Homeschooling with Fibromyalgia

Making Home-school Desk Dividers

Today this Fibro-Momma tried her hand at making some home-school desk dividers to use this coming school year. 

I do admit that being crafty is an outlet for me. I love to sew and paint, too. However, my forever achey Fibro body does not always let me, but I do try!! 

Having Fibromyalgia is a drag. Anyone who suffers from this dread condition will agree. But that does not mean we cannot still (try to) be a productive part of society. 

My contribution is to my family and our home-school. See, I design my own curriculum, print and bind them for each of our children. It is something I am good at and something I love to do. It helps me to keep going, even on the bad pain days. Sitting at the computer creating all this takes me a lot of T-I-M-E.

Weeks…sometimes months.

But, today was fun for me!! The pain kept coming on hard, but my drive to see these dividers come into being was the motivation I needed to continue on!!

Are you ready to see what I’ve been up to??

It all begins with several pieces of foam board from Dollar Tree. 

Foam board from Dollar Tree

(I was making three of these and each divider used two and a half pieces.) 

Next, I cut one in half and cut another board into 3 inch strips.

 

Then, I had purchased duct tape in turquoise blue (the girls picked it out!) and I taped the pieces together, leaving a 1/4 inch gap between each board piece so it would fold. I sealed all exposed sides with duct tape to make it sturdier. 

The finished design once it is assembled with tape.

Next, I began adding various things, like using Velcro to attach a ruler and scissors to the sides. I used clothes pins for the girls to hang up vocabulary sheets, math drills, etc. and bought large paper clips for heavier objects like markers.  I also glued a folder to the side to hold papers. 

One of three I made

The entire thing folds up like a book and the two-3 inch pieces I added to the center allows for bulky items to remain inside!

Fold sides in towards the front

 

The finished products fold easily for storage when the day is over or company is coming!!

All three are less than 10 inches across when stored

 

All three of these took me a little more than two days to complete, but I am certain a person without Fibro could make them in one. 

I am so happy these are done!! My daughters cannot wait for the new school year to begin!

Fibromyalgia and creativity is a win-win, even if it takes days (or weeks, or years) to complete a project. Everyone has some sort of creative genius in them. It is up to you to seek it out and then act upon it! 

When I get a creative idea and make myself act on it, my adrenaline kicks in and drives me forward through the muck and mire of my pain. I may go to bed with joints that feel as though they will fall off at any given moment, but my sense of accomplishment and self-worth helps to balance it out…a little…

Happy Creativity! Let me know if you think you’ll make these!! It is always nice to know others may share in my joys of creativity, too!

**Side note to those that do not home-school…these would also make great homework stations to give your child a special place to study. It would work on any table-top surface. 

~The Fibro Momma of Ten

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