What would you do? School room vs bedroom

[MyBlueLobsters]

We have a 4 bdrm house. Currently, the 2 oldest share a room and the youngest has his own room. The 4th bedroom is the school room. Both of the older boys want their own room. Doing this, however, would take away the school room. So, would you...

 

A.) Say "Too bad" and leave things the way they are

 

B.) Let them each have their room and do school elsewhere (dining room or whatever) I don't know what I would do with all the books and other school stuff.

 

C.) Give them each their own room and divide the school room between the 2 rooms

 

D.) Other, offer suggestion?

[mrs.m]

A.

 

I'm a mean momma. LOL!

[MyBlueLobsters]

A.

 

I'm a mean momma. LOL!

 

:lol: This is my first reaction. Glad I'm not the only meanie out there.... :tongue_smilie:

[DaffodilDreams]

The older they get, the greater their desire for privacy and a space of their own. Since they are both young, I'd most likely leave it the way it is for now, but I would begin thinking about creative use of space and consider moving the school stuff to another part of the house within the next couple of years. But that's just me; you need to work out a plan that works for your family.

[Chris in VA]

Probably A, but...

 

Do you find yourself not using the room very much? Could you clean out a hall closet, store things in the basement/utility room/extra closet, add shelving in another room and store things there, and then move to a den or other room?

 

Do they want their own rooms because...

Jealous of younger bro?

Need to get away from each other?

 

If it's a need to get away from each other, maybe the oldest could get the current room and the second could bunk with the youngest? or if you gave the bigger room (if there is a bigger room) to the two boys, switch things around and give the oldest the little room and put the youngest in with the middle kid. Family Fun mag has a couple of neat ideas on how to create separate space in a room, including one idea to put curtains around a bed (using ceiling mounted tracks).

 

Just some ideas.

[JudoMom]

A.

 

It sounds like you currently live in a 3 bedroom, 1 schoolroom house (not a 4 bedroom :D).

 

My boys have no choice but to share rooms. Ds10 & ds4 are in one room (it was ds10's choice) and ds9, ds7, & ds6 share the other. We did get them each a loft bed, so they've got their own private space (the area under their bed has a desk and bookshelf, and no one is supposed to go in anybody else's area without permission).

[Ester Maria]

B.

 

Even though in my more "mean" (:D) moments I'd also go with A - less trouble for me, more convenient for me - it's ultimately not fair. If you objectively can - and you can - provide for a child what you have provided for a sibling, it's unfair not to do it out of your convenience.

We're also big believers in privacy, personal space and those stuff over here.

 

Each child can have his materials in his room, and work on them in his room or in a living/dining room, however you wish to organize it, bringing one subject per time, so it wouldn't create too much mess.

[myfunnybunch]

Barring major personality conflicts between the two kids, I would probably do A for now. I would let them know that you're willing to reconsider when they are a little older, maybe 2-3 years. That will give you some time to consider storage options.

 

My three boys all share one room even though we've got an extra room (currently sewing/computer/school supply storage), but it's more about learning to share space than it because we need the room for its current purposes. Sometimes they wish for their own rooms; sometimes they can't imagine sleeping alone in a room...in the dark...with who knows what under the bed.... ;)

 

Cat

[tex-mex]

The older they get, the greater their desire for privacy and a space of their own. Since they are both young, I'd most likely leave it the way it is for now, but I would begin thinking about creative use of space and consider moving the school stuff to another part of the house within the next couple of years. But that's just me; you need to work out a plan that works for your family.

:iagree: Start to pare down the massive amounts of "stuff" and streamline it for when the time comes when that bedroom is going to be needed. You can do it! ;)

[MyBlueLobsters]

Thanks guys, lots to consider! Keep those ideas coming!

[MicheleinMN]

I would rotate the boys sharing the one bedroom, or I would give each boy his own room. IOW, I would let one boy have his own room for 4 months while two share, then 4 months later someone else would get his own room, and 4 months after that the last son would get his own room, but honestly...I would probably just give each boy his own room with whichever child was most responsible having all my school books located in his room. I have our school stuff (mostly) on bookcases, but each child has his or her own crate for school. We have bookcases in the entry way, diningroom, each bedroom, etc.

 

HTH

[1bassoon]

How about A, but rotate rooms so that for 6 months, one kid has their own room?

 

It's a little random thought, but it might work. . . . and that would sure keep their rooms clean, if they move every 6 months!

 

But we've got 5 kids in a 4bd house, so the Boy is the only one who gets his own room. It's a bone of contention for one of my dds, but you know? Most people don't even have a bedroom - they just all sleep in a hut somewhere.

 

Perspective is a beautiful thing.

[Night Elf]

B.) Let them each have their room and do school elsewhere (dining room or whatever) I don't know what I would do with all the books and other school stuff.

 

This is what I did. My girls, 6 years apart in age, were happy to share a room when we first moved into our new house. We have 3 BRs upstairs, and dd17's BR downstairs which is as big as my master BR. But it has no bath. I used one of the small bedrooms upstairs for a school room. After several months, I realized that privacy was a big issue. We moved into a 4 BR house with 5 family members and I felt I was cheating them out of a private space. Also, I felt guilty that my son had his own room. I moved 2 bookcases into my dining area and started schooling in the kitchen. It's crowded, but it works. If we ever put our house on the market, we'll have to go through and remove cluttered furniture. However, as long as we live here, we must use our space practically. For us, function is more important that appearance.

[Remudamom]

Make them share while they are young. Right now you need a schoolroom. You know we have a schoolroom that isn't really used for that anymore now that ours are older. They prefer to sack out in their rooms to concentrate. But when they were younger we had to have that room. Makes things so much easier to contain, teach and keep the rest of the house clean.

 

Tell them they can have their own rooms later. T and K are waiting for Kt to move out so they can have their own rooms, and then they'll probably only have them for a year before college. Poor things.

[Starr]

Everything shifts around high school time. I would leave it as it is for now if it's working well for you. We don't have a school room and we have books and school stuff everywhere. We clear the table for meals and cover it with papers and books in between. It's a good thing you are taking your time and thinking it through.

[Lara in Colo]

If you can and want to, you might think about breaking through a wall, make one large bedroom for all three. I does reduce the value of your house (which isn't that hard to reverse).

 

Lara

[Teachin'Mine]

I think it's great to have a separate school room, and would do whatever I could to help the older two make their bedroom work. Maybe you could put up some kind of a divider in the room, so they each have their own space. Kids don't need much room, just a bit of privacy might help. Maybe you could also help them come up with a schedule for them to each have alone time in their room during the day. Even if it's just an hour each, it might be what they're looking for.

[KidsHappen]

My children having their own room is one of the luxuries that allows me to keep my sanity. I would do as much as humanly possible to insure that each child has their own room. At my house, the youngers schooled in my room and the olders schooled in their own rooms or in my room if they needed help. Books and supplies are stored in various bookshelves all about the house.

 

My current house has two living areas, two dining areas, and two office spaces but only four bedrooms and two of those are 9X9. We have seven people in the house so most everyone is sharing right now and it is definitely more stressful that way. I would gladly give up common areas for more bedrooms.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

A.

 

I'm a mean momma. LOL!

 

This is what we do now. :)

[ChristusG]

I'd go with option A LOL! My girls will probably always share a room. I think it promoted bonding. Of course, right now they are only 6 and 3, so ask me again when they are teenagers LOL. But I'd love for them to always share a room. And if you use the school room a lot, then I'd definitely keep it, especailly at the ages your children are at. If you find yourself doing work elsewhere a lot, then maybe consider giving up the school room.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We have a 4 bdrm house. Currently, the 2 oldest share a room and the youngest has his own room. The 4th bedroom is the school room. Both of the older boys want their own room. Doing this, however, would take away the school room. So, would you...

 

A.) Say "Too bad" and leave things the way they are

 

B.) Let them each have their room and do school elsewhere (dining room or whatever) I don't know what I would do with all the books and other school stuff.

 

C.) Give them each their own room and divide the school room between the 2 rooms

 

D.) Other, offer suggestion?

 

In three houses we had an area designated as the school room. But we only did school there in the house where this area was big enough to also be the room with the tv and serve as our family room as well.

 

In the other two houses, where one of the bedrooms had most of our books, we never actually did school there, in part because these rooms were rather warm during the day.

 

Here we have to have books everywhere and double kids up just to get enough room for beds.

 

What I will probably do in the next house is try to spread the kids out one to a room, but with book cases in every bedroom.

 

One cool thing I've seen was a friend who put shelves into the large downstairs closet and kept most of her school books there. It was a closet that extended under the stairs, so it was quite large.

 

I should also not that the time when a school table in a schoolroom did work for us was when the kids were just starting and I was right there with them for every lesson. These days they are as likely to do math in a beanbag or on the floor as at a table.:lol:

[OnTheBrink]

Option A, or do the rotation thing, which is a good idea!

[gingersmom]

I vote for B.

 

I'm a big fan of separate bedrooms (plus that is how I was brought up).

 

I have a 4 bedroom house also with only 3 bedrooms used for sleeping.

We use the 4th bedroom as a spare bedroom/den.

 

We do school at the kitchen table and I store our books/supplies in another room.