We're Getting a Homeschool Room!

We are finishing up our third year of homeschooling, and thus far have done our daily lessons at the dining room table, and even added a cabinet in the dining room to hold school supplies. Well, as the years have passed and we have gradually added more and more books & supplies, we are quickly outgrowing the dining room. Especially now that Jillian has started her own preschool lessons, space is at a premium.

One day, as I was lamenting my need for more bookshelves, my brother texted me asking if I wanted free bookshelves! Seriously. (I call that a God moment). You see, he & his wife are downsizing, and needed to get rid of some larger items. Like bookshelves. We ended up getting two bookshelves and a small desk from them! Bingo. But now... where to put them.

Enter our family room. It hasn't gotten much use in the six years we've lived in the house. In the winter we use the functional wood-burning fireplace as a heat source, making it less than ideal for small children to play in, and uncomfortable for the rest of us. So, a room not very functional for almost half the year ended up being a space for junk storage.

Well, now that much of Jason's winter is spent putting up Christmas lights for our family business, he has less & less time for things like cutting & stacking firewood. In fact, last winter we didn't light the fire one time. Not once. We talked about the reasonableness of not using the fireplace for heat in the future, and agreed that while it's a great financial savings to have free heat, the combination of the time it takes to cut & stack wood, along with the prospect of being able to turn it into a functional school room, led us to agree to not burn fires there any longer, and make the change.

Well, a few weeks before the bookshelf incident, I had decided we needed to purge some of our "junk" and had already begun the process. So the room was already in the process of being emptied out. When I knew the furniture was coming, I started an effort to completely clean out the room, as well as paint the walls. I'm so excited at how it's coming along.

Jena helped out painting the first coat

I think the new color, a light gray, is really going to brighten & open up the room. Once we get the new furniture in and the room set up, I think it's going to be a really nice space for the girls and I to have our lessons. And we'll have a functional space instead of wasted space.

First section of the room painted & drying. I'm loving the new lighter color!

Unfortunately I have to paint & prepare the room in phases, due to lack of time and need to parent small children. Some of you know what I mean. It would be nice to do all at once and be done, but bit-by-bit will be just fine and I'm still super-excited for the final product. I can't wait to show it to you!

As always, thanks for checking in!