From dining room to learning room - Part 2 - purposeful wall space

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I probably over think the placement of our homeschool items and supplies.  I can also get a little OCD about closets, toy bins and even silverware.  So I'm going to claim that it's a gift and I'm not afraid to use it!

Creating Purposeful Spaces

 When I was a classroom teacher, I really want to make sure that every space was purposefully used and utilized by 20+ kiddos.

Here's one of my favorite Reading Corners in my 1st grade classroom.  Cozy, Comfortable and Purposefully used!

  

So this "gift" has been a great addition to creating purposeful spaces within our homeschool.  

My last post was all about repurposing that LONG Ikea shelf.  If you missed that post, check it out here:

Part 1 - Repurposing THAT shelf

Today, I want to take you over to the window wall in our newly, transformed Learning Room.  Windows can be a great place to hang charts, map and/or create a clothesline of kiddo's art work or school papers.

That cute apple banner, I bought from Target in their $1 bin and thought it would be a fun accessory to start off September! But in the past, I've hung the children's work up there, like in this picture.

 During our 2 week Olympic study, we would hand finished products that reflected what we had learned that day.

I simply used a piece of yarn, 2 small cup hooks (screwed them into the window frame) and mini clothes pins or paper clips.  I like using the mini-clothes pins (or paper clips) because they are light in weight.  FYI:  The larger clothespins sag the line and sometimes flips the papers upside down.

When you lose wall space because of a large window, you have to find ways to use it!
Here's another idea for hanging things from your mini-blinds.

We use this map just about everyday!  So I bought these hooked clips from Ikea (click here for Ikea website)  The hook can swing around your mini-blink strings or the mini-blind itself.  And you have a simple way to display charts, maps or even more work.

Moving on down... the window sill is a great way to display special books.
If books are visible, they will read them!

I flirted with the idea of drilling holes into this small Ikea picture frame shelf but I came up with a different idea that I am thinking I will like even more!

Do you know what a "base shoe" is?  It's the piece of what that completes the look between your baseboards and floors.  It looks like this.

I am thinking of nailing a "base shoe" along the length of my window sill to create shelf-like ledge to display our library books.  This base shoe will help balance the books so they can lean up against the window and not slip off onto the floor.  I hope my thinking makes sense.

And I'll be sure to post a finished picture of what that all looks like.

Another option that I've thought about would be this:

I just need to see which project my husband is ready to take on.  I'm unsure about the Ikea shelf being strong enough (and centered) if we can't screw the shelf into the wall studs.

So many crazy ideas, just for books!  But I keep reminding myself..."it's all about creating purposeful spaces that make learning easy and accessible!"

So that's a wrap on creating purposeful wall space!  I hope that I've inspired you to try one or all of these ideas.

The next blog post will be the other wall in our Learning Room...the one you can see in the picture above that holds our calendar.  So be sure and check back then.

Until then...Happy Learning with your Little Ones!