School Area

[christyg]

Good morning ladies! We are still loving HOD! I am just now starting to plan for next year. I have been on the board asking some curriculum questions lately and now I have some about your school areas. This year we have been doing LHFHG with my daughter for kindergarten. And, next year, I will be doing BLHFHG for first grade with her and LHTH for pre-school with my son. This year we have done most of her schoolwork in the kitchen at a project desk that I have and then some of her reading in our family room on the couch. The project desk is a long skinny table with small cubby spaces on each end. It has been perfect this year with just her schoolwork, but when they use it together for other things (like coloring), the space is a little cramped. We converted a built in china cabinet into a school cabinet and it is right beside the desk. That's where we keep everything, but after just this year, it is already full!

We also have an extra bedroom that we use as an office. It actually would be perfect for a school room. It has a built in computer desk and a closet with tons of built in bookshelves. Right now, my husband is using it as his study (he is in seminary school), and I feel like he needs his own space too. We also have a bed in there, which would have to be moved out for it to be used as a school room. We keep the bed because we live 12 hours away from our family and need somewhere for them to stay when they visit (which isn't that often), and it's just nice to have an extra one.

Another option would be for me to move the project desk out of the kitchen and get an actual table and chairs (we wouldn't use it for anything but school because we eat in our dining room). Or, we could get hubby a desk to put in our bedroom. What do you think?

Do most of you just use the spaces you already have (since it makes schoolwork feel more natural to your lives) or do most of you have an actual school room (so that you can keep that part of your lives separate)?

Any pictures you would like to share would be awesome!

Thanks so much!
Christy

[lmercon]

We converted half of our 2-car garage into an extra room. It was once a playroom/scrapbook room. The kids outgrew the area so we finished our basement and created a playroom. The finished garage room has become a school room and remains my scrapbook room, although just in theory not in practice! I love having a designated school area. I am able to put up bulletin boards and a whiteboard. We have lots of shelves which store books and supplies. I like having a neat and tidy place for all that stuff away from the rest of the house. That isn't to say that we stay in there to do all our work. Many times, we do reading and story time on the couch and science experiments in the kitchen. I just like to have a place where it all goes when we are done with our school time. I also like to have a separate, quiet spot where one child can work on something independently without being distracted by the activities in the rest of the house. If you have the option to carve out a spot, I'd say go for it. The only downside that I can see with converting an upstairs room into a school room is convenience for you. It may be a hassle to run upstairs to teach a lesson and go back downstairs to work in the kitchen, do laundry, etc. It really depends on the layout of your house.
hth,
Laura

[jenntracy]

Christy
We currently use our "dining" room as school area most of the time. it also has toys, big bookshelf, and i have a 6ft long folding table that 2 can work at if they keep there areas clean.we keep the two folding chairs tucked to the side if they need them. usually they stand. we have enough of a kitchen nook to have a comfortable eating area for at least 6(we only have 5). i like it being next to the kitchen and the living room for now. it just seems more comfy and we are more together. we do go into my son's room for some stuff like the readings, so we aren't disturbed by the girls and they know he is "doing school".

we do have a nice big room that is supposed to be a den ,i guess. it is more like "computer and everything else room". seems we get something out and something else comes in. right now there is a toddler bed frame in there i can't seem to sell. This room would be ideal for schooling. Except it seems far away, which would be nice when kids are older. And we try not to heat or cool this room to cut down on our electricity bill. it isn't as bad in winter with a little heater. summer is awful though. it has LOTS of windows and is at the very end of the house.
i will definately send some picts. i am very visual and love to send them . probably a later email.

Jenn D

[annaz]

I move my rooms back and forth. Mine has been in the back bedroom and in the Family Room and in the kitchen. Our FR is sort of an extra room, but you have to walk through it to get to the bedrooms and bathroom (Drives me batty). At this moment, I'm contemplating using the kitchen table AND FR. I've never done that. I've always done an either or/all or nothing sort of thing. We're currently in the back bedroom. I'm unable to rearrange my living room because of the large and heavy items, so this is all I can rearrange. LOL!

First, it needs to be bright, otherwise you'll feel like you're in a hole. For us, everything fits back there and when school is over, it's over. If there's junk left out, it doesn't matter. On the other hand it's far from the kitchen and we're schlepping drinks or food back there. It's a little tight as well. I like that I have magnetic boards and bulletin boards up and puzzles and games all in one room.

When I was in my FR, and I have company, which is rare they see it all. I suppose...so be it. When I was only in the kitchen, I hated the constant mess at the kitchen table which is now why I'm thinking to only use the table for seatwork and use the FR for books and storage and whiteboards. When I was in the FR I usually put our school table in there, but it's very tight and I have to move a chair out.

I think it depends on how your are and how big your back room is. With only one child, it's not a big deal for me to be in a back room. It's about 11x12, but more than 2 people it's not doable. Too crowded. But then I have a ton of stuff. Sometimes it can get stuffy. I'm also very anal about clutter. I despise having piles of school related stuff on my kitchen table, because it can be seen from 4 rooms of the house. It's never clean. I think it's all about having the right furniture.

If you want pictures, I have pics of both rooms. If you pm me your email, I can send them. I don't know how to add in a shared album.

[Tansy]

Here is a similar topic were moms have shared how they use space in their home for school. May be it will trigger and Idea for you
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3118&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=table

[2littlemisses]

We created a small area in the basement. I hung a bulletin board, painted chalk paint on a board and hung that, got a fun calendar and and weather bear, little charts and posters to hang up. I thought it was great and my dd6 loved it! She felt like she had a real school. DD4 was so intimidated by it she would cry. I thought she would go to the side with the the toys and play but all she did was distract. With winter I felt like I was in a hole so I bought one of those cheap bookcases from Target and moved all the books upstairs. And like you said Christyg, it is filled up and we are only in LHFHG! So now we sit at the kitchen table and on the couch. We have a pocket door in the kitchen that goes to the basement and I painted that with chalk board paint. So far so good. We will try again in the basement when the snow melts and we can see out the basement windows. Every family is different and so are the needs of our children. I hope you find a solution that makes HS even more enjoyable.

I look forward to the ideas of others as well.

[Mommamo]

In our old house we just did school in the kids' room (at the time my oldest 2 shared) and also in the kitchen. That worked out fine. In our new house we have a pretty large loft room that we use as a school/play room. It's about 300 sq ft so we use about 1/3 - 1/2 of it for school. We have a little table, lots of shelves for books, manipulatives, etc, a rack for the workboxes, and a chair for reading. Then the rest of the room is the play area. We have our play kitchen, baby doll cradle, play workshop, train table, etc. The two halves are divided by low shelves so I can still see the little ones while they play. We do use the "play" side for circle time for the little ones, calendar area, and that's where my pocket chart is. It will also be where the maps are! I love having the designated room because it does get messy. For me it's no big deal having it upstairs (and it's the ONLY thing upstairs) because I try to do all my housework stuff before we start school, or after we're done for the day. It's also nice because the little ones are right next to me while they play, and I can still correct if they're having a rough day, or whatever. I've been meaning to get my blog going again and get some pics up so I'll see if I can get to that.

As much as I love it though, it's not absolutely necessary. Before we had a dedicated room, we just did school where we could and it was fine.

[Jennifer]

We have a coat closet in our living room that has been converted to the "school closet". A bookshelf inside with tubs and magazine holders hold our books and supplies. My youngest uses our dining room table in the adjacent room and my oldest (highschooler) uses our desk in the living room or the couch. I do sit in the living room with my youngest for reading and story time. This works well for us.

[sharonb]

We used to do school in the "schoolroom/playroom", and for several months I liked that it was a separate room. But, as my youngest has gotten older and wants to play too, things were just getting too chaotic and claustrophobic in there. So, we are back to the kitchen table, and I LOVE it. My youngest is content to sit in her highchair and color for a really long time. My 3 year old sometimes sits at the table with Playdough; sometimes he goes to the playroom. I am able to work on dishes and lunch prep while still helping the children with their schoolwork. When it's time for a read-aloud, we can slip around the corner into the living room. The playroom doesn't have any comfortable seating and is at the other end of the house, so it wasn't real convenient to run back and forth for reading.

All that being said, if all of my children were school age, then I would probably prefer to have a separate space for school. But since I still have youngers to tend to, I need to have that playroom for them to play in, and not try to do school in there also!

[my3good&perfectgifts]

Our school room has moved MANY times. When we moved into this house, we used an upstairs bonus room. That didn't work because my then 1 year old was too confined up there. So we moved to the breakfast nook table. We then moved to a extra bedroom, and now we mostly use our formal dining room, (which is not formal at all, we are not formal people). All of our supplies and books are stored in a bedroom closet. I used Julie's container idea and put the boys books in one. That way we don't have to go to the closet all the time to get something we forget. What I love about the dining room, is the huge window. The sun shines right on us during our school day. It makes me feel so warm and comfy. I do separate my boys. I usually sit my oldest in the dining room, and my youngest sits at a table in his room or at the kitchen bar. I go back and forth a lot. But that is easier than trying to keep them on task when they are together. My 2 year old is free to play throughtout the house since we are all downstairs. I like to be able to work on dishes or laundry while we are schooling. That isn't an option if we are upstairs or off in a bedroom away from the main living area. Who knows where we will end up next time.

[mskogen]

We use the back room that leads to back yard. I can see the younger ones when they are out playing. The room is open to the kitchen and dining room. (we have an open floor plan). I have two tables, a desk, a futon, and a tall bookcase. My husband builit a wall unit on one end of the room, taking up the entire wall. I use the futon for doing lessons. It allows for snuggle time I have a dry erase board but that is about all the wall space in this room. There are two sets of sliding glass doors leading outside, a window and a door. Therefore my maps have spilled into other areas of the main living area. I am also using wall space for our spanish charts and art papers. The soon to be 3 dd loves to display her art. We used to use the kitchen table and the "school room" was the "play room". This did't work to well for us. I moved the "playroom" into the kiddos bedrooms. Much better. Now if their toys don't get picked up at end of the day at least they are not in the back room of the house, visible to all...and I admit that happened more than I liked
The set up now allows us to move between rooms (kitchen) easily and there isn't stuff on my floors all the time. The only mess is on top of the tables/desks
Our house is a homeschooling house. I made a promise to one of my hs friends that we would not have "designer houses". Therefore taking the pressure off of us during this season of our life. There are many more important things than a clean house that looks perfect. Don't get me wrong I LOVE a clean, orderly house, makes me very happy. The reality is it just doesn't always happen. There is always tomorrow
I have loved hearing and seeing what everyone else does. Helps with new ideas and making the hs experience better. There is always room for improvement.

[birchbark]

Speaking from the experience of being home-schooled myself and now teaching my own, I think the most important thing about your school space is that you enjoy being there. It should be a room that you are naturally drawn to. If you choose a room based only on practicality and it is one that you don't like, you will find yourself dragging your materials to where you really want to be. When my family first started home-schooling, we used a finished but windowless room in the basement. It was set up really nice, but we hated going down there for school. It usually only lasted the first week of the school year.

Don't be afraid to use prime "real estate." If home-schooling is a big part of your life, then it can and should fill a big part of your house. Some of the most useful advice I read in a decorating book is to plan your home according to how you really live, and how you spend your time. Rethink every room.

We use the dining room as our school room. It has a lot of space, good light, and is right off both the kitchen and living room (which houses our bookshelves and couch for read-aloud time). Some shelves, closed storage, and an adjustable-height chair at the table for DS make it very user-friendly. I keep the dry-erase board, posters, and cork tiles all on one wall so the room still looks nice if I want to use it for entertaining. I just throw a tablecloth on. But homeschooling is the big activity that occurs on a daily basis and that is how the room is set up. We eat as a family in the kitchen.

If you're short on wall space, a clear plastic tablecloth is great for putting maps and posters under.

[funkmomma71]

In our home we use what is supposed to be the formal living room, it is actually half of the big open room that you see when first walk into our home. I got a free loveseat, a nice desk with a hutch, a whiteboard, and my husband put up shelves on the wall. The shelves have to be up high because I have a 2 yo boy who gets into everything he can! We do most of our schooling on the loveseat and my dd does any writing or art projects at her desk. Sometimes we spill into the adjacent "dining" room for bigger arts and crafts stuff. The table in that room is old and perfect for messy stuff.

[my3sons]

This may totally be a "boy" thing, but in order to keep the noise and distractions down in our home, we have to utilize the whole main floor to homeschool. If you arrow down to Carrie's post and then after that my3son's post (that's me ) further down at this link, it will make sense how we are using the entire main floor as our school area:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093&p=35802

I think there are lots of ways to define school areas. I have 2 sisters, and when we were young girls, we had a school playroom we played in all day upstairs. We loved it, and were content to play "school" up there for hours on end. So, for certain personalities, a set school room could be perfect! But not for my sons. We do have a homeschooling cupboard, for tubs of HOD books, art supplies, computers, and copier/printer. This was new to us last year, and has been wonderful. If I were you, I'd experiment with several different approaches, and see what seems to work the best for you. I hope something here can help. Have fun seeing what you like best!

In Christ,
Julie

[christyg]

Thanks so much, ladies, for all of your help! You have given me a lot of good ideas! I think that I am going to stick with what we're doing now for next year. We are going to do the things that require some handwriting and more messiness in the kitchen at the project desk and then do our reading in the adjacent family room on the couch or in our big comfy chair. The more I thought about it, I realized that it has worked perfect with my daughter this past year and we are only adding in 30 min of LHTH with my son this fall. And we will be doing his separately from hers anyway since neither one is independent right now. And then, I'll look at the situation again next year and see if we need to make any changes. I do like the idea of being in the same area of the house where a lot of my household chores are done throughout the day (laundry, dishes, making lunches, etc). I will try to post some pics of our school area later when everyone is working on organizing for next year.

Have a blessed day!
Christy