Keeping It Real

First photo is of our kitchen, and on the right is our "business station". A place for bills, and adult office supplies (ie stamps, permanent markers, packaging tape, staplers, etc)

Here is a closer look at this chaos... *blush*, this has been a dumping spot through Christmas wrapping. The bag on the left is full of pinecones we used for birdfeeders. The "mail slots" at the top are assigned to (left to right) Nick, Joe, Fred, and me. This is suppose to be for keys, mail, and important small items...notice that I have items falling out of my slot.

ok, so now I am standing at our business station facing where I was standing for the last picture. This is our "landing pad" for shoes and coats. Now my kids are laughing at me cuz they do not think this is messy, but those extra coats hanging everywhere are there cuz we have a leak in our front door closet (discovered when all our snow melted).

Our "thoughtful spot" is on the flip side of our business station wall. Now with homeschooling it is common to change things (curriculum, schedules, ideas) to adapt to the changes of families. I originally called our "thoughtful spot" Australia, named after the book called Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in which a little boy having a very bad day wishes he lived in Australia. This idea worked well when I ran a childcare in my home, and my children were little... for meltdowns, poutiness, and the like, they were sent to "Australia" with books and stuffed animals on a bed like setting. Now that my children are getting older, I utilize the "thoughtful spot"... for meltdowns, not being co-operative, for any behavior correction needed. This is a place to take quiet time by oneself. Reading, praying, and writing apology letters are only some of the activities that can take place here.
So, in this photo, the table is suppose to be clear, lol, but lets take a look at what is lurking...

4 white mini laundry baskets stacked~ these are used daily. There is one to every child, and they go up every night with clean folded clothes in them (YES, usually done by me) that are suppose to be put away (part of our LIGHTS OUT routine) and then brought back down the next morning with their dirty clothes in them for the laundry room (part of our RISE N SHINE routine).

Now to explain what is going on in the photo, lol. Laundry has been brought down, so the baskets were empty, but here is another useful tool for that basket... ;^)
A REVERSE SCAVENGER HUNT hahaha, yeah, my kids dislike this one, lol. This is when meaningless tidbits of everything are lying about driving me crazy, so I place everything in the basket. Once full it is their job as a team to scramble to put things away (5 min). There is no "that's not mine" to stutter or the whole job goes to the one child who claimed that...Ah yes, team work, gotta love it!

next post... our actual "school" areas...