Danielle Burkleo

schooled.

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it’s 9:10 pm on the night before the big day. the scent of freshly sharpened pencils is pulling me from the little school room that i just put finishing touches on a few hours earlier. okay, that’s a lie. but i wish i could smell them right now, cause you must know that i love me some freshly sharpened pencils. september, to me, smells like crisp air, apple orchards, pumpkin bread, and PENCILS…. all wrapped in to one. what is it about school supplies that makes me weak in the knees? the fresh start? the newness? opening perfectly pointed and dry crayons that have yet to enter any of my children’s mouths? my favorite season being so close? i can’t quite put my finger on it but, the bottom line here is…

tomorrow morning i start homeschooling. 

yes, it’s true. and i think i am more excited than my kids. 
here’s a look into our school room that was once our playroom. we have since given away a ton of toys and moved the rest into the boys room under the bunk beds. if it doesn’t fit under the bunk bed… buh bye. 
so here she is… in all her glory:
i spent little to no money on furniture or decorations for this space. the table which will be the boys’ desk was my moms, the rocking chair was mine as a child. i had the bulletin board and got the chalkboard at goodwill. the curtains were two pairs of urban outfitters clearance, cut and sewn to fit four windows, by my mom.  
the alphabet poster, numbers poster, and preschool wall calendar are all from amazon. i choose joy print was gift from my friend carly from her lovely shop, little light prints.
yay! banner was gift from my dear friend, hannah, from my homegirl, heather’s shop, cm handmade.
the two chairs my mom picked up yesterday for the boys at michaels. cause, uh, they had no where to sit and we start tomorrow. don’t judge my awesome preparedness. is that even a word? they are my last little piece that needs to be finished. i’ll spray paint them some fun color this week. 
most of this room is decorated for the boys. this one print here, however, is for me. on all the days i feel like i can’t do this homeschool thing i will look that this and say goodbye to the doubt. or at least that’s the plan. amazing print from my amazing friend lindsay, and her shop, pen and paint. 
the hanging globe light is from colton and cadence, i first saw it one my friend meg’s blog and fell.in.love. the chair i picked up off the side of the street. seriously. 
some of the boys’ watercolor paintings framed and a whole lot of paper. 
happy homeschool! flowers from my mom.
a bunch of thrifted goodness and a painting from my sweet friend, casey. 
above and below is more pen and paint goodness. so what if my whole house is decorated in lindsay’s art? yours should be too. 
these little bins are 25 cents at target right now. just saying. 
here’s some answers to the questions i’ve gotten along the way:

i am doing 4 year old preschool with brody this year at home. i’ll be including foster, as much as i can, in all of this. he will be three in november.  i am using five in a row curriculum. i chose this because it is a more hands on, creative curriculum, that focuses on classical children’s literature and teaching all the different subjects off of the story you are reading each morning that week. it brings an awareness to a global worldview, different places, cultures, and people at an early age and i love that. i also feel like it caters to who brody is as a person.  i’ll be doing school at home monday, wednesday, and thursday. on tuesdays we have a co-op from 9-1 for both boys. they will be taking classes like phonics, math, art, music, science, gymnastics and more.

five in a row is a great curriculum choice for those who are looking for something affordable. i chose to purchase all the books that the curriculum uses because i want to build up my kid’s little library at home and i plan on using this in the future with the rest of our kids. but, if wanted or needed, you can just buy the guide for the curriculum for around $35 and get all the books out at the library.

i’ve been picking up pre-k and K aged workbooks of all different subjects and i will have brody work on several of those throughout each week too. he loves his workbooks and problem solving and would choose to do this even if i didn’t want him to. i’ve gotten some at michaels, target, and on amazon.

along with FIAR, i will be doing my own little bible curriculum. my abc bible verses is a book that we’ve had for a while and i’ll be using it for our verse of the week scripture memorization. we’ll also be doing a long story short activity three or four nights a week as a family. for writing, brody will also work on writing out his bible verse each week.

for reading, we are working through the BOB books and i will be starting to use teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. along with the math activities that we will doing through FIAR i also had a friend give me to a mathstart set to work through.

before i went to school for business i got an associates degree in early childhood education so i pulled out all of that and have some really great resources. the book pictured above, creative resources for the early childhood classroom has a bajillion weekly theme ideas and several ways to teach those themes through each subject. you could easily homeschool preschool out of that alone. so i am pulling out art, music, and other subject ideas from that book that correspond with our curriculum.

i have no idea how long i will homeschool for. i am taking it year by year (day by day?) and kid by kid.

so, boom, that’s it.

if i don’t want to cry myself to sleep tonight i will try to type out this week’s plan as an example for what we will be doing each week.

happy monday! 

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  1. Happy first day of school to you & your littles! My husband was homeschooled his entire life and values that time so much. He would love for our children to be homeschooled, but understands that his wife doesn't know if she is up for the challenge. lol. I think its awesome that you are so excited about it because your kids will be too.

  5. Love this! Great job on the school room! I home schooled for pre-school… you have linked some great sources!!

  6. Oh you're going to LOVE it! I just started pre-K with my youngest this year and I love, love, love it! Way more fun than 5th grade 🙂 Can't wait to hear more on your homeschooling adventure!

  7. I wish my school was that cute growing up! 😉 Great job! Sending you lots of prayers that it will be a smooth and fun year of learning for all of you! xoxo

  10. I loved homeschooling my kindergartener two years ago. Its amazing to watch them learn new things and be a part of that.
    I get to do that now that Im teaching and the same daughter is in my classroom at school.
    Your room looks great, and like you said…one day at a time. One foot in front of the other. Prayers for you from downstate:)

  15. I am so excited to follow along with your home schooling journey. I just started doing 'pre-school' with my 2 1/2 year old…it's in quotations because it's not real preschool just more structured learning and Bible teaching. Anyway, I found a shirt that made me instantly think of you and your sweet blog…
    http://shopwalkinlove.storenvy.com/products/544073-take-heart-by-el-clinto
    not sure if you have seen it before but it's super cute! I pray that the Lord gives you favor to teach your children!

  16. Wow! This space is just so special and beautiful. Any child would be so lucky to learn here. I'm so excited to hear how things go! I will say a quick prayer that everything goes smoothly and you all have a great first day. =)

  17. I'm not a huge commentor, but as I scrolled through this post I felt it coming on. I can't stop myself now. LoVe your school space. We use FIAR and 100 easy lessons, Bob books, etc. I don't know anyone else that uses FIAR! I've got two little guys and a little girl. Too bad we don't live closer!

  18. good for you,lady! i'm looking forward to starting with judah next fall when he's 4 and thanks for sharing your curriculum…i have no clue where to start with that!

  19. Yay! Have fun with it! It is so great and very encouraging to see parents care so deeply about their children and believe in their abilities!

  20. you got long story short! you'll have to tell me what you think. the room looks great! happy first day of school.

  21. This makes me want to be in school. That globe lamp? Amazing! The choose joy print has been moved to the most joyful shop ever -thejoyfulshop.etsy.com.

    XOXO

@danielleburkleo