School at the Ball house

This blog is particularly for Kathie who wanted to see the finished process.  For 1 1/2 years I have home schooled Nathan and Mandy.  We were holding it in the dining area off the kitchen.  It was convenient to the kitchen or to the laundry room (if I needed to do wash) but it was always out and our dining area looked like school all of the time.  Going around the house I had a problem finding a better area and we finally came up with the small room at the top of the stairs.  It was really useless space, too small for a room and to big for a hall.  We moved two large bookcases up the stairs and then I needed to find a table or desk that would fit in the space.  Nathan and Mandy both have desks in their rooms but Nathan's was too big and Mandy wouldn't work so I looked and looked for a table that I could put sideways and they could sit facing each other.  Unfortunately, it had to be a rather unusual size and I couldn't find anything.  I ended up buying two desks and putting them together.  The following pictures are the process of putting together these "simple" desks.

 

The putting together of Nathan's desk.  I allowed them input into the color or their desks and Nathan's is silver and natural wood and Mandy's is pink and while, of course.

While I was putting together the desks the kids used the Styrofoam pieces as a racing course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and now fast forward to school starting.  The bookcase on the right has Mandy's stuff

and the bookcase on the left has Nathan's stuff plus each desk has two drawers (you can't see here) and they have their pencils, erasers, etc. and it makes it easier to keep up with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we worked on Science and put together an aquarium with Triop eggs to hatch.  We will watch them grow (hopefully) and keep a journal on how many have grown and how long they survive.

Putting in the sand (together). The triop box.  They are a type of shrimp that are millions of years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting in the distilled water.  We must be very careful!

Dropping in the eggs - they both had to have a turn, how do you divide triop eggs in equal parts?  Anyway, they both made notes in their science notebooks and we will be following them - if they survive.