Five Long Takes Saturday-- The Schoolroom!

This was supposed to be a Seven Quick Takes Friday post, but by the time I finished writing this, it was neither Friday nor a quick post, nor seven. So here we go!


1. I'm a woodworker now! Before starting any actual work on the room, I vacillated a lot between I am way too poor to buy a whole bunch of shelves and I am way too inexperienced to build my own. And then I found Ana White's website, with step-by-step instructions for building shelving that even I could attempt! It took a day of assembly and about four separate trips to Home Depot over two weeks to get materials that I either forgot or got the wrong size of. But eventually, I completed the dang thing, and I am so proud! I even still have all my fingers, which is a huge plus in my book. Check out this beauty:

I had enough wood left over to make a couple simple book ledges, also from Ana White:

I was not paying attention (probably distracted by small children) when joining those together, as evidenced by those back boards.

2. Here's the layout! 

I snapped these pictures our first week in the schoolroom, which is why it looks pretty sparse here, but you can get an idea of the basic layout. You have the book ledges by the window (there is also currently a sand and seashell sensory bin underneath that window), and then the big shelf, and then a giant dresser mirror that I didn't feel like moving out of the room. It has actually proven to be very useful, as one Practical Life activity that Allen has been obsessed with recently is spraying with spray bottles. I used to give him my bottle of rubbing alcohol solution and set him loose in the shower, but now he has moved on to spraying the mirror with a vinegar solution and wiping it dry repeatedly. I guarantee that mirror has never been cleaner!

If you look closely in said mirror, you will see the other half of the room that is still a work in progress. Also missing in this picture is a child-sized picnic table that is now in the middle of the room for the kids to do their work on. That table, which you'll see in subsequent pictures, is a real family heirloom, having belonged to my grandparents. I have lots of memories of sitting at that table with my cousins when I was a tot! The finish was in pretty bad condition when I unearthed it from my parents' basement, so I stripped, sanded, and resealed it before bringing it in the house.

Next to the mirror is a potting container that is now holding mats. There is calendar on the wall, and we have been marking off each day as it comes. I'd kind of like to put either another shelf or some kind of art station on that strip of wall there. We'll see what happens!

3. Oscar. Oscar thinks this new schoolroom is the best new development ever! He is an incredibly industrious kid that never ever gets bored, and he is just so happy to sit down and work intently with the activities, bless his little heart. 

We're still going full steam ahead with reading, and he's learning by leaps and bounds! Here's a picture Adam snapped last week, when I was dying from allergies and taking a breather (strictly figuratively speaking). Oscar, my reading buddy, was reading his new favorite book, Sam and the Firefly. 

3. Allen. Allen, our wild child, is having a bit of a harder time adjusting to life in a schoolroom. The only thing that will grab his attention longer than a few moments is certain Practical Life activities (see above: Mirror Washing), so I have been trying to include a bunch of those with elements for him to pour, scoop, spray, switch, and just do things to. One activity that has been a HUGE hit with both the boys is assembling a flashlight.

I did eventually put this activity in a smaller, taller container
because the components kept rolling around and off the tray!

Here is Allen oh-so-helpfully illuminating Oscar's scissor work (notice the picnic table!):

Here you can see the new container for the flashlight components.

He has also been very interested lately in screwdrivers and other tools. I just ordered a nuts and bolts kit for him, and I am itching for his birthday to roll around next week so we can give it to him! 

It's been fun teaching Allen new skills because he is a lefty, so I have to either demonstrate the activities opposite him, or next to him using my non-dominant hand.

 (One thing I've been working on a lot more with the boys is knife skills. Look at Allen go!)



 4. Cici. Here is our big raison d'etre for even having a designated schoolroom in the first place. Originally, I had a shelf out in our dining room with a few trays for the kids, and it worked great for about a month. And then Cici learned how to crawl and pull herself up to the forbidden trays, and it was game over. We needed a baby-proof space. This is terribly un-Montessori, but she gets the prison treatment if she's awake during school hours.

Enjoying a delicious playpen.

I've been giving her a few baby-appropriate activities in the playpen, like stacking cups, pulling objects out of a wipe container, and putting coins in a bank. All of which she eventually throws out of the playpen, of course! If I have time, I'd really love to make her some sensory cubes like these.

5. Room for improvement. The jury is still out on whether or not having a schoolroom is actually improving the quality of education around here, but one benefit is that the increased organization is casting a spotlight on my pedagogical deficiencies. For instance, I have had to confront the unpleasant truth that I am horrible at planning crafts and art projects for the kids. I am all for learning skills, but the thought of having a house littered even more than it already is with random collages, reams of used paper, and toilet paper tube crafts gives me the hives. I just really need to suck it up and do it for the sake of the kids' fine motor skills-- Oscar is slightly behind in that area, and we have been struggling all year long with getting his fingers strong enough for a good pencil grip. There a couple other areas I'm weak in, and making sure we have a good assortment of trays from a variety of subjects is helping me stay on track.


So there you have it! It probably seems quite odd that we would be starting up the schoolroom at the end of the school year, but I wanted to get some momentum going before starting Oscar in first grade in the fall. So far, I'm mostly pleased with how things are going, and we will just continue to improve. Catch you later!