of ivy, a few doilies in various sizes. In short, it was a real mess!

All those items have been moved to storage downstairs, and as you can see, it is now all cleared out. Bill had to remove a back shelf to make room before he installed the roller basket for the crate ...

Ta-da!

The crate fits perfectly inside the roller basket! To make it quite secure, Bill sawed off the stubby plastic feet and secured the crate with ties.

The drawer you see above the file crate cubby is my old tea stash drawer - it was fun to keep my tea boxes here, but I've decided I just don't drink enough of it to warrant a whole drawer devoted to it, lol! We're going to make it a school supply drawer instead - a place for rulers, pencils, tape, stapler, pens, etc. (Post on that coming soon.)

Because, see, as we morph the dining (learning) room into a "sitting room" I'm losing my devoted school room space. These days the older boys do their work up at the island and Earlybird really kind of does his all over the place - at the computer, at the table, at the counter, on the couch, outside, etc. With the boys getting older, and the prospect of getting new kittens sometime soon, I thought it was a good time to simplify. Less "stuff" sitting out, more (hopefully) clever storage. And because of all the windows and great light, I really wanted to make better use of the room - we'll be in a sitting room far more than we will a dining room - or "school" room for that matter.

And since I stand here at this side of the counter to do "my work," (I'm standing here at this very moment!) I think it should work well to have the file crate stored in this way. True, it's not at waist level, and true, it's hidden behind a cabinet door, but I think with a little practice it will come to feel familar.

More on all of these "changes" coming soon. I am still working on answering reader questions (re ~ the file crate and otherwise), but to be perfectly honest, every spare minute this week wil be spent completing the ed. plans/school reports. I'll be back again just as soon as I can, though ... in the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

See you again very soon!

:)