Last Tuesday night I went and heard one of my favorite presenters, Mary Ann Johnson at my friend Amy Ihrig’s home. Mary Ann is the Home School Coach. She has a super fun blog here http://home-school-coach.com/. She was so inspiring. If you missed her, never fear, you can still catch her, 

 in person here:

Thursday Jan. 26, 2012

Bountiful Height’s Church

390 North 400 East

Bountiful UT

Call Anne at 801.499.9124 for more information and to register. This is a FREE event.

or you can listen to a recording she did here http://www.tjedmarketplace.com/forums/slc/2011/adult-forum/closet-part-nuts-bolts-putting-closet

When I first started homeschooling 13 years ago I didn’t know what I was doing and I had our educational materials out all the time. I later learned that was a big mistake.  The kids got bored of them quickly and the littler ones would get into them. When I moved to Layton UT I got a closet in my new home to put all my stuff in. I also locked it.  Later I learned that “the closet” is actually an ingredient in a home that focuses on a classical education, and I was doing the right things by corraling our homeschool materials into a closet and locking it. I was excited to find that Jo used a closet in the story of Little Men, or was it Jo’s Boys, for Sunday afternoons. Right now I have a box of old Friend magazines for our Sunday closet but sometime I will make it into something more official.

I learned from Mary Ann the Five Rules of Engagement for the closet. They have made it so that my kids beg to have school time!

You can get the 5 Rules by coming to the workshop above or by going Mary Ann’s site http://home-school-coach.com/ and entering in your name and email on the right hand side for her free article.