Home School Room Tour

Are you ready for a tour of homes? A tour of homeschool rooms to be exact!

Let’s get going…

Joelle at Homeschooling for His Glory shares how she using her dining room as a school room in addition to sharing how she organizes supplies.

Robin at Timbo’s Beautiful takes us on a tour of her redesigned school room and shares how to make some cute wall art and decor ideas without spending a fortune.

Molly at Counter Cultural School gives practical ideas with plenty of photos on how to convert basement space into a schoolroom. She also shares tips on creating a reading room.

Thank you to these wonderful bloggers for opening up their homes and passing along marvelous ideas for creating a learning environment at home.

If you have school room ideas and photos you would like to share, put your link in the comment box and we’ll be by to visit!

Building a Legacy of Love with Books

I love to read, and I want to instill a desire to read in my children from an early age. There are few things I enjoy more than snuggling up on the couch together reading a wonderful book!

But it wasn’t always this way. I used to dread reading to my children. Of course, I still loved the snuggling part, but the books were so boring, so inane, so unworthy of the moment. When I had my first child I had one basic criteria when purchasing children’s books: price. All our books were bought at garage sales–the cheaper the better.

In this haphazard fashion, we amassed a library of what Charlotte Mason, 18th century educator, called “twaddle.” You know what I’m talking about. It’s those books that make you groan inwardly when your child pulls them off the shelf. I used to try and turn two pages at once when the kids weren’t looking, just to get to the end faster.

It was very hard for me to take the plunge and rid our shelves of twaddle, but it was so worth it. I boxed up all those television spin-off books, the boring books, and the books with recycled storylines, and ugly artwork. As I took each book off the shelf, I gave it a little test: if my heart sunk within me just thinking about reading it, it was gone!

While I was at it, I got rid of books that were irreparably torn or that had been colored in. Often those garage sale books were cheap for a reason. Reading ill-cared-for books gave my children the wrong impression about books. It is important to me that they learn to cherish books and to care for them. Finding just one torn or colored-in book on a shelf can cause a preschooler to think of coloring in many more.

With nearly empty shelves, I began a quest to fill our home with only the best. Books like Honey for a Child’s Heart and Five in a Row gave me a good start choosing better books for our home. In the beginning, we relied heavily on our library to fill the void on our shelves. I still continued to buy my books cheaply…at used book stores and curriculum fairs, online or on clearance, and even at the occasional garage sale.

The difference was that now I was armed with a list of what to look for. I had a list of great authors in mind, knowing that anything by Majorie Flack or Robert McCloskey would be worth getting at the right price. I also had a list of particular books that I wanted to find…books we had borrowed from the library and loved or books which multiple resources touted as must-haves.

My husband used to tease me with an old Pokemon slogan, “Gotta catch’em all! Gotta catch’em all!” because I  was so–dare I say it?–obsessed with finding every book on my list and for an amazing price to boot!

Now, 13 years later, my shelves are bursting with wonderful books. I still have to cull them occasionally, the result of unwanted gifts or titles which didn’t turn out as good as promised. If I feel that old sinking sensation, I know the book is probably destined for Goodwill.

Clearing the shelves of all the unworthy books has made so much more time for the best ones. Reading is always a pleasure now, no matter which books my children choose.

Next week I’ll share some of my favorite books for preschoolers along with a new podcast for parents of children with dyslexia.  In the meantime, what are your family’s favorite books?

Blog Carnvial: School Room Tour Update

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by Friday, July 30th. Yes, we’re extending the deadline to give everyone a few more days. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on Thursday, August 5th.

School Room Carnival

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog  post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by tonight. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on July 28th.

Organizing School Supplies

When our oldest was born, I would fold clothes slowly as he slept.

Slowly because I was watching intently to make sure he was breathing.

As you can imagine, not much got done during those days. Between watching him sleep, working full time and folding those clothes, it seemed like there was no time for anything–especially an organized home.

Fast forward sixteen years, three more children, add on homeschooling, music, sports, and writing for Mentoring Moments and Oasis. I laugh when I recall those early first child days–I was clueless to what the phrase I have no time really meant.

Back then I thought of myself as an organized person, maybe because I could stand in the container aisle of Wal-Mart and think up innovative ways to store things. Always on the lookout for ways to save space, you could have called me the Queen of Rubbermaid.

These days, organization is not a pastime, it is a necessity. The saying is true–the more children you have the more organized you have to become.

In a matter of weeks our kiddos will be going back to school. That means school supplies can easily get misplaced and find themselves spread out all over the home. My command central is our supply closet…

Supply Closet

Finding a way to organize all of our school supplies and books proved easier than I thought when I found these plastic drawers at Wal-Mart. Drawers are purchased individually, so one can stack as many as needed. I was able to fit five large drawers for craft supplies, office supplies, art paper, notebook / loose leaf paper, and a pencil/pen/glue/crayon/marker drawer. Two smaller plastic drawers hold computer software /audio CDs and math manipulatives.

If you are a grandmother,  these drawers make a great spot for crayons, paper, Play-Dough, Barbie dolls, doll clothes, race cars, Legos, and more. The drawers do slide out, so they can be transported elsewhere in the home and put back when finished.

Stores are ramping up their school supply aisles right now and preparing for back-to-school sales. Save money by purchasing enough to last the entire year and store them in your supply closet. To get the best deals, purchase only the necessities for the first week or so of school, then stock up later in August when stores will offer deeper discounts. I normally purchase upwards of 12 packs of both college-ruled and wide-ruled paper, for example, which means I shop only once for paper a year.  Instead of running to Wal-Mart at 10 pm for  paper, I send the kiddos to the supply closet. Other items I stock up on are magic markers, glue sticks, boxes of pencils, erasers (we go through them like crazy), construction paper, index cards, poster board and art supplies.

Another nifty organization idea…

Closetmaid.com
My friend Michelle shared this link with me. You can enter your closet dimensions and receive plans for a professional remake you can do on your own.

Let’s keep this going…

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog  post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by July 23rd. The carnival will run on July 28th.

Question: How do you organize school supplies?

Fun Math Helps

Skip Counting Charts…Wonderful free printable charts to help little ones learn to skip count. I have the 5′s chart on the fridge now.

Free Online Graph / Grid Paper…Bookmark the site for the next time your children needs graph paper for an assignment. No need to run to Wal-Mart at 10 o’clock.

Educating Our Children

Whether it is through homeschooling, private school, or public school, educating our children is a priority. The reasons behind the educational choices we make for our children are varied, yet the common link is our love for them. With that in mind, MMCW’s Educating Our Children section strives to balance all three avenues: public, private, and homeschool education.

We want to celebrate the differences and similarities among each of the three avenues of education. Whether you realize it or not, we all face challenges no matter the direction we’ve taken. I’ve heard public and private school moms say they feel looked down upon by homeschool moms for their choice. I’ve heard homeschool moms say they feel looked down upon by private and public school moms for educating their children at home. Bottom line, it’s a vicious lie the enemy tells to discourage us all. We’re on the same side.

How do I know this? I homeschooled my oldest through kindergarten and first grade, then he attended private school from second grade through fourth grade and public school from fifth to ninth grade. He is currently back at home with three younger sibling being homeschooled. The most amazing part of my children’s educational journey has been seeing the Lord in each step. Public, private, and homeschoolers all have hard days–a test is failed, the math concept doesn’t click, and the dog does eat the homework.

Whatever educational course you have chosen, MMCW’s Educating Our Children section is here to cheer you on with encouragement and strategies. In the coming weeks, you’ll see posts and links here and there on education–for all of us. Take a moment and see if they can be of help to your family.

If you would like to share about your children’s educational journey or have a specific area you’d like to see addressed, let us know. Email mentoringmoments@aol.com.

To leave a comment:

• If you are reading this post in email form, click the article headline. This will take you to the article on MMCW’s website.
• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Living History Museums

The weather may still be a bit nippy outside, but don’t let that stop you from planning a visit to a virtual history museum. Many museums now offer virtual tours online at no cost. With over 2,000 living history museums in the U.S. alone, there are plenty of places to visit without leaving home. In fact, take a world tour! Just do an online search to find links. Living museums are an excellent way to find more information for book reports and assignments.

Comment to this post with your favorite links!

Jamestown Settlement

Museum of Natural History

Another way to visit the Louvre

Creation Museum

To leave a comment:

• If you are reading this post in email form, click the article headline. This will take you to the article on MMCW’s website.
• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Teaching Kids About Money

Today, I wanted to share some things we are doing to train our kids to be wise with money.

First, people are more inclined to save money when they have dreams and goals for how that money will be used. We are already helping our 11, 8 and 6-year-old sons think about their long-term goals (like cars and college) and their longer-term goals (like buying a house or having a wife who stays home with their children).

Just this week our 8-year-old resisted the temptation to spend all of his birthday money as he thought about his goal to save some money for his summer vacation and the rest to add to his car fund. He will have to double his lifespan before he is ready to even think about buying a car, but the money won’t be there if he waits until he is 15 to start saving it. We are already planting seeds in their minds that it is important to pursue a career that allows them to be involved and available to their families, and at the same time meet the responsibility of being the sole bread winner.

We also talk to our kids about money A LOT in our every day situations. We left a drive-thru line a couple of days ago when we saw the prices. I told the kids, “This place will cost $4 per person and we usually spend $2. I can’t justify spending twice as much as usual. Think how hard Dad works for this money! We can’t waste it!”

They hear statements like these all the time:

“Everyone needs to order water at the restaurant. It would add $10 to the bill if we all got soda!”

and

“God provided this for us. We need to be responsible with it.”

We explain to our children how credit cards work, with examples that help them understand the benefits of cash-back and the high costs of carrying a balance. We tell them why we buy our gas at this station rather than that one. When we decide to wait to purchase an item until it goes on sale, we verbalize that so that our children know we are exercising patience to save money. They understand that if we spend money on one thing, something else cannot be purchased. They are not under the illusion that money grows on trees.

They know that we usually eat at home, because it is cheaper. They know that when we do go out, we choose places where kids eat free at certain times or on certain nights of the week. They hear us say, “I’m going to order such and such because it sounds good AND fits within my budget.” Even mom and dad keep an eye on economy when we go out to eat.

We also talk to them about bigger purchases, like our house or our car. We help them to understand what those things cost and why we chose one over another from a financial point of view. When we have financial needs, we pray about them as a family. We talk to them about our tithe.

The children and I talk regularly about how grateful we are to their dad, for providing for us and enabling me to stay home with them. I ask them to think how hard life would be for their dad if I didn’t guard the money he brings home, and that it will be impossible to achieve their own goals for family life if they marry a frivolous woman.

Our kids are not always wise in the choices they make with their own money. But they are learning. And when they fail, and blow all their money on something they don’t need, that’s OK. We use that as a lesson, too. I would rather see them learn that lesson at age 5 than at age 50.

As we take the time to verbalize our thinking and explain our actions, our children gain a better sense of how to handle money. They also begin to formulate the values that will shape their own families one day.

To leave a comment:

• If you are reading this post in email form, click the article headline. This will take you to the article on MMCW’s website.
• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Links for 01.21.10

Birthday Freebies and Deals…now who in their right mind would pass up free ice cream?

Project Girl pretty menu planning forms to print–for free!

SpellingCity is a free site that allows kids to enter their spelling list and it will test, teach, or play games using the list. Great for daily practice leading up to a test!

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