But at the moment our school space is in fact our kitchen table. And our kitchen table is in our living room! We have a small home that we absolutely love (mostly). There are times when clearing the table for the millionth time that day, ok maybe the 8th time makes me a little nutty. It's those times when I take a deep breath and remember Laura Ingall's & envision her & Mary or Ma clearing the table for the 8th time that day. I fancy myself a frontier mama and this lovely little daydream helps me to clear the table with love and appreciation & not frustration. That is, sometimes, other times I just do the job in frustration!
Laura and her stories are helping me to think lately about chores and small spaces. Recently I read a bit about wash day in Laura's home. It described boiling water on the stove, soaking, beating the clothes, washing again, rinsing and drying outside (even in winter). I thought, wow, if they can do all that, surely I can have a wash day where I wash and put away all our clothes, emphasis on PUT AWAY! All with the help of our modern, easy washer and dryer, right?
I envision Laura or Ma coming in to my house with all the laundry piled on the couch and gasping at the site of it, because you know it sits there for a few days often, ugh.
"Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.”
Yes, a cleaning rhythm is really needed here. My house is usually either perfectly clean or perfectly trashed. There is little in between. Is this just the fate of small spaces? Here is our home school space nice and tidied up.
To the right of our kitchen table is our bookshelf. I have 2 shelves devoted to Waldorf books and art supplies. Over the chalk board is the alphabet that I really need to darken up with colored pencils I think.
On top of our shelf is our painting caddy that I wood burned & painted from a thrifted garden caddy. I've still yet to make some painting boards (maybe a project for this year). The basket has some felt inside and two birds sitting on top.
On the second shelf is our crayon caddy, colored pencils, math gnomes, alphabet cards & chalk. I've tried to set it up as beautifully as I can to inspire & motivate us.
Behind our table is the living room fireplace and glass shelving. I would love to replace the glass with wood at some point. There I have our little nature table and underneath a basket of curriculum & main lesson books. Underneath that is our library basket and a seasonal book basket. I've found all our baskets at thrift stores and a discount store I love.
Our end of the summer nature table here. It's still so hot here that summer sunshine is filling our table. There's also a cactus bone we found on a hike as well as a pod and blossom in the bowl at the front.
Our space is small but cozy. It drives me crazy to clean and a moment later, clean again but we make it work. What would Laura say? I think she'd tell us our space is plenty big and that we have too much stuff! We start school in a couple of weeks, I'm waiting for it to cool down a bit here. My Autumn energy burst has yet to arrive. I plan to take these next couple of weeks to clear out all the nooks & crannies, get a few last things planned and stock my shop.
Do you struggle with a cleaning rhythm? What works for you? & what does your home school space look like? Please link up in the comments, I would love to see.
By the way, Happy Labor Day! I have a sale going on at my MamaWestWind shop for today only! Click here to learn more about it. Until next time...
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I really enjoy your school space, I love the wood, and the nice and simple design. Yes, I too struggle with finding a cleaning rhythm, that is something I am really working on this year. Autumn is always the time I tend to refocus on hearth and home. I love that you think about what Laura would think, I was a huge Little House fan growing up, and still am. Very enjoyable post! :)
ReplyDeletebeautiful space, the soft gorgeous energy is so obvious, even through a computer screen :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's all so lovely-thank you for sharing! I too have a dream of the perfect home school room. . . but for now, we too have a cupboard and use the dining table. :)
ReplyDeleteYour home is lovely, Becca, and looks filled with life (which, I often remind myself, means messes). I have been doing my cleaning rhythm for two years now. I wrote about it at Old Recipe a while back, but in the heat of summer revamped it to include specific chores that happen once a month--like, dust cobwebs the third Thursday of the month, etc. Probably overkill, but the basic rhythm also felt that way at first, and I DO have quite a cobweb problem. Have fun--and I think you are right on that fall is still a ways away from you and will kick in when the time is right!
ReplyDeleteI struggle with cleaning too. A likes to create elaborate scenes with many different pieces and leave them up. I often feel like our house is to big. It;s not that large, but I would love smaller and cozier.
ReplyDeleteI agree that your home looks lovely :-)
ReplyDeleteClean washing tends to get dumped on the drawers in my bedroom and I have to admit stays there for days. I could try the "I have a 9 week old baby" excuse, but in reality, I could easily get it put away neatly as she can be in the room whilst I do it and I can get my older children to take clothes to the bedrooms to put away.
General house stuff has gone rather haywire though as there are some jobs I struggle to do with Anna in a sling - I'm not comfortable bending down low or crouched on the floor with her (as I need to do for some jobs - cleaning the toilets for example) so I have to wait till someone will watch her (and then typically I'm trying to get on with washing up or cooking).
I always keep some cobwebs as spiders are friends to keep the flies away here (although I don't live in a country where spiders are likely to endanger life).
Cleaning a toilet with a sling baby is much easier if you sit on a step stool in front of the toilet. ;) I've been doing that for a few babies now, even when I am super pregnant and don't want to crouch because I feel like the baby is ready to fall out, and its much easier on my back!
DeleteI have a relatively small home, but I do have a schoolroom. The funny thing is, this room was always the room I never knew what to do with. It doesn't really flow with the rest of layout of the house and that would always drive me nuts. Now it is perfect, bc you can't really see in there and it feels private. My boys share a bedroom; we have no tv room, guest room or play room, but I really like dedicating space for our schooling. I really enjoyed seeing your space. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletePS. My laundry is waiting to be folded on a chair in the living room right now. That job is the worst in my opinion! My best tip for cleaning is having a 15 minute pickup before reading time in the afternoon. The boys are really excited to read a story, so they are usually willing to pick up quickly. It makes a big difference.
So familiar... The kitchen table which is also a crafting work-room, a writing studio, a schoolwork desk, a place to pile up library books which don't seem to have another home at the moment, and, oh, yes... dining table for all breakfasts, lunches, suppers. And perhaps the pile of laundry on your sofa can be friends with my pile of laundry (which hides in a basket behind my living-room rocking chair)?
ReplyDeleteBut truly, your home is lovely -- thank you for welcoming everyone in...
mb
Oh Becca, I feel like I came over for a visit ;) I've been working on our school space too, I saved and saved for two years and finally bought a super cozy rug because those wood floors you speak of get SUPER COLD during our winters. ;) Nice to hear you haven't started yet either, I have felt like the only one. I hope to start next week after some of our supplies arrive, the green beans and tomatoes are canned, and my in-laws venture back home after a visit.
ReplyDeleteBecca, Your school space seems just right to me! I actually have rooms in my house that I could turn into a school room, but I love having my children working at the kitchen table and reading on the nearby couches. There is something very warm and cozy and efficient about schooling in the main space of the house. (Plus, it's where we get our best sunlight.) Oh, and I also have a pile or two (who's counting?) of clothes in my bedroom waiting to be dealt with...
ReplyDeleteStill struggle with the cleaning thing myself. I have found though the past month or so if I have 3 "tidy up" sessions throughout the day, it is easier to manage.
ReplyDeleteWe are currently working on our homeschooling space which is also our playroom. The only downside to that room is that in the winter it is the coldest room in the house. Sometimes in the winter before I turn the heat on in there it can get down to 3 degrees Celcius!!
Your space is lovely and lived in. I sometimes am envious of people with super tidy homes, but then I realize they aren't home all day. We are all here 7 days a week (hubby works from home). We learn,play, and live in our home and it is loved. It is also messy sometimes and that is ok.
Hi Becca,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your homeschool at Sharing Creative Ideas! I loved this post when I read it, it was like coming over for a visit!
Please come back again you have such wonderful creative ideas!
xoxo
~ joey ~
I love your small school space! And I might have to borrow your painting caddy idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up on Waldorf Wednesday.
Thank you for sharing this on the homeschool list. Your space is lovely. I am incredibly impressed that you have space to spare on your bookshelf. I love books so much, but I think I need to start there on my next purge.
ReplyDelete