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Help! Homeschool in small spaces


Alexigail
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We live in a pretty small home - two small bedrooms and a converted attic.  Right now our kids' room is in the attic (we have two boys) and we sleep in one bedroom.  The other is being used for a classroom/office/multipurpose room. That room is a nightmare, and with school starting soon I want to make a change.  

 

My thought right now is to pack away most of the toys and use the boys room for a classroom.  I would keep the toys out that they play with - there are only a few - and let them ask for anything else they want to use.  (I secretly want to get rid of all the unused toys, but that will have to happen over time.)  There's enough space up there to have a bedroom and a classroom without much difficulty, but I'm uncertain about having a classroom and bedroom in the same space.

 

Are there any major drawbacks to having kids use the same room for sleeping and for school?  We're not exactly "school at home" types, but I'd like for them to have a home base for books and for desks.  Because our house is so small, I need to contain our school a little better so the rest of the house isn't piled with school work.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  Or other ideas on how to make our situation work?

 

 

The room in question is shaped like this:

http://christianhomeschoolmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/homeschool-creations.jpg

 

although not nearly as gorgeous :)  I would love to do something like this with their beds near the window.

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I personally would not want a bedroom to double as a schoolroom, but that's because I have difficulty sleeping, a problem that is worse if my bedroom is used for anything but sleep. I think it could work if the room could be partitioned off, maybe with a curtain or book cases to divide the two areas.

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We have a similar set up and made the 2nd bedroom solely the classroom. Okay I have a piece of workout equipment in there because that's the only place it will fit, but we mostly use it for homeschooling. My son has the attic dormer for his room. At 16, he's beyond the toy stage, but at the electronic part stage, which is just as messy sometimes. 

 

Personally, i wouldn't school in his room. IMO, it helps for him to have a defined space of his own, as a teen it seems very important. The other issue is that our attic dormer is not finished as nice as the photo. it's hot and cold, there is no bathroom, and I can't hear if someone is at the door if i'm up there. 

 

The second bedroom in our house is right next to the kitchen and laundry, it has a door that can be shut, so it's not like we're living in school stuff. We reached a point a few years ago where I felt like all we did was school and it's nice to kind of separate that. 

 

I wouldn't want all my homeschooling stuff in the boys' bedroom. What if you need to work late or are planning and need quiet? personally, I'd set up the second bedroom exclusively for office/classroom and leave the dormer to the boys. 

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We just use the kitchen or dining room table. Most school books and supplies can go on a nearby bookcase or a rolling cart that can be stashed when the day is done. You can put curtains or doors on the bookcase if you don't want to see the contents. No matter where you school, that feeling of 'school mess' goes away if you put everything away as you finish using it. When they were little, my kids gauged how much they had left to do by the pile of books remaining.

 

When they were little, a large table and good lighting were more important than where we were in the house. On nice days I moved them to the patio. Once they got older, they used their bedrooms more for independent work. Now that I have one student, he does a lot in his room because there is so much more independent reading to do.

 

In my mind, the most comfortable, least crowded space is the clear winner for schooling. Everything is put away by 2-3 p.m. anyway. When my kids were early elementary, we used a rectangular table as a school table. It adjusted to child height. I sat on the couch and the kids sat opposite me on kids' chairs. That table served as our coffee table for several years.

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I've always schooled in the kitchen or on the couch, depending on if the kids were doing table work or reading.  We had a cabinet where we stored all of our daily school items, with the rest stored in the basement.  Everything came out of the cabinet in the morning, and everything went back in in the afternoon. 

 

We actually had space to school elsewhere in the house (formal dining room, spare bedroom, etc.), but we never used those.  Dh and I were happy to agree early on that our house would never look like our school. Instead, our school looked like our house. 

 

What I liked about schooling in the kitchen is that I could do my usual thing--cook, clean up, take care of other household chores, while the children did their work. I was available when needed, or we'd gather together on the couch for reading/discussing.

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I don't understand why you wouldn't want to continue using the extra bedroom as your schoolroom.  If it's a mess, organize it.  It's not going to be less of a mess just by transferring it somewhere else.

 

Personally, if you spend any time with them in the classroom at all,  I would not want it in some hot attic room.

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It would work for us, except that my kids tend to distract each other when they are supposed to be doing independent work.

 

We don't have any issue with the academics being in the same room as the beds.  Other than the fact that one of my kids will sneak and read the books when she is supposed to be sleeping.   :/

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Thanks for all the input, I appreciate it. 

 

To clarify, the main issue is that the room we use for school is too small - It's quite organized and neat, but it is tripling as a home office, classroom, and rec room.  My husband and I need more space for the home office, the kids need more space to do their work.  Kitchen table and other spaces like that just aren't feasible in our house because of how small the rooms are.  (Our kitchen table is a tiny table with two bar stools.)

 

I like the idea of partitioning off a space.  The attic has two sections: the main room and a space towards the back with a built in desk and bookcase.   I think maybe we'll partition off that area and see how it goes.  I usually love our small house - it forces me to keep things clean and keep the clutter to a minimum.  It can be a challenge sometimes, though!

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Thanks for all the input, I appreciate it. 

 

To clarify, the main issue is that the room we use for school is too small - It's quite organized and neat, but it is tripling as a home office, classroom, and rec room.  My husband and I need more space for the home office, the kids need more space to do their work.  Kitchen table and other spaces like that just aren't feasible in our house because of how small the rooms are.  (Our kitchen table is a tiny table with two bar stools.)

 

I like the idea of partitioning off a space.  The attic has two sections: the main room and a space towards the back with a built in desk and bookcase.   I think maybe we'll partition off that area and see how it goes.  I usually love our small house - it forces me to keep things clean and keep the clutter to a minimum.  It can be a challenge sometimes, though!

 

I have a friend whose kids love doing their schoolwork on folding tray tables (like from TV dinners, back in the day).  Maybe something like that would work, then you'd only need storage for the stuff, but not for desks/workspace?

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