Down Home Virtual Tour: The Newman Family

{photos by Joy Newman}

Does anyone remember the Down Home house tours we did a few years back, where we visited the homes of SLOCA families to see how they set up their homeschool areas? We shared great ideas and were inspired to try new things while we connected with and encouraged each other. Good times. 

While we aren’t doing these tours at the moment, we did ask one of our families to give us a virtual tour of their homeschool space, and we get to share that with you today! We hope this will spark ideas for your own school organization and work flow, help you problem-solve, or at least be an interesting look into how people do SLOCA at home. And we hope it will inspire you to get together with other SLOCA parents to see each other's homes in person and share how you have your own learning areas set up.

Our first volunteer is the Newman family! Cade and Joy Newman are entering their 9th year at SLOCA. Some of you will recognize Mr. Newman as he is beginning his 2nd year as the UMS History/Literature teacher. The Newmans have four children at SLOCA: Eli (8th); Abraham (5th); Esther (4th); and Ezra (Kinder). 

Welcome to our home! Our school-at-home systems have changed over the years as our family has grown and our needs have changed. The ability to be somewhat flexible and creative with how to store and set-up school things is definitely an asset.

First, let’s look at part of our book storage. This large bookshelf is in our living room:

I collect books. Unashamedly. I keep the majority of our SLOCA books on the second row of shelves in the above picture, loosely grouped into Kinder books and then in order of our time periods. I also have some supplemental books I keep here to remind myself to put them out on the coffee table when they tie in with what we’re learning. 

Below that on the third row, our picture books are housed for easy access. And the bottom shelf is for blocks (I learned about the benefits of block play last year in Jr. K which prompted me to take them out of baskets and organize them) and for a play “center” that I will try and rotate each month or so. After reading Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, I was encouraged to provide opportunities at home for high level play. This month, I have some felt food items, a few trays and buckets, a grocery cart, paper and books that are related to food. There are other toys available of course, but they are stored elsewhere.

Also in our living room, we have this table. New this year is housing the old laptop our oldest has been using for schoolwork in the living room. This table allows him to spread out his books while he works and I found the tackle box in the garage to hold pencils and erasers. With another student in LMS this year, his computer time will increase as he begins to learn keyboarding and does research for science, etc. so we needed a space that was accessible for more than one child at a time. This area may change some as the year progresses.

My oldest has a desk in another room where he likes to do the majority of his work. That room is dark and doesn’t photograph well so there is no photo. He can shut the door if the noise level is getting out of hand in the rest of the house.

This buffet area in our kitchen (cabinets and counter from IKEA) is where the kids set things that go to/from school and I store other school things below. On top we also keep a dictionary, thesaurus, and IEW writing helps. 

These two drawers hold pencils, etc., white boards, flash cards, and other things like that. 

This large cabinet in the buffet holds our school boxes. Each child has a box that holds their grammar books, math HIG, handwriting, copies of poems for recitations, and other curriculum they don’t usually take with them to school. There is also an extra box that holds things I use for multiple kids such as the Teaching the Classics notebook, other writing helps, and paper.  I have identified each child’s box with tape.

In the back, I have separate boxes for each level of spelling. With the extra papers in AAS, I find it easier to put it in its own box instead of the general box. The whiteboard with the spelling tiles I keep elsewhere. This cabinet also holds the pencil sharpener, unifix cubes, and magnet letters. Extra writing paper and good colored pencils are stored below as well as my binder which holds other school papers–communication tree, paper school calendar, curriculum lists. 

On the side wall, I have a clipboard for each child that holds their grids. When the grid comes Friday, I print it out and put it here first thing. The kids can also easily access their own grids to check what needs to be done.

This little table is for Ezra. I’m not sure yet if he’ll do a lot of school work here but it has come in handy as a place that fits smaller kids to color, draw, and do art projects (that do not involve glitter!). 

And, here is where most of the magic happens! At our kitchen table. My one thing is during home days, we keep the food at one end and the work at the other to prevent spills and messes on school work. We are lucky to have such a large table that allows for multiple kids to spread out their work at once. I used to have three kids working here!  I guess because this is how we’ve always done school, my kids are able to concentrate and do their work with others around just fine. We take our history and reading to the sofa in the living room but otherwise, we work at the kitchen table. The best thing is when they help each other with school work or talk about what it was like for them at their previous levels.

Not pictured is our library which houses the majority of our book collection, printer, extra office supplies, games, and other curriculum that I will use in the future. I wouldn’t say I am super organized, but that I have found a level of organization that allows easy access for us all. 

If you’re ever physically in the neighborhood and would like to chat more about school organization, see our space firsthand, or come for a cup of coffee, feel free to give me a call. Thanks for dropping by today!

What a great tour! Thank you, Joy, for letting us peek inside your home for a look at how you store your school materials, and where all the magic happens. Your comments about being flexible and finding that “level of organization that allows easy access for all” are especially helpful. 

We would love to run another post like this – interested? If you are willing to take a few photos and share how you have your home learning area set up, please email Down Home!