Learning Space Decorating 101

Part of our school space.

Recently someone asked where I got all the cool decorations for my learning space and how I came up with all the ideas. That gave me a idea for this week's blog. There are lots of new people (which was me last year) always looking for tips on what to do. After a year with Connections Academy I realized I needed some things and didn't need others so much. Being a single parent that cyberschools, I don't have a huge budget for learning supplies so I am trying some helpful tips from friends, pinterest and my good ole noggin. Now each child is different and will need different things to help stimulate them during the day. This style works for my daughter who is in the second grade. Try your own styles and post up your tips in the comments below.

Our theme is Be A Wise Learner!

More Owls!

Picking a Theme

Last year we really didn't have a theme but this year I wanted to do something special to make the space fresh. I went to Lakeshore Learning Store to pick up some supplies and fell in love with their owl collection. So there it was, our theme. I picked this theme in the middle of summer so I was able to look for anything owl related in a longer period of time. I found this awesome owl mini cork board at Target in their $2.50 bin up in the front of the store and the owl 3D memo board at Target as well. Not only does it give the space a direction of fun but my daughter found a interest here and is willing to spend more time in this area because of her friendly owl friends on the wall. I post all her lessons for the day here and she wipes each one off as we finish them.
 

 

 

Learning Posters

This year I went through the lessons in advance when I got her books. I wanted to understand what direction we were going in with her learning. When I went to Lakeshore Learning Store I got great posters on what my child needed to work on the most. Now Bridget is great with math and I didn't think she needed much help there but her Language Arts needs some work. I picked up a cursive alphabet poster as well as a good reader poster. I have already referred to the reader one many times this year and I think it was a great investment. I also love the 100th day of school but always forget about it until it comes up. This year we are counting our way to 100 with our apple tree I got at Target. One more interactive learning tool I have that Bridget loves to do!

Counting to 100 Days Of School!

 

 

Work Boxes

 

This summer I heard a lot about work boxes. A woman named Sue Patrick came up with this homeschooling system of teaching. You can check out her way at http://www.workboxsystem.com/. I took her amazing ideas and worked with them to make it my own. The basic idea is to have your child do what they want to do during the day. Have all their supplies for each subject set out and they pick what to start with and what to do each step of the way during their school day. I got this bookcase from Target this year. I used my owls as my labels for each subject and posted them on each bin. I keep them empty until the school day begins and fill them with everything she needs for each subject. If it's a painting project for art the paint, brushes, newspaper to protect our workspace, paper and directions are in this shelf. At this stage of the game I need to help Bridget learn most of her lessons but as she grows she will take responsibility for each lesson herself. It's way more organized this way and Bridget loves that she gets to choose what to do. Last year I was the one who picked what we needed to do and when it was going to get done. I thought if I let go of that it would get crazy confusing but it actually made things less hectic. When Bridget is done with her lesson the books go back on the shelf and she gets to take her owl for that subject and put him in the tree house. This was suppose to be a chore chart for a classroom that I made my own. Once again I laminated the areas that were going to be taped a lot to protect them. By the end of the day all her owls are safe in the house. The next morning I fill up her shelves again and put her owls back on the bookshelf where they wait for her to get done for the day. Again interactive is key here for my daughter. Getting to put her owl away in his home is a highlight of each lesson now. 



Putting her owl in his house for her first completed subject.

 



Magnet Boards, White Boards, Cork Boards...Oh My!

 

Last year I had two small white boards and one medium sized cork board. This didn't cut it for us. The white boards were too small to write a whole sentence on in one line. When I was demonstrating how to write a sentence Bridget got confused when I had one sentence on two boards. This year we bought a bigger white board at WalMart. This was a great decision! Already she is understanding her writing assignments more and to make it even better it's magnetic. I can post stuff up on the board then cover answers with a paper held up with magnets. Also Bridget loves writing on the board. She can fill in the blanks on answers or circle the parts of a sentence. Here we learned about predicates. I had her underline the predicate of the sentence and circle the subject. It beats sitting at the computer all day long reading off the screen. Anything interactive is exactly what my daughter loves. And as most homeschooling parents know, you need to find your child's interest and work around that to make it more interesting for them. I love our white board.

Our word magnets.

 

We also have a magnet board I got at Ikea a million years ago. Here I can post up anything that she did over the week. She likes showing it off to grandma when she gets home. I also got magnetic words from WalMart this year and I have her make sentences to leave messages here. This is placed next to our calendar. Everyone needs a calendar! We decided to get a more interactive wall calendar instead of a regular flip one. I got this at Lakeshore Learning on our yearly trip to Maryland's teacher store. I laminate the back of the numbers with clear tape so they don't get ruined. Having Bridget put the number up each day helps reinforce learning the days of the week, months, and days. Get something fun and funky to help spruce up your space. When Bridget was in kindergarten I printed out copies of a calendar for her and had her write the number of the day in each square. It helped her learn her numbers as well as writing.

Cork boards are great ways to spruce up the work space. This year I got a oversized one at WalMart to decorate with our Be A Wise Learner rules. I got the decorations at Lakeshore Learning as well. It stuck with our theme so well and I liked the bright colors to stimulate her mind. Each of the owls tells a different way to help yourself during the school day. I had extras too so I posted them around the walls in empty spaces. The smaller of my cork boards I had since I was young. Now I use this as my seasonal board. For the beginning of school I had to decorate it with a welcome but I will be switching it soon with fall ideas. Sometimes I get Bridget to do a craft to use as the decorations. The board gets switched for different seasons and holidays to help us celebrate and learn about each one.

 

Hit Up The Dollar Store!

I love the Dollar Store! I find so many helpful items here. They even have a awesome teachers corner with all sorts of posters, reward stickers and teaching aids. They even have awesome color poster boards for projects. Now Target and WalMart have dollar bins with useful items for teachers, especially at that back to school time. I found this for my word wall this year. Each unit of Language Arts comes with a slew of new words to learn and they suggest making a word wall. It could take up a lot of space so this is very helpful to keep everything very organized. Yard Sales are another great place to find items you need. Bridget's desk is a yard sale find. I hated all the new desk and wanted one like I had when I was younger. This is almost exactly like it and only $10!

Our new word wall. Index Cards $1 at Dollar Tree and the hanging word chart $1 at Target.

Our yard sale find! Desk $10 

 

 

Displaying Your Child's Accomplishments

My daughter's painting from our lesson on shade and tints.

You don't have to be a homeschooling parent to know you should always praise your child's accomplishments. Hang up their art work or do arts and crafts to make decorations for your learning space. Let them know how proud you are of them always! If I had more room I would make a art area separate from her learning space with a art gallery of her work on the wall in frames. Maybe one day I will be able to have that room but until then I will hang up her work everywhere! Plus it's cheaper to hang your child's work then buy expensive paintings to decorate your home.

 

Learning Space Begins With You

No matter how much space you have you can create a wonderful space for your child to learn. Just make sure you make it fun and make it for your child. That is the great part of being home to learn. In a classroom it is the style of the teacher not the students. If your child likes dinosaurs, create a Jurassic space complete with fossil paperweights and your child's dinosaur artwork. If your child is a ballet student, hang up her ballet shoes throughout the years as a timeline. I know it's not going to make your child learn any better but it will get them more interested in learning. My daughter likes saying the pledge every day so we got a tiny flag to hang up. Find what they are interested in and go with it.

 

What Is Your Style?

I am always looking for ideas for our learning space to evolve. If you have any ideas, leave a comment here and let me know. Share your wisdom with others. :-)

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Love and Learning,

Theresa