Over our wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family, we decided to make a change to our home schooling atmosphere; we decided to turn the outdoor building into our schoolhouse.
Previously, we had a small study that could only hold about 5-6 (at the very most) kids at a time. Our original plan was to have the older children take turns with their computer time, and use the study room as the quiet area for them to work. This plan did work for a time, but there were some flaws in it.
Therefore, after weighing all the pros and cons, we finally decided to take the plunge and go to the one (okay maybe one and a half) room schoolhouse.
Of course, we didn't completely finish the work on reorganizing the building as we still need to find a place for some of the other stuff that was in there; nevertheless, it was functional for our first day of school today.
One side is the actual schoolhouse. There are plenty of seats for everyone there, and that is where the majority of our curriculum, books, and school supplies are. The other side is where we go for individualized or smaller group lessons (and there are also some old comfy couches for the kids to sit and read at).
There is no bathroom in our new schoolhouse, so we have to walk across the yard to the main house (I like how that sounds, like I have more than one house, ha ha).
The other "problem" this poses is that I can no longer do household chores during school (i.e. laundry, dishes, cleaning, ...etc). However, this is actually somewhat of a relief because then I can focus 100% of my energy on schooling instead of juggling household chores too. Alleluia.
Today, after family devotions, breakfast, and morning farm chores, we did a "general clean-up" of the house before we left for the schoolhouse. We came in for a quick snack mid-morning. Then, it was back to the schoolhouse until lunch time. There are so many less distractions over there that the kids actually got more accomplished in less time!
Okay, I know what you are thinking...but when do I do the household chores? That was actually my concern too; but, well, you would be surprised at how clean the house stays when we aren't in it! Shocking, I know. :)
Laundry I started in the morning, and changed it over at snack and lunch time (and after school). I made lunch during recess (instead of having recess after lunch), and the kids helped with cleaning up from snack and lunch. I may have the kids take turns with helping make the lunches as we have done in the past.
Here are the pictures of our "new" schoolhouse:
This is when you first walk in (and is the front smaller group lesson area).
Doorway to the main classroom:
Our first day in the schoolhouse was amazing, praise the Lord. The older kids have stepped up to help with some of the younger kids lessons, and we all worked together for an awesome day.
Each day, we ask the Lord to help us with our schooling, and we are so grateful to God for His help as we know we couldn't do it without Him. We know that not all days will go as well as today (some days are just rough), but we also know "The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!'" Lamentations 3:22-24
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