Pros and Cons of having a school room....

[ksullivan87]

My situation- starting 1dd in K but will still have 2 ds(4 and 7 months by then).

 

Here is my list please feel free to comment and give experienced advice!! :) I know this is only K but I am also thinking ahead. The room would be in the basement which has an attached playroom area. The alternative is the dining room which has no room for bulletin boards though I would put up a whiteboard... somewhere.

 

Pros-

A nice, organized place that I don't feel like is "in the way"

I think it might help my dd to understand that this in not an option but a priority

It will help me not shortchange school if it is a definite time, place etc.

I can decorate, put maps, bulletin boards that I don't have room to do up stairs

She will not be distracted by the other children(playing, crying)

We would not distract or wake the napping one :)

 

Cons-

It would be in the basement away from the other kids(1 will be napping mostly)

I won't be able to multitask like making lunch, attending to other children etc

There would not be any catching bits and pieces from ds(4) by listening

A possible feeling of school being separate from all of life

 

YOUR thoughts????

[Ellie]

Although I would have loved a dedicated room, I would not have liked having it down in the basement, away from the life that goes on in the home.

 

Part of that is my philosophy of education. I think that learning is important, but "school"...not so much. I didn't want my dc to think that learning only happened during certain times of the day or certain months of the year, or in certain places, and that they could only learn things out of textbooks and workbooks and whatnot. I didn't need to make learning into a discipline, because there were plenty of opportunities for that during life in general.

 

So, yes, a place to put up maps and do art projects and sometimes to focus on Official School Stuff would have been wondermous. We always lived in small homes with no basement, no family room, and so our kitchen table was often cluttered. Then again, that's where our life was, and that's how I liked it. For me, your "cons" list would tip the scale in its favor. :001_smile:

[dcurry]

Pros-

A nice, organized place that I don't feel like is "in the way"

I think it might help my dd to understand that this in not an option but a priority

It will help me not shortchange school if it is a definite time, place etc.

I can decorate, put maps, bulletin boards that I don't have room to do up stairs

She will not be distracted by the other children(playing, crying)

We would not distract or wake the napping one :)

 

Cons-

It would be in the basement away from the other kids(1 will be napping mostly)

I won't be able to multitask like making lunch, attending to other children etc

There would not be any catching bits and pieces from ds(4) by listening

A possible feeling of school being separate from all of life

 

YOUR thoughts????

 

I like your pros. I don't see any cons. For one thing, you could always grab the books for the current subject and have her work at the dining room table while you are making lunch. Baby monitor for while the baby is sleeping. It would be a *great* place to store all of the reference materials, charts, timelines, books not currently being used, etc. without having them all over the house. If you have the option for a school room, I would certainly make one. Do the main teaching there during a time convenient for you. Let her do her reading & independent work upstairs at the table (unless she *wants* a quiet place to work away from everyone).

 

My husband likes everything school-related confined to one room. He thinks it makes the home look cluttered and not "nice" when there is a timeline that runs all around the walls into the living room, etc.

[Mama2Many4]

I've had both. We've done school in the dining room/living room, and we have a school room now. I much prefer the learning space! When the end of the day comes and I'm relaxing watching T.V., or spending some time on the forums, I don't want the world map staring me in the face. KWIM?

[ksullivan87]

My husband likes everything school-related confined to one room. He thinks it makes the home look cluttered and not "nice" when there is a timeline that runs all around the walls into the living room, etc.

 

 

When the end of the day comes and I'm relaxing watching T.V., or spending some time on the forums, I don't want the world map staring me in the face. KWIM?

 

I think this is a pro I forgot. I do want school to be a part of every day life but I know that I don't want it staring at me every day or cluttering(such as a timeline around the baseboards of our LR which is where it would have to go:001_smile:).

 

Thanks so much for the advice! Now I just need to figure how to keep the basement from leaking when it rains and find some $$$ to make it happen.:001_smile:

[Zebra]

I started out doing school upstairs in our living area, and it drove me crazy! Now we have an area in the basement....away from the phone and everything. I agree with a pp who said she didn't like the world map staring her in the face when she was trying to relax! I also found the reverse to be true, that the pile of dishes was staring me in the face when I was trying to facilitate learning.

 

Our basement floods a little sometimes, and I just made sure everything was up off the ground a few inches.

 

Like most everything else, it's totally a personality and space thing. If you can easily try it and then undo it, I would give it a shot and see how it goes.

[ksullivan87]

MeAmy,

Yep, that is what I meant about school getting shortchanged. I know how easily I can get distracted and it would very easy to justify doing a "little" cleaning while we homeschool. As sad as it is, it could turn into doing a "little" homeschooling while I clean. :)

[Gretchen in NJ]

Pros-

A nice, organized place that I don't feel like is "in the way"

I think it might help my dd to understand that this in not an option but a priority

It will help me not shortchange school if it is a definite time, place etc.

I can decorate, put maps, bulletin boards that I don't have room to do up stairs

She will not be distracted by the other children(playing, crying)

We would not distract or wake the napping one :)

 

Cons-

It would be in the basement away from the other kids(1 will be napping mostly)

I won't be able to multitask like making lunch, attending to other children etc

There would not be any catching bits and pieces from ds(4) by listening

A possible feeling of school being separate from all of life

 

YOUR thoughts????

I like your pros, but I don't see any cons.

You can place a playpen in your attached playroom area for nap time, or you can purchase a baby monitor.

When I started homeschooling my girls were in 1st and 2nd grade. Our school day was 1 to 2 hours per day in the morning with a half hour to an hour in the afternoon for Story of the World. I didn't do much multitasking at that grade level unless is was setting up the next lesson or recording the last subject.