Where do your older kids do school?

[amysconfections]

If you have older independent school age children that use HOD, where do they do their school? Maybe CtC on up. I'm wondering how to make some things work better for us. My older son is very distracted by my younger kids and wants to pay attention to what everyone is saying/doing at all times. He takes so long on his work. We have tried many things. I'm thinking maybe he needs to go off into my bedroom in the quiet and work. We have a very open floor plan house. Our school room is in the dining room. We rotate in the dining room, kitchen and living room. When he took his work with Dad to work it was amazing how fast he was done.

Thoughts? Help?

[Gwenny]

I have a desk in my bedroom that my 11 yo daughter doing Preparing uses. (it's downstairs off of the family room-so not too far away but we can shut the door) The older one using CtC does it in her bedroom upstairs. There is no way that they do it all in the midst of the goings on down here.

[amysconfections]

Well, that makes me feel so much better. This year has been really rough with my oldest just taking so long.

[4Hispraise]

Each kiddo is different and every family has to find what works for them.

So, for what it is worth, here is our experience: We discovered that all the distractions of day to day life were too much for our oldest, so we bought a small desk for his room. He also uses my bedroom and the kitchen (especially for those subjects I feel like he needs a little extra encouragement -I can easily check in on him ). We have a small island in the kitchen where he places all subjects he has finished until I check them. I spend a little extra time going over whatever he has done in his room when we meet because...well...he is fourteen and tends to slack if he doesn't have accountability.

[Nealewill]

We do some rotating but my dd in Preparing has a small kitchen table we set up in the living room for her to work at. Once my younger two get to the age that they are doing Preparing, I will probably by get a second table for them to sit at as well. At my oldests table, she has the books she is currently reading, and text books she needs, and an manuals she is using at that table. She also has extra paper, and files, her notebooks and supplies all sitting at her finger tips. I found this really helps her get her work done quickly for the day. But she only sits at the table to do independent writing things. If I am reading to her, then we are sitting at the couch or on the floor. If I am teaching her any subject - like the math lesson or grammar lesson, it is in the dining room. Spelling is either done in the dining room or while I am making dinner.

[amysconfections]

We already have 3 desks in our house. So I would just be rearranging their location. For now I have two large desks(not school) in the school room and a small kids table. Then we used the kitchen table for together work and the couch. So I would just relocate one of the desks.

It just kinda hit me tonight that he might would work better if moved to a quiet room away from everyone.
I like the idea of placing completed work on the kitchen counter.

Thanks ladies for your ideas.

[Daisy]

My 14yo does the vast majority of her work in her bedroom. We don't have a large house and it is the one place she can be completely alone. My 12yo does his work at the kitchen table because he'd never get it done if I wasn't breathing down his neck.

[8arrows]

My 15 year old will use the upstairs den sometimes, but the rule for the rest is IN MY SIGHT. We have a walkout basement which houses our schoolroom. I put the little 3 at a table with a bench with me, and the other two boys use a table or a desk in the room. We were not getting a lot done when they were not in my presence. Each family has different dynamics. They would prefer to be in a different room. That just isn't working here right now.

[MelInKansas]

My DD has a desk upstairs, which is often cluttered with a lot of stuff but lately she has been keeping it clean.

As she is still in Preparing, and has tendencies to dawdle or not do her best work, she is allowed to take ONE THING AT A TIME up to her desk to work. Then I know if she is getting it done, and sometimes I do shout up to her, "how is it going?" She really does need to be away from other people to focus, as other people distract her. Hearing me doing school distracts her. Her brother being cute distracts her. I am the same way, very distractible. I am sometimes bad at checking over work, but the quality of the work definitely changes when I do check it over well and regularly. I should do like the other poster and have it sitting somewhere until I check it off. I think Julie said that the child could check off completed tasks in the guide, and then she would go over them and check it off in red, it's not completely done until it's checked in red.

[TrueGRIT]

When I was doing school I worked best completely alone in my room. I was also very motivated to get school work done.

My children are different - 2 of them can't work if they don't have noise or distractions! One of them does do several subjects better with relative quite. I have rewards for them of getting to work on main level or bedroom by themselves if they act responsible. If not, they are right beside me in the school room or family room.
My oldest is allowed to work on math by the CD player with it on low - he is good with math and usually works better to get it done that way.

Every child and family will be different, but it's worth a try of allowing him to work alone - after giving him a few guidelines.

[Motherjoy]

My oldest does 3/4 of his school on his bed, and the rest at the computer in our kitchen. With 7 little siblings running around, he needs to quiet that his room offers.

[HopeAnna]

My 14-year-old does most of his school work either in his room or in the "office" on his own. He likes creating his own space. In his room he is normally on his bed or floor, in the office he has made a make-shift desk (it's a small room and with all the bookshelves....we don't have room for a real desk in there!

[MomtoJGJE]

My kids go wherever they want to. As long as they get their work done I really don't care. 99% of the time we don't have anything to do that would matter as far as when they get done. The only day we have somewhere to be is Thursday, so they do one extra thing on Wednesday, generally history or science reading, so they can get done before we leave.

My oldest (CTC) will go in her room, her sisters' room, the living room, the dining room, or stay in the school room (the breakfast nook). My second (Bigger) will go in her room, the dining room, or the school room. My third (Beyond) occasionally will take her independent stuff (math, copywork/handwriting, science reading) upstairs because she likes feeling big.