Homeschool Essentials
Earlier this year, the year I’ll never ever forget, Adam had predicted that the Corona virus would hit us hard. He urged me to stock up on masks, canned food and toilet paper before the rest of the world caught on and truthfully, I thought he was nuts.
However…he was dead on right with all of his predictions.
Five days before New York City made the announcement to shut down our public schools, we made the decision to leave the city and go out to our house on Long Island where we thought we’d live for a few weeks or so. The story of how we made that decision and what was to follow can be found on my Instagram story highlights here.
What Adam, nor myself, nor anyone I knew predicted…was Home Schooling. That…was not something, in my wildest dreams I ever thought I’d have to do. Especially given the fact that…I’M NOT A TEACHER. SO needless to say, switching over to remote learning was a SHOCK to me and my kids.
At first, I cried a lot. Then, a few weeks in, I started to learn what we all needed to be able to deal and move forward and what was most important was a comfortable, inspiring and useful work space for each of my kids.
I found a space in the house for each of them and quickly made up a mood board of items to order for them each. We reviewed these proposed “office” mood boards together to make sure they were happy with how I designed their work spaces and they did!
Here’s how this went down..
Luke’s office was going to be set up in our “Twiggy Room” which is the main bedroom on our first floor of the house where we host our guests. Since we were in isolation and no one would be visiting anytime soon, it was the perfect spot to set him up.
Here are the items I ordered to build Luke’s office space:
White lacquer desk (Cleans very easily, Love the sleek look / great quality)
Navy velvet Chair (SO comfortable and very heavy which is necessary for Luke because he’s squirmy and can get easily distracted by a chair that will move around a lot)
3-legged lamp (super light weight and cute! Also is perfect for a desk where you may need extra space because it takes up very little space with it’s wide legs that you can put things under)
3 tiered rolling cart (if you’re fans of The Home Edit than you know this cart well. I heard about it from them and it’s changed my life. So much so I broke it down and brought it with us to Toronto! It’s SO awesome for storing folders, papers, pens and knick knacks that Luke uses throughout the day and was SO easy to put together and take apart!)
As for Gavin’s set up, I decided he’d be best suited in the sunroom. It was a traditional place for a desk but I thought he’d appreciate the incredible sunlight and privacy that he would have in there. Here’s how his set up was going to play out…
Here are the items I used to build Gavin’s office:
White wood desk that has drawers to store all important papers
Mid-Century black lamp (which I love because it has an outlet attached to it for easy to plug in access so Gavin can keep his devices charged for school)
Black rolling cart that Gavin didn’t end up needing so he gave it to his Dad for the Bunker
Desk chair that is so comfortable and heavy like Luke’s so it’s not distracting for Gavin either
Gavin and Luke LOVE their desks! They are comfortable, functional and finding school to be easier to manage having all of the tools that they need right at their fingertips.
Luke’s birthday was July 6th and Gavin graduated from the 5th grade in June so they both created a wish list of items that they wanted as gifts since our family members were asking what they wanted. The best gift they both got was a new keyboard and mouse both of which light up in a rainbow of colors.
Last but not least is their water bottles. I find these to be one of the most essential items that they have on them each and every day and they have been so amazing about staying hydrated. Right before the Corona virus disrupted our lives I had ordered them glass water bottles from BKR and am totally obsessed with this brand. The water bottles are so easy to clean and I find that water tastes so much better out of glass (so I ordered one for myself as well).
