I have this problem, and the problem is that I am severely, pathologically challenged when it comes to interior design...or any kind of design, for that matter. Kerry would say that it is because I have too much stuff, but I believe very rationally and honestly that I don't have as much stuff as many people, and certainly that I don't have more than most. I just have a tremendous amount of trouble figuring out what to do with what I have. I have the messy's issue with feeling like if I put something in a drawer, behind a door, or into a box, I will forgot that I ever had it and will never use it again. But then when it's all out in the open, there's a clutter problem, and I can't tell what is anywhere. Precious time gets wasted looking for things, or I need a book, and there are 13 different shelves where it might be, unless it's under the bed, or in that stack on the plant stand in the kitchen....
I also have mentioned here that the boys were having a problem with a lot of errors on their math work, a problem that has largely been remedied by, gasp, punishing them with rewards. And not just any rewards, but politically and nutritionally incorrect rewards. Alfie Kohn, cover your ears. I take anyone with a perfect 30/30 on their math out for a drink at Starbucks, and a highly caffeinated one is one of the options. So far, Walter hasn't made it, and ironically, he is arguably the stronger math student. Ollie has had a perfect score twice, but has only been out once for his caramel macchiato. But scores have improved dramatically. The real secret is simply the amount of time and effor they put into checking their work before calling it done. They each do the work independently, then they get together and compare answers and settle any disputes (sometimes for the wrong, but that's part of the learning process and the learning to collaborate process), and then they give me their work, which sometimes still has some differences. But they've gone from Cs-Fs to As and Bs since the change and rewards.
But part of my attacking the problem and streamlining the schoolday has involved making a new schoolroom. Anyone who knows me knows that I've done this before. Several times. And that each time we don't end up actually using that schoolroom. But I'm going to give it another go. The trouble is that I need a very large whiteboard--a 3x4 one--and we have had it in our eat-in area in our kitchen. It violates one of my central principles of placing things, which is that things should be in their functional groups. But the real issue was that the whiteboard only fit in one place, and that place was not one you could easily see from the table if you were sitting there with your work. To use the board for actual demonstration and work, they had to sit on the stairs with their books, and that impeded traffic, wasn't comfortable, things were always falling, and it meant they had no hard surface to write on. What I liked about the whiteboard there is that you can't help but see it every time you head toward the stairs or down them. At least subconsciously, you had to see those Latin declensions or that demonstration of scientific notation, even if you chose not to actively register it. Moving it to a new spot means, almost by definition, that it is going to be less obvious and in a less-trafficked area.
Kerry completed his first triathlon this past weekend--a sprint tri up at Lake Anna called the Acorn Run or something like that. He is now convinced that he needs some gazillion dollar road bike and that he will cover up for the expense by selling the Bowflex that he so desperately needed three months ago and which was going to transform his exercise life and his health. Yeah, right. And it absolutely had to go right in our formal dining room, where it took up the entire space. And it came with a NordicTrack exercise bike, which took up more space in the rom, leaving a very narrow path to the piano and no real space for the trumpet and flute stands. All of a sudden, the Bowflex that was only used about 3 times was sold, the bike went this morning, and there's an entire room with nothing but a china cabinet, a piano, a painted file cabinet, and two dog crates. I made the difficult decision to part with my mother's china cabinet. I've had it since she died 7 years ago (wow...I hadn't realized that until I wrote this, but 7 years to the day today), though I got rid of the dining table that matched a long time ago because we had a table surplus and this one wasn't one I needed. Without a table, and with some scratches on it, and being kind of plain tending toward not entirely up to date, I felt like I could get by without a cabinet and pass it along to someone else while I put our Christmas and formal china in a cabinet in the kitchen. So that moved out.
And thus began my quest for a new schoolroom. The goal was to have it be really open and clear, with almost nothing in it. And to have lots of wall space, something that is always lacking in my schoolroom attempts because we have too many bookcases, and they're all tall. This time, I wasn't not going to overdo it. But I think I already have.
For hours I moved furniture back and forth. The requirements for the room are the 12 cube Ikea shelving unit that will hold our school books and backup stuff, the 3x4 whiteboard, the U.S. and world maps, and maybe the printer stand, which is another small bookcase. I still don't feel like I have it right. And I don't have my whiteboard up because it took so much brainwork to make a decision to put it where I think it's going. On the plus side, it's kind of visible from our foyer when you come in the front door. This means that maybe, if you subconsciously glance to the left when you come in, you'll see something on it and it might slip into your long term memory. But I don't have it up yet because I'm also kind of impaired when it comes to using those little plastic wall anchors. I need it up, and fast.
So a lot of energy has been going into not only making the downstairs presentable and clean for guests, but also into settling out this old china, this soon-to-be-gone china cabinet, the layout of this schoolroom, and the movement of items from all of the other places where they have been (the other "schoolroom/library/artroom," the kitchen, the living room, etc.), and managing the area near our garage entrance. I'm just really happy to have a clear living space for even a few hours. It makes me feel such a sense of possibility and productivity!
It is very rainy and cold now, after a long period of relative clearness and warmth, and I have an urge to just sit at home and read books with the kids and hole up in our little insular life. Swine flu reports both from the media and from other families in the neighborhood who have this illness have me a little cautious about wanting to go anywhere. But mostly I think that this time of year is supposed to be a time where there is a turning inward and some quiet time in the warmth of inside. Tomorrow should, hopefully, be a day of relative less-activity than our other days of the week, and I'm really looking forward to it.
As I'm getting ready for bed, there is a great show about intelligence in plants that I would like to record for the boys to watch tomorrow, and I've realized again, to my chagrin, that I cannot operate our TVs in even the most basic of ways. We pay to rent a machine that works as a DVR, and yet we have never, not even once, taped something and watched it. I've tried a bunch of times, including tonight, and not only couldn't record, but couldn't even figure out how to turn on the television itself. Earlier today, I wanted to put on a VCR cassette for Frances and Rutledge, and I couldn't figure out how to hook it to the television, despite color-coded cords that were in the correct colors. In fact, even Oliver, who is our resident technology help desk, could not figure out why we were getting nothing but a blue screen with the words AV1 on it. So we gave up. And I gave up on the plant show. Is it really too much to ask to return to the place wehre you just pushed a button that said ON and the television was on? Or when you put in a tape and press PLAY that something would just play? Every single time I turn the television on or off (and I don't know how to operate the one downstairs at all, and it has no buttons externally, only an invisible touch pad that you cannot see at all, even if good light), it takes me at least four attempts. I still have no idea what the correct order of operations is for pushing the buttons, I just try all kinds of things and eventually one of them works, usually with an annoying time lag. I feel like such an idiot, but then again, maybe I'm just not displaying the best attitude, one where I behave as if I am indeed competent and capable of learning. I just don't know.... What I do see is that I could be using History, Science, and Discovery better in our schooling life, and I'm not tapping that potential.
I'll leave with this image. As if Bilbo really needs any extra incentive to attack plush toys. He has this thing for Webkinz and Beanie Babies--he'll sneak them out of bedrooms and playrooms and from under furniture and rush them outside, where he vigorously breaks their necks. Why, oh why, would we need to make him salivate over a Spiderman?
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