Education is an Atmosphere

Over the summer I read and loved the book, When Children Love to Learn. It was very inspiring and hopefully as our routine smoothes out I will be able to post some of my thoughts. But for now I thought I would show you some pictures of our learning areas.

Our Learning Atmosphere begins with books!

This is where we keep our nature books and field guides.

Here is where you will find our art supplies and some of our prints.

This is my desk and the red nature table.



This is our butterfly collection.

On my desk, I like to put a print from the art period we will be studying along with a reminder of our nature focus (birds), and I really just like mushrooms so that is on there, too.

This is our work table and the light from the windows caused this picture to not turn out well. We have our timeline as a backdrop and on the table from left to right are the following: Turkey feathers in a gourd vase, shells in blue jars, a picture of mushrooms, a terrarium, our book of months, and finally our pencils, paintbrushes, and erasers.

As I cleaned and arranged I was thinking about the visual aspect of atmosphere. Although there is more to atmosphere than the placement of desks, pictures, and pencils, it is an aspect of atmosphere that is important. A place where the mind is inspired and at peace; a place for both inspiration and contemplation.