Joyfully Weary

We've made a few changes to our schoolroom since the last tour post. I meant to blog about the changes back in September but we were still finishing up a few things and by the time they were done, school was already in full swing. The room gets a ton of use and doesn't stay tidy for very long. It's sort of situated between are living and dining room with open doorways to both so it's never closed off.  In addition to school, the kids also use the room for crafting, games, puzzles, etc. We are blessed to also have a playroom in our basement so most of the pretend and active play happens down there. Even so, this room takes a beating. If you saw our previous tour you've probably already noticed we traded the storage ottomans in for chairs. I noticed that having a seat with a back helps Big Buddy stay focused. We already owned two of the chairs and Jeremy's mom gave us the other two. We still keep a couple of the ottomans in our schoolroom for extra seating ...

This weekend we put the "final" touches on our schoolroom. I put quotes around final because with me things are never quite finished; once I get one thing done another idea or improvement seems to pop in to my head. I have a couple more things I'd like to do, but until we can budget more money and time I'm happy with our space. Last year we did our homeschool work in the dining room but I quickly realized we needed a change.  We don't have an eat-in kitchen and cleaning off the table for every meal got a little crazy. We debated for awhile on where exactly to put our schoolroom. We have a partially finished basement and a guest room upstairs that were options but ultimately we decided to use the extra room on the main floor. It is a good size and gets lots of natural light. I also like that the location is central so if the younger children are playing downstairs or having a snack at the table and I can still hear them. It does have one downside in that it ...