Organizing Our New Home "School"

I really loved seeing this picture circulate Facebook because it was how our new bookshelf looked. I very often feel like the only one: the only homeschooler, the only African-American, the only Muslim, the only one who likes Butter Pecan  Häagen-Dazs . I am sure that I am not the only one in any of those categories, although, it always seems that way whatever group I am in. So when I see something or find someone that lets me know that I AM NOT ALONE, I get super excited, and this was one of those times.

My actual bookcase looks like this, it started out as two bookcases about 4 years ago and when we moved here with an IKEA less than 30 minutes away we bought 4 more to fill up the wall. And we love it, one stop, no more trekking all over the house to find a school book, reading book, or dictionary.

I do have each shelf organized by subject, our main subjects are Islamic studies, Math, Language, African-American, History, Geography, Science, Self-Help, and it goes on. The books that we are working with have a color coded sticker on the page that each child is on. Recently,we took a trip down to Georgia where we are landlords and have many of our belongings in storage in the attic. Well, we found a couple of treasures, books that we have not seen for over seven years including all my Montessori Teaching albums and great African American history books. I have made all five Montessori Teaching Albums for 3-6 olds and now I actually get to use them for Little A. I have many other manuals for different subjects and they are all located on the bottom shelves of the bookcases. 

I started working on transforming our homeschool from tan to GREEN, from paper to reusable material. This means I wanted to utilize stuff I already have and not buy a whole bunch of new things. I also wanted to create material that can be used over and over again. This is one reason why I have come full circle back to Montessori after trying many other curriculum, because many items in a Montessori classroom are reusable. Although, we are using other curriculum also like Saxon, for test, I have either put them in a sheet protector or laminated them, so my children can use a wet erase marker. All of this has cut down on our paper and ink usage, which saves the environment and saves us money.



I also did not buy many new thing, reusing the desks that I have had since Big A was little. And this children's cubby that was on it's last leg, we bought it used 8 years ago in California and the movers at first told me they would not bring it. Fortunately, for us the mover had a change of heart, he wrapped it up tight and added some screws. God is Great because it divinely fits right in the bar nook with only centimeters to spare on top, which gives it the support it needs on the side.

I have found these boxes from Dollar Tree that are perfect for my Montessori material, like the Phases of the Moon work. They also work great for the Montessori Language: pink, blue, & green series.



We hung our white erase board in the kitchen which we use to write the menu, All About Spelling, Calendar and general lesson work.

Downstairs, we have more space for learning with a computer, board games, manipulatives & puzzles.

Of course, we can take our learning outside where I personally rather be. My Beloveds have used the area: building with fallen branches/logs and playing in the mud. It is a work in progress, but I love our new space and we are starting to get some great learning done!

Everything I make is completely free to use. We also accept and appreciate constructive criticism, please leave a comment. ♥ If you find our resources beneficial, Alhumdulillah, All praises are due to our Creator. The best gift we can receive from you are your du’as, prayers for our family. May God bless you and give you Tawfiq, success in your work to educate pious children. Using the Amazon affiliate links will give us a small commission to help support this blog. 

With all my love & du’as,

Kamilah Munirah Sayyidi

♥  More Administrave
Administrative Page

♥  Amazon Store Items:
Laminator

♥  Pinterest: Noor Janan Homeschool