I love to decorate our school area to welcome in the freshness of a new year...
Yes, we school year 'round, BUT we always have a starting point for our new year...and a fresh start gets a little help from festive decor.
This year, my prayer is LOVE, JOY and GENTLENESS. These are fruits of the Spirit that I don't seem to have. To remind me of these "fruits" that I am needing to cultivate, I put a tree in our entry way (which faces our school room), upon which are apples that have the Fruits of the Spirit printed on them. This is a great reminder for me throughout the day that I must die to self so that I can live to the Spirit and allow Him to cultivate HIS fruits in me...
Here is our entry way and fun tree...
Here is a close up of the Fruits of the Spirit Tree...
The color scheme of our entry way (inspired by our red, yellow and green apples) is of course red, yellow and green with a little black mixed in for accent. And, my favorite Readers just happened to be in those colors! We use Pathway Readers for our reading. They are Amish readers with classic, moral, sweet stories...ones our children don't get in today's world...
Here are my favorite Pathway Readers (which hold so many wonderful memories of hearing my children read to me) topped by an apple...
Several years ago, my mother in law gave me a cute teacher bell. My bell matched so perfectly with our red, green, yellow and touch of black theme. It says on the bell, "A Teacher's Work Lasts for a Lifetime." What a good reminder to be careful what I am teaching my students!
My Mother Goose book also went nicely with our theme. Caleb loves this book...as did his brother and sister before him. I had to include our rust red American Family Dictionary for good measure! Can't start school without having a dictionary handy!I am a lover of books...and I want my children to be lovers of books. So, I placed my Willow Tree figurine that is hugging a book right in our display. This figurine was a precious gift to me from a sweet group of home-schooling-momma friends.
Happy New School Year!
