Our Preschool Room

Our "homeschooling" starts next week. The preschool co-op we are doing the week after that. As much as I went back and forth on the decision to start this year, completely against it in fact for quite a while, I am very excited. I think the timing is right. I think Zeke is ready.

The timing feels right for me too. I don't know if its the change of seasons, or the fact that Malachi is getting older and so much easier to fold into our day, or perhaps the part that I started taking hormones, but I've had energy like I haven't had all summer. Life is suddenly very very good.

(Ok, ok, I've been calling them hormones but actually they are my placenta encapsulated. I'm taking them for the hormones and I have to ignore the source even to myself, lest I become so disgusted that I can no longer consume them. I never never never thought I'd be the kind of person to eat my own placenta. Never. But to make a long story short, this last miscarriage threw me onto a hormonal rollercoaster that I haven't been able to shake all summer and I was desperate.)

This week I've been concentrating getting us ready for fall, in many ways, counting clothes and jackets, putting away the AC, dusting the fans, checking the filter on the furnace. Mal has spent an inordinate amount of time on my back. And can I say yay for the fact that I learned the tibeten tie?

One of these many projects was getting our home-school room ready. It's unnecessary, but I have to say that I love it.
Magnetic white board with magnet letters, and counting leaves (I figure come winter I will put up snowflakes...maybe by that time even 20 instead of 10). Also, the window, which we use with laundry pins to display art.

Table, activity shelf, and felt board.

Activity shelf closer up. The shelf is one that Josh made a long time ago and were weren't using for anything. The idea with the shelf is that it's all stuff Zeke can get into whenever he wants, not just when we are doing school. I'll change some things out weekly, keeping others that he is more interested in for longer. The very top shelf he cant reach, and I'm using for my stuff- supplies for projects we are doing but he can't do by himself or things that I'm collecting for the next week. The other shelves have been stocked for a few weeks, while we tested this out and contain: bottom shelf-playdough with a fake knife and scissors; 2nd shelf up- box of markers and paper; 3rd up- his fishing game (which he was using at the time, hence empty basket), and a yahtzee cup and dice. (I could justify this by saying its pre-math, or learning to take turns, or some such but really, he just loves yahtzee)

You can also see Mal's little basket of toys.

To the left, our art frame and to the right our nature table.

Ok, you got me, there's no table. I'm still looking for one to use, but soon there will be a small table there to hold all of Zeke's treasures that he is so soo sooo often bringing into the house. Rocks, and pinecones, and leaves and such. And I'll add things too.

The art frame I'm really excited about. I've picked a famous piece of art to go with each of the 26 letters, and one for each season (The book Museum ABC, featured on the top of my shelf, was my inspiration, and my help for difficult letters). The frame I found at Target, its one of the very few things I bought for the room, that and the wall dots. It opens magnetically from the front, and has storage inside, so it will be really easy to switch out.

Things I thought about for the room but decided against?

The top shelf that I've claimed for myself held books for almost 2 weeks. I quickly realized that we won't read in that room. Zeke kept bringing me books to the couch. It's just not comfy in there. So I have the book display holder for the book that we are reading for circle time and the rest of our books are merrily strung about the house, as they have always been. The school room may be the only one in the house that DOESN'T hold books, go figure.

A what's the weather display. Lots of circle time boards have what's the weather and a day of the week section. Zeke is too little, I feel, to care what day of the week it is. Maybe next year. As for the weather, it just doesn't make sense to talk about it indoors. We talk about the weather all the time...when we are outside and can feel it. I didnt want to break to go outside so I nixed the "what's the weather".

I cant wait to start!!