Our Homeschool Room Makeover

AFTER - the letters on the wall spell "create" not "reate", by the way.  Some of the scrapbooking decor is appropriate for homeschooling!

My old craft room has had a complete transformation in the last year. The true "before" pictures are in this post from March, 2011...which is about the last time I scrapbooked!

In November, when we began homeschooling, I carved out a corner of the room to dedicate to teaching Ryan. Then a few months ago, once I got the thumb's-up to keep Kaylin home next year, too, I reorganized everything and shoved all of my neglected scrapbooking supplies into the walk-in closet. 

It was around this time that I began putting a bug in Mike's ear that I'd like to replace our folding table with some real desk space for the kids.

BEFORE pic of the school room work tables - I can't believe we were productive with all of that clutter!!!

BEFORE pic of the kids' desks-turned-dumping-grounds

I saw this post and this post and I fell in love - I couldn't get the desks out of my head! The more I stared at pictures of these beautiful organized school rooms, the more I realized that there wasn't much leg room for the kids. So I looked around on IKEA's website and found these. (which I ultimately purchased)

When I reorganized and pushed my scrapbook supplies into the closet, I set up the room the way I would have it once we purchased the new desks, but I put our folding table in their place.

AFTER pic of wall contraption above our work desk/folding table

AFTER pic of the reading "corner" which is really in the middle of the wall. You can see Jason's black {Yoga} mat that we roll out to keep him contained in one place while he plays.

After several weeks of coordinating with my father in law and his truck, we finally went to IKEA this weekend to make our big purchases. We unloaded ALL of the boxes and began assembling.

The kids got sick of being shooed away, so we put them to work and they LOVED IT.

Jason even pulled out his wooden tool set and banged away with everyone.

With all hands on deck, we were done in under two hours...and still had our sense of humor.

The old desks-turned-clutter-catchers (that I never properly used for the kids) have been repurposed: the bigger one (this was our computer desk early in our marriage) is now being used for Ryan's typing lessons and to hold my mega paper cutter and the printer/scanner. (top pic below) The littler one is now in the hallway so the kids can have a place to go if the school room becomes too distracting.

You can tell I haven't updated the pictures in a while - Ryan was Jason's age in that pic on the top shelf and Kaylin's pictures are from when she was a baby!  I'll put that on the to-do list...

The bookshelf holds homeschool books, but the wire rack still keeps all of my scrapbooks, 12x12 paper and some other supplies. It's a bit of an eye sore in the room, but it's not going anywhere.

This is the shelf behind where I sit. It keeps certain items within reach while I'm teaching.

This is another lifesaver - my mom passed this on to me a few months ago and it's awesome!  I think she got it at Staples - it's a hanging, spinning file holder with pockets on the outside of each side of the cube, plus pen holders at each corner.

This is a closer view of Jason's toy cubbies and activities, which I finally got around to labeling last week.

And here is what is inside one of the hanging cabinets: extra office supplies,  card games and my laminating supplies. The wire basket on top holds all of the Play Doh accessories and the mega Legos are next to it.

The other cabinet holds most of the craft supplies. The wire basket on top contains all of the larger craft stuff.

Ryan is as excited about this transformation as I am. He loves things neat and organized! It was his idea to bust out the label maker and label the drawers for the kids. This is how I have them separated and it has REALLY helped to keep everyone on task this week:

Top shallow drawer - Ryan/Kaylin's choice. I've been encouraging them to keep assignments-in-progress in there so we can tidy the room at the end of each day.

Next shallow drawer - Supplies. Pencils, erasers, scissors...all their own so they don't fight and they won't have to get up from their spot.

Top deeper drawer - "With Mom". Every afternoon/night, I stack the worksheets, workbooks and notebooks that each kid will need for the work we do together in the mornings. Generally, this is Grammar and History, plus we just started learning about space and states/Geography.

Next deeper drawer  - "Independent work". These are items that they can do on their own with little help from me. If Ryan wants to get an early start on his day, this is the drawer he opens.

Bottom deeper drawer - "Not for today". This is where I keep their workbooks that might be used tomorrow or later in the week. Plus, this is where the kids put their books when they are done with their assignment for the day.

I love the idea of workboxes, but I don't want to restrict the kids to doing things in the order I choose.  I want them to have some independence and freedom, apart from the things we learn in a group. As long as they get their work done by the end of the week (short of Math and Spelling, which I make sure Ryan and Kaylin do daily) then I really don't care when they do everything.

What's in this room???
3 - IKEA Vika Alex drawer units (I decided to go with the drawers instead of the shelves)

2 - IKEA Vika Alex table tops with white legs (I opted for longer, skinnier tables than in the links above - we pushed them together to make a larger desk. These two tables are 78 3/4" long, 23 5/8" wide and 29 1/8" high)

3 - IKEA Snille chairs (decided against swivel to avoid potential distractions)
1 - IKEA Torkel swivel chair (for me)

2 - Target cubbie 3x3 shelving units with 9 - drawer inserts (both of these items go on sale every few weeks, so watch the ads - much cheaper than IKEA's wall unit, but the cubbies aren't tall enough for 3-ring binders, just an FYI)

All other shelves and items in the room are things I've collected since college and threw together when I created my craft/scrapbook room.