Am I Smarter Than a 4 Year Old?

I asked Daniel what he wanted for his birthday.
"Thomas," he said. No one was surprised, but, since he has two tubs FULL of Thomas trains and tracks and I really don't think there is a set in the city that he doesn't already own, I was kinda hoping for different ideas.
I tried again, "Daniel, what if there was no Thomas, what would you like for your birthday?"
"Percy."
Okay.
I tried harder, "Daniel, what if there were no trains at all, what would you like for your birthday?"
"I would want you to invent trains for my birthday!"

And then, later, over lunch, he informs me, "Mom, in the 1830s, steam trains were invented!"
"Yes?" I say, wondering... ???
"Thomas is a steam engine, Mom."
Is he just making this up???


I still have three months to talk him into something else...

Crew Review Peterson Directed Handwriting

My kids have never used a handwriting program. Every year since Kaytie started preK, I have looked at them and could just never bring myself to spend that much money to teach them how to write. I taught Kaytie and Nate how to write their letters and numbers with tracing sheets that I printed free of the Internet, and with bits and pieces of different programs that I found and cobbled together. The sad thing is, it shows. Neither are strong writers, both have horrible handwriting, and Kaytie has serious issues with writing her numbers backwards.
So needless to say, I was very excited when, as a member of the TOS Review Crew, I found out we (the kids and I) would be reviewing a handwriting program. I had never heard of it before, but I was eager to check out Peterson Directed Handwriting.
We were sent PDF By Hand E-Workbooks for Print Writing. (scroll to the middle of the page) We were sent steps One, Two and Three and a game for the kids to play. Because we were reviewing it during our vacation from school, we worked on the basic strokes from step two and on numbers from step one. 
We were not sent a Teacher's Guide, so it was a little confusing to figure out what we were supposed to be doing when, but then came, in my opinion, the strength of the program. The developer of this system, Rand Nelson, has set up a chat room where you can meet with him and ask him questions directly, either by appointment, or just catching him when he is there (he tries to be available during regular office hours). He is very patient and extremely helpful even with someone as easily confused as I am.
So this is what we did. I gathered the children around;  drew the number on our easel, using the proper "catch phrase" for the number and they copied by "air drawing" and repeating the catch phrase. We used various body parts to draw the number in the air and used various voices to repeat the catch phrase. Very simple, very easy and lots of fun. I did have one who was embarrassed at saying it aloud, but I put my foot down and he eventually recovered. The next day, I demonstrated correct pencil grip and paper position and they practiced writing on a dry erase board and by day three for simple numbers and day five for complicated ones they could all produce a legible number.




Here is Daniel's 9. Daniel is four and this is his very first time to write a nine.

This is what I liked about this program. 

•         The cost: $19.95 a step (each step equals a grade: Step One is Kindergarten; Step Two is First Grade; Step Three is Second Grade and from there you go to cursive) for the e-books, which is what we used. You can also opt to buy Teacher's Guides (for lesson plans) and other goodies such as special pencils and animated cards. Go here and browse around for your grade and kit options. 
•         It is multisensory. The kids are taught to use their eyes to see the letter/number, their mouths to say it, their ears to hear it, and their muscles to write it. I have several different learning styles in my "classroom" and I love programs that appeal to all of my kids in their own learning language. 
•         It is simple and fun. It was easy to turn this program into a game that all four of my kids enjoyed. It took us roughly five minutes a day, so I could always leave them wanting more. And yet they learned a lot in those five minutes. It was also no problem at all to do it as a group. I expected a bit more from the older kids than I did from the younger, but the instruction and the games we did all together.
•        The customer support was great. Again, Mr. Nelson is available for questions in his chat room. The website is packed with information and you can view (but not print) the e-books for free. (click here and scroll down a bit) I have been browsing this website for six weeks now, and I don't think I have found everything there is to find!
• It's practically non-consumable. Having e-books, I could print off as many copies as I liked of only the pages I wanted. I can also slip these pages into sheet protectors for extra practice without having to print more.

What I don't like about this program:

•        The website is very jam-packed and can be quite confusing. It took me a lot of hunting to find what I wanted at times, but I have tried to eliminate that problem for you by providing lots of links to click. :)
•        Without the Teacher's Manual, it was a little intimidating to introduce the program. I like scripts and jumping off points. If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I like to tweak. This program was so geared to working with your child right where he is that it was hard to find a place to begin. Buying the lesson plans would probably help with this issue, or you could just talk with Mr. Peterson, like I did and get some direction.

All in all, we enjoyed reviewing Peterson Directed Handwriting, we really like the program and it is what we will be using for handwriting this year, and in the years to come because I am planning on purchasing the cursive when Kaytie gets to that point. You can read what other Crew members thought here.

As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I was given this product for the purpose of this review. However, the opinions expressed in this review were true and honest and were totally my own (and my kids').

Not Back To School Blog Hop Day In The Life

Hello, Blog Hoppers!
We are not starting school until next week, so I'm just going to let you read about a day in the life post I posted last school year. Click here. We are very happy to have you here, though, so feel free to roam about and read about our homeschooling life.
If you are not here because of the Blog Hop, after you finish roaming about here, you should go check it out and join in!

Our Schoolroom... Where Life... I mean Learning Happens

So after the schoolroom edition of the NBTS Bloghop, I heard a lot of comments about moms feeling inadequate and envious because of all the clean and tidy and perfect pictures that they saw. I don't think that those particular moms were talking about my room, but I thought about all the time I spent arranging my room just so before I took any pictures, and I felt a little bad about that.

So today, I was planning science for next term and the kids ran outside. I turned around and saw...

this

so I took a picture to show you what our room looks like in "real life".

and another shot from under the table.

At least when they are doing this, they are not figuring out new and creative ways to pull the living room curtains off the wall!

Just a Reminder...

Do you remember how I went to a Homeschool Convention in my jammies? Well, now you can go, too! Another TOS Expo is happening Oct 4-8! Right now, the tickets are on sale for $19.99. This price includes your ticket to the event, MP3s of every speaker, and more than 20 e-gifts!

Click here for details and to order and here  for a glimpse of the speakers.

If you cannot make the Live event,  then the October Expo To Go is just your ticket! You'll reserve MP3s from all of the workshops. This week only, pay just $14.95!

The sale only lasts until August 22, and there is a limited number of tickets available, so if you are interested, hurry and get your ticket!

I will be given a free Expo To Go ticket in exchange for this post.

More Than Just a Planner

Do you homeschool? Do you run a household? Have a car? Ever use a calendar? Wonder what kind of cloud you are looking at when you cloud gaze? Have you ever forgotten an appointment? Lost the grocery list you made? Worried about high school transcripts or record keeping?
Then I have just the thing for you!

It has every form or list or planning sheet or tracking log you could ever possibly need. It is interactive (you can type right onto the forms before you print). It is reproducible (you can print each page as many times as you want). It is individual (you only print/use what you need). It is extensive (I can't think of a single form I have ever needed that I couldn't find here. We are talking gift lists, menu plans, car maintenance, lists for your babysitter, medical info and much, much more). It is enormous (over 500 pages). It is accessible (since it is on the computer or all in one big binder, the odds of you losing it are greatly reduced). It is educational (in addition to the customizable forms, it has 12 months worth of must-know lists and informative articles). And it can be yours for the low price of $39.00!
Click here for all of the details of exactly what you will find in this mind blowing planner, and order yours today!

I was given the 2010 Schoolhouse Planner for the purpose of sharing about this product. The opinions are my own and, I promise, are true and honest. However, this post is a contest entry for which I could win money or a Starbucks Gift Card. 

Not Our Official Pictures for Not Back to School Bloghop

I'm a little late for this week's Not Back to School bloghop because we haven't taken our "official" back to school pictures yet. We always take them the first day of school, and that wonderful day is still two weeks away for us.
But we did make it outside today with the camera. I have a fairly new camera and am still learning how to use it. I've been wanting to practice black-and-white with them for awhile now, and just have never gotten around to it. But today was finally the day. So here are our Not Back to School Bloghop Pictures...

Kaytie is starting 3rd grade. She is seven and a half going on thirty. Kaytie is artistic and creative. She is happiest when she is making something. She loves to draw, paint, make jewelry, fix hair, sew, cook, fold paper airplanes, and a jillion other things she hasn't discovered yet. Her favorite thing to do with her creations is to give them away. Everything she makes is for someone else. 

She also loves reading and she will read anything I will let her pick up. She is reading well above her grade level and has a list a mile long on library day. 

When she grows up, Kaytie wants to be a missionary. She is planning on using her drawing talent to tell stories to kids to help them learn about Jesus.

Nate is six and a half and is starting 2nd grade. Nate is a very busy guy. He is interested in everything, but obsessed about a handful of things. Currently, those things are bugs, dinosaurs, and inventions. He likes turning his K'nex into nifty time-saving creations and pores over science magazines trying to find something, anything, in the magic range of something he can afford that is age appropriate. He enjoys reading also, but he prefers non-fiction books about animals and science. 

When he grows up, he wants be an inventor. His other goal in life is to be older than his big sister. I'm just praying he makes it to adulthood without killing himself.

He has two pictures because the first one was my favorite, but I had to include one of his cast, too!

Daniel is four and a half. He is taking the plunge into Kindergarten this year. Daniel loves trains (particularly Thomas), digging, building, making lots of loud, strange noises, drawing, and snails. He is our quiet, peaceful child, the most loving and giving of the four, and the first to get his feelings hurt if someone is mean to him. He covers this with a gruff exterior and likes to growl and roar a lot. He is drawn to power. You can always count on Daniel to have a joke or a funny story. He loves to make us laugh.

When he grows up, he wants to be a train engineer and drive Thomas around.

Abbie is three and a half. She is in Preschool this year. She is ready for school to start. She wants to learn how to read. Abbie is our Princess. She loves pink and purple, girlie and sparkly, dancing and music, butterflies and babies. Oh, and roly-poly bugs. She does have two big brothers, after all. 

Abbie is either laughing and dancing, or the whole world is crashing in ruins around her. There is no middle ground. She is the shy one and very few people get to share in the sparkle of her rainbow personality.

When she grows up, she wants to be a mommy, or a nurse, or a doctor, or maybe a ballerina. It really just depends on what she is doing at the time.

Here is the entire student body of Spesamor Academy. Look out, world!

I am linking this post to The NOT Back to School Bloghop at Heart of the Matter and to Sweet Shot Tuesday at Life With My 3 Boybarians.

Try it. You'll like it. :)

Do you remember when I blogged about Download N Go Expedition Australia? Do you remember how much I loved it? Would you like to try a Download N Go for yourself? For FREE?
Well then, click here and hurry, because the download is only free until Aug. 27.

An Up Close and Personal Look at My Planner

There are a multitude of planners all over the Internet this time of year. I've been checking them all out with great interest, because, really, are homeschooling moms ever completely satisfied? No. We always seem to be worried that there just might be something exciting, labor-saving, innovative, or guaranteed to turn our kids into geniuses overnight. So, even though we are happy, we still look, right?
Everyone has such pretty planners that they have purchased or have made themselves and I can honestly see why they are excited about them. But they all have one "failing" (for lack of a better word) that always turns me back, satisfied, to my own system.
My computer is my "brain". I use it to create school stuff, to keep track of menus, holiday plans, and ideas that I don't want to forget. I also use it for the Internet, of course, but my computer is almost always "on" and it is situated in the schoolroom. Therefore, I have no need to print off my lesson plans.
I type up my plans in a Microsoft Word document, including links right there in the plan, and, as we do them, I just highlight and turn them to gray instead of black. This keeps me from: losing plans; wasting paper and ink; having to bind them or put them into a binder. I also never worry about plans changing. If we don't get to something, it takes me only a few seconds to move it to the next week or even (shhhh! don't tell) deleting it altogether. If I find a new idea, a few quick keystrokes adds it in the right place. If we get a few weeks into the term and I want to change, drop, or add to the way I had things arranged, it only takes a little bit of my time. I don't have to re-print, cross out or struggle with White Out.
However, if for any reason I want to print it out, that option is always available to me. I have printed a week at a time for various reasons before. (I keep each week on its own page) And, I can fit everything on one sheet of paper because the computer can type MUCH smaller than I can write.
It's not beautiful or colorful, although I guess I could make it that way if I wanted to take the time. But it is rather easy and very efficient.

 This is what our second week looks like. I create a table for each "grade". The big kids actually do everything together and the little kids are going to as well, so they each have their own section, then I created a third table for the subjects we will do together. I highlight in a different color anything I want to catch my eye as I look over the week. The underlined words will take me straight from the plans directly to the Internet site when I click. And I use abbreviations and as few words as possible to keep it all on one sheet. (You'll notice nothing says Math U See lesson number... that is because it is covered by "journals" and I don't plan those ahead of time, just that we will be doing a journal that day.)

Week 2 (2nd and 3rd)	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Math	Journals Roman Numerals Addition tic tac toe	Journals Penguin place value (1000) Stepping Stones	Journals Graphing worksheet Addition board game	Journals Money worksheet Name geo. solids	Lens math Logic sheet
Grammar	FLL 104	Journals	FLL 105	Journals	FLL 106
Writing	Journal	Dry erase board	Journal	Dry erase board	Geo copywork Write on Blog
Spelling	--------------	Step 14	-------------	Step 15	-----------------
Reading	Read aloud K N	Read aloud K N	Read aloud K N	Read aloud K N	Read aloud K N
History Cpt. 8	Read pgs 51-53 Narrate	__________	Read pgs 53-58 narrate Color page  Map work	Write your own fairy tale!	---------------
Geography Vermont & New Hamp.	Color state in US map Read books Online puzzle	Color state in region map Read books	Trace, color, label state map Read books	Color bird and flower Color flag Read books	Write a sentence
Bible	John 10:27-28	John 10:27-28	John 10:27-28 BGAA	John 10:27-28	John 10:27-28 BGAA
Latin	Page 10	Page 11	Page 12	Page 13	----------------
Art	Look closely at picture/ narrate	----------------	Look closely at pic/ narrate w/out looking	----------------	Reproduce picture

Week 2 kinder	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Math	Sort penny/not penny Elephant color by number	Pooh number cards Roll a die stamp # of dots on elephant	Intro to clocks Feed the elephants Addition mat	Skittles math: group, sort, count, add & subtract Elephant puzzles	Worksheet fun! Draw shapes Glue “stuff” on number 2
Phonics E elephants	INTRO to Letter E e E exercise card Alphabet puzzle Paint an elephant	REVIEW letter Play with letter bag “I Spy” something that begins with “e” Add “e” to alphabet book	Alphabet stamp “E” Phonics Path Starfall	Ee color page  Fishing for “e”s Find the “e” in the bag E booklet for scrapbook	Match letters to initial sound pics and objects Find the E e sheet Pin punch “e”
SS	Discuss Emotions	-----------------	Emotions Memory	-----------------	Graph things that make me happy/sad
Bible	BGAA	Flannelgraph story	BGAA	Flannelgraph	___________
Bible Memory	Even a child is known by his deeds. Proverbs 20:11	Even a child is known by his deeds. Proverbs 20:11	Even a child is known by his deeds. Proverbs 20:11	Even a child is known by his deeds. Proverbs 20:11	Even a child is known by his deeds. Proverbs 20:11
Books	My E Sound Book Ella Takes the Cake	Horton Hatches the Egg Elephants on Board	Elephants of Africa Jumbo's Lullaby Emma and Kate	Emily and Albert An Elephant Grows Up  Goodnight, Harry	Edna Elephant What is an Elephant?

2 Together	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Science	Read pgs 6-8a Do TRY THIS (put pics in book?) Put salt in water… let evaporate see what happens… booklet for this!	-------------------------	Read pgs 8-10a Ocean Currents experiment: add lab sheet to notebook Watch Tides Look and Read Tides and Tides	Read pgs10-11 What lives in a tide pool? Label seas on Ocean Map	Make a river, dam and lake in a tub of dirt? Work on vocab. list
Handwriting	Intro large letter, practice air writing	“e” playdough mat Air write in funny ways with diff. body parts	Do a dot “e” Finger trace the letter	“Write” letter in sand Write large on dry erase	Free coloring Quick review of 3 steps, write on paper
Health	Read about germs	----------------	Why we don't pick our noses.	----------------	----------------

As I work through the plans, I highlight in different colors things I need to copy or print or haven't even been made yet. Then, as I print/copy/create, I turn them back to black. So I can see at a glance if I am prepared for the week or not. After we have actually accomplished something, I turn it to gray so it is still there if I need to remember it, but I can see at a glance (again) what has been done and what we need to do. This gives me a ton of weekly flexibility. So if, for whatever reason, we don't do "afternoon school" or even skip a whole day, I can easily pick and choose which items to do whenever we have a free moment the rest of the week. Once the week is over, I turn every undone item to purple so that I can keep track of what we aren't getting to so that if there is a pattern, I can either fix the problem or dump things that aren't working. This also reminds me that it's there so if I want to catch it the next week I can remember that it is there. I could also move it, easily, to the next week, but I rarely do this because it would mess with my head a bit.
One other thing I would like to mention is my "Book of Lists" document. This is another Microsoft Word document that I title Book of Lists and add Kaytie's. So this year's would be 3rd Grade book of Lists. In this document I dump everything for the year that I can't immediately fit into the tables above. My planning tables only consist of 13 weeks at a time. So anything I find for the other two terms of the year that we might possibly need (ideas, links, lists, pictures, etc) I copy and paste into my Book of Lists. I roughly categorize them "Science" "Ocean Ideas" "Geography" etc, so that I can drop the current find into an easily findable spot later. Then, when I am ready to plan those terms, I can browse that document and plug anything I have already found into the current plans. The beauty of this is, it's all in one place, but each category is easily expandable if needed.
I have a folder on my desktop called Plans and these documents (and anything else that I create that pertains to the year) are inside, along with another folder labeled Completed. When we finish a term/year, I take everything that pertains to that term/year and drop it into the Completed folder. It's out of the way, but if I need to reference it, I know right where to go!
So, that's my planner and although I can't exactly offer you a printable, I can honestly say it works for me and I hope I have given you some inexpensive cheap free ideas of your own! Happy Planning!!!

Sunshine Award...

One of my favorite bloggers gave me this award... ummm... awhile back. I love getting awards! I thanked her, but I've been putting off blogging about it because it has taken me forever to narrow down my choices of who to pass it on to. I read a lot of blogs and obviously, I read them because I like them, choosing only 12 favorites was hard to do!
But I do love sharing some of my favoritest blogs with others so... here you go: the winners of The Sunshine Award --- 12 blogs who make me smile.
Peaceful Day is not only a blog that makes me smile, but a blogger that makes me smile. She is one of the blog-writers that has become a real friend. I love to read her blog because she writes about books, her beautiful daughter, and lots of lovely, peaceful things. Right now, her family needs prayer for the recent loss of her Dad.
Books and Bairns is a new blog for me. She is my TOS Mini-Crew Leader. But I have enjoyed perusing her blog because she writes with such love about her family.
Forever For Always another fairly new-to-me blog that just radiates with love for her family. She has a houseful of cute kids, and adopted them all! I never leave this blog with anything less than a smile.
Fun In The Sun is another real friend blogger. She has four boys and writes about homeschooling, cats, books and trips to Disneyland.
In The Heart of my Home was one the first blogs I "found" and I have so enjoyed reading her wisdom and inspiring tales of her family.
Minnesota Mom doesn't make me smile, she makes me laugh outright.
SprittiBee has tons and tons of lists. I love lists. :) Plus, she has a cute baby and a great sense of humor.
Olive Plants is another site with tons of homeschooling inspiration! Her boys are cute and her ideas are abundant and creative.
The Family Revised always has something worth reading. I also get most of my curriculum ideas from her.
Pumpkin Patch is a favorite because I get lots and lots of cool math ideas from her.
One More Equals Four is another real friend blogger. She doesn't post much anymore, but I have always laughed at her funny comments!
My Two Happy Homeschoolers is a great place to get good ideas for preschool and early elementary kids.
Shady Bayou Academy has two adorable boys who love animals, science, and art and share that love on the blog. I like to steal ideas from here! Plus, she is one of the sweetest bloggers I know!!!
So there you have my 12 "Sunshine" blogs! Go check them out, you will be glad you did.

Our Learning Room 2010

This week, the Not Back to School Bloghop is doing my very favorite topic of all homeschooling topics... Schoolrooms!!! I love to look into other people's schoolrooms, to drool, to get ideas, and just to enjoy. :)

I posted pictures of ours on last year's bloghop, but this summer, my husband helped me organize, enlarge, and re-vamp the room. AND he made us a couple of pieces of furniture that will make our school days not only easier, but more fun.

So without further ado, here are the pictures of our room.

Our schoolroom is one half of the back room in our house (the playroom takes up the other half), we divided it with cabinets and a table and left enough room in between to walk through, so as you enter the schoolroom, you start with our library basket. All library books belong in here. As you can see, it often overflows. Above the basket, where, in theory, they will see it often, is a poster with our family rules. The smudge you see (and will see elsewhere in the room) is a shell sticker, only it was apparently too small to photograph well. We are doing an entire year of oceans for science, so I decorated accordingly.

These cabinets hold all of their "free choice" items. When their required work has been finished, they can choose anything from here to use in whatever (respectful) way they want. 

Here are a couple of up close looks at the top,

(weighed bears and a balance scale; geometric solids; a collection of play and real money; pattern blocks and a cardstock version of Montessori Large Number Cards)

(a cupful of beans for math games; All About Spelling cards; Jenga, which we use as Khiva blocks; Joey Joey; Russian dolls that we made last year; and a tray full of puzzles)

 and the inside.

(Math U See blocks; a bag of tanagrams; rulers; animal counters; a wipe-off clock; Alphabet Bingo; a sound sort; Cuisinaire rods and book to go with; shape blocks; all of our lacing beads and cards; a shoe-tying shoe; and sewing basket)

(geo boards; Bendaroos; insects and cards; sign language book with flashcards; a "make 10" puzzle that I made; math cubes; a peg board with pegs; a dressing bear; tic tac toe game; insect life-cycle wheel; and a big collection of magnets and magnetic stuff)

Here we have a couple of pocket charts, our dry-erase, magnetic easel, a bin of clipboards and dry erase boards, and in the crate, 

reference books such as a children's dictionary, an atlas, "extra" Bible story books, and all of our insect/flower/bird guides. Under the easel are two baskets of magnetic pieces and all of our Leapfrog Toys.

On the end is a roll of butcher paper that comes in handy occasionally.

Next, we have this cabinet...

Which holds all of our storage. The top shelf is Geography. The next shelf is Science. Then comes Language Arts, and a big shelf of Miscellaneous, and Math on the bottom.

This guy lives on top of the cabinet. He is a puzzle that was given to us, but is too difficult for the kids to put together, so Steve put it together and set it up here for us all to enjoy. It gives a museum-y feeling to the room. :)

Here is the side of the cabinet, where I have a weather chart that we use sometimes and some more ocean pictures.

The line across the window is for hanging the kids' artwork to dry or to display.

And below it we have our flannelgraph board and our Circle Time board. The three buckets are for working on place value.

In the tubs under the shelf I have art supplies (felt, yarn, googly eyes, etc) that we only use occasionally, and seasonal manipulatives and supplies. On top of the tubs are All About Spelling letter cards and some number cards that we use for sequencing numbers and building 100 charts. Beside the tubs are playdough toys and a basket of aprons for messy art work.

Next we have the kids' art drawers. This is where we keep everything they are allowed to use without supervision. On top are our CDs, a devotional Bible and a dustpan and bucket full of pompoms to sweep.

(stencils, cute paper, glue sticks, pens, pencils, colored pencils, markers, and scissors)

(coloring books and kits, stamps, inkpads, crayons and our new crayon cookies that we made yesterday)

In the bottom drawer are notebooks, pads of paper, stickers, paper scraps and work in progress, but it is VERY messy, so I did not snap a picture. :}

Next, we have the built-in bookshelf. On top is our inflatable globe (if it looks saggy that is because someone took a bite out of Hawaii and it no longer holds air as well as it should), a stack of Spanish teacher guides that were way too heavy for the regular shelf, boxes of embroidery thread and two boxes of storage for out-of-season stamps and punches and funky scissors.

The next shelf holds all my books, notebooks, and binders. The blue bins hold paints, bingo markers, clay, glue bottles and other art supplies that the kids use but only with permission; binoculars; bubbles; and paintbrushes. In the last bin on top are all of our Alphabet Bags.

The blue hardware drawers hold all of my teeny supplies for filling boxes. I have dice, beads, game pieces, craft sticks, safety pins, small wooden cubes, wipe off crayons, chalk, and all sorts of similar stuff. Beside that are their pencil boxes which will contain a pencil, big eraser, and a box of 24 crayons. Next is our Memory Verse cards. The drawers on the end hold small containers to use in workboxes and free choice offerings, our calendar pieces, chore cards and our timeline pieces.

The bottom three shelves hold all the workboxes. The top row will be for the two little kids and the bottom rows will belong to the two big kids.

Then we have the kids' computer station. Their daddy built them that little desk, which is the perfect size for their laptop. They can pull a chair up when it is their turn for computer time and the trashcan fits neatly underneath. 

We are studying U.S. geography this year, so the map will be handy for that. And if you can see the blue line on the wall, that is going to be our History timeline. I am still making the pieces for it, though.

Right beside their computer is my computer, with printer on top. The trays will hold work-in-progress for me and work they have finished that needs to be filed away in their binders. In the various cubbies in the desk are paper, pens, things I need to keep track of, scratch pads, etc. Underneath is all of our various types of printer paper and a bin full of such things as a stapler, a paper trimmer, a hole punch, a pencil sharpener and my label maker.

Next to the desk is my worktable. It holds my big binder, anything I am in the process of working on (it currently holds the books I am plugging into our plans, some items that need to be sorted into the Alphabet Bags and a jar that the kids are convinced holds insect eggs...)

On the "bulletin board" is my daily chore list and more ocean pictures.

Under the table is storage for flannelgraph pieces and library books. Kaytie's sewing bag and our art bag are also under here.

On the end of the table hangs another pocket chart. We use this one for putting our "chore cards" in every morning so the kids can remember what they have not yet done...

And finally, the other thing that Daddy built for us... a table big enough for everyone!!! The kids love working on it. I think it's cute, and it feels like everyone has more space. He is thinking about building them some chairs to go along with it... out of wood so they will have a harder time destroying them... maybe.

That is our schoolroom. I hope you enjoyed the tour, and be sure to check out all the other awesome schoolrooms on the bloghop!