Week in Review: July 24-28

What a week! It has been anything but relaxing, but still really great! Daily school occurred and the girls continued reading their chosen literature book, chosen biography, and daily math assignments. We also spent some more time at the pool with friends and relaxed. Sadly, I have no pictures of this. What I DO have pictures of is our homeschool room/music room makeover!

Here is a before...

This has been our setup for several years. I have always had our desks (at one time tables) in the center of the room. This met our needs well when the girls were little and each needed me accessible for the majority of their learning. Alas, as much as it is hard to admit, they are growing up. With Grace (the youngest) quickly approaching age 8, it was time for a change. They are all significantly more independent and they want to be so. They often will have several items on their school list done for the day before I "officially" start our school day. It's an incredible place to be, and I am needed, but not to the full right-in-their face extent I had been. We needed to make a change that would work better for all of us. 

The initial prompting for this change was that we were given (YES! GIVEN!) enough leftover flooring from friends who moved in to redo the entire room. I was overjoyed to get this old carpet up! The girls and I cleared most of the room on Thursday afternoon. My husband and I moved the big furniture and then took the girls to my parent's house. I need to give a HUGE thank you to my parents who kept the girls for several days so we could do this more easily!   

My husband and I spent half of Friday morning putting down the flooring. 

Officially this is considered the dining room of the house. We don't need a formal dining room. We certainly aren't formal and using the room for school and as a music room so I can teach piano from home serves a much better purpose! 

We then spent Friday afternoon placing the furniture and Saturday was spent re-filling the shelves. I am absolutely in love with the after of this room!!!! 

The only thing in the same spot is our corner cabinet because it is the only place it will fit! Every shelf is housing a different item than it was before. You will notice the girls' desks are against the wall now. I have found for the last several months when I do work with the girls individually it is easier for us to move to another room so we don't distract and disturb whoever is working independently. They will absolutely still have freedom to move elsewhere in the house or outside to work, but I think they will like this setup better. You'll also notice I don't have a desk anymore. I don't really need one since I'm working with the girls in other rooms. I have my teacher guides handy on a shelf and that is perfect for now. I may need to adjust some things, but I am incredibly excited about this new setup! 

Our solar system posters are still hanging across the room! You just can't see them. If you are interested in those this is a link:
http://www.teachersnotebook.com/.../solar-system-poster-set

 They are slightly different than mine, but really a great set!  

I'd love to hear if you have recently redone a room for school or restructured your organization in some way. Please share in a comment if you have something new for your school year!