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!
Ok…so I am totally envious of your school room! It looks absolutely amazing! Yes, I have sacrificed scrapbooking supplies in the name of homeschool too! I have not yet ventured over to IKEA…I cannot stand huge crowds and all my friends have told me that it really is crowded now. I think the hub-bub of the grand opening kept the crowds at bay, but now they are out in full force. Thank you so much for sharing!
WOW!!!!! That is an AWESOME school room!!! I LOVE it! Thank you for sharing in detail! I’m going to be working on mine Thursday through Sunday – I have 4 days to whip it back into shape for the new school year – your room is inspiring! Thank you!
Courtney
I can’t wait to get up to Ikea!
Your schoolroom is gorgeous! Our room is totally IKEA also and we love it! The table tops and drawers clean up so easy. Get a box of Magic Erasers and cut them in half and just wipe it off everyday and it will look like new. Ours still looks brand new after a year of 4 and 6 year old boy dirt and markers, pens, crayons, paint and any other disgusting thing you can think of. You will love it! If you wanna check out our school room here is the link. http://searchforhiddentreasure.blogspot.com/2011/08/not-back-to-school-blog-hop-school-room.html
Unbelievable organization and a beautiful space! We just moved our school area downstairs as we remodel, and I am very happy with it (though I’m still looking for ways to stay organized in a small space). Thanks for sharing your fantastic room:)
http://www.littlehomeschoolontheprairie.com/2/post/2011/07/extreme-living-room-makeover.html
Ohmigosh, I LOVE it! It seriously looks like a picture from a magazine (until it’s covered with textbooks, of course). I’m definitely bookmarking this for ideas. I LOVE to organize, but I also love to do things cheaply… er, frugally. And IKEA is a bit of a drive for me, so that’s probably a good thing.
I’m starting a simple preschool program with my daughter soon, and hope to officially homeschool her once she starts “real” school. I don’t know yet what type of system will work best for us – especially since I initially liked the idea of unschooling – but the workbox idea appeals to me.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Ditto to all those who are drooling. 🙂 I have a space for it this year and would love to do it, but my husband is military and we are currently blessed to be able to follow him on many of his temporary (and stateside) deployments, and already have close to four months of traveling planned during the coming school year. We are really relying on the flexibility and portability of homeschooling this year. But SOMEDAY… 🙂 (I sent my husband the link to this page and told him to be prepared! haha) Anyway, kudos on a beautiful and dedicated learning space that gets your Little Loves excited about school.
I’m sure you already know, but Magic Erasers work wonders! So if your beautiful white desktop gets a few marks, give it a try! $3-$4 at your local Target.
Have been following your blog for the last few months and love it. Thank you for sharing your life and homeschooling experience with us.You are really an inspiration to me, a soon-to-be mom-of-four. 🙂
Blessings!
Would love to post this on my blog. I am so on the fence with homeschooling – but after these photos, I’m considering it – even just for the beautiful room!!
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Alison
http://www.AtTheEndOfTheDrive.blogspot.com
Not to stir uptrouble, but Ikea has glass tops for alotof their stuff, including some really cool printed glass! Obviously, we love Ikea around here and it was actually one of our “sight words” after my 3 year old kept hollering “I says /I/, k says /k/, e says /e/, a says /a/” everytime we drive up. Now she too knos Ikea…as if the giant blue and yellow building doesn’t give it away.
Love your set up…especially the Letter of the Week Binders. I have your curriculum plus stuff from the years I taught kindergarten, so I could fill some binders…
Oh Erica! Ikea is one of the most fabulous places on earth ..I know thats saying a lot.. but it is just wonderful. We have a shelving system, desks, and chairs from them for our homeschool room. And it has held up so well. I have a house full of boys so thats saying a ton. You will love your purchases. I love love love how you have a center table. I was thinking of pushing our desks together…you will have to let us know how your new set up works.
Would you mind sharing where you purchased your map on the wall. Its really nice and I have been trying to find one that size forever.
Thanks so much for sharing