classroom

Every Sunday night the kids and I watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" together. It's pretty much the only prime time TV we watch. I know... it's kind of sappy and sentimental... but I love watching the houses being built, I love the "before and afters", and I really love imagining how amazing it is for those families to have a new, beautiful home (often with no mortgage!).     Anyway... it's my favorite show.

We did our own little extreme classroom makeover the other day, thanks to my oldest daughter giving me a desk she could no longer use.

Here's the classroom "before". It's basically a little sunroom/hot tub room that was created by enclosing part of an outside deck. It's small, and has some funky giant "steps" along one wall (accommodating a bit of the porch roof that was enclosed when they finished the room).

We used an old dining room table for a desk, keeping the kids school books organized in plastic bins.  We had a little computer area in the corner next to the bookcase.

It was crowded, but it worked...

Here's the "after" shot...

I think it looks a lot better.

The desk has space for the kids school books in the top...

... and a pull-out shelf for extra work room. Since we only do one-on-one school in the classroom (for bigger projects, and things the kids work on together, we work on the dining room table) one large desk works well.

We moved the computer upstairs into a little "computer nook" we created in the guest bedroom closet, so it's no longer taking up room in the classroom...

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Having the classroom newly organized (and cleaned!) has all of us excited about the new school year... Of course, it's any one's guess how long the room will stay looking nice and clean and organized, our beautiful new desk could very well be buried under papers, projects and books by October!