Our schooling area 2013-14

Time for another post for the iHomeschool Network's "NOT back to school" blog hop!  If you missed it, last week I posted about our curriculum.  This time, we are talking all things about where we do our lessons and how we organize things for School Room Week.

I don't actually have a "school room" or even a specific area we learn at.  I do lessons where and when we feel inspired.  Usually, we do seat work at the dining table.

In case you cannot tell, that table will easily seat 10.  I like having a little extra space to spread out if we need it, so when we do written work or most of our projects and crafts, this table is where we do it if we aren't out in the yard working (in which case I'll set up a sheet of 4x12 plywood to work if we need a workspace).

The rest of our work is done on a bed, a sofa, the floor, or even up in a tree (yes, I've had kids up a tree last week, reading or drawing).  The world is our workspace typically.

The exception to this is reading aloud to them.  I have hip problems, so I require a nice comfy seat while I read.  The typical setup for that is me lounging on one of our loveseats to read (be it textbook, novel, Kindle, whatever) and the kids sprawled out on the floor, perhaps with pillows and/or blankets.  I also will read with us all snuggled up on my bed or on one bed in the kids' bedroom (one of the two bunks we have in there is a twin over full, we'll pile onto the full)

As for organization, well I've done EVERYTHING already.  We've done strict schedules and schooling times (using Managers of Their Homes, wonderful book by the way!), routines with just an order to things, and checklists for lessons and chores to get things done.  I've scheduled out detailed lesson plans in the past to follow.  I found that for our family, none of those things work for me.  So, I'd like to introduce you to my new best friend, my homeschool binder.

This is my weekly page.  I use a basic two page weekly planner layout from the Donna Young web site.  I printed off about 45 or so double-sided that I keep track of what we do each day as we go through the day.  When we do an intentional lesson I write it down in the right subject.  Any math pages the girls do I log with that kid's first initial (remember, ALL my children have a different first initial, we did this intentionally just for this purpose).  If a girl reads from a book and I catch her, I write it down under "Reading" but I only log the FIRST book I catch her reading that day.  Any time I catch someone doing something academic in nature, like watching anything educational or playing a math game or doing a dance game on the Wii even, I list it where it belongs.  I even have a column for chores and tasks we need to do.

In this binder, I also have, as my first page, a full year calendar covering July 2013 to June 2014.  Behind that, I have individual monthly calendars where I can keep track of appointments, days Scott has off work, holidays, and planned field trips.  My plan with the monthly calendars is that behind each month one I will keep a writing sample for each kid.  Yes I will be putting one thing each month in this binder for EACH girl (and the boy as he starts to learn drawing shapes and such).  My calendar pages (the year one AND month ones) are also from the Donna Young site, I like free things.  I also have a printed copy of my notification form and outline plus last spring's test scores in one pocket, and my excuse letters from the district for this school year in another pocket.  I do not keep "grades" so there is no grade sheet for me to record grades.  You are lucky if I remember to put a check mark in the monthly calendar on days we actually TRY to do something intentional.

There you have it.  Relaxed at its best.  We are obviously transitioning to a radical unschooling lifestyle, but I will never get rid of the log book I've created if this setup works for us like I think it will.