Ebi-kun and I had the furniture in every combination possible, we would move the things around then sit and look, one of us would say something on the lines of 'hmmmm, I don't like the shelf there' then we would start again. We eventually settled for this one! I am stood in the doorway here and the doors on the left open up to Ebi-kuns room. The little table has the globes and culture box on it, the puzzle maps are next to it and the work mats underneath. The shelf has language/science/nature items on it.
One of the hardest choices was deciding what to put away, I eventually decided to pack away the
pink tower,
brown stair,
red rods and
cylinder blocks, this freed up a lot of space and made the room look less cluttered. It also meant I could halve the room to my side and his side!
These shelves are rather narrow because they are meant for CD's but it does fit nicely into this space and I can't believe I didn't think of putting it there before. This one has the math materials on it, well some of it, there are a LOT of math materials in Montessori.
The science/nature/language shelf, there are a couple of math materials on here because they are too wide for the other shelf. Although I sorted the room out I haven't touched much of what was on this shelf.
Better shot of the culture corner, we have 7 of the brown boxes with culture items for each continent and I will swap the maps depending on which continent we are working on, a big globe is on the xmas wish list. We are also doing a culture swap at the moment so I will add the items from that to the boxes. The photo's were taken when we were in the Galapagos, fitting for this little corner now.
MY corner of the studio, the white boxes wheel out so it is easy for me to move them out of the way, the one in the middle has my sewing equipment in the draws and doubles as extra workspace when I am sewing on the machine. The basket on the floor has my WIP.
The boxes on the desk are actually bookshelves but I like how they hide the clutter and I can put up pictures on the front, like the one of me in the shower!
These draws are fantastic, we have 3 sets and they are so useful, they are from IKEA (of course) but I couldn't find a link on the website, maybe they have stopped making them, the fools. Tucked under the desk they look really neat but then I can pull them out and spin them round for when we are doing Montessori work or put one each side of the sofa when we use it as a bed, as night tables. This one has my sewing equipment in the draws then the baskets have the bead chains and the division board is at the bottom.
The bead materials fit perfectly into this side, another AHA moment!
This side has the folder of worksheet masters. One of the others has the knobless cylinders extension sheets.
Spun around with the shelves facing out.
I also discovered that the science puzzles fit in here, more floor space made and the 3 part cards are now kept in the draws which makes it much easier for me to find when we need a specific set out.
And finally a view from the sewing desk with the doors open into Ebi-kun's room. Now we have plenty of space for working on the floor in either room, just have to work at keeping it that way.
Now Ebi-kun can actually get in here he is more inclined to take things off the shelf, before he would come and pick something and take downstairs to work with it, but now he is happy to work up here again. The other day I was finishing off some sewing so he came up and got the nature box out and after that he worked with some math materials. I don't think he sees the Montessori items as work and his toys as play, it is all one of the same for him. When I first started reading about Montessori I found it odd that they referred to it as 'work' but now it feels right, when he is 'working' he is playing but he is also learning.
