Our School Room

I've been organizing the school room all summer.   We went to Ikea a couple months back and picked up some shelves that fill an entire 8 foot long wall, top to bottom.  The shelves also have a desk option that we went with and it's PERFECT!

We can hang out in the school room most of the day and get lots done and it feels like fun! 

Our thrift store table and chairs works out well t. I turn my desk chair around often when we play games or if we are building something, etc.  

Now that the kids are older I can keep stuff like Play Doe out for them and they do a pretty good job of putting it away.  I do come across an open can or two sometimes with rock hard play doe inside.

Next to the futon are the books we read daily... we also keep the library books we have checked out there in a basket on the right.  We always have lots of those around and I find if I let the library books wonder too far, some can be hard to find when they are due.

In the middle section here, we have the printer and all things paper; lapbooks, crafts, etc.

This is my little area.  I keep my ciriculium and workbooks in this area.  Easy to grab.

Books and Curriculum

We will be using Konos this year for our main curriculum.  I'm really excited to get started!  I've been getting ready.  My favorite Konos information I've found is from Sprittibee.  She is SO organized and makes it seem possible to use Konos successfully. :) If you do a google search for Konos organization you'll find links to her blog.  We'll officially start school this year just after Labor Day. Actually, we really haven't stopped this summer we just do less and I try to make everything more fun.  B will start Kindergarten this year and J will be doing stuff along side us.  I love lapbooks and plan to do as many as we can of different subject.  Last year, Five in a Row was big for us.  We'll continue rowing some books this year as well.  I love Five in a Row.  The booksare awesome and we never mind reading them over and over.  Some, like Lentil, we've read well over 5 times.  I started off just rowing the books I could find at our local library but then ended up buying quite a few used at Amazon.com.  You can also buy lots of Five in a Row books on e-bay.  Most of the books are so good you'll want to have them in your home library.  

This summer we've been reading some good books.  B is almost 5 1/2 and is really close to reading on his own. I think he can read but lacks some confidence.  We've just discovered the Magic Tree House Series.  Here is a review from HomeschoolBuzz.com.  B and J have liked chapter books for a while now but these seem to really hold their attention.  They usually want me to read the whole book in one setting (this only takes 30 mins. or less).

A great book we checked out from the library, and love is The American Story which is  series of 100 short stories from American History.  They are short enough to hold everyone attention.  

Another book I love is Discovering Great Artists.  Each page has an artist and their story along with a project kids can do in the style of that artist.  We plan do get into some of these projects this year.  I might co-op some. It's always neat to do projects with other families.  Makes it more fun and exciting.

Playmobil Fun Park

Today we went to Playmobil Fun Park which is about 30 miles from the house.  This was the first time we've been. It's $1 to get in but then you are tempted by the store on the way out. I let the kids get one thing and they wanted take a long kits.  We met up with some friends there and stayed for more than 2 hours.  It was a perfect escape from the S. Florida sun and time to have fun with friends.