Learning Room Open House - Part 1

My new friend and homeschooling Mommy, Jenny at Vintage Burlap Barn, blogged about her homeschooling room.  And her posts inspired me to do the same.  


A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the transformations that our Learning Room has gone through since we began schooling at home.  Check it out, if you missed it: Our Learning Room - est 2011

Like Jenny, I want to give you a tour of our Learning Room in small doses.  Sometimes seeing it all as a whole can be overwhelming...that's how I feel when I "pin" ideas off of Pinterest for Homeschooling rooms!  EEKS!  I hope you will take a piece from each of these posts and apply them to best fit you and your little learners.

So here we go....
Our Learning Room now is in the "eat-in" area that connects to the kitchen.  It's the perfect size for my little learners.

The first thing to catch your eye would be this area... 

I LOVE this pocket chart calendar.  And love it even more when I think of ALL the skills it's taught my lil guys.  Patterns, counting in English and Spanish, Days of the Week in English and Spanish, Months of the Year...possibilities are fun and endless!  Right now, we are counting down our vacation with airplane icons.  We "subtract one" each day for our countdown.

The shelf was purchased at IKEA.  Every bin is labeled!  Below the "Puzzle" bin are some great manipulative boxes.

I found these snaplid bins at Dollar General and bought everyone of them in all different sizes!  They are perfect if you have little ones like our MiniM.  He can't open them!!!  So I can still have my manipulatives accessible for the big guys but keep him safe. 

Here's a peek inside the "Letter Tool" bin:

"Letter Tools" bin - ANYTHING that has to do with ABC and letter learning goes in here.  Playdough letter stampers, Letter tiles, Magnetic Letters (stored in baby wipe container) and so on!

 J's Bin:

This is where the boys store their D.L.Notebook and work folders.

Moving on...Here's a great Leap Frog globe that I purchased off of Craigslist.  The boys love it and it's a GREAT reference!

And yes, that is the Texas Pledge!  Proud to be a Texan, yall!

The globe sits on this 3 drawer bin.  The top drawer is FULL of Math counters and manipulatives.  That's a dangerous drawer for MiniM.  He's not strong enough to pull it out and start digging...YET!

But he does have ownership of the middle and bottom drawers.

The middle drawer is all Magnets, big Magnets!  I have a great set of magnetic gears from Lakeshore Learning, Large number and letter magnets, shape magnets, LeapFrog Fridge Letter set and so on.  It's my favorite "go to" drawer when I am cooking.  I pull the drawer completely out, lay it in front of the fridge and away he plays!   

And the last drawer labeled just for him.  

  

 Here's a peek inside his drawer:

Inside MiniM's Toy drawer - Stackable pegs from Lakeshore Learning, Marbles in a tupperware to shake, mini book from Chick-fil-a, and yes...a Barrel of Monkeys!

I hope enjoyed this little slice of our Learning Room.  I love getting emails and comments about your ideas for lil ones!  Keep sharing!

Our tour will continue next week with: Workbox bins, supply boxes and Mommy's Message board!  

Happy Learning with your Lil Ones