mmasmommy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 If you do this how do you make it work? All the rooms on our first floor are open to each other. There are a few walls but each room has large door frame openings and no doors. It is also not a huge area. If I am working with one child in the dining room or kitchen the other can hear every word. I do not have the option of sending DS to his room to do his work, well at least not if I want the work to get done. :glare: DD would do her work in her room, she just doesn't like to be alone. I can't imagine I'm the only one with this issue. Any suggestions? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Lots of beer at the end of the day. Seriously, we just grit our teeth and do our best. I hate it, but we manage. Can't think of a single useful tip, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I school all 3 kids in one 14 square foot living room. I work things so that kids are doing stuff that wont bother the others and all are rotating between me. This morning the girls knitted while I worked with ds on his main lesson. Then dd2 read to ds while I worked with dd1 on her main lesson. Dd1 finished her work on her own then read a book while I worked with dd2 and ds played a game on the computer. We did greek while ds finished up his game, the dd1 did TT5, dd2 read a book, and ds went to go get in some daddy time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLVD Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Lots of beer at the end of the day. Seriously, we just grit our teeth and do our best. I hate it, but we manage. Can't think of a single useful tip, lol! Same, I live in an old, small house. I also work from home. My "office" is in the corner of the living room and every spot is taken. It's rough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koerarmoca Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 our set up is pretty open too. I have 3 separated desks in the "school room" but I often have one kid in the school room, 1 on the couch with me reading & 1 in the dinning room at the table. I do sometimes send dd12 to her room with her math so she can concentrate better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 We have an open floor plan, too. With the age of my kids, though, it works. They need constant supervision. If I have one that's too easily distracted I send him to my bedroom to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 All I can do is wish you well. I can't stand "open" plans, and we spent five years in one -- our first five years of homeschooling ! I suppose the best I can offer is that it is better for young children than for older students who desperately need privacy for tuition and for study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 But you'll be surprised about how much is learned by "little ears" who don't seem to be listening in but are really picking up on the subjects, how a voice will always pop in to whatever discussion you're having adding an alternate opinion, plus sharing an interesting bit of info from their studies sending your next 15 minutes into a different direction, offering an easier/clearer explanation when you're stuck teaching a concept over again, how you can see immediately when someone is distracted or overwhelmed and....so I like our open house plan! Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinF Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 We are actually in the process of rearranging things and making our school room into a game/computer room. We have found that our boys like to do school with us. So if I am in dh's office they want to be with us in the floor. Since dh's office isn't big enough for all of us and I don't want to be closed in we moved our comfy chairs to the living room and set up an area where I can sit and dh can read/study if he doesn't need privacy of his office and the boys can sprawl on the floor doing their work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Don't worry about them not working in complete silence. If they were in school, they'd be with about 30 kids in a very open floor plan! They can work on spelling or whatever while mom gives a lesson across the room. And while they're at it, they can be grateful that the principal isn't squawking over the intercom about what busses are going to be late! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 All I can do is wish you well. I can't stand "open" plans, and we spent five years in one -- our first five years of homeschooling ! I suppose the best I can offer is that it is better for young children than for older students who desperately need privacy for tuition and for study. I'm just wondering why it is better for older children to have privacy for tuition and study? We have open plan and I have explained to my children that complain, that it is something they need to get used too. I have worked in many open plan offices with a lot of other things happening and I thankfully had learnt to work with extra noise and learnt to block it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Same, I live in an old, small house. I also work from home. My "office" is in the corner of the living room and every spot is taken. It's rough! Us too! It's chaos! But you'll be surprised about how much is learned by "little ears" who don't seem to be listening in but are really picking up on the subjects, how a voice will always pop in to whatever discussion you're having adding an alternate opinion, plus sharing an interesting bit of info from their studies sending your next 15 minutes into a different direction, offering an easier/clearer explanation when you're stuck teaching a concept over again, how you can see immediately when someone is distracted or overwhelmed and....so I like our open house plan! Myra True. DD5 constantly surprises me with what she has picked up. Don't worry about them not working in complete silence. If they were in school, they'd be with about 30 kids in a very open floor plan! They can work on spelling or whatever while mom gives a lesson across the room. And while they're at it, they can be grateful that the principal isn't squawking over the intercom about what busses are going to be late! :D I tell DS9 this same thing all of the time. We have an open floor plan where the kitchen, dining area, and living room are basically one big room. That is all of the "public space" in our home. In addition to HS'ing, we run a business from our home so not only do we work there but our subcontractors pop in, clients drop PCs and laptops off, the phone rings and I have to answer it if it is a client, and so on. It is utter chaos and we all just suck it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 That's all we've ever known. We have an old house, but it's quite open and you can easily hear everything going on. Never occurred to me to send them upstairs- and 19 years later, there's only one year of homeschooling left for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maus Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Open floor plan here, too. But my school age kids are only two years (and one grade) apart, so we do all subjects except math and piano together. Sometimes we do math at the same time, and sometimes I have one do piano while the other does math (all in the same room). It's working so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwickimom Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Our house has an open floorplan, but we rotate around various rooms. I divide up who goes where and when. My DH built dd8 an awesome loft bed with a huge desk underneath it. She will be doing 2 independent subjects in her room. That will be 2 different 20 min chunks that she will work in slience in her room because I think that working in silence is as important as working in chaos :) I want her to be OK doing some things all on her own. I also have scheduled time for my boys ds5 and ds3 to play in their room or play outside in the backyard and my and dd will school at the table. I think breaking it up helps a lot. After we do breakfast and pledge and memory recitation, I will send dd to room and school boys at the table. Then after 20 mins she will come and join us at the table and work on her history project (we are doing HOD). Then, I will send the boys to play outside weather permitting or in their rooms while dd and I work again. Then we will all meet for snack and listen to a CD and then they will all be sent somewhere again. DD has scheduled outside time to take the dog out and practice shooting her bow. I have a slot for the boys to watch an educational show or DVD and since our TV is in the "openess" my dd and I will retreat to bean bags in her room to do Storytime, poetry and dictation. etc etc we just make do, but I also make sure that no one is "exiled" to their room for very long. I do like being together as much as possible, but when we need to get to serious business we sperate for a little while :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyWifeandMommy Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 grin my teeth and bear it. my oldest complains but when she was going into her rooom the work wasn't getting done so into the open spaces she comes. I try to explain that it wouldnt be quiet in school but she don't believe me. I saw a post a long time ago that a mom bought the big trifolds and made mini 'office' spaces for each child. I thought of it but never tried it. If my younger two get to wiggley I just have them go outside. Most work is done together and when the easy stuff is done the younger ones are to go off and play until the oldest is done with the harder stuff. Now that everyone is 6 and up its a little less crazy but we do have our moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Ds likes quiet so he would go to his room. Dd12 likes people, so she toughs it out. Dd4 really doesn't like noise so these helped a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrogMom5 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 We have one big, open room too. For my high schooler, I got him some noise cancelling headphones, a comfortable chair and footstool, and face him toward a window. He listens to classical music and studies. The younger ones do some things together and run off to their bedrooms to play if I'm working individually with one of them. It's not the best set-up. Our first house was much smaller but had a living room and a family room, which worked better. Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasmommy Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks everyone. At least I know I'm not alone. Both older kids were in PS until 2010 so they know that it's noisy. DS is just super sensitive to it when he's trying to concentrate. Thanks Tap, Tap, Tap for posting the link to the earmuffs, I may have to give them a try. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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