Here’s a thing I never thought I would say… I’m officially a homeschool mom.
And if you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you might remember how I used to be homeschooled myself as a child and had strong feelings about the matter (I lamented about it in this post).
My strong feelings revolved around the fact that HOMESCHOOLING IS GOOD FOR SOME KIDS AND ISN’T GOOD FOR OTHERS. And I still feel that way! We should all get to know our kids well enough to know which type of schooling is appropriate for them. Taking into consideration personality type, learning style, need for socialization, strengths, weaknesses, school districts, etc.
But I was taking another thing into consideration too.
I was putting a strong emphasis on ‘I’m not the homeschooling type of mom’ and ‘I don’t have enough patience’ and ‘I’m not qualified to educate my kids’.
It seems like as soon an I make a blanket statement like oh I could never homeschool my kids, the universe punches me in the face.
After the twins finished the first grade at public school, one thing became abundantly clear… I needed to take my own advice.
I needed to take inventory of all the variables and realize that what’s best for my kids MIGHT ACTUALLY BE HOMESCHOOLING instead of public school. And if that’s the case, I will sacrifice everything to do what’s best for them.
Running a full-time business, renovating a historic home, and raising 3 littles aren’t my only focuses anymore. We’re adding homeschooling to the mix. At least this year… because we’ll take this one year at a time.
Welcome to our homeschool room.
I’m not going to go into specific reasons why we’re choosing to homeschool to respect the privacy of our kiddos. And actually, one of the twins is open-enrolled and goes to school in the mornings. So if you watch my Insta Stories and don’t see them all, that’s why! We’re truly making choices for each individual child and what we feel is best for them.
But let’s talk about this amazing room, shall we? We lovingly call it The Solarium, and it is the only room in our new house that we can confidently say is FINISHED!
We partnered with Article for the furniture in this space, and the wood tones, white accents, and textures have me swinging from the chandelier! The big gorgeous basket chandelier that is. 😉
We paired the warm walnut table with these crisp modern white chairs that are SO comfortable (and wipeable!). Our whole family fits around this table, and we love working on projects and creating together! And it doesn’t hurt that the lighting is AMAZING. These windows!
The Spira Rug is the perfect subtle greige tone and is so soft underfoot. I love that it grounds the table a bit amongst the busyness of the floors I stenciled (and still looooove!). We went with the 9′ round, but I do wish they had a size between the 6′ and 9′. That would have been just too perfect.
The basket light is 100% bigger than I thought it would be, and I’m SO OBSESSED WITH IT! It doesn’t feel too large for the space, and is such an awesome piece that draws your eyes up. And it lets off a ton of light too!
Article has so many amazing pieces on their website Article.com that you should go browse through! And I love that they offer a flat shipping fee of $49 (or $19 for small shipments) for most orders, no matter how large. I know ordering large items online can seem like the shipping would really add up, but you don’t have to worry about that here!
Since I know someone will ask about the hammock chair, I ordered it off of this Etsy shop. It’s our reading chair… as in, you can’t sit in this chair unless you’re reading an actual book. House rules.
Lots of adventures, projects and learning is going to go down in this room SO excited to make new memories! Wish this second grade teacher luck! 😉 And veteran homeschool moms, GIVE ME ALL THE ADVICE in the comments below.
~Bethany
UPDATE! Below are links to posts that we’ve published about our ‘new’ house and it’s progress!
.
.
.
.
.
Related:
-
WHAT A JOURNEY! What a labor of love! What a pain in the booty! I…
-
Every spring, I have grand plans of having the most epic vegetable and flower gardens!…
-
Howdy friends! We've been using and abusing our Sven Sofa and Armchair from Article for…
Found your site while trying to figure out what to do with my old 70s linoleum floors. Replacing is out of my budge, but i love a good stenciling project (thankfully, i have access to a laser and large sheets of material perfect for a stencil. I’m curious how the flooring is holding up (especially after seeing that you started homeschooling, which i’m sure led to more traffic in that room!). fyi, I absolutely love your color choices! That room looks amazing!
Apologies in advance for not proofreading this before sending this. Ugh!
It has held up absolutely beautifully. It looks the same as the day I finished it… and my kids are ROUGH on it. 🙂
I’m glad you joined the homeschool group. I have 7 kids from 3 to 16. I homeschool all 5 of the school age kids. I use Abeka DVDS. They are awesome. It’s a Christian School. You can do the credit or non credit. My kids each have their own teachers and love seeing the kids in the classrooms. They talk about the kids. I oversee all their work, make sure they do what they are supposed to do each day. I have 3 second graders, one in 6th, one that is trying to do 8th and 9th grades in a 12 month period, one that is trying to do 10th and 11th grade in a 12 month period. Abeka is not for the faint of heart because they require a lot. But I do recommend it to all the homeschoolers out there. Check it out. I think you would really like it. You can watch a class free online. Just go to www abeka.com
Sincerely, Cindy Lopez
I have 2 not 3 second graders. Sorry for the type error.?
That’s amazing! I’m doing Abeka Language 3 for Paisley this year, but I didn’t know there was an option for DVDs. I’ll have to look into that for next year!
I think the best bit of advice I can give you is exactly what you are doing. Do what each child needs. I LOVED my life when I was homeschooling. We were what they call ‘eclectic’ homeschoolers and it worked for my kids. Except Aly who only wanted work books and lots of structure, lol!! I am looking forward to seeing this next chapter of your life!!!
Everything looks amazing!! But mostly, how long did it take you to do those floors?? Wow!! So much to admire!! ❤️
Let’s just say the floor too multiple dozens of hours. 😉
This is so interesting blog. I am appreciating your effort. An excellent read. I will certainly be back
Thanks Claire <3
ECLECTIC! I knew you could take a wonderful old home, infuse your more contemporary style, and make it awesome. Can’t wait to see what else you come up with for the other rooms!
I did home school all three of my kids all the way through. Two of them chose to go to college. My son, who fought me just a bit with the schooling ended up doing a double major and is now a MO State Trooper. My oldest daughter, who was a self motivator, got a 4.0 in college and is a pre K teacher. My youngest daughter chose not to go to college and runs the farm and over sees all of the cattle breeding and records. I won’t say there wasn’t times when I was frustrated, but it was well worth the effort. Best advice I can give, is it is okay to have a house that isn’t spotless. Your kids will remember the time you spent with them and appreciate it much more than meals on time and a clean house. Crock pot and time bake can be your best friend. I would recommend the Saxon Math curriculum for any of the grades you do. If you are teaching them to read, the best program I found is “At last a method any child can learn to read” by Mary Pecci. Don’t know if I got the title right, but I do have the author. It has been a few years. Lastly, we did not have the fight I remember having with my parents over clothes, activities, etc. because there was no peer pressure. My children can converse with all ages and I would say are very well adjusted. I got a lot of flack from my family as several of them are public school teachers. Biggest concern was the socialization. Saw a study on home schooled kids verses public school. Public school kids did not converse well with all ages because they were used to being with their own age group. Home schooled kids were comfortable with all ages. I encourage you to persevere. It will be well worth it and you will love the relationship you have with your kids.
Love, love, love the big light!! The room looks great. Sorry- no homeschooling advice. I’m a teacher married to a teacher. ?
Love the Solarium and wish I had something similar in my home. We do have a porch but it doesn’t receive any air or heat which makes it great cold storage for Christmas cookies 😉
Good luck with homeschooling. We have a few friends that homeschool and have found support from local groups and regional conferences.
I applaud you in doing what is best for each individual child. As you know my story, and I really loved your term “hesitant homeschooler” that fits me perfectly! Love the solarium, it looks so cozy!
I’m an old grandma and don’t know much about homeschooling. That was probably against the law when I was in school, LOL. I applaud your desire to do what is best for your children. i’ve been a follower since the twins were born and I’m sure you will be a wonderful teacher. Knowledge is power so seek out as much information as you can get. From what I hear homeschooling has come a long way and now there are more and more resources available. I’ll be praying for you as you take on the challenge.
The Solarium is amazing. I love, love, love what you did with the floor and the color you chose to paint the walls. The rug, new table, and chairs are perfect. That hammock chair is the bomb! Vikki in VA.
Bethany,
I want to give you a positive push! 😉 I homeschool two kiddos. One in k and the other in 5th. They are completely different kids. Learn differently and like different subjects. Homeschooling has afforded my older child the advanced school opportunities that she wouldn’t otherwise have in her school district. Doing what is best for your kiddos and ignoring the the naysayers. ***clapping***
Love, love, love your “school room”! Bright, and engaging 🙂 Good luck with your new venture!
Good Luck with the Homeschooling!
Did you sand all that woodwork before you painted it?!
Hoping to see more posts on the decision making that goes into play when you evaluate criteria for homeschooling vs public school. I supply taught (from K to 12) for 15+ yrs and tutored, but never in a million years would I have considered homeschooling mine. But I do think yours will thrive.