![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/LCdeskhairdown.JPG\" "\\"homeschooldeskhairdown\\"")
<\/a>Five years ago, my\u00c2\u00a0 5 year old granddaughter wore a CC Frannie school dress for our first day of homeschooling.<\/p><\/div>\n
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With the start of another school year, I can’t help but look back.\u00c2\u00a0 Most retired school teachers, I suspect,\u00c2\u00a0 do\u00c2\u00a0 the same.\u00c2\u00a0 This post was written 5 years ago as we began our first year of homeschooling together.<\/p>\n
Now, she begins 6th grade.\u00c2\u00a0 Wow.\u00c2\u00a0 If she’s getting older, I guess that means so am I.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Recently, she wrote a play which she will direct and has cast with friends. It will open at the public library in due time.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Perhaps you will find some of\u00c2\u00a0 these school sewing projects useful for your special students.\u00c2\u00a0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
2009~When I ended my teaching career with the public school system many years ago, I was 5 months pregnant with my first child,\u00c2\u00a0 Ryan.\u00c2\u00a0 From that time on, I was a stay-at-home Mama, except when I was on the road teaching sewing.<\/p>\n
At a time when many of my friends are retiring from teaching, I am starting again.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For a variety of reasons, our family has made a last minute decision for me to home school Ryan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daughter, 5 year old Laurel Cade this year.\u00c2\u00a0 So now,\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m back to teaching the 3 R’s.\u00c2\u00a0 And I am loving it!<\/p>\n
Teaching this bright, eager student would warm the cockles of any school teacher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart.\u00c2\u00a0 But it also offered some unique sewing opportunities.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0I have had more than a little sewing fun outfitting my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153classroom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d formerly known as the utility room.<\/p>\n
After seeing some of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s school rooms, I knew the old utility room needed more pizzazz than my new refrigerator and old Hoosier cabinet could generate.\u00c2\u00a0 So I started with some red pre-quilted fabric and found a bright multicolored stripe to coordinate with it.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>chair cover<\/p><\/div>\n
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When we put Ryan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s old child sized roll top desk in place, I decided to cover the chair back.\u00c2\u00a0 First, I appliqued\u00c2\u00a0Laurel’s name with the stripe fabric on the red quilted fabric, then inserted a ruffle between the front and back.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>markers and pencil bag<\/p><\/div>\n
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For her markers, colored pencils and neat paint pens, I made zippered bags with an appliqued red label identifying the contents.\u00c2\u00a0 The bag is just a variation on the teepee bag, but with both seams parallel to one another.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>With very little wall space, the doors of my Hoosier cabinet were converted to bulletin boards.<\/p><\/div>\n
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With two walls of windows, there is not much wall space in our classroom.\u00c2\u00a0 So to find space for bulletin boards I had to be creative.\u00c2\u00a0 The doors on my old Hoosier cabinet are just the right size for cork tiles.\u00c2\u00a0 So I used the striped fabric to make criss crosses to hold vocabulary and spelling words.<\/p>\n
The next appropriation for wall space was from the doors to the old fuse boxes. Our house was built in 1926, so now, after major electrical work, we have almost more fuse boxes than closets.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But, only these two are in the utility room and available for bulletin board space.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Laurel loves our interactive Leap Frog globe.<\/p><\/div>\n
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My fabric stash offered the perfect background for the Pledge of Allegiance and back to school boards.\u00c2\u00a0 I covered foam core, using double sided tape and bordered it with rick rack.\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0foam core\u00c2\u00a0fit snugly into the recesses in the doors.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get a bigger, better classroom flag, but this is the only one we had on hand that would fit.<\/p>\n
My next project is to make up a school bag, embroidered with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s School\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on it.\u00c2\u00a0 This is soooooo much fun!!!!<\/p>\n
Have you done any back to school sewing?<\/p>\n
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This year Laurel enters 6th grade and her brother, Robert, begins 5th.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A year ago, Robert wrote and self-published a book, Football Frenzy (not yet available at Amazon).<\/p><\/div>\n
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Cousin Alastair is off to kindergarten.<\/p>\n
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Instead of riding the bus, he bikes the short distance to school with his father.\u00c2\u00a0 What a great way to start the day!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Soon, 19-month-old Vivian Rose will attend Montessori pre-school a few mornings a week.\u00c2\u00a0 But she wanted to go with Alastair and was suited up for a ride.\u00c2\u00a0 Too bad, Vivi.\u00c2\u00a0 Your day will be here soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the start of another school year, I can’t help but look back.\u00c2\u00a0 Most retired school teachers, I suspect,\u00c2\u00a0 do\u00c2\u00a0 the same.\u00c2\u00a0 This post was written 5 years ago as we began our first year of homeschooling together. … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n