Extreme Homeschool Room Makeover

Darcy, at Life with my 3 Boybarians, is hosting a "Not Back-to-School Blog Hop", and I noticed that this week is sharing classrooms. So, I just had to participate! For those of you reading that don't homeschool, it's Not Back-to-School for a couple of reasons, some of us never stop schooling and also we don't go "back" anywhere really, because we live at school. :)

I've been waiting to post these pictures. I so LOVE our new classroom! I can't believe I didn't think of re-arranging the basement and doing this years ago. Of course, I didn't have my cool library shelves until this year. Our garage is attached upstairs to our ranch style house, so we have a huge basement. The classroom got put in the area formerly used for the playroom, but it was a bad area for either use. It always has to have a sort of "hallway" to the bathroom in the basement (which you can see in at least one picture). Now I've moved our family room to that area, which naturally has a space between the furniture and the television and kitchenette are.

So, here are a couple of BEFORE pictures of our classroom and new/used shelves:

I know you're wondering how we schooled in the colorful trash pit. Well, we didn't. We did school on the kitchen table and the dining room coffee table last year. I would come down to the "pit" and collect what we needed. What we used all the time, I kept in this cool basket with a flip top lid that I got on clearance at Wal-mart. The year before, the classroom was lovely and we really enjoyed our time there. Then, well, life happens and that is how the "classroom" ended up.

The shelves look much better in this picture than they did in real life, so we (the kids & I) painted them star-gazer blue. Wyatt and I painted the ceiling of our basement (which is not a real ceiling, but just floor joices and floor boards, since we had termites that were found in the second year we lived here). The kids & I also painted the floor mallard green. I finally have almost all my books in one location (well, since I had my own bedroom; before marriage)! I've always wanted a library, so this is our library/classroom.

Here are the AFTER pictures:

The welcome sign was made for the kids by their newest Aunt Connie, when we went to visit their Uncle Ed in D.C. for Thanksgiving 2008. She put the sign, along with their names on the door of the room they were sharing. The kids saved the sign, and we use it for our classroom now.

I got the vintage metal/wood desks at the Goodwill. I found the antique wood desks at a local antique mall.

This is my desk. Right next to Strawberry Shortcake Chalk Board. Best garage sale buy ever. My cousin is so jealous. The poster above my desk is autographed by Bryan Busby, a local weather forecaster. We got to see him at the library at a homeschool program a couple years ago.

Ah, my books. A collection of my lifetime. I love the look of a library. And the white ceiling is so bright and nice.

This is on the way out the door of our classroom. You can see the old fashioned school type pencil sharpener on the bookshelf to the right, just above the trash can. There is a close up picture of the supply shelf just a little below this. The lamp really is a working gumball machine. I haven't used it in years. I think I'll clean it up and put some candy in it for rewards. Next to the lamp is the former home of our caterpillar turned butterfly. The chrysalis still hangs on it's branch.

There hangs my Familyman Homeschool Cartoon Calendar. We have gotten, and will continue to get, lots of use out of the comb book binder that we have on loan from my parents. And there is that pencil sharpener again. I really do like having an old school pencil sharpener.

The supply shelf. I was hoping to have room for paper on here, too, but there is really not enough room, with all the other stuff. I did manage to fit on a roll of freezer paper for art and a small stack of writing paper.

Here are my cuties, playing school while I take pictures.

The other view of my scholars. Yes, they do raise their hands while we're having class. Although I don't make them.

Well, like I said, I LOVE our new classroom! I like to just sit in it, or look at it. The one thing I noticed today is that I need a clock somewhere that I can look at it from my desk, instead of hitting a button on my cell phone to check the time every little bit. Hope you enjoyed the virtual tour!

P.S.-There is still lots of work to do on our basement. I'll have to post again when the arts & crafts area, playroom, and family room are complete.

P.P.S.-This is not to say that we sit in desks for eight hours a day. The Academy of the Gospel is not limited to one room of our house, or even our whole house. Learning is a part of life, something we don't box in. I think the major point of having a Homeschool Classroom is to have a place to put all the Homeschool Stuff.