A mini-office used to be enough. But now that Sprite is in middle school, our reference needs are growing. That’s really an exciting thing because it means that she’s doing more independent learning and that her base of knowledge is growing.
We’ve graduated up to this on the homeschool table.
Of course, the pens, colored pencils, scissors, and highlighters are nothing unusual. But the center section is the meat of the reference material:
What’s in there?
- the mini-office
- reading response prompts
- sentence writing helps –sentence patterns poster, fanboys poster, and subordinating conjunctions chart
- parts of speech layered book
- narration jumping jacks
- poetic devices minibook
Since I took the photo, I’ve added a math glossary too. Of course, that doesn’t include the atlas and dictionary that we frequently reference. This reminds me why I don’t do too well with homeschooling on the road. We just need too many materials to travel light.
Do you have a reference bin? What resources are in there?
Nadene says
These ideas are great! How do I keep it simple when there’s so much to put into a mini office? Thanks for sharing!
(Ps. 404 on the peotry link)
.-= Nadene´s last blog ..Making Reading Easier ~ Sight Words =-.
Anne says
I love reading your blog! You inspire me every day!
We also find it difficult to travel light. We are planning a three month trip (in 4 weeks) and the current plan is to bring scriptures, Chinese texts and journals. We’ll be learning Chinese as our “main lesson” and so we’ll have plenty to do! Hopefully I will get the girls to do some blogging and letter writing too!
.-= Anne´s last blog ..Continuous Partial Attention =-.
Jimmie says
@Nadene — Oops. That link is to a future post, not yet published. Got my posts out of order timewise. Thanks.
@Anne — I’m so glad. 🙂
Rachael says
Oh Jimmie that looks so neat and tidy! I am putting off clearing out my “school shelf” before the new school year :-/
.-= Rachael´s last blog ..Paul Klee study =-.
Blesses mamma says
This post is an answer to my prayers! In less than a week we will be moving cross country due to Job transfer and promotion. We will be going from a huge house where we have our own library to a tiny townhome only a third of the size. I hAve been wondering how in the world we were going go survive without an entire library within feet of the childrens school table. Now I know….. A reference bin with a mini office! Oh my goodness it is just what we need and can be stored in what little space we will have. Thanks so much for the great inspiration! 🙂
Amy says
that is seriously a LOT of pencils. don’t tell me that even you have had the same problem of losing pencils in the past with only one student?! There is something uncanny about how many pencils we lose a week. (yes, I said week… not month or yearly, we lose them WEEKLY! urgh)
you are so scholarly with that little mini office! I love it!
Our whole house is a school, so it’s all spread out. I wish it were all so nicely compacted. Maybe the Chinese culture is rubbing off on you! That would be a good thing.
love ya,
Amy in Peru
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com
.-= Amy´s last blog ..I wholeheartedly agree… =-.
Lee says
The page of poster printables was great.
.-= Lee´s last blog ..Thinking School =-.
Rachel says
So organized! I wish we could have as uncluttered of a learning environment!
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Learning to Read Word Families: “…at” words =-.
kelli says
I have to say that I took your “advice” and created a mini office for my 7th grade daughter this year. It’s been extremely helpful. In math, especially with times tables, she’ll write 15 as 51. Now, she checks what she has written against the times table chart and can correct it herself. Her tendency to reverse things is mostly limited to numbers and hasn’t affected her reading level at all, so the counsel we’ve been given is to keep correcting her and she’ll learn to double check herself (and she finally is!!) Thanks for all the great links for mini offices.
Kelly says
What a great idea! I am so doing this for my kiddos. Thanks:)