Organizing Bookselves

Oh wow!! I can't believe how busy I've been! I'm trying to get our classroom organized but this meant I had to first clean it out, paint and then reorganize everything. All the while, I'm still getting lesson plans ready and resources pulled together. I'm really beginning to wonder if I have attention deficit issues because I will start something which will lead into something else, and that will lead me to doing something else. How in the world am I supposed to organize the children's day when I can't even organize mine?!

Sound familiar? Here's my solution... DEEP BREATH!!! AND PRAYER!!

It took me 3 days to paint our classroom. We used to call it the laundry room because the washer and dryer are in there. But now we have our washer and dryer in our classroom. Its all about perspective.

As you can see I added a "chalkboard" by painting a section with chalk paint and framing it with a really cute border I found. I have plans to paint the bookcases but not right now. The dresser will serve as our nature spot and the rest will hopefully come to me.

I'm not sure how much time we will actually be in our classroom due to the nature of our curriculum. But at least we have a place to gather.

The hardest part has been deciding how to organize our bookshelves. At first I was going by subject but then I read over on SCM a good way was by year. So I'm labeling the spines with stickers and indicating year, subject and if its a free read or not.

I'm not strictly Charlotte Mason or Ambleside Online. I am a mutt! I have blended TruthQuest and GreenLeaf Press into our year as well. I like a little bit about each curriculum.

I love the idea of teaching chronologically beginning with Creation and working forward (GreenLeaf). Ambleside Online has theirs laid out on beautiful schedules and I like their overall system. I absolutely adore TruthQuest's narration and book choices but their Ancient study narrations are geared toward older students. Then to make it worse, in trying to keep everything organized I began to realize I was leaning toward unit studies, which I don't want. Charlotte Mason advocates letting the students make the connections, and when you do Unit Studies the teacher is making the connection. So, I made sure to get away from that.

So you see, I am pulling from a lot of resources and organization is the key to my sanity. So, to keep the curriculum resources straight I decided anything outside of AO would have an additional identifying mark on its spine to inform me where it came from. For instance, a reader in TruthQuest will be indicated by a TQ and the year on its spine.

I know I've been promising to get my schedule up and I will. I'm just trying to make sure I have all the right things on hand first. Its all coming together, slowly but surely!