Homeschool Open House

Tiany over at Less of Me~More of Him is hosting a fabulous Homeschool Open House over the next two weeks.

For those fellow participants, let me give you a brief intro to myself and my family. My name is Ami, and God blessed my husband and me with three little men via adoption.

On your left is Garrett (2 1/2), my mini-me. In the middle front is Liam (4), whom we affectionately call The Nut, because he simply is. On your right is Jack (2 1/2), our wild man. And that white guy is my husband, another blessing from God, who works hard in order to keep me home with our little army.

Although my eldest is only 4 and a little young for "official" schooling, I made the decision to homeschool a few months ago. I've written about my reasons for homeschooling, but the ultimate reason is: God is asking it of me.

I recently tried to begin early kindergarten with Liam, but after two days, I realized that his fine motor and listening skills are not quite where I'd like them to be. Instead of frustrating both of us, I decided to put kindergarten away and resume our typical daily educational play. I'm a former public school teacher, so all three of my boys are accustomed to my sitting down with them to "work", as they call it.

In September, I will begin using Letter of the Week's curriculum to teach all three boys simultaneously. This will allow us to have an "official" school feel to our already structured learning time. I think it will also help Liam to be better prepared for our kindergarten curriculum, which is My Father's World.

Here is a glimpse into our school room.

It is our dining room, which I recently converted to the school room, since we never once used it for dining. The boys love to bring paper and crayons to their table and play together.

Would you like to know where I got our school table?!?! I know you would. I got it for FREE from a local church. Our own church did not have any spare furniture, but I called around to some other local churches and found one to give us the table and six chairs. This was a huge blessing, as it would cost hundreds to buy it on my own. So, that is my tip for all of you homeschooling families out there that need school furniture...ask your local churches if they have any to DONATE!

On the far wall is our calendar, which you can barely see in this photo. We have a daily circle time near our calendar, where we sing and discuss the day, the month, and the weather. We also review Bible memory verses and pray together. (Our calendar comes from Creative Teaching Press. I've also found preschooleducation.com to be a good source for cute songs to help make circle time more fun.)

I'm sure you noticed the large empty space at the top of the far wall. I want to somehow use that space for hanging current art projects, but I need to be careful about what I do to that wall, being that it's the very first room that guests see when stepping into our home. I don't want it to have a cluttered look, yet I want it to be more school-friendly for the boys. Any ideas on how to utilize that space?

I look forward to visiting with fellow participants of the open house. Please leave me a comment so I can hop on over to your place.