Our School Room

Gena is having a contest in which we are supposed to share our school room. 

I LOVE my school room.  We use it a lot, and it is also a good "central command center", where we keep our books and supplies.  This room used to be a porch, screened on 2 sides.  My hubby converted it into a room for us.  Briana and Ashley like to work out there because it is usually a little quieter.  Since Ashley has graduated she doesn't use it quite as much, and Marissa and I are using Ashley's desk for her math and writing work. 

This wall has bookshelves that have things for the younger girls-some of their reading books, reference type books, puzzles, craft books, rock collection, and some drawing supplies.  On top of the shelves are binoculars, a prism, nature guides, "Bob" the skeleton, "Joe" the body organ man, and a nature collection-seashells, starfish, sea urchins, butterfly, empty cocoon, etc.  Above there is a banner of the solar system that Marissa and I made and an outline map of the world.  I love this map.  You can use a sharpie and outline and fill in the names of countries, etc. as you are studying them.  The blank wall space is being saved for a time line that we hope to do.  This wall also holds a butterfly poster, GeoSafari, globe, butterfly nets, and my file cabinet.

These are the 2 desks and the bookshelves that hold reference books for the older girls and adults, a few ed. videos, and some curriculum waiting to be used. 

The last wall is WINDOWS.  We love our windows.  They look out into the woods, and we watch a huge variety of  birds and squirrels out there.  James and Marissa have just found plans for a bird feeder that they are going to build and put just outside these windows.  You can also see this room holds the tread mill (which currently has a science project sitting on it, but it does get used) and the mini tramp.  On the left is a rack holding souvenir spoons that their great grandmother collected in her travels all over the world. 

So, that's it.  This is where our book time takes place.  The rest of it happens in the yard, the kitchen, the porch swing, the couch, and lots of other places. 

As for how we school, it is very eclectic.  We do book work and lots of hands on work and "life learning". 

Briana does most of her studying on her own.  She is in her junior year, and has finished up most of her required subjects.  She also just finished a correspondance course in interior decorating.  For English right now, she is doing combination of things.  She is working on a fiction piece, reading classics, and researching and writing essays on events in history that she isn't familiar with.  Next year she will continue French, study Economics, fiction writing for fun, and finish her last credit for science.  She also hopes to continue studying interior decorating.

Marissa is a visual and hands on learner.  We use ABeka math because it has lots of colorful pictures that she likes.  Right now the math section we're on incorporates maps of some countries and their capitals, and some fact about the country.  So, along with math, we stop along the way, find the country on the globe, find it on our outline map and fill it in, and learn it's capital.  She's really enjoying that. 

For science we mostly do experiments.  Right now we are working on an Alta Vista unit study on Earth and Space.  She also has a nature journal that she records in sometimes, and we do a lot of hands-on nature study-bugs, butterflies, plants, bird watching, etc.

For history, we snuggle on the couch and read the American Adventure Series.  For language study, we are finding our groove right now.  Workbooks are out.  She hates those.  We just started a new approach where she is writing her own story.  This is big for her.  For now it is our grammar, composition, spelling, and handwriting.  We play lots of games and learn with them as much as possible.  And, of course, we study Bible and learn scripture. All of my girls love to draw and create, so we have lots of masterpieces throughout the house.  We have a small craft room adjacent to the school room filled with fabric, paper, beads, scrapbooking supplies, sewing machine, yarns, and tons of other craft materials. 

Daniella hasn't officially started school, but she has a preschool workbook that she likes to work in.  Mostly we read, play games, look at nature, and have fun. 

That's a glimpse at how we "school" around here.  There is such a variety of things we do that I would have a book to list them all.  Mostly, we love each other, try to have fun learning about God's world, and enjoy spending our days together.