The Learning Space
OK, ok, I can take a hint. And since Erin has put me to shame by being so prompt in posting her photos, I suppose it's now time. While you're at it, be sure to take a gander at everyone else's fantastic photos in the carnival.
So, anyway, here is the famous desk area:
As I wrote before, this was constructed out of shelving and heavy-duty brackets that are screwed into the wall studs. The long piece is about 8 feet long, and the short piece on the far wall is 4 feet long.
I purchased 12" cork squares and secured them to the wall above the desk so the kids have an area to tack up artwork, model alphabets, and other miscellaneous things.
I like the desk because it provides us with a generous amount of space. Three of us can sit along the long portion comfortably for written work.
Here is the "Montessori Shelf":
If you're familiar with Montessori, then you will recognize the Continent Globe. I'm proud to say I made it myself by painting a thrift-store globe. Sadly, the base of the globe is broken, so it keeps falling off! On the top shelf are other various geography manipulatives: a small jigsaw puzzle of Australia, US state and capital pin-map with corkboard, continent cards, animals of the world cards, landmarks of the world cards, and a Lewis and Clark game. I still need to put up our laminated world and US maps which DH just unearthed today.
On the second shelf are various language materials: tracing cards, plastic insets with cut paper, Language Discovery Cards, Nature Discovery Cards, my version of the moveable alphabet, pink fishbowl words, and Bob Books. I also have the first half of a sandpaper alphabet in cursive made, and they sit in a tray with a small blackboard and a covered box of sand for handwriting practice. This didn't fit on the shelf, so it's on the top of a nearby shelf.
The bottom shelf holds the math manipulatives: pattern blocks, counting bears, multiplication tables, Beads and Skittles game (division), small number rods, Roman numeral cards, addition/subtraction "machine".
I'll finish up tomorrow with the couch/computer/TV area and the turtle tank.
We haven't done any school-school this week as life took a turn for us last week. This morning we buried little Jerome. Had the kids been in school, they either wouldn't have been able to attend the ceremony, or I would've been uncomfortable explaining to the school why they needed the day off. I've been feeling pretty crummy physically since coming home from the hospital because of the blood loss. While I didn't need a transfusion, I certainly did need to work on building up my blood supply. It finally clicked in my brain that I needed straight iron, rather than a little iron in a multi-vitamin supplemented by eating good foods. So, now I'm feeling a little more normal, with energy to stand and do things like cook, load the dishwasher, and get the mail. I kid you not, this miscarriage was physically more taxing than any of my births...recovery has been more demanding and I've had to be patient with myself, allow myself to sit around with my feet up watching bad TV.
Hopefully I can get the kids interested in learning things again. Maybe for the next couple of days I'll just concentrate on read alouds and let the older kids catch up with their CD-ROM math tutor. :-) Yeah, right now the Latina Christiana DVDs are looking pretty darn good!
OK, ok, I can take a hint. And since Erin has put me to shame by being so prompt in posting her photos, I suppose it's now time. While you're at it, be sure to take a gander at everyone else's fantastic photos in the carnival.
So, anyway, here is the famous desk area:
As I wrote before, this was constructed out of shelving and heavy-duty brackets that are screwed into the wall studs. The long piece is about 8 feet long, and the short piece on the far wall is 4 feet long.
I purchased 12" cork squares and secured them to the wall above the desk so the kids have an area to tack up artwork, model alphabets, and other miscellaneous things.
I like the desk because it provides us with a generous amount of space. Three of us can sit along the long portion comfortably for written work.
Here is the "Montessori Shelf":
If you're familiar with Montessori, then you will recognize the Continent Globe. I'm proud to say I made it myself by painting a thrift-store globe. Sadly, the base of the globe is broken, so it keeps falling off! On the top shelf are other various geography manipulatives: a small jigsaw puzzle of Australia, US state and capital pin-map with corkboard, continent cards, animals of the world cards, landmarks of the world cards, and a Lewis and Clark game. I still need to put up our laminated world and US maps which DH just unearthed today.
On the second shelf are various language materials: tracing cards, plastic insets with cut paper, Language Discovery Cards, Nature Discovery Cards, my version of the moveable alphabet, pink fishbowl words, and Bob Books. I also have the first half of a sandpaper alphabet in cursive made, and they sit in a tray with a small blackboard and a covered box of sand for handwriting practice. This didn't fit on the shelf, so it's on the top of a nearby shelf.
The bottom shelf holds the math manipulatives: pattern blocks, counting bears, multiplication tables, Beads and Skittles game (division), small number rods, Roman numeral cards, addition/subtraction "machine".
I'll finish up tomorrow with the couch/computer/TV area and the turtle tank.
We haven't done any school-school this week as life took a turn for us last week. This morning we buried little Jerome. Had the kids been in school, they either wouldn't have been able to attend the ceremony, or I would've been uncomfortable explaining to the school why they needed the day off. I've been feeling pretty crummy physically since coming home from the hospital because of the blood loss. While I didn't need a transfusion, I certainly did need to work on building up my blood supply. It finally clicked in my brain that I needed straight iron, rather than a little iron in a multi-vitamin supplemented by eating good foods. So, now I'm feeling a little more normal, with energy to stand and do things like cook, load the dishwasher, and get the mail. I kid you not, this miscarriage was physically more taxing than any of my births...recovery has been more demanding and I've had to be patient with myself, allow myself to sit around with my feet up watching bad TV.
Hopefully I can get the kids interested in learning things again. Maybe for the next couple of days I'll just concentrate on read alouds and let the older kids catch up with their CD-ROM math tutor. :-) Yeah, right now the Latina Christiana DVDs are looking pretty darn good!
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