Update on the List...

The kiddos went off to day-camp this week for the first time ever. They left me ALONE in the house. For five whole days. That was both a strange and wonderful feeling, and it allowed me to do things that I would not otherwise have been able to accomplish. I was tempted by day two to register them for school, and then by day three each of them had dealt with things in their respective camps that reminded me of why we do this. It's a no-brainer. We're forging ahead.

Okay, so you saw the state of the basement and my office "before"--As of today, the school room is ready. The office, well, remains in a state of disarray, but actually it almost always is a weekend cleanup job. Here is the school room, open for business. I really need to deep clean it more than once a year. It is such a gratifying accomplishment! It is also the one day of the year that I could land a spot in the Ikea catalog since 90% of our basement furnishings are from there...

From the south end of the basement, looking toward the play area

From the north end looking toward the school area

Our reading / media corner. We spend a lot of time snuggling on this sofa and chair.
The Wii is off-limits until all the school work is checked off for the day!
The Maps are from Geography Matters.

And this is where the magic happens...ROFL

The kiddos were stoked to get their own separate cubbies in the play area.
I was overjoyed to sort their toys and tell them that if they ever
want to get a new anything they needed to get rid of stuff.
Then we organized what remained into "his" and "hers."
Want to guess whose is whose?

This weekend I will finish up the rest of the house, put the finishing touches on the lessons for next week, plan some menus and I will feel satisfied. In case you were wondering-- I did trim the cats' claws, and the storage room is not my department. Planting the new lawn is not my department either. I technically should not have added those to my list.