School room versus the kitchen table?

[Carrieann]

Hello all! I am starting my preparations for our new homeschool year (we start in August) and I am toying with the idea of creating a homeschool room as opposed to sitting at the kitchen table. We have a large finished basement (a good 600 square feet) and it has a ton of shelving, a counter space with stools (art center?) and a bathroom. Right now it is a giant playroom/computer room/craft room and library. Last year we did everything in the kitchen but I feel like we might need a change this year. I have my reservations though (hardly any natural light in our basement) and I was wondering your thoughts! Where do you homeschool? I appreciate the input!!

[Dmmetler]

We mostly homeschool in the playroom. I am hoping that this year DH will get the upstairs office finished (it was SUPPOSED to be done in time for LAST school year) so I can put all the school/craft stuff in the spare bedroom, simply because it's hard for DD to stay focused when she has legos, Cinderella's Castle, and Molly and Kaya just waiting to play with.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Hopefully we'll be moved before school starts. If so, I'll have a school room but more for keeping supplies. I plan to use the main livingroom and kitchen for doing the work.

 

After living in a basement for 5 years, I'd never use one for a space where you'd spend a lot of time.

[gardening momma]

If the basement has good lighting and windows to provide daylight (this one is really, really important in my book), I would definitely use the basement for the main schooling space (using the rest of the house when desired). ETA: I see you don't have a lot of natural light in your basement. I would not spend a lot of time there, although it would be good for keeping supplies. My kids will do things on their own in the school room and the basement, so don't be surprised if your kids take advantage of the basement school space even if you don't go down there much. If you set up some space where they can do some fun educational activities on their own down there (coloring, maze books, lacing, etc), they probably will.

 

My basement has just 2 windows, and neither of them are in the main space. I cannot spend a lot of time down there. I need some natural light.

 

I started out using my dining room, which is open to the kitchen. This worked fine for a while, but the school stuff started to take over the room. I converted a bedroom into a school room (the girls share a room now), so that's where we keep all our stuff. We still school sometimes in the dining room, though.

Edited July 12, 2011 by gardening momma

[homeschooler2003]

We mostly use the kitchen table and living room.

 

We have a school room/office but it is to dark. It has a big window but does not let in as much light as a bay window does. Also if we do it in the kitchen I can get some work done in between lessons.

[ChristusG]

We used to have a dedicated school room. We never used it. It was basically just the "homeschool storage room." We kept all supplies there....but then it was a pain because every time we needed something we'd have to go to the room, get it, and come back to use it.

 

So eventually I just did away with the room. Now it will be the new baby's nursery/guest room. We mainly school at the kitchen table and sunroom. I have a supply cabinet right off of the kitchen where everything is accessible.

[Ellie]

Having a room to keep messy projects hidden from sight, and books and whatnot tucked away on shelves and in bins and whatnot, is a marvelous idea, but for me, it would really depend on where that room was. I never had a separate room, or even a family room; turns out I like having dc feel as if their learning is part of life, not just Official School.

[kitten18]

We have a school room (also a playroom) but we never go there to do school. I would like to get out of the kitchen but it's so much easier to get started right after breakfast while we're all at the table. When we used to transition to the school room, the little people had a tendency to wander away.

[Mama2Many4]

We have a school room and we use it everyday. My kids love having a set place that is solely devoted to learning and nothing else. Not that we don't learn everywhere, but YKWIM. I have everything that's for school in that room which makes the rest of my home look better. I couldn't live without it!

[MrsMe]

I say change it and if you don't like it, you can change it back! I do it all the time. I go from a back bedroom to our FR about half way through the year for the sake of change. The FR is a little hard to concentrate, but sometimes I like to be in the center of the house. Sometimes I don't.

 

Just try it and have fun.

[birchbark]

After living in a basement for 5 years, I'd never use one for a space where you'd spend a lot of time.

 

Amen. Use the basement for storing school stuff.

[Spryte]

We've moved our school area all over the house, and have finally settled on using the entire house as a learning space rather than keeping it confined to one area.

 

We started with an area off the kitchen for supplies, and using the kitchen table in K. Then, the summer before first grade, I kept seeing threads full of schoolroom pictures. Ooooh, the bug hit hard!

 

I re-painted our guest room, spent a small fortune on fabulous adjustable child-sized tables and chairs, shelving, you name it. It was wonderful fun setting it all up. :) We had learning centers, a math lab, a science lab, space for art projects. And then... School started. We used it for, oh, maybe 2 weeks. Then we migrated to the couch, then back to the kitchen table. We still used the school room for storing all of our homeschool supplies, but just didn't use the room for school.

 

Now we have reference books on the bookshelves in the living room, book baskets on every floor, workboxes near the kitchen table with our basic subjects, science and art supplies in their own closet off the kitchen, educational games in the game armoire, and other supplies stashed all over the house - close to the areas we actually use them. It sounds terribly unorganized, but I took a long look at how we used our house, and created centers and labs in each area.

 

The school room has been converted to a nursery, by the way, but the move away from the school room happened before we knew the stork would be visiting us again.

 

Have fun creating your space! And if don't be afraid to make changes, or move things around as you go!

Edited July 12, 2011 by Spryte

[WishboneDawn]

I think the basement makes a great place for crafts and experiments but when I had a school room in the basement it was a flop. Frankly, I like to unload the dishes, sweep, and do other chores when the kids and working independently. I can't d that and keep on eye on them if they're in the basement. It also makes answering the door, getting drinks or the odd snack a bother.

 

I keep all the day-to-day school stuff near the table. Crafts and other stuff goes to the basement though.