Blog Hop Week 2: Our School Room

Originally, thought that any day now, we would be unveiling our new outdoor classroom & play area, but plans have changed, as although we tried so hard to win an opportunity for a phenomenal space, it did not worked as we planned. We hoped & prayed that it would work out but it did not...it is only going to be a temporary setback, as somehow, a new plan will make itself known.

We did learn a life lesson:
Things don't always go as planned and you just have to deal with it and move forward. You have to recommit to putting Faith in God that somehow, things will work out maybe not as you plan, but as they ought to be, according to God's plan.
The other thing we learned is that we have a tremendous circle of family and friends, as many of you tried to show support for our entry. For you to take time out of your day to try to make it a reality for us, thank you so much!

One thing that has changed for me personally, after the initial realization that this project was not going to come to fruition,  was that I chose to speak my mind and to share our family's perception of the situation. For so many years, when a setback occurred, I just internalized it and blamed myself, that somehow, I had not done enough or that collectively we had not done enough...
But this time, took a different approach. Decided to share my thoughts and then, to move forward.

Dear Hubby & I also encouraged our sons to express themselves in their writing and drawing.
We have seen the importance of having sons who know how to speak up for themselves, to be interdependent, self-sufficient, resourceful, and resilient is so important in life.
We want for them to grow to have a better understanding of the world and its people, and that means to accept that people are less-than-perfect and to learn to deal with it, in as positive a way as is possible.

Although we did our best, it did not work out this time to get an awesome outdoor space.
Despite this setback, we are still hopeful! We have to remain hopeful, as things can change in a heartbeat and maybe there will be something even more wonderful headed our way!

So our lanai & our yard still look pretty much the way they have looked.
The boys will still play out on our lanai...

 Our bunnies don't seem to mind that they are still being housed in our attempt at a play space / hutch for them, made out of some old plastic play walls and chicken wire.

Big Bro & Little Bro will still paint at the card table we have been using out on our lanai, complete with paints in a muffin tin. We will still have outdoor toys and such stored in the boys' old changing table...

The back yard will still be more fun for snakes than it is for our boys and our dog. We have done what we can to get rid of the Cottonmouths and have learned to peacefully co-exist with some of the others, such as the Black Racers & the Ringnecks. ,
One day, our yard will be a neat outdoor place to play...

We are still re-purposing containers to hold various school items...these are working great!
Just have to get these all labeled...

The good news to all of this is that we can continue to improvise and can make a go of it, inside and out, albeit without the outdoor space of our dreams!

At least for now...
At some point, we will come up with a new plan for an amazing space out there!
We have all visualized  it for nearly a year now...can literally picture how nice it will be out there someday...

Today, had a great conversation with someone dear to me & got some wonderful advice:
Try to not focus on the glass being half empty or half full, but both half empty & half full...embrace both.They are not mutually exclusive.
Also, work at the concept of allowing things to happen instead of always trying so hard!!!

Many of us are raised to believe that hard work will pay off and that somehow, good things will come to those who work the hardest and  / or work the smartest, but in many cases, whether you work hard or work smart or both, life can still throw you some curve balls.

We have an awesome little family and that did not change because we did not get the outdoor classroom & play area! My family means the world to me...we mean the world to each other...
Dear Hubby rocks & so do our boys! Being both a wife & a mommy is the best thing ever! That is what matters most, not some neat water feature or a cool hammock!

Both Big Bro & Little Bro are whole-heartedly embracing our new school year.
We had thought about taking more time off, but they were ready to jump back in, so we had the shortest summer ever.
The boys know that we much we really love them and that we will have a great school year, even if the environment is less-than-stellar on the outside. There is so much love inside our home that hopefully, it will leave way more of an impression on them than anything else.

Hopefully, this slideshow of our school room / play room will work, so that you can see how our room has been set up in the previous years, but right now, it is still very much a summer playroom.
If, by chance, you don't have Flash or would prefer to just see all of the photos at once, here is a link to our Picasa Album showing photos of our homeschool set-up. Still have to thin the herd so to speak and have to get rid of some of the materials that they have outgrown...they have moved well beyond some of what we had in our room last year, although they still like to revisit some oldies but goodies...











This week, we have done homeschooling in our kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, and lanai, with just a little but of time in our playroom. Pretty much everywhere but our bathrooms and bedrooms have been put to use for school purposes this week!  Have really made a concentrated effort on organization and paring down our materials so that what we use is really what will benefit the boys' love of learning the most. Will do some follow up posts about how this year's materials are organized...that is still a work in progress...
Our home and our homeschooling is not always picture perfect, but it works for us.
So far, it has been a great first week of our new school year!

This post is linked up with the iHomeschool Network Not-Back-to-School-Blog Hop for Week 2 - School Room Week.