From Cindy Rushton's Desk(TOP!)!

Setting Up Your Home to Learn!

Setting Up Your Home to Learn!

     Homeschooling? Thinking about Homeschooling? BUT…do you have to turn your home into a school? No, my dear friend, you do not need to turn your home into a school. Your home can still be a HOME. A home ready to learn! Ready?

Ready? This is EASY as ABC...

©       Find a good nook! It does not have to be huge. Certainly does not need to be expensive.  All that is needed is a place that invites your children (and YOU!) to think, work through the studies (writing, reading, studying, proofreading, projects, experiments…). Ask yourself, “Where do they gravitate toward to read...to research...to write...to print?” Keep in mind that each and every student in your family will be very different during the learning process, but most will appreciate having all of the supplies and equipment in a safe, quiet, comfortable place to study. When deciding on a spot, make sure that the spot has good lighting and a good, solid, clean, work surface.  Make sure it is a good spot to think AND work on lessons.” Set up the area with a nice table or desk with plenty of work area...comfortable chairs...limited distractions…shelves for books and notebooks...space for a computer and printer...convenient power supply...space for you to sit down and work with them during their lessons…and a specific spot for organizational bins that will hold supplies.

©       Get supplies together! You probably have supplies ALREADY in your home. Use our list to remind you of which supplies you will need to gather for homeschooling. Gather them and organize them so they will be ready to use when your children can snatch time to dig into their studies.

©       Easy access to materials and supplies! Don’t just gather supplies, give your children easy access to those supplies! Nothing else can encourage your children to dig deeper into studies like having the materials needed to learn AND free reign to use them. Gather the supplies you will need and store them in clearly marked plastic bins and containers. There are SO many options available. Find what will work for you and your family. Get paper and printable pages together. I have always stored ours in our school materials so the children had their materials on hand as they needed it. A quick glance can remind me that we need more. I buy all of our paper, ink pens, pencils, 3-ring binders, etc in bulk at Sam’s Warehouse. During the school breaks, many stores have supplies and paper in bulk for better prices than all year round. That is when we also stock up. We store it on our school shelves and have what we need as we work.

©       Invest in the best tools! It may seem to be an added expense, however tools make all of the difference in the world! For example, you can buy a cheap stapler for under $5.00 OR you can buy a long-arm stapler for $29.95 at an office supply store. The difference? Well, we have bought SO MANY cheap staplers. They simply do not last. Plus, they are limited in what they can do. Now, contrast that with the long-arm stapler? They are built to last. You can use those for making any size booklet and for regular stapling. Just watch your most reluctant writer when they figure out ALL that they can do with one stapler! $29.95 will be the best investment ever! J Buy the best as you can. The investment is more than just for equipment, it is investing in your child’s education!

©       Set up a Library! YES! What homeschool is complete without bookshelves? Ok…what ONE thing is a dream of a homeschooling mother? Yep! MORE bookshelves! J We only had a very, very few books when we began homeschooling. Want to know “HOW” I came into homeschooling? I had no idea what my children should read. I remember hoping that my favorites from childhood could be part of my children’s education—not knowing that God had given me full authority to choose what my children could learn in our homeschool. It is funny now that the books that I DID have from my childhood were truly books that were classics—that SHOULD be passed from generation to generation. Of course, that included just a very few books. My deepest prayer was for God to teach me how to find good books—isn’t that SO amazing considering what we do as a business? It did not take me very long until I began finding great places with hidden treasures just waiting for us—used book sales at the library…yard sales…antique stores…even family! My collection grew very quickly. In fact, it took over the few bookshelves that we had and began my life pursuit of MORE bookshelves! J  Begin a library in your home. You won’t be sorry! Gather the books that you have. Set them up in a logical order that would work for you and your family—catalog like the library? Set up by subjects…or authors? Set up to work for you. Begin to build bit-by-bit. You may want to begin with books that appeal to your child’s interests. Or, you may want to begin collecting biographies (our favorites!) or picture books. They will add up quickly. So, how do you make it part of your homeschool? Simply set it up close to where your children study or gather to read. I set up our children’s books upstairs in the playroom early on. I put them on their level. I made up THE RULE—you must always put away your book before getting another. The rest is history—or well, years of my children learning on every subject! J Now, I am not nearly as likely to buy too many books now as I was in the early years when we were first getting started—there had to be a limit. Now, we buy the best and notebook the rest. We only buy books that I want to pass down to my grandchildren one day—the others we check out from the library and simply take notes into our notebooks from them (notebooks are also sure to be family heirlooms that our grandchildren will adore one day!). All of our resources are accessible and welcoming to our children. Having them in their own special place has invited my children to learn at all times as part of our family life. Give it a try at your house!

©       Try Notebooking! Notebooking…ahhh, just the thought makes me hyper! If I could ask every homeschooling family to do just one thing, it would be to just give Notebooking a try. I am sure that if you try just a bit, you will be addicted too!  This is the one technique that pulls everything together--studies, research, real life, personal interests--EVERYTHING! It reaches even the most reluctant writer! It makes homeschooling fun and easy! Who wouldn’t want to try that? Not just that! Everything that normally clutters up the busy homeschool home can be tucked away into a notebook! All of those books that you have read have great material, pictures, and information begging to be added into notebooks.  All of those precious narrations can be safely protected in notebooks. All of those daily copywork lessons can find their home in notebooks on each of the topics that your children love so much.  Even those awesome handouts that you have piled up from field trips can find the perfect home in your notebooks! Homeschooling is recorded.  An heirloom is built! Just try notebooking! You will love it…and so will your most reluctant writer! How? First, learn about notebooking (we have TONS of information on our website and in most of our books about how to do it!). The basics are as simple as getting your supplies and turning your children loose. Once your children have a “place” to keep their work, the most amazing thing happens—they find themselves becoming more and more addicted to writing. It won’t be long and you will find your children digging deeper into their studies. Oh, and it won’t be very long until you will find them hunting for their notebooks when “school” is out and they are just pursuing life interests. Then, you will know that education has become a lifestyle that will continue for their whole life!

©       Set up learning areas in your entire home! Learning does not just occur during table time or formal lessons. The beauty of a learning home is that children can find learning in every single corner of a child friendly home. Now, I am not advocating that you decorate your home like a kindergarten—in fact, your husband would probably want for you to promptly discontinue reading anything by me if I did. There is something about homeschooling that may excite some families to have blackboards and timelines on the wall…world maps on the dining table (which I think is ADORABLE!)…and art easels in the living room. However, if your husband is like mine, he might prefer that there be Home Interior on the wall rather than that good old timeline (how do you think we got started doing ours in our notebooks?).  Rather than home being decorated like a school—why not develop a learning home. Something like a nice, clean library with bean bags and audio tapes/headphones—talk about great for a daily quiet time! What about a game room? Just a few organizers and shelves with all of those PIECES in their very own spot—yep, a man will gladly help you transform that old sunroom into a game room! What about a big comfy couch with room for the whole family to cuddle up for long read alouds? What about a TV area for educational movies, old classics, and the history channel? What about a Writer’s Nook set up with all your children need to write and produce books? What about a computer/desk area for projects or a place for your little builder to tinker around? How about a spot outside to play and “build” settings for their adventures? Oh, and don’t forget about a big chest or closet with dress up clothes! Welcome your children and learning in your home!

Have a blast!

     The tough part is over and the rest will be a blast! Are you more prepared than you think? Just go back over the list. Set up your home bit-by-bit to invite learning for LIFE! Not only will your children love it—but so will YOU! Have fun!

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