OUR PLANS MULTIPLIED

In the beginning, JD adamantly only wanted two children. I thought that four would be perfect. Once we caught God's vision of putting orphans into families, our plan was multiplied by God. We are currently blessed with 12 children; five biological, six adopted and one more waiting in Ethiopia. Our first adoption was from the U.S., the next three were from Liberia, West Africa, and our last two were from Ethiopia. We are supporting our 12th child in Ethiopia after her adoption could not pass court.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Schoolroom Prep.

I spent most of yesterday preparing the schoolroom to start this year's school year. We made the designed "den" of the house the school room, because I've found it too difficult with toddlers to be tucked away in some remote room of the house. This way, I can attempt to keep kids on task even while I slap PB and J's together at lunch-time. While a traditional den would be prettier, the convenience has been worth it!
What I have done for several years is have the kids keep all their day to day books and notebooks in one of these fabric bins that then get put away in this Ikea shelf. Once upon a time, I homeschooled only four kids and they each had a shelf with one left over for supplies; these days Gabriel and Alei have out-grown my system, Moriah and Alyssa still have their bins, James and Ben share a bin and Tori and Julia have little bins that leave room for the crayon, marker and colored pencil boxes.

I also cleaned out and organized the bookcases. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to having the books in logical order; I'm not sure my system would be logical to anyone else, but it's working for me. I'm also quickly running out of book room!



My last touch is that I'm going to move the horse out and set up a small train table for Elijah between the book-cases, in hopes that it will help keep him occupied during school time.

We are getting close to the 2010-2011 school year!

5 comments:

  1. That looks like a beautiful learning environment!

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  2. come do mine! i still havent got it together & we ARE starting on monday! i plan on working through a lot tomorrow....that is the plan anyway!

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  3. do you use a certain curriculum? I am feeling overwhelmed looking at everything out there. My Fathers World and Tapestry of Grace are two that I am considering. Please share any wisdom that you have gained over the years homeschooling. thanks!
    Brooke

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  4. Hi Jenny! I do remember you and it's funny how God connects people! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know you're here! I can't beleive how big your children have gotten since I last saw a xanga post--it's been awhile!

    Blessings to you!
    Elisha

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