Future Learning Room

With me no longer working afternoons, I have plenty of time on my hands. That's not always a good thing when your husband is halfway around the world in unknown waters doing things that he can't discuss. So...I've been trying to stay busy planning the decor, organization and DIY projects for our new house we will be moving into this Summer.

Can you blame me?!

I showed you all a few ideas that I have for Alyssa & Allison bedroom and now I am working on our learning room. I went back and forth with this debating whether or not I should make our 4th bedroom a learning room or toy/guest room.

My first reaction was LEARNING ROOM!! I hate the fact that my dining room always falls victim to such chaos. Johnathon and I are pretty firm with the whole 'eating dinner at the table as a family' (when he's home and we don't live in a sardine can sized apartment!) and I can't stand the

countless colorful pictures and broken crayons everywhere as I am trying to eat.

BUT, I also can't stand the constant picking up of toys and childish clutter that quickly accumulates when you have three small children. The mess this last week alone has been enough to make me want to pull my hair out. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of being able to shut the door and company not being able to see the mess that often takes over my living room.

I finally decided that as awesome as having a full 100% learning room would be, my sanity is more important to me. :)

The tricky part, for me anyway, is how I now try to keep my dining room a true dining room without sacrificing my children's enjoyment of school. Are you understanding any of this?

#1 Goal:

Create a CLASSY homeschool room that can quickly be converted into a dining room on a moments notice.

*all ideas and pictures are from pinterest and you can find the links to all websites by going there.*

This is calendar #1. My plan is to create a ledge on the wall where I can prop up this cork board (other side will be a white board) and I will then frame out the area. It will be as easy as taking the board down when guests are there and I can then hang some sort of art in the framed area and viola! The calendar will be a huge focal point when I need it to be and gone when I need it to be...plus no holes in the wall to hang it.

Calendar #2...I love how this mom used rings to keep all of the options together. No using rubber bands to keep them together and finding a place to store them.

I fell in love with this way to organize my construction paper. The bulk of my homeschool storage will be upstairs and this is a perfect way to get it off of a shelf and easy to get to.

I am just tickled with this find. It's not really a find as much as it is an inspiration. The girls do a lot of worksheets each day and I can't get over the fact that I never thought to combine all of their worksheets and put them on their own individual clip boards. This way they can take the worksheets anywhere throughout the house and do them at their own pace. It helps me out a lot actually. With two girls doing the exact same worksheets, this will hopefully prevent them from cheating.

This sign just says it all.

Plus I can hang it in my dining room without it looking like a preschool.

The one thing that I am most excited about trying out are these seat sacks.  I plan on using a fabric that matches my dining room curtains and attaching one to each of the girls' seats, including Madelynn's. Of course hers will probably just hold coloring pages and a small box of crayons, this is a great place to store Alyssa and Allison's worksheet clip boards and other books that we are reading. I have even thought about making one for myself and storing my teacher manuals in there. This will get the books off of the table without making it necessary for a bookshelf in the room.

So there you have it, my plans for our future learning room. I am pretty excited to move and get started on all of my pinterest finds. It just seems pointless to start any of them now, it would just be more things to pack and unpack.

We should be hearing something about new orders by the end of next week. I am a nervous wreck! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as this is a big deal for our young family.

Even though communication is very little right now, Johnathon sends his love to everyone and says that he is safe. Regardless of what he says, as his wife, I still worry about him constantly. We are 2 1/2 months into this deployment already.

Can you believe it is February?! 

Our Learning Room

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile now, but it seems like the perfect time. Alyssa and Allison do not start their formal preschool curriculum until next Fall, but we are doing our best to get everything prepared.

Right now 'school' is just sitting around our kitchen table singing our alphabet, doing crafts and attempting to do simple worksheets. We usually have some fun music playing in the background and end our day playing with some play-doh.

I'm doing my best to get everything in order and organized. It's a lot of thought and work, but nothing I can't handle and don't enjoy!!

Some of the artwork in the next picture is old, but will soon be replaced with the numerous pages we have filled just since being home.

It's hard to sit back and watch all of these mothers around me start on this homeschooling journey when we still must wait another year. I am eager and ready to begin this new chapter in our lives. It excites me and I am carefully counting down the days until we, too, can start our curriculum.

I started working on our classroom 'Treasure Chest' today. Cutting tattoos and stickers that will accompany candy and small prizes that the girls will be able to pick from when they do well with their school work or even when they help me out around the house. I love how home and school will be tied together as one. Cooking, homemaking, learning...it's all hand in hand!

I hope you all enjoyed your picture tour of my dining room, er, I mean learning room!! :)