So, I had planned on spring cleaning this house. It’s getting pretty gross. Every time we have a baby in the house, it’s much harder to keep up with projects that need to be done, like cleaning out a closet, in addition to just keeping up with normal chores. Which was my original plan. I had planned on cleaning out and moving one downstairs closet to an upstairs closet. That turned into- completely moving around a couple of rooms. Brilliantly enough, I decided to do this while my youngest was having an allergic reaction to her shots or her antibiotics. (We are not sure which one.) Then to top it off, the poor girl has four teeth breaking through the skin at the same time. She is one year old and is just now getting some teeth!! She also has two more on the bottom close to breaking the surface. Poor girl has been miserable and cranky.
I originally wanted to move some homeschool boxes of previous years schoolwork from one closet into a different closet, as I wanted more room in the baby’s closet. That turned into emptying out an upstairs closet, which then got me thinking… I’m tired of having homeschool stuff ALL over my house. I have 2 kids schoolwork downstairs, homeschool resources in the baby’s room, two kids doing schoolwork upstairs and boxes of curriculum and papers stored in various rooms. I decided to go back to having ONE homeschool room upstairs.
This, at times, did NOT work for me. I liked having a schoolroom for everything (to keep it all contained), but doing homeschool upstairs was a pain, as I used to be in the room most of the day teaching with a baby or pregnant and extremely sick from the pregnancy. Having the room upstairs kept me from getting things like laundry done, or making lunch, or just a place for the baby to roam freely. I also didn’t like being confined so much to one room.
Our New Homeschool Room 2018
However, this year I tried everyone on an online curriculum and they are all doing well with it. So well, that I believe I can let them be more independent of me, and let them all share a room. I can spend time downstairs and still have control. I placed a camera on them so I can check and make sure they are not playing around. I can also check what they are viewing on their computer with my own computer as they are clicking on it, so I can make sure they are staying on task. (they also have the strictest filters on any internet they use. Sometimes it’s actually TOO strict. I have to basically enter in each website they are allowed to visit. And the filter on the internet won’t allow anything higher than a G rating.) They are VERY restricted on what they can view online.
The little guys also have their older siblings to help them out if needed. On occasion, they need help ripping out a paper from their workbook or logging into their workstation, and the older kids can help with that. Our kindergartener also needs someone to read with her and she has her siblings to help her with that if I’m not available. (and they like doing it… it gives them a break from their schoolwork… and I don’t mind if they are reading)
It took a week and a couple of VERY LONG days, to get all of this done. (We spent a lot of that time, rotating and giving the baby some extra hugs and kisses. She wanted to be held a lot so it took longer than I had hoped) But so far, the homeschool thing is working. It’s only Monday though… but hopefully, it will continue to go well. I didn’t plan on putting together a homeschool room this week, as our former set up was working well enough, I just got tired of the mess everywhere. It drives me crazy. Makes it hard for me to focus on anything when my house is a disaster. We still have a lot left to do as far as going through junk, but we are halfway there! At least until next year when I have to clean and organize and refigure our homeschool yet again. Every year is a little different for us on what works as we always have something new going on. We just have to figure things out and do what we have to do to make it all work. Even if that means moving the homeschool room again. (my husband said NO to this… by the way. He said he’s not moving it again.. and has told me that every year. 😀 ) It’s just the way it is for us.
Kid’s area/Boys
Girls area. (The Girl’s sewing machine on the left)
Mom’s area. This used to be my art room, but is now both homeschool and art room. The kids also have a balcony they are allowed to read outside on. Tv can also be connected to my ipad so I can use as an interactive board.
It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but it was ready enough to be used today for school. So far so good…
