Well, I tried Margery's Bathroom Unit Study, and ...

**Early Bird** · 08-30-2005, 10:22 AM

It works great. Here's Margery's original thread:

Low Effort Homeschooling as done by Margery

I put maps up on the kids' bathroom walls. Splurged on a Map of the World shower curtain.

And I put 6 or 8 thrift store books into a dishpan, for bathroom reading.

My results:

* One day, the kids were playing on the hammock. They'd sit, one kid on each end, bouncing around. Periodically, my oldest would run inside, look at the shower curtain, and run outside again yelling, "Uganda!" or "Australia!" [A bit gross, I know, but they were playing a game about war.]

* This morning my reluctant reader came out with one of the thrift store books, How Mountains Are Made, a look-and-find-out science book. She read me the caption bubbles throughout the whole book. Yesterday, after using the bathroom, she asked a question about Mt Everest.

Maybe I should stock some nonfiction books for MY bathroom!

**Darlene** · 08-30-2005, 10:35 AM

That was a great thread Margery posted.

So glad it's working for you Earlybird!

**QuilterMom** · 08-30-2005, 10:49 AM

**Bargainmomtoo** · 08-30-2005, 11:48 AM

I agree it's a great idea. I have heard/read about doing this before, but just now am getting around to doing it. I always have reading material in the bathroom, but not for the kids. I did find The Bathroom Reader for Kids at a garage sale and put that in. One day Erin came out and asked if we knew how long the longest hiccup was. Then I knew she was reading it, and she's not a reader.

**canadian gardener** · 08-30-2005, 04:56 PM

that's terrific! glad it's working for others. Sure made my life simpler.

**peanut** · 08-31-2005, 07:10 PM

You know, you don't have to be a homeschooler to benefit from this idea! Dmil has bookcases in every room of her home. They are filled with the most interesting books. It's really hard to get people out of the bathroom there!

I've taken a page out of her book and now have bookcases in every room of our home. I'm getting the same results. And people want to borrow the books too! It's so funny.

**canadian gardener** · 06-13-2006, 10:44 PM

this is a tip for EVERYONE, especially over the summer

**missymomof3** · 06-14-2006, 08:27 AM

Margery, Thank you so much for all your wonderful ideas! I bet you are just as awesome in real life as you are on FV!

**celina** · 06-14-2006, 09:00 AM

ok i'm in love with the rain gutter bookcase..link found in margery's orig post...we'll be making some for dd 5 yrss old...who has sooo many books..and also for the rec room....the best part...is that you can start low to the ground and as they get older add rows higher up ..and it's easy for them to put away....book shelves with spines first are tough for toddlers..

**babetteq** · 06-14-2006, 12:26 PM

They are great ideas. kudos!

**Early Bird** · 06-14-2006, 12:59 PM

Y'know, I'll bet my 12-yr-old would like to DESIGN a bathroom unit study for the kids!

**Early Bird** · 01-01-2007, 08:36 PM

I let her design a bathroom unit study. She picked 'extreme weather.' I think we spent about $15 on posters about Tornados, Hurricaines, Tsunamis, etc.

It's been up for about 6 months now, so I'll let my younger DD pick a topic soon.

**freerangers** · 01-12-2007, 07:00 AM

We have always had books in the bathroom, but I never thought about a topic--what a neat idea!
I get library books and leave them around the house and van--always leaving some in the bathroom because once I did, it always worked!
Tis great to share ideas!

~Thanks

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 01-12-2007, 07:46 AM

If your an old movie buff you'll remember a scene from Cheaper By the Dozen where the Dad puts up morse code in the bathroom for everyone to learn.
We've added several small books on good manners to our kids/public bathroom.

Laurie in BRadenton