Our New School Room & A Freebie!

Welcome to week 2 of iHomeschool Network's Not Back to School Blog Hop. It's School Room Week. 

After three moves in 2 years - yes you read that right - we are finally settling into our 'forever' home out in the country. We have 3 1/2 acres of our own, but we live right next door to a 100 acre farm. As I type, I'm watching the pretty little soybean plants billowing in the breeze along the hill out my window. After all the insanity we've endured, we are so blessed to call this place home. The best part.... our finished, walk-out basement has a large bedroom that has become our new school room. It even has a nice, big window and a walk-in closet. You bet I was drooling when we walked through this house!

So let's start the tour.

The view as you walk in.

My 6th Grader on the left; My 3rd Grader on the right.
My 8th Grader chose to work upstairs in her room to help her concentrate.  

Each of my children have their own computers. They are completely antiquated boat anchors, but still run most software and websites. But, at $20 a pop, they were a steal and we won't complain. Unfortunately, this year has some challenges as we have limited internet data usage out here in the sticks. That means any streaming is out of the question :(  So now we've become the phycho people at the library watching videos and downloading like mad instead of just casually perusing all the books. Honestly, it's a little embarassing.

Our center wall with all the great helps as we cover World Geography this year.

Our crates of books for My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures

Ok, the rocking chair may be a bit much, but I've had it since I was pregnant with my oldest and  I've rocked all my babies here. So I just CANNOT part with it. Since it didn't have anywhere else  to go in the house, a yellow pillow from Target was my attempt at making it fit, hahaha!  

click here to get this freebie!

The sign on the wall above the chair says "Our Book Explorations" to go along with our geography theme and I've included this a freebie for all of you! I found little book-shaped cut-outs from the dollar store as well. When the kids finish a book throughout the year, we will write it on the 'book' and stick them up on the wall so they can see all they've read. I just find the 'Date/Title/Pages Read'  reading logs a bit tedious. This is my attempt to keep it more visually motivating. 

 Also hanging from the shelves are some tools we use to expand on our reading skills. Story Elements Question Fans from Runde's Room have some great questions about Character, Plot, Setting, etc. And for my 3rd grader, we use Bloom's Buttons from Colleen Alaniz. She also has Bloom's Buttons for non-fiction now as well! I LOVE the look of these! I have my son choose two or three buttons from the jar (without looking) and we choose a question with the corresponding colors. It works kinda like a game, so my little guy is actually excited about answering questions about our reading.

Daily Schedule on the left and we have our white board up - FINALLY!

My desk with my Teacher's Manuals separated by child on the shelf above.

I am so thankful to be out of cardboard boxes and finally in our home. We are loving it out here and enjoyed our first week back to school. I can't wait to make some awesome memories learning together in our fun new room.