The School Room

I'm loving having a school room/play room in this house.  I found that toys in bedrooms leads to chaos and, while I like having a few beautiful wooden toys in the living room, it is so nice to have a space for the stacks of games, puzzles, books, bins of train track, marble run and legos that can have moments of chaos without effecting our main room.  It certainly isn't the tidiest room in the house, but it is full of life and learning and I do believe it is my favorite room for that reason.

There are still fairy lights to be hung over the shelves and fabric to drape in the nature nook, but I still would say this room is 'moved-in'.  Really the whole house is feeling that way, there are a couple cushions to cover here and some pictures to hang there, but overall it is feeling put together.

And there is space for books.  My idea and education books, their picture books, chapter books and Jonah's stack of school books.  We've started his lessons and he loves it.  We start the 'school' (aiming for three days a week) with a story and songs on the circle rug and then finish with some written lessons at the table.  So far this has taken just over an hour and then we go to lunch where I read a chapter or two from whatever book I'm wanting to read with Jonah.  He reads so much on his own now that for the first time I have to be intentional about reading to him - he isn't asking.

Deciding what we would do this year seems to have been the biggest challenge and now the course is set it seems to all fall into place.  In the end we've mostly gone with a classical approach.  Mostly because it suits our little guy.  That said, we spend a few hours a week at 'school' and the rest of our time is much more waldorf inspired un-schooling, which works so well with this little man who is so driven to explore academic subjects.

One of the best things this week has been seeing how easily Rowan fits into our lessons.  He loves circle time; he sings the songs with gusto (in his 1 1/2 year old way) and asks for me to tell the stories on the story mat over and over.  And while Jonah works on writing and math, Rowan does puzzles, plays with trains and legos, does sticker books and even gets to look at Jonah's rocks.  This was the part of doing our own little school that I couldn't quite get my head around, but so far, so good.  Now to think of adding a third this fall... or maybe its better not to think about it just yet.