Our Home-school Table

I have so many things I want to write about lately! I keep taking photos but not posting about them so I’m going to dive in and just start!

Today I want to share our homeschool table. We’re using the Hands On Homeschooling curriculum to guide our activities.

Homeschooling is more or less informal – I mean, he’s only two and a half! But our son is so inquisitive, I thought it would be good for him (and me!) to have structured activities each day.

At the very least, it saves ME from having to think of something to do each day, because now I have tons of ideas. And, it keeps our son learning and growing.

He’s quite happy to “do school!” Even when the activities are over, he usually asks the rest of the day, “We gonna do school again now?” I explain to him we’re always learning, so it’s really all “school” but sometimes we do activities at the table.

I decided on the table for homeschooling this year, because it’s big for spreading out to do projects! After breakfast, our son stays in his high chair and does a “transition activity” while I tidy up the dishes and get ready. Here’s some examples of the activities I have on the table for him to do while he waits:

He loves the Richard Scarry Best Word Book Ever most of all – he could look at that book all morning… which is great, because with a nursing baby, sometimes we get a bit of a later start! (sometimes I am a bad mom and try to hide the MagnaDoodle because he really just wants ME to draw him trucks on it!)

To make our kitchen table look more school-ish, I hauled out an old Elmer’s glue tri-fold board. We call it our “school board” and our son asks “where’s the school board” all the time too! It’s a way to section off the table and showcase our monthly Bible verse, finished activities, monthly themes, and reward stickers!

He gets a sticker every day for reciting his Bible Memory verse – can I say what a blessing it is to hear the Bible recited in his sweet little voice? He is so happy when he says it too! I love it! At the end of the week, he gets a star – just because! 🙂

I keep all my notebooks, folders, and manipulatives (bean bags, flashcards, books, journal, pens) in a big file crate, which makes it easy to move our entire “school” off the table or out of the room! Yay for organization!

On the window ledge across from my son is the Busy Board I made from my last Elmer’s project – it’s handy for displaying the monthly skills we’re working on, and our son likes to play with it too!

We don’t stay at the table much more than twenty minutes. Once Bible story / verse time is over, we might color or trace lines for a bit. Then our activities might take us to The Learning Tower, or marching around the house to music, perhaps a field trip to the park. As I said, learning happens everywhere!

Will I always work from the kitchen table? I do like the homey feel (but I hate that I always hit my knee on the trestle jutting out at the end!). I suppose time and the addition of more children will tell!

If you homeschool your kids, where do you work from mostly? Kitchen? Dedicated school room? Kids’ bedrooms? Other? I love sharing teaching tips/tricks/ideas, so please comment!