Our DIY Project Based Learing Room

As I have mentioned in previous posts I have been completely changing the way I see homeschooling. We recently had some family visiting for a while so I took the opportunity to take a nice long break from our normal schedule of lessons and activities to let the kids just enjoy the time with their cousin. During this time I was able to take a step back and think about the different things I hoped to accomplish in the New Year.

The Project Based Learning Room was a very important goal I had that I wanted to complete by the end of January. And so here it is in all its glory. For one thing I knew I did not want to spend any money on it. I wanted to make use of what I already had at home to make it cost efficient and easy to complete. As per the location there were two rooms I had in mind. The first is the room on the first floor being used as an office, and the second was the kids playroom in the second floor that was completely unused. The office is a darker space but has access to the main living area. Their playroom as you can see has lots of natural light, has built in closets and was virtually empty. It also has access to their bathroom just outside the room. Although it is upstairs and away from the main living area I opted to use this room. My husband removed the 3 long wooden doors off the closets so that the storage would be open and easily accessible to the kids and I used the long doors as tables to create an L-Shape working surface. I have 4 small folding tables holding the closet doors in place.

An unused leather storage bench provided ample seating, and old recycled empty class jars, containers and tins are used to hold markers, colored pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, beads, tape and other arts and craft items. In the closet I hung an unused shoe holder and placed some wicker baskets and an old table to create some organization within the space. I also placed a wicker basket full of some art, craft and science books that could provide some inspiration, information or motivation to begin various projects  In the closet holds all types of paper, coloring, sticker and workbooks, various paints, and knitting and sewing items, along with their loomband case.   

On the wall to the right of the closet I stuck a piece of sticky chalkboard paper. And have some additional shelving and toy bin which eventually I would like to find another home for as it doesn't really belong in this room now. In the end I spent zero dollars on this project and created a great space for the kids to work in. The best part is that this room does not always need to be clean. Things can stay out and the room can get messy and will be out of sight. That being said any space can be a great project space as long as you make it open and accessible to your kids.

Goal Planning and Unschooling

It's been about 8 months now since our homeschool journey began. And with the holiday break came a lot of time for reflections. I sat back and questioned myself numerous times as to whether or not my methods were actually benefiting the kids. More often than not our Quran and math sessions would begin or end in tears. I wondered, "What am I doing different than a teacher would be doing at school?" Wasn't homeschooling supposed to be about the kids loving to learn instead of being forced to learn? I decided to take a step back and give myself and the kids a break. I had some family visiting during the holiday and one member told me that I should sit down and think about what I had accomplished last year and list them, and then think about what I would like to accomplish next year and list them. I did just that. And wow! It did seem like I accomplished a lot the previous year, but the upcoming year looked worrisome. How would I accomplish all these goals? The next step, my brother-in-law told me, was to create a document with the families goals listed next to each other (including my children's goals) and try to find commonalities and themes, and then create synergies, or win, win, wins. You can check out an example of this here:
http://www.ahmadfahmy.com/blog/2014/12/26/tripplewins

This goal planning tactic was very useful in helping me to see not only what my own goals were, but what was important to my husband and daughter. By looking at Ameera's goal I clearly understood that my ideas and plans for her were not at all what she planned for herself. This led me to the conclusion that our homeschooling would become more Unschooly in nature as we shift to Project Based Learning. I went from structured learning to a much more laid back style approach over the course of 8 months. I find myself thinking a lot about deschooling myself, which basically means that because I went to school, I still very much have a predisposed way of thinking about education and learning. I want to free myself of this thinking and recondition myself to let my children lead me, but it is an incredibly hard and scary thing to do. Keeping goals and setting a plan has helped clear my mind and made me feel more confident in what I want and need to do. I am going to start with cutting way back on any structured type of setting and spending more time observing my kids and listening to them. I believe taking notes will be key in this unschooling process as will creating a special space for my kids to conduct their projects in. This is one of my main goals for this year.