Wednesday 26 September 2012

How These New Spaces Work...

Forgive me while I stop a while to dwell on the new changes in our old space. It's pretty much all I've worked on all last week, and it has made such a difference to our homeschooling and creative life.

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I broke the room up into various 'areas' - maths, science, art, writing, the main work table, and a new space which I hope to talk about tomorrow. Everything was given its own space - a place to live and breathe. Having two bigger boys now means they need a lot more sit down space away from each others elbows. By spreading areas over the room they find a niche that suits their mood and they get a chance to work on something without the constant need to clear away for another task.

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I also labelled. Everything. The eldest declares he likes this very much. Everything is clear to him. I like it too. It seems to clear my head a bit seeing everything ordered like this. Who knew.

This writing station was made to encourage creative writing - coloured paper, stamps, fancy pens, oh and two vintage typewriters. Of course. Because when you have a mama who has a thrifting compulsion to bring every old typewriter home with her you may as well make use of a couple of them.... (I have four in case you are wondering. We've established I'm insane.) There is also a letter writing station in there somewhere - full of everything they need to stay in touch.

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The library got an overhaul - things were juggled around and the shelves labelled for easy identification and easier PUTTING BOOKS AWAY (she says, not at all hopefully). It has been a loooong time since a simple 'fiction/non-fiction' worked for us. There are more books around the corners of those other shelves too...

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And the science station, filled with our rocks and minerals (and fossils!), binoculars, microscope, magnifying glasses, bug viewers, nets and books, as well as a plethora of science kits and telescope - all are now labelled and within easy reach.

It's one vision I thought I'd never be able to materialise. Alhamdulillah. Having such an ordered open space, with spaces that work for us - at last - has made a huge difference.

And tomorrow I'll show you the final area insha'allah ... my personal favourite!


13 comments:

  1. your boys are so so lucky x
    well done mama :)
    t x

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  2. Assalamu alayki sister, can my kids come to your school?! lol
    Looks so exciting mashaAllah.
    It must be exciting home schooling. I home school three evenings a week with mine the subjects we want to teach them and reinforce what they are doing at school, we have a good time but I have never did it full time myself. I did suggest it once to them if they'd like it and they all screamed 'NO!'.

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  3. Thankyou Tracy... will come here and tell them that - they are fighting and sulking and blaming it on me!

    Yes, it does look rather schoolroom-ish. I don't mind - it's where we work, after all! It's not exciting homeschooling. It can be flat out mundane, tiring and stressful. I once suggested they should goto school and they screamed NO! ... ;-)

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  4. Wow, it looks all so nice MashaAllâh. May I ask how old your boys are? ~x Tasneem from Holland

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  5. Jazakillah. My boys are 10.5 and 7

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  6. it never fails to surprise me how my kids will use a tidied up and cleanly organized area much more than a messy one. i guess it's true for me too, i'm more inspired in the sewing room, when it's all tidy! well done!

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  7. Yes! That's is SO true. I've found that too.

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  8. I absolutely love it, marshAllah, you have so many things which i would love to have here for D and me. May I suggest that you should have another declutter and have a huge house sale and i can come and buy all your things?! Imagine how much more space you would have!! xx

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  9. :P this is true! and something my DH tells me on a regular basis!

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  10. I am ready to learn again! I want to sit in your little spaces and soak it all up. You make learning so pretty and fun and colorful! Well done!
    xoxoo d

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  11. Now if the little blighters would do some work instead of killing my brain with transformers and hero factory information we'd get somewhere!!

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  12. mashallah it looks lovely !
    you deserve a well earned pat on the back....

    well done

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