Wabi Sabi Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Our house is relatively small- three tiny bedrooms, one dining room, one living room, kitchen and one bath. Dd's bedroom is about the size of a large walk-in closet: barely enough room for her bed and a shelf, much less room for toys and books. Not a whole lot of extra space inside. We do have a detached separate little building out back: it's one of those Amish built cabins that dh originally purchased to use as a home office but since he's no longer working from home it doesn't really get used. It has drywall, insulation, wiring and flooring. In the winter it can be heated with a space heater, in the summer a window AC unit keeps it comfortable. The interior space is 10'X12'. I've thought about turning it into a small playroom/school area. The thought of being able to get some of that extra clutter out of the house is appealing, but at the same time I wonder if it would still end up being wasted space: we're not exactly super-scheduled sit down at the table kind of homeschoolers. I wouldn't want to be in there all the time. It doesn't have a bathroom so we'd be constantly running back and forth for that purpose. I would probably be annoyed that I couldn't be stirring something on the stove or folding laundry while overseeing the children's work. But still- the space! It's not a huge room, but it's more than we have right now inside the house. It would be so nice to move some of this stuff out of our small living space. Would you move most of your homeschooling materials out there and give it a try? What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 You could always try it, and if it doesn't work out, just go back to what you're doing now. It might be nice to have a place to get away to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygrrl Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We had a similar situation, and so I made our outdoor room the school room. After the first 2 weeks the newness wore off and we never made it out there again! The outdoor space gets more use as a large closet- that way I could move everything that we only use occasionally out there and make my house feel less cluttered. Of course, we have lots of rain in the winter, so that played into it. Much easier to sit around the table than it was to put on raincoats and trudge across the yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I expect I would love it, but I am more structured than you say you are. In any case, what could it hurt to give it a try? The worst that could happen is six or so months go by and it's not really working for you. You move back to the house. You're no worse off than you are now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 You could always try it, and if it doesn't work out, just go back to what you're doing now. It might be nice to have a place to get away to. The only reason I'm hesitant is because it will take a good amount of work to get it set up- needs shelves installed, purchase a table and comfy chairs (we currently just use the dining room table), etc. Getting it set up is going to require a significant investment in time and some money. If there's anything we never seem to have enough of it's time and money, so I'd hate to throw all that effort away if it just isn't going to be our thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 We had a similar situation, and so I made our outdoor room the school room. After the first 2 weeks the newness wore off and we never made it out there again! The outdoor space gets more use as a large closet- that way I could move everything that we only use occasionally out there and make my house feel less cluttered. Of course, we have lots of rain in the winter, so that played into it. Much easier to sit around the table than it was to put on raincoats and trudge across the yard. See, that's exactly what I suspect might happen. It seems like after the novelty wears off it might be far easier to stay inside instead of trudging through rain and snow. If the kids were a bit older I'd totally toss an old couch, a TV and their Wii out there to use as a hang-out space with friends. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 A detached school room would never work for me. I'd have to remember to go out early and turn on the A/C in the summer and the heat in the winter before we could even go out there. If it were raining, I'd hate to worry with everyone getting wet. And I'm much too busy around the house while schooling. I make lunch, make dinner, wash dishes, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 And I'm much too busy around the house while schooling. I make lunch, make dinner, wash dishes, etc. Yes, that's my other big concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I would love it, but I'm pretty structured. We use our school room consistently because it keeps me on track. I'm not one who does well doing more chores than just flipping the laundry during our school day. I would love a separate area to go plan and think; our current school room is in the basement under the kitchen/living area and it can be quite noisy with all the traipsing/running/jumping/living going on above it on the weekends when I try to work down there. I'm thinking you might not like it. Is there any way you could turn it into a storage library/quiet reading area? Put some shelves and a couch and a desk out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Our house in Hawaii had a detached garage part of which had been converted into a room with its own bathroom. It worked out really well for us. The house stayed cleaner because we weren't in it for a large part of the day. I loved it. There was another recent thread about this where people talked about options and their own set-ups. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291826 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 How old are your kids? I would love it. I would also make it a craft/messy space. Look on Craig's List or Free Cycle for the items you need. I really think you could get it school ready for less than you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobela Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 My friend has a room over her garage that she turned into a school room. They have an outside entrance and everything. They don't always do school up there, but more often than not. She said that it helps give a mental shift to her kiddos - not to mention they can't see anything like the video games in the other room and so on. She also only carries her cell phone there so calls don't interrupt. ONce when the kids were younger she compared it to the bathroom - you know how you don't need to go to the bathroom until you follow someone in there, and then your body suddenly decides that maybe you should go too? Well, her kids never seemed to want to do school until they enter those doors to that small room. Suddenly it was as if their brains said, "Yeah, time for school, and now I am ready." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It sounds nice in theory- in a "novelty" kind of way- I mean what fun to decorate your own little schoolroom!- but in actuality I think the novelty would quickly wear off and I wouldn't want to be using a detached building. 1) If it's raining, hailing, snowing, icy, freezing, 95 degrees out, or whatever, I wouldn't want to be traipsing back and forth from the house to that building. 2) If I wanted my kid to work on something independently for a while, I'd want them where I could keep an eye on them or check on them, but I wouldn't want to be stuck in a separate little cabin- I'd want to be in my house getting things done. The vacuuming, the laundry, the dishes, dinner, whatever the case may be. 3) My younger son doesn't always want to be where his sister is doing school- and in our case, I wouldn't want to be in a little building with my older student while my younger son was alone in the house doing who knows what- and he wouldn't necessarily want to be in the same little building with us, and she'd get too distracted even if he was.... So, yeah, I'd have to go with no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I would probably give it a go - without spending too much time and money to see if it works. You can always just pick up something inexpensive at a thrift shop or garage sale and see if you like doing school there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 yay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I'd do it! I'd furnish on the cheap from garage sales and Craigslist. But, I wouldn't plan on getting EVERYTHING done out there. I'd still want the flexibility of doing some subjects near a sink (art, science)! And, I would think of it as a "treehouse" in that it wouldn't bother me to leave the kids there for a few minutes while I did something inside. Depends on the age, but I let my kiddos play outside by themselves, so I wouldn't be bothered by letting them do some reading or independent work outside in an extension of the home while I switched laundry over or made lunch. And people who live in fear about being without a bathroom for an hour or two? Geez, do their kids have gnat bladders or something? :D I'd look at the amt of time spent in the potty--it could be that someone is trying to get out of work! OR, that it just FEELS like they constantly have to pee...right when you want them to concentrate on math or whatever! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I would use it as a storage area and get OTHER stuff/clutter out of the house, not my school stuff. Clear some space so school stuff can be neatly stored and quickly accessible. We don't home school in a style conducive to 'detached building,' :D. We are forever grabbing non-school books to look something up or find an example, deciding to look up an edifying video on youtube, or running to the kitchen for an impromptu kitchen chemistry experiment. And, philosophically, I don't WANT them to make that sharp distinction between 'school' and 'life.' I don't WANT stepping through a door to be the trigger that somehow enables them to focus, think, and work hard. I don't want them to stow their brains and creativity in a cubby with their school books. ((not saying that automatically happens with a separate space, just that I wouldn't use a separate space to solve that type of problem)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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