How many here do NOT have a schoolroom?

[blessedx5]

Just wondering how you store your things? We have bookcases here and there, a re-dedicated linen closet for homeschool stuff, containers here, containers there....it's simply scattered all over:tongue_smilie:

 

 

We don't have a schoolroom because we don't have an extra room..... we have our bedrooms that are all occupied, our livingroom and an eat in kitchen.

 

It works because it has to but it does get to me at times....

 

Debbie

[Tammy]

and our stuff is all over as well. I have two large book cases in my dining room that are FILLED. The kids' stuff is in the computer room in a large bin.

 

So.....I am right there with ya, LOL!

 

.

[Carrie12345]

No dedicated hs room here, either!

I want one primarily for storage purposes. It doesn't bother me at all to have children scattered around the dining and living rooms with their work, but it makes me nuts having all of our supplies scattered around the entire house, wherever we can fit them!

 

Fwiw, my TWO daughters now have FOUR desks in their bedroom. They almost never use them.

[Guest janainaz]

I have a linen closet that is solely my homeschool closet. I keep all of our curriculum books in a rectangular bucket and all I have to do is pull the bucket out and put it on the counter. I keep 3-ring binders for each subject on one shelf so that I can file our work daily. The other shelves are dedicated to all of our other school 'stuff'. Everything fits neatly in the closet and I don't have any other school stuff anywhere else in my home. My ds10 has his history timeline up in his room, and a few maps.

 

I could literally grab our bucket and go. We could do school anywhere the way I have it set up. At the end of the day, my ds's do not want to think about school or look at school books everywhere, and I can understand that.

 

(and I get all of our extra books from the library - I don't buy books unless they are reference books).

[hornblower]

We don't.

 

We could technically & I've got 4 weeks to decide whether to try it for this year. I've got space downstairs but I just don't know.... It's my un-reno'd 1960's basement, complete with knotty pine panelling & orange carpet. It's not a "happy space" for me even though it's above ground & has full windows. It's just so darn orange & ugly. I detest orange.

 

I've never had a schoolroom, always just used a kitchen or dining room table. Kids have desks in their rooms; those are primarily horizontal surfaces for storing crap & piles of laundry - rarely will they actually use the things as desks.

 

The STUFF everywhere is hard. Bookcases, esp billies with doors to minimize the clutter look help & yes, like you, I've taken over various closets.

[Ellie]

Kitchen table here. I just put a bookcase in the kitchen--it just fit on one narrow wall between dining area and living room--and kept most things there. We had one closet close-by where I was also able to keep supplies and some books. Good thing I only had two dc!

[MariannNOVA]

As of now, we don't have one this year..........our wonderful school room was one of the rooms that did not sustain damage in the water accident last year, but did manage to get TRASHED during the repairs. :angry:

 

All of our books are in ds' room - he has ample book shelf space in there. I keep three full bookcases of our other books downstairs in the media room.

 

We could school in the media room, but it IS a media room and there are no windows -- don't want to do that.

 

We will likely school at the dining room table and on the screened porch (if it EVER cools down). The room that we used for school (our great room) is scheduled for renovation right after Labor Day. I miss having the room as we have school desks and a huge whiteboard that made all of this SO easy.

[6packofun]

No, but a schoolroom doesn't work for us anyhow. 6 kids do not want to share a room when some need to concentrate, read or study and some need to be taught by me. Not to mention the kid who likes to work on the floor or couch or bed... We had a room for school once and we all decided that they are overrated. LOL Having personal space is important to us and a school room can create the same distraction issues that are in the public school rooms! :D

 

"The world is our classroom! Once we get out of our, ummm, classroom...?" Nah, no thanks. I have several friends who like to have a school room, I think, because it legitimizes the whole thing for them especially since they have friends/family who question their school choice. So for them, it's about more than having a school space, which I can sort of understand. I guess.

 

Now I would like a walk-in school CLOSET just for a place to keep stuff... lol

[Wheres Toto]

No homeschool room, no closets except 2 small bedroom ones (out of three bedrooms) and no space in general. We have a couple bookcases surrounding our fireplace in the living room, a storage cabinet in the kids bedroom, a high shelf over a bedroom door in the living room, a nine cube unit and a plastic drawer set in the dining area of the kitchen. My file crates sit on the bench to my dining set (a breakfast nook with storage benches). Part of my difficulty comes from having to keep things out of reach of dd3 since she loves to rip and scatter.

 

I hate having to pull out step-ladders and jump through hoops everytime I need to get something out. It drives me nuts. By next summer we should have a new house and I'll have a dedicated playroom/school room. I can't wait!

[Homeschooling Hannah]

:lol:Kitchen table is our desk and all of our books are on the hutch next to the table. I try and keep it organized so our kitchen doesn't look cluttered but sometimes I can't manage that.

[Caitilin]

We don't! We school in our dining room, and store our current school materials in desk apprentices on a re-purposed baker's rack in the corner. It's not optimal, but it works. :)

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I gave up our homeschool room for a playroom and moved everything into the dining room. I had already purchased a ton of storage for the schoolroom so I just moved that into the dining room. Luckily, it matches pretty well and there is plenty of space for it. On the left is a Leksvik armoire from IKEA that holds kits, binders, my desk apprentice, etc. On the left is the Leksvik buffet, flanked by two cabinet-bottom bookshelves. I have four other Leksvik bookcases (three with just shelves and another one with a cabinet bottom) in other parts of the house. Also, each of the kids has a bedroom bookshelf.

[Tutor]

No school room here, either. We have a large set of bookshelves in our hallway. Half of them are our children's "lockers." They store their books and binders here as well as pencils and paper. There are also two huge wall maps in this hallway and a timeline string around the ceiling (which hopefully will be used this year :glare:).The school computer is in the living room. A bookshelf in the kitchen holds manipulatives and such and there are shelves scatttered throughout the house with our other books and such. The kids to table work either at the kitchen table or at our office table; they also have clip boards, so will sometimes head outside and use those. They ready wherever they can find a comfy spot, and watch school DVDs in the living room. We got them all iPods last year so they could use them for audio books, memory work, and Beatles albums. :001_smile:

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

We will likely school at the dining room table and on the screened porch (if it EVER cools down).

 

Oh, yes! Outside on my swing or on the patio is my favorite place to be but not in this weather! I can't wait for fall!

[Plucky]

We used to and it was wonderful. Now we do it at the kitchen table and it's great as well. I can get some chores done while I'm in between working with kids. We have large bookshelves in the family room that is attached to our kitchen/eating area.

Edited August 17, 2010 by True Blue

[KRG]

We've always schooled in the dining room or living room but we had a spare bedroom to keep everything in. Then surprise there's a baby on the way--now supplies are 'scattered' all over the house. We have 2 bookcases in our bedroom and a supply cabinet, too. We use the cabinet in the entertainment center for the textbooks and everyday items.

[i.love.lucy]

No school room. We will use the breakfast table and couch and back porch. The formal dining room houses the armoir with computer, 3 bookshelves, file cabinet and big chair (mostly used by the dog). There is no room in here for desks and I don't think my kids would use them anyways. As a pp mentioned, my dd likes to get away from the noise to work independently so a room that forced us to be together wouldn't work. I think it's fine the way it is and if I had a room for school I wouldn't use it for that anyways.

[Dawn in OH]

No school room. Our place isn't big enough. I would love to have one, located right off the kitchen, so I could still do my thing but be within earshot and sight distance.

 

I have bookcases full of our supplies. I have some Rubbermaid bins containing supplies on the bottom shelves of the bookcases since I can't keep books down there because of the little ones. The globe and the microscope sit on top the book cases when not in use. We are about to outgrow out two "homeschool" book cases very soon.

[Closeacademy]

I don't have a schoolroom. Now I have an area in the basement I can use as a schoolroom but it is dark and cold and cut off from the rest of the house so I can't hear if someone is at the door or if the phone rings.

 

In the basement, I have shelves for our curriculum/books not in use. I also have a craft cabinet and drawers/boxes for supplies.

 

In our living room, we have 2 6-drawer carts that hold textbooks and the week's work. I have a small bookshelf with 2 shelves that hold supplies and completed work binders. I have a file cabinet with 5 drawers--3 for school including file system, colored paper and teacher ideas.

 

We do schoolwork at the kitchen table.:001_smile:

[JoyfulMama]

I use the half of three bookshelves plus one additional bookshelf in our family room for school-type books and such (our notebooks, puzzles, library books, . We have a kitchen table in there we use as a desk, and I have recently moved in additional separate lower writing spaces for my younger dc. That room is a/c'd in the summer and heated with fireplace in winter, so it is where we usually end up, on the couches (or spread across the floor). In the kitchen (adjacent room) we have three sets of plastic drawers which hold supplies and manipulatives. Art & science is done in the dining/kitchen area for easier cleanup. Upstairs in my walk-in closet I keep the messy craft/art supplies, as they are then out of reach. I also have a set of plastic drawers in there with overstock of paper, notebooks, glue, etc.

 

I think I'm too claustrophobic to have a dedicated school room.

[naturegirl7]

I have our kitchen table and a few drawers in the dresser in our spare room. DS does have his own books shelf and a Trofast shelf that I use to store all his arty stuff. We have a world map and some science posters decorating his play area off the living room and a large US map hanging in our kitchen. We are getting ready to add a dry erase DYI board to the other kitchen wall. My house is so NOT a H&G house, but I love it and it works sooo well for us!

 

I am lusting after some new IKEA bookshelves though - the Cube kind - that would make storage sooooo much more lovely.

 

We talked about making part of DS's room a school area, or moving our play area into the bedroom, or turning the spare room into a home office/school room. But while I want more organized storage - I like the "learning at the kitchen table" thing - our kitchen is our family hub and it just feels so right. Plus I can multi-task :)

Edited August 17, 2010 by naturegirl7

[specialmama]

Just wondering how you store your things? We have bookcases here and there, a re-dedicated linen closet for homeschool stuff, containers here, containers there....it's simply scattered all over:tongue_smilie:

 

 

We don't have a schoolroom because we don't have an extra room..... we have our bedrooms that are all occupied, our livingroom and an eat in kitchen.

 

It works because it has to but it does get to me at times....

 

Debbie

 

We don't have a homeschool room by choice, because we'll always migrate back to the couch or kitchen table. I have built-in bookshelves in the living room along with 2 cabinets, and the den houses several storage options including a tall bookshelf, a closet and a double pantry which currently houses art and science supplies. The den walls are also covered with timelines and maps so they're out of sight from the rest of the house.

[simka2]

We don't.

 

We could technically & I've got 4 weeks to decide whether to try it for this year. I've got space downstairs but I just don't know.... It's my un-reno'd 1960's basement, complete with knotty pine panelling & orange carpet. It's not a "happy space" for me even though it's above ground & has full windows. It's just so darn orange & ugly. I detest orange.

 

I've never had a schoolroom, always just used a kitchen or dining room table. Kids have desks in their rooms; those are primarily horizontal surfaces for storing crap & piles of laundry - rarely will they actually use the things as desks.

 

The STUFF everywhere is hard. Bookcases, esp billies with doors to minimize the clutter look help & yes, like you, I've taken over various closets.

 

Ooooh, I had a knotty pine room!!! I primed it and painted it a soft cream color!!! It was wonderful ;)

[simka2]

We don't either! China hutch, bookshelves, dining and kitchen tables, and desks in bedrooms. That how we roll!

 

I have a finished basement that I would love to use, but right before we decided to homeschool a young adult moved in to it. It didn't feel right asking him to move :) maybe someday.

[katemary63]

We have 1000 square feet for 5 people. No school room here, that's for sure. What we did was give my DD9 the largest bedroom and put a desk and extra bookshelves in there. It's very cramped and we often take all our books for the day to the table in the kitchen, do school there and hope to have it all put away by the time Daddy gets home!

[KidsHappen]

We don't. Never have. We have always had a formal living or dining room that we used as a formal reading room. Library shelves lining the walls and a dining room table as the reading table. My kids sometimes used that for solitary work but almost all day to day work was done in my office. I have my desk in here, a cabinet like a sideboard for storage of materials, bookshelves, a reading chair and a very large plastic table that the children sit at to do their work. Doesn't look like a school room at all. Nothing has changed since they went off to PS. Now they just do their homework in there instead. It does get a bit crowded when they are all in here because they take us all available sitting space and then the dogs take up all the floor space. I never really wanted a school room that took up space for only onepurpose for a small period of the day. My set up is very versitile. We can play family games in the library or do a puzzle. We can have large family diners in there and my hubby and I can work n my office even when the kids aren't home.

[mama2cntrykids]

We also don't have a room devoted to nothing else but school. We do school in the Living Room (for read alouds etc) and the dining room table (for math, LA, Art, Science, etc).

 

Our situation now is better than the house we just moved from. We really had *no room* there. It was a 1050 sq. ft. house with six of us living there (and two dogs). Now, we have 1750 sq. ft. living space with another 800 sq. ft. unfinished in the basement. Much better!

 

To be honest though, I've never *really* wanted a completely seperate room for school either. If we had it, great. If not, that's perfectly ok too!

[eternalknot]

Kitchen table here. I just put a bookcase in the kitchen--it just fit on one narrow wall between dining area and living room--and kept most things there. We had one closet close-by where I was also able to keep supplies and some books. Good thing I only had two dc!

 

 

:iagree:. We do the same. I do have 8 tubs of books organized by historical era that are stacked in an extra half-bath we don't use for toileting (but rather for storing random things). I keep the contents of the current tubs on the bookshelf in the kitchen.

[AngelaNYC]

No schoolroom here, either. We use the dining room table and store everything in the china cabinet. Top shelf is for the pretty knick knacks and lower 3 shelves hold all the books and supplies. We got rid of all the "good dishes" long ago. Here's a pic I recently had on my blog (sorry it's so big):

 

[kewb]

No school room here. We school at the dining room table.

Bookshelf in the kitchen holds all the current texts and the globe we are using.

Credenza in the dining room holds school supplies-pens, pencils, stapler, tape, glue sticks, etc.

Breakfront in the dining room holds notebooks, binders, dictionary, and atlas.

Chair in the corner of the dining room holds library books.

Space behind the sofa in the living room houses extra books.

Basement houses overflow items.

 

One of my friends has a school room that I just drool over every time we visit. But we make our lack of a schoolroom and space work for us.

[elise1mds]

Thankfully I only have the one kiddo to teach, but we have four caches of books in the house. One in my room, one in each of the kids' rooms, and one in the living room. Library books stay in the bags on the coffee table. Then we have a dedicated "homeschool shelf" strictly for curriculum.

 

Then there are the art cabinets. We have one in the living room filled with stuff the kids *are* allowed to get into and another in the utility room that they *aren't* allowed to mess with if they don't have permission. Plus each kid has a desk with a shelf underneath where they store a basket of common art supplies like markers, pencils, erasers, crayons, scissors, glue, etc.

 

It's amazing how it expands...

[scmama]

We don't have a school room either. Although after seeing all those beautiful rooms on the Heart of the Matter website...I'm green with envy!!! :) We school at our kitchen table, one pantry closet full of books and binders, and supplies, and another book shelve with all their daily books, binders, etc. I had to add another desk into my living room/office so that I could have my "own" area. Our house is just over 900sqft. I would love to afford an add on just for the school room purpose. Dh complained yesterday that the kitchen is looking more and more like a school house. LOL! All well, we make do with what we have! I am seriously thinking of moving some parts of school outside once the weather cools off..way too hot right now.

[NanceXToo]

I store my stuff about the same way you do!

 

I have a small closet which I took over for homeschooling and craft supplies and a small file cart. I have a china cabinet which I also took over for homeschool supplies, including most of the texts and workbooks and notebooks we are using in a given year, more craft supplies, some science supplies, etc. Then I have a couple of different bookcases. And some things that are just scattered here and there.

 

We do most of our work at the kitchen table, and some at the computer in the den.

[KatieJ]

Always used the dining room table and the sofa for our schoolroom. We did have a huge media cabinet that we used for desks and eventually I added my own desk to the front room. In the media cabinet the shelves were organized for reading books, resource books, xtra notebooks, art supplies in rubbermaid containers, etc.

Each child ( I taught 3-4 at a time) had a rubbermaid container for their personal supplies, a 3 ring binder and their own cubby in the media bookcase. It worked great for us. I am not sure I would have liked a room by itself, because as the kids got older I was usually doing kitchen/laundry chores while they worked. My two youngest were boys and were about alike as oil and water. One sat perfectly still and completed his work, the other twitched and wiggled and needed many breaks. Eventually we got a desk in their room so we could separate them for study times. Before that, the twitcher did his school work whereever he could move, under the table, on the coffee table..anywhere but sitting next to his brother!

[VBoulden]

Here's a blog post I wrote about my I don't have a classroom.

 

http://www.veronicaboulden.com/2010/06/lot-of-people-ask-me-how-i-organize-my.html

 

This really works for us... so far. :001_smile:

[meet me in paris]

UGH. For the first time we are schooling in the dining room. I hate moving.

 

We do have one huge wooden cabinet (5'x5'-ish) with sliding doors/shelves and 8 drawers that we got in Japan (they call it a kitchen tansu - it's supposed to hold all your kitchen stuff) and it's jam packed with all of our school stuff. I like it better than a bookshelf since it's in the main part of our house and I can slide the wooden doors closed when we're done ('cause when I'm done, I'm *done*). ;)

[Brindee]

This will be our 13th year of homeschooling, and we have never had a school room. We have bookcases where we store the books, and we homeschool where it's comfy. Including sometimes outside. It's been better that way. One son needs absolute quiet, and the younger two like to sing, hum or talk out loud while they're learning. One lays half on the couch, half on the floor, or some other strange position, or walks around. So one room wouldn't work if I wanted them to learn iin their best envirionments! We're so used to it, that it'd seem weird to have a room for it now! :D

[Mom22ns]

We do school downstairs in the family room. It isn't a school room, but it is. The kids have desks, there is a computer desk, we spend a lot of time on the couch. There is also a table that is used for art and science labs and a couple of bookshelves in the other half of the room (2 large rooms mostly open in between). I wouldn't want to cram into a small bedroom for school after having had our big space, but when people come over, there is no doubt that they are visiting/playing in our school room and that always feels slightly awkward.

 

We still love our space.

[KathyBC]

That looks fantastic. I really like how everything works together.

[Peela]

Our living room IS our schoolroom. We have desks in here (mine too), and the TV and sofas and piano and bookshelves! Its a crowded room but it works for us.

Our dining room has two large easy chairs in it (as well as dining table) where dh and I often sit and have our adult chat time, while the kids are in the school/living room. It is also where we tend to entertain visitors because it is right off the kitchen so when people come for a meal, its nice for the cook to not be in a separate room (even if its just cups of tea).

So, we have sacrificed a more formal or separate living area for a schoolroom which is used all day every day (it also have all our computers in it so it is used on weekends too). It is really our LIVING area because we virtually live in this room. But we rarely bring guests in here. Its for us.

[Teachin'Mine]

We don't.

 

We could technically & I've got 4 weeks to decide whether to try it for this year. I've got space downstairs but I just don't know.... It's my un-reno'd 1960's basement, complete with knotty pine panelling & orange carpet. It's not a "happy space" for me even though it's above ground & has full windows. It's just so darn orange & ugly. I detest orange.

 

I've never had a schoolroom, always just used a kitchen or dining room table. Kids have desks in their rooms; those are primarily horizontal surfaces for storing crap & piles of laundry - rarely will they actually use the things as desks.

 

The STUFF everywhere is hard. Bookcases, esp billies with doors to minimize the clutter look help & yes, like you, I've taken over various closets.

 

Knotty pine paneling looks awesome painted. Paint won't work for the carpeting, but it does wonders for that paneling. If you decide to paint it, just make sure you do really good prep work and use a good primer.

 

Sounds like the carpet is the greater offender though. If it's a cement floor underneath, you can always pull the carpet, stain the floor, and add some area rugs. :)

 

We don't have a school room either, but if I had space like that, we certainly would! :)

[Maverick_Mom]

We have bookcases here and there, a re-dedicated linen closet for homeschool stuff, containers here, containers there....it's simply scattered all over:tongue_smilie:

 

 

"Simply scattered all over" describes our set-up very well. ;)

[Blueridge]

No schoolroom here, either. I had a lovely one in our former home...we moved from there 4 years ago and I still miss it. Now we have a tiny living room/dining room combo. :tongue_smilie: I do have a neat coffee table trunk that opens it's top to hide some of our large books and binders. I use a hutch with drawers behind my table to hide colored paper and notebook paper. Beside that, hiding in the corner, is a 3 ft. high plastic drawer bin on wheels that holds pencils, stickers, scissors, science tools, etc. All the SL books are rowed up on a low hutch on the other side of the table. Crowded is an understatement LOL. We do seat work at the table, then reading on the couch.

[gingersmom]

My son does school at the kitchen table and my daughter has a desk (actually a really long table) in the computer room.

 

There is no way my kids would do school in the same room.

 

There books have taken over a bookcase in the computer room, the computer desk, the floor........

[southcarolinamom]

When my kids were young, we used the dining room table for both of them - they would each set at an end.

 

As they got older and their books increased in quantity and size, they went through their sibling fighting faze ... so now my daughter uses the dining room table for school - we have the 2 bookcases and 2 computers in that room - and my son's work is on top of and underneath the living room coffee table.

 

They are "friends again" :) and often end up stopping school for a while so they can talk to each other, or try to prank their mother.

[sheryl]

Debbie, An actual homeschool room....a room with no other purposes to it? That's us. Our house is too small. We h'school in the small and cramped office space which also houses a treadmill and/or anywhere in the house...sofa in family room, dining room table, etc.

[OnTheBrink]

I have a school corner. It has dd's desk, a cabinet, and a rolling wheelie thing that holds her schoolbooks. It's not ideal but it works for now. I used to have a school room in my former house and I do miss having it.

[mom31257]

We do school at our table. Here is a picture of book cases I keep beside the table. We also have large book cases in our garage for all the resources and books not in current or regular use. This is a picture from last year, but it's pretty much the same this year. I have moved the round school supply holders to the top of the bookcase and the file boxes go in the shelves.

[Melanie]

We don't have a school room, and our stuff is definitely scattered. I just wrote a blog post (with pictures!) about where we keep the books. :)

[mazakaal]

No schoolroom here either. We have all of our school books and art supplies on shelves in our dining room. It's a good sized dining room, but I still miss having a dedicated schoolroom. Our last house had a living room that was big enough to also hold our dining room table, so the dining room could be dedicated to homeschool with a big table that I didn't mind getting messy with projects, shelves everywhere, and a sofa for read alouds. But our house before that had a small kitchen/diner that also had to hold all our school stuff. Of course, the kids were a lot smaller then and we didn't have as much school stuff, but boy was that room crammed! This is a huge improvement over that.