A New School Room

When we first bought the house we live in, we weren't planning on home schooling our children yet. That was almost 7 years ago! This house had a formal dining room in the very front of the house that we decided to turn into a playroom.  At that time, we only had Aaron, and Ethan was 3 months from being born.  The playroom was a favorite hangout spot until 4 years ago.  At that time, we put Aaron and Ethan in a room together and most of their favorite toys went in their room.  The playroom still got plenty of action because we were LifeGroup leaders at our church and when the LifeGroup came over, the kids in the group went like magnets to that room!  When Andrew was born, I found that we didn't hang out and play in the playroom with him like I had with the older two because I was doing school instead and Andrew had to be where we were or in the playroom by himself - which he didn't like! A little over a year ago, we stopped being LifeGroup leaders and the playroom stopped being used.  It became the catch-all room instead, which for a room at the very front of the house is a very bad thing!

Anyway, we decided to turn the playroom into a school room, and it was a great decision!  We got rid of a lot of our toys that weren't getting played with, moved the ones Andrew liked into his new big boy room, and left a few in there for Drew to play with while we did school.  We moved the giant bookshelf with all of our curriculum out of a hallway it had been in to the new room, along with a recliner that had been shoved in my office (and not used), and a table that had been my cutting table in my office and before that our kitchen table.  The result is a great school room! We can now all be working at the table, or one can work at the table while the other reads in the chair, all while Drew plays with his toys in one corner!

The view from just inside the front door of the house.  Actually a respectable room now!

The work table.  When I want to cut out a sewing project, which isn't very often these days, I'll have to do it in here - hence the large cutting mat between the table and the wall!

The reading nook, which is where I'll spend my days reading the boys' read-aloud books to them!  It has also become a favorite place for Jerry to sit and decompress.  Wow! We actually  made this a functional room! :)

I love my sign over the white board! I still haven't been able to collect on this, but I am holding out hope that it is my get rich quick plan...

The curtains I bought for this room weren't long enough, and didn't come in a longer size.  But I got creative and altered them!

Doesn't that look like they were meant to be this way? And yes, I did do the cutting and pinning right here on the table!  This is also Drew's toy corner.

Overall, I am so happy with the way this room has turned out! I am hoping that it also helps keep the school clutter out of the other rooms in the house! Maybe we can actually relax in our living room now!  Is that too optimistic?