Our read-aloud area

Those of us who use Sonlight or another literature-rich homeschool curriculum need an area for reading aloud that has comfortable seating, a place for books, and if you have little ones around a place for little kid activities. 

We use our living room.  This is the same space we use for family worship, for my ladies Bible study, and for just about every other gathering in our home. 

This is my chair.  Doesn't it look comfortable?  It is!  The little black shelf to your right holds our devotional, Scripture memory, and character training materials so they're within reach during morning devotions.  I use the lower shelf of our built-ins for current or semi-current homeschool read-alouds or accessory materials like my Instructor's guide, current history books, collection of maps, and even art reference books (I've noticed Sonlight books contain a lot of references to art and it's nice to be able to show the kids what's being described.)  The cabinet beneath the built-in shelves contains the little kids' games and puzzles.

Of course my chair usually looks more like this...

I try to clear off the ottoman for the weekend, or at least by Christmas break:).  I usually even stack the books in the order in which I read them each day.  This makes it super-easy to know what to read without having to search around for the right book.

In the next post I'll talk about what my kids do during read-aloud and what we're planning new for this year.