This Is How We Do It

If I didn't get that song stuck in your head after reading this title, then you are not a child of the 90's!

I addressed the most common question we get as homeschooling parents here. The 3rd most common question we get is the "how" we homeschool on a daily basis. Yes, I know I missed #2 (and yes, I know you just questioned my ability to homeschool based on the fact I seem to struggle to count to 3, and it's okay) but that post is gonna be a long one and I don't have time for it at the moment so we'll move on to the easy "how." This is probably the one that is obvious to some and super hard to grasp for others. Maybe because some people think you cannot get a quality education outside of a room plastered with charts and primary colored everythings or maybe because they assume since we're home all day we must be sitting on the couch playing Super Mario. Truthfully, this looks different for every single homeschool family but here is our how and where.

When we first started homeschooling we created a beautiful school room in our basement (complete with posters and charts) but it just wasn't practical for us. Maybe when all of the kids are doing school work, we will try to go back to a designated space but right now I can't tell my one year old to sit tight while I go work with his older brothers in the class room for several hours. Ulimately, we will eventually build a sunroom off of our dining area so that we can have a designated space that is still in the hub of the home but for now the budget doesn't allow that. As a consolation prize, my husband built this in our living room. (Please pretend the temporary counter-top reaches the sides and that the drawers have drawer fronts.)

This is truly a multi-purpose piece of furniture for us. I'll name out some of our less obvious storage solutions:

1. I keep a variety of markers and colored pencils, etc in these bins. They're all separated in tubs by type so that if we need them at the table (or need to bring them somewhere) they're easy to handle and clean up.

2. This is one of Daniel's shelves. I love these Thirty-One file folders for workbook storage. They look good enough to stay on the shelf but can be transferred into a bag for on the go.

3. Isaac's shelf with his on file box for extra workbooks and his "spelling box" which has magnetic letters, playdough, stamp letters, etc to use when practicing spelling words.

4. Daniel's work space for his independent work (it works out beautifully that I have one right handed and one left handed kid.)

5. Isaac's drawer. The majority of his daily work is in a bin in this drawer. We take the bin to the table (or camping or wherever we are.)

6. Our big, ugly, black and white laser printer that we couldn't live without.

7. Daniel stacks his books like this once he's read them. It helps him visually to see how much he's accomplished.

8. History resources.

9. These are our file drawers (not homeschool.)

10. My favorite part of the "system" each of us has our own cubby for our Bibles, planners, binders, and other things we need on a daily/weekly basis.

11. Daniel's cubby. The box contains any readers or read alouds and independent readers that he is in the middle of.

This old dresser that I did an awful job refinishing serves as part 2 of our homeschool organization. This sits at our dinning table and prevoiusly served as a buffet and storage for extra dishes. Now it has specific drawers for different things. One drawer contains Isaac's math manipulatives, one has all our paint, two drawers have coloring books and various activity books and sketch pads. One drawer contains quiet items like play-dough specifically for Isaac and Luke to play with during read alouds. Daniel also has a drawer with approved activities for read alouds.

The majority of our work is always done at the kitchen table or couch but staying organized makes it easy for us to do school on the go. A couple of years ago I made the conscious decision to prioritize school work over housework. You'll often find my house a complete wreck (but I'm working on it!) but the school stuff stays pretty organized. For our family it's part of the key of getting it all done everyday.