It’s finally happened! After 2 long years of saving and waiting, and saving, and checking online, it finally opened. Ikea. Right here in my backyard! (Well, not MY back yard, but you get the idea…its close…real close…almost too close.)
Anyway, like I was saying I’ve been eyeballing some shelves and desks for a couple years now, and so as soon as it opened, I headed out. I know crazy right? Going to Ikea right when it opens. But I didn’t go on opening day, I went the next day. It was a weekday, so I figured all the fanatics would be back at work after camping out, so I was safe. Good call on my part too, it wasn’t bad at all!
I seriously love everything in that store! I did get a little lost at one point though (I forgot how crazy-mazey it is in there) had to call a BFF to get me out LOL! She directed me to those handy little arrows on the floor and told me “follow the arrows, they’ll lead you out”. She was right. I stayed on the arrows and after just 2.5 hours had made my way all the way through the store.
I did get lost in one of those little apartments they have set up, a super cool closet lured me in. But eventually I found my way back to my trusty arrows. So happy they have those things.
But anyway, I’m sure you all don’t want to hear me ramble on about my trip to Ikea. The best store ever. So I’ll get onto my new schoolroom setup!
I started out by taking most of the things out of our school room to make new for the Ikea bliss.
Next I recruited the help of some able bodied folks to help me assemble.
And assemble…
And assemble. Why I thought swivel chairs that raise and lower would be a good plan is beyond me. I got sucked in to all the goodness by Ikea.
I know some of you will be disappointed that I’ve ditched my little desks for this year, but we’re going to try something new. We did school some in our kitchen last year and I liked having the kids together at one table. It made it a little easier to keep an eye on what everyone was doing, so we’re going to try that again this year with this cool setup.
And don’t worry, I didn’t ditch my workboxes, they’re still in the room. I was planning to use the Ikea drawer units for my workboxes, but couldn’t part with the 10-drawer ones I’ve used for the past 2 years, so for now the Ikea drawers hold their larger books and supplies like pencils, scissors, glue etc. That way people aren’t fighting over those things and they’re readily available in their top drawer.
After re-organizing all of our stuff in the new space, we ended up with this. I LOVE it! Got our big USA Wall map for our Road Trip USA studies.
What’s this whole setup include? I’m not advertising for Ikea here, but I figured some of you may want to know how to put this thing together yourself. They also have table legs you could use instead that are much less expensive, as well as Amon Shelves that are cheaper too. They also have different colors and sizes. What inspired me to go white with four young children and a bunch of enticing markers in the middle of the table is beyond me.
My school room is about 11′ x 14′, the total size of the desk is about 5’x5′.
- 4 – Vika Alex Drawer units
- 2 – Vika Amon Table Tops (I purchased two 2.5′ x 5′ table tops and put them together for a 5×5 table, these are now called Linnmon table tops. But they’re the same as the ones I purchased.)
- 1 Expedit Wall Shelf (The Expidit 5×5 units are no longer available, the largest one they offer now are 4×4 cubes and called Kallax)
- 4 Jules Jr. Swivel Chairs (Another potential mistake, these swivel and raise and lower…I’m sure we’ll get lots done this year)
- 5 DRÖNA Storage boxes
Here’s a close-up of the drawers and chairs for you. I turned them all in a pin-wheel pattern so that one set of drawers is facing each student. I’m strongly considering getting a glass top cut for this to protect all my whiteness, but that’ll have to come later as budget allows.
I used my old cube system from Target for my Teacher’s Manuals, the old bookshelf for games and such, then proceeded to fill my new Ikea Expedit Wall Shelf full of goodies.
And, yes, that is my Letter of the Week curriculum in the binders along the top row. Wow, all that for $10, I must really like you guys ;o). In case you’re wondering, I purchased page protectors, then put all the games inside those in binders. 26 binders. Really. No kidding. Plus a few more for the K4 Curriculum as well!
This cool Making Memories Caddy was one of my old scrapbooking items. I dumped out the supplies and filled it with markers. Yep, you know you’re a homeschooler when you start sacrificing your scrapbooking supplies in the name of school.
Here’s another look at our shelves, calendar area and All About Spelling board below:
On the opposite wall is my whiteboard, Word Jail bulletin board, and a smaller USA map we’ll be using for our Road Trip USA this year.
Now that I had my room all set up, the last thing to do was sort all my curriculum for the year.
Glad I got a big table. Yikes.
Pray for me.
So that’s it, our schoolroom is all set up, curriculum is put away, and all’s ready to go. Too bad the kids aren’t allowed in here anymore or we could start school tomorrow ;o)
Where’d I Get that?
- Making Memories Caddy (I purchased mine at Michael’s Hobby Store)
- Alphabet Palm Tree on wall
- 10 Drawer Workbox Carts (I purchased mine at JoAnn’s Fabric Store)
- Giant Whiteboard (Check your local www.craigslist.org I found mine for $5!)
- Blue Organizer Bins on Expedit Shelving
- Seasons Calendar Poster (This is held onto a cork board with small thumb tacks. Click here to see a closeup of our Calendar Activities)
Have pics to share? I would love to see what all of you have setup, leave a comment below to share!
I really like the look of that table! Do you think it would work to use the slightly smaller tale tops to make a 4×4 square (or would that be too squished)? I’m trying to decide what to do here.
AHHH I LOVE IT!!! I WANT TO DO IT NOW!!! and just when i was satistfied with our classroom…lol! It looks beautiful Erica, you guys did a great job!!!!
This looks amazing, but how much money do you go through for this? I mean we are on such a budget that im not sure we could pull it off!
I really love your set up, my issue is I only have a small 10×10.5 foot room that is already our guest/craft room to do our homeschooling in and only one child (at moment, hoping for another). I’m thinking about putting up wall cabinets. I’ve been brainstorming forever!
Love the idea! Are the table tops anchored to the drawer units?
In the picture of your 10 drawer school boxes I noticed some are different colors. Are the different colors representative of a certain subject?
I love your new room. I am a brand new homeschooling mom and I am so excited about finding your blog. I want to find new ways to teach my children and blogging is great for that. I too have a fun room that has a lot of ikea products…aren’t they great?! I have a question…I noticed on your wall different ways of teaching spelling and other subjects. How do you decide on what to do. I am going through the K12 in California and I am doing all that they have sent me, but want to start venturing out into other ways of teaching. I am not sure if k4 is different than k12…again I am brand new at this 😉 but would just like to pick your brain a little. Hope you can get back to me and if you get a chance stop by my blog to give me some more pointers about organizing. Thanks so much!
~I did the whole swivel chairs that go up and down…I might super glue them! haha!
LOVE IT!!! i’m planning on officially starting homeschooling next sept. i’m quite excited! i love your blog and am so thankful for it! i’m getting so many ideas from here! thank you!! just wondering, how come the posts of what your classroom was like before is no longer as easily available? i liked how u had the links to everything u had/have in your classroom, and i thought that before i just had to click on “our classroom” and all those posts came up, whereas now, its just this one and i have to go searching for the older ones. or is it easier to find and maybe i’m just not looking in the right places? also, now that you’ve been using this new set-up for a bit, which would u say u like better? having them all together at one table and with the 5 drawer units underneath, or them sitting separate with the 10 drawer workboxes?? oh and another question, (i know, i know, you’re probably like enough with the questions already ;P) do you have or would u possibly be able to make a trip through canada curriculum? i know u have the U.S one, and even though i live in canada, i think i would even still like to purchase the U.S one. never hurts right? 😉 but i was just thinking that having a canadian one would be really awesome as well! 😀
hi! i LOVE this!! your classroom is gorgeous!! i just had a couple questions. i love your new setup but also liked that i could easily get to the posts of what your class looked like before. i love that you have a link for everything and had/have, and can’t seem to get there anymore. i thought i just went to “our classroom” before but now this is the only one that shows up. so i have to do a lot more searching to find the older posts. am i maybe just not looking in the right places? oh, and i LOVE your curriculums and noticed you have the road trip USA and was wondering if you would by any chance have a canadian one. i think that would be really awesome! i mean, i think even though i live in canada, i would still buy the US one, but i think having the canadian one would be really neat!! (to have both) also, now that you’ve had a chance to use your new set-up, what dou think of it? which would u say u prefer, having them all at one table together with the 5 drawer underneath the table, or them sitting separately with the 10 drawers? sorry for all the questions! :S thank you!! i LOVE your blog!! and i am getting so many ideas from you! i plan on officially starting homeschooling next sept! 😀 ~Betty
Is the central table just made up of the top and the drawers or is there something more supporting the table top? I am dieing to do the same but not sure how to do it and have a sturdy one.
Yes, it is 2 table tops that are set on top of 4 of the drawer units. They do have some rubber “feet” things on the drawer tops, but the top still slides around a little. My caddy in the center helps hold it together a little because it is heavy, but eventually I’d like to get a glass top to put on top of it, partially to keep it clean, and also just to make it a little more stable. I think you could also drill up through the drawer units into the table top to secure it, but knowing me, I’ll want to move it around next year, so I haven’t done that yet!