A Home School Room

I have one.

We decided to homeschool a few months before we moved last year and I was really hoping our house would have an extra room where we could have all our homeschool stuff without junking up other rooms of my house. I scoured the inner nets looking for photos of this elusive room and am sad to tell you that I didn't find much. I envisioned my boys going in the room at 8:30 every morning and coming out at 12. This room was gonna be great. No maps on the wall in the living room in my house.


Well, that 8:30 thing didn't happen. But, I'm am so happy that this house has an extra room. It took me having this room to realize that we really didn't need it. Don't get me wrong, I love having a room to store all our books and copiers and papers and pencils and games and manipulatives and maps and paint and even toys. But, we really never did school in this room. It' so much more natural for us to start our morning with me reading to the boys and we either do that at the breakfast table or on the sofa or in front of the fire in the winter or on one of their beds or outside on the porch or at the park.


Then, we usually do math and they pick different places to do that but one usually sits on the sofa and another on the floor at the coffee table and another in the dining room or in the secret reading room. I don't really care where they do their work as long as they do it neatly and with a good attitude. Deciding on one place for them to do school is not a battle I care to fight. This has been so freeing to me. I was actually surprised to find that my boys can learn in places other than sitting at a desk. I think they might learn more when not sitting at a desk.


I love that just this week my oldest BEGGED his younger brother to let him {older} read to him {younger} out of his history book {not a text book} and they spent about 15 minutes upstairs on the bed with the door closed reading about Egypt. That was a win. No schoolroom needed.

So I would tell you that I'm glad that we have bookshelves . I would also tell you that I love having a copier/scanner/printer. But, I think it's most important to have cozy places to have school and I think that even helps set the tone for natural, life long learning. When they are sitting on the sofa doing something other than watching TV that is nice. When they want some privacy and go to their room to read, or draw that thrills me.

So, at our next house, my husband will be using one of the extra bedrooms for his office. Most of the stuff from the schoolroom will go in there. We'll do some work at the kitchen table. Which will be my big huge dining room table because it can fit in the kitchen and I am so glad about that runonfragmentsentance. We'll do some work at a cozy sofa that will be in what I think is supposed to be a dining room right off the kitchen. It will be more like a keeping room for us.

Look, there's the keeping room in the new house. I'll have a sofa, sideboard or cabinet {to keep the books that we are currently using} coffee table and computer desk in this room. That's the plan at least. You never really know until you start moving furniture.

here's the kitchen where I'll put our dining room table

I've said for years that our dining rooms have always felt like a wasted room. I don't like having rooms that we don't use everyday. I'm looking forward to seeing how using a big table in the kitchen works for us. I'm thinking it will be great for school, great for our family and I'm still not going to put a map in my living room.

So what do you think? Do you have a schoolroom? Do you have maps in your living room and love it? What works for you?

A Day in the Life

There is a new online homeschool magazine called Heart of the Matter that I've been looking at and they are hosting a day in the life of a homeschool family. You can do it too!

Me, I start out with too much of this.

And not enough of this.

Usually, an empty this.And, lots of this.

I'm loving that!
This is too good!
Sometimes we create.
And I love that we get to do this.
We appreciate things like this.
And play with this.
Add a dash of that.
And tons and tons of this (my personal favorite).
A little bit of this.
And a little bit of that.
But, I really want to win this! Because, as you can see, we like to do so many things during our day! You can sign up to win it too! Sorry, I don't know how to link to the actual contest. Scroll down to January 9th. The winner will be chosen next Wednesday. Good Luck!

out of the mouths of babes

We were cleaning up after our spaghetti and meatball dinner. He mumbled "Mommy, (actually 'maaie' to be exact) I have something to tell you."

"Okay," I said.

"I don't want Landis to hear," said he.

After his brother left the room he rubbed his rosy, spaghetti stained cheek up to mine and said in my ear "I love homeschool better than anything".

Completely out of the blue. It was just a normal day today. No field trip to the zoo or to Build a Bear. No prizes or special art project. I was even kind of grouchy today. If you are a fellow homeschooler then you understand the question that sometimes builds deep inside, "am I doing the right thing by keeping these children home?". That was so from God. I had no idea how much I needed to hear that.

When worlds collide

I received the newest Ballard catalog today.

About a year ago when I was in my design prime I got my biggest assignment to date. I was somehow entrusted with the redesign of a much loved local bakery that wanted to redefine it's look and have a friendlier feel of a desert cafe. I already had a great relationship with the owner, Robin, because I sold my items in the boutique area and staged it from time to time.

Robin (doesn't her name suit ME? wish my name was Robin it would go with my blog so nicely) and I had great fun choosing colors, flooring, lighting, wall treatments, backsplashes, fireplaces, window treatments, tables, chairs, and booths. Ahhh, the booths. Let's just say that took awhile. First of all, when it comes to telling my sister which table to get to go next to her bed, I'm completely bossy. "No, don't you dare get that, it's awful, you have to get this one", or something like that.

This was the first time it really mattered to a lot of people. Everyone I knew loved this shop. I was SO not qualified. But, for some reason, Robin believed in me. We decided to order two corner booths from Ballard. COM. Meaning Customer's Own Material. Meaning I had to, I mean got to choose fabrics for these booths. I was SCARED TO DEATH I mean, so excited! I had dreams about fabric and booths for weeks. I must have looked at 100's of fabrics. I did love doing the work itself-- I had to dress cute, and I knew all the fabric store ladies by name.

We narrowed it down and decided on a fun, reversible, robins egg blue and rich brown animal print. Actually, I have to admit, this was not my top suggestion but, Robin loved it the most. So, the next task was to get Ballard to approve it. That is, after I made sure that we could get 60 uncut yards from my favorite fabric store. First, multiple phone calls to Ballard, fabric content, pattern, railroaded or not... Then, they had to see samples to see if this fabric that my client was in love with would work. They were very nice but, extremely careful about what fabric they will use. I overnighted the fabric and the next day we got the call, yes, the fabric was approved!

It turned out great from what I hear. I instantly forgot how hard and unnerving it was to find this fabric and confidently tell my client it would work fine. Robin then asked me to help in the design of her new commercial bakery. Dream Job! In our city, this was big time! Everyone was familiar with this shop. I had arrived.



Then, my husband got a new job. That we needed like mad. In a new city.



We moved the day the booths were delivered. My life is completely different now.
Last year at this time I had a major client, friends who I would redesign for (some for money, others for meals or iced coffees) a house redo under my belt, and a roomful of merchandise that people really seemed to like.



Today, I am home. With my 3 sweet boys. One has a fever. I do not have to make any phone calls, drag them to any fabric stores, or worry if someone is gonna like what I think will look best. I am homeschooling and cooking dinner most every night. I was able to keep my three favorite clients, my mom, my sister and my sister in law. Also, for some reason, I still have my worst client, you know, the one who's never happy or done and super picky--myself. Our life is slower paced and I am so glad. I had all but forgotten the thrill and heartpounding, scary delight that surrounded me last year.
Until I saw the cover of Ballard. See that fun, robins egg blue and rich brown animal print on the chair on the right? Yep, that's our fabric. I took it as a big fat compliment. I'm sure that I had nothing to do with Ballard deciding to carry that fabric but, I might just let myself think that I did. Especially on a day like today when I need a shower, my walls are painted a drab beige and my window treatments are nailed directly to the walls.

lego my bible

The Brick Testament. If you haven't seen it you must go now, and I hope you have a few hours to spare because you'll want to hang around awhile. Check out the plagues, the frogs were really freaky. After reading about Noah's ark the boys and I couldn't help getting out our legos and trying to make something. They got bored after 30 minutes and went to play the wii. Good. That'll give me more space to finish the horrific flood scene that I'm trying to recreate. Wish me luck. Mom and Dad, if you don't hear from us for awhile don't worry, I'm probably looking for that last blue lego or selling all our belongings so I can bid on legos by the pound on ebay. I never knew the Old Testament could be this much fun.