5 Things for the New School Room

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We moved in the middle of our school year and with that came a bigger and better space to do and store our school work. Over the past seven months we’ve used it a little bit and we’ve made do with what we had–but before the new school year begins I want to finish getting it ready and making it usable (you know, the way I see it in my head.) 😉

Our first dilemma was a need for more furniture (furniture we didn’t have because we didn’t have room before.) I’ve already set up our two new bookcases and I’ve got seating on the way so in a few days I can check “furniture” off the list. =)

Now that the furniture has been taken care of, our bulletin board, dry erase board and workcharts have been hung, and our books and supplies are happily stored on the new bookcases… what’s next? I find myself looking around our school room to see if there’s anything we NEED to help us get our job done well. (The right tools for the right job and all that.) =)

A new printer:

Last month I saw a friend selling their printer for a very reasonable price and I grabbed it up! Yes, we do have a black “ink” laser printer in the office, but I miss the days when I had a color printer for some specific school projects. We won’t use this for everything, but it will come in handy with our new WonderMaps (can’t wait to start using this!) and for artist study and things like that. We’ve used it a half dozen times or so and we’re happy with it so far.

Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer

A new pencil sharpener:

Our pencil sharpener is shot. I think we’ve had it since before we began homeschooling! It makes funny noises and no matter what you do it only sharpens one side of the pencil. I think it’s time for a new one. I’ve been looking at this one, but I’m open to recommendations. 😉

School Smart Vertical Pencil Sharpener

Paper Storage:

I plan to not only set up a paper station to hold our blank, ruled, construction and scratch paper, but I also plan to set up a box for our used paper to take to the recycling bin in town. We go through SO MUCH PAPER now that we really need a system for this.

Classroom Keeper 6 Shelf Organizer

New Lighting:

There’s wiring for a light fixture in our new school space but there isn’t a light in there yet. We’ve been relying on sunshine from the window and lighting from the adjacent kitchen. But I am one of those “I LIKE LIGHT” kind of people. I hope to eventually install a solar tube but for right now, I just need to get a light in there. I don’t really know what I want, so I’ll probably just find something simple like this:

Roomstylers Pendant Light

More of these Rubbermaid Containers:

These are my favorite containers out of all the containers we’ve ever had. Originally I bought three, and each child had one to contain all of his or her own pencils, scissors, glue, notebooks and whatnot. Eventually, I ended up putting all of the pencils, scissors, etc, in one place and using the containers to hold extra school helps. One holds all of our math extras. Another holds flash cards and other learning games. These have lasted and been very durable, the size is convenient. They are 14 x 10.5 x 4 inches tall. It turns out that two of these fit perfectly side by side on our new bookcase. I can fit another four on top of them. =) Woot woot!

Rubbermaid 1.8 Gallon Organizer Keepers Snap Case

That’s all I’ve got on the list for now. I may come up with some more needs to be met as I finish organizing and setting up. I haven’t even added a laminator. =p But for now I think this will do. Hopefully our remaining furniture will arrive today. If not, it will be here Monday. It’s all coming together!

What would you add – am I missing anything?