Would you voluntarily do away with your school room?

[Greeny]

We are fortunate enough to own a home that allows us to have a dedicated schoolroom. It has darling furniture and decorations and houses all of our books and supplies quite well.

 

We had some flooding in our basement recently and ended up moving some boxes into the schoolroom so, it was out of commission this past week. About a month ago we did away with the curriculum we'd been using and have started doing AO and just added phonics, math and handwriting. For the last week that we haven't been in the schoolroom we've been sitting up in the living room snuggled together reading lots of books and doing phonics. Math and writing happen at the dinning table.

 

I'm not sure if it is the change of scene or what, but I think I may prefer this. It feels more natural and like the learning is more integrated into our lives instead of relocated to a specific room we are only in for that purpose. Does that make sense?

 

I know a lot of people who would kill to have the space for a schoolroom. Am I crazy for doing away with mine?

 

If, we do decide to change locations. I think I will still use our current area to house over-flow supplies, old curriculum and what-not. For those of you who don't have a schoolroom either by choice or necessity, how do you organize your things like math manipulative, display art or time lines without sacrificing the style of your home?

[Parrothead]

I did away with our school room two years ago when we moved to this house. It was just easier all around.

 

I'd do a school room again if I had littles. I found it helped keep dd focused to be in a dedicated room when she was much younger.

[Lara in Colo]

I like my schoolroom, however, I did away with the living room, so we are very centralized in the house.

 

I like my dry-erase board at the ready and having the posters where they (the children) can see them easily.

 

So, not for me so much.

 

 

Lara

[Annie Laurie]

I would do away with mine if we needed the space for something else, or it was working better for us to be somewhere else, yes. I have actually been thinking that I need to try doing school in the main living area and see if 1 yr old ds would stay busier. Our school room is big, but he gets shut up in it and gets restless after an hour or so.

[edelweiss]

We have a large house and plenty of room to have a dedicated school room. However, we don't have one. We are far from unschoolers. We're actually pretty "traditional" schoolers. However, I don't like being tied to one room.

[CanaryMelody]

I would never do away with our schoolroom, but I have 3 little ones still and lots of visuals for them on the wall. They adore their room. It is their space with lots of low shelves that contain books, Montessori type trays, and objects such as a globe, abacus, nature collection, etc. My oldest likes her little nook in this room as well. She has a desk, an Ikea Trofast shelf, and she loves the bean bag in the "reading corner". Actually, it is my DH's favorite room too, because we have a comfortable loveseat and big bay windows.

 

That said, if all my kids were all older, I'd probably convert the room to a quiet library reading space. You could install shelving in your closet to hold supplies out of sight. There are many ideas online using string and clips or thin strips of cork or even use frames to display artwork in a nice way. A timeline could be streamlined to be like a border around the room or perhaps you can use a sewing board style timeline that you can fold and put away when not in use. :)

[abdesigns]

Yep, we got rid of ours last winter, and are happy about it. We have much more natural light in the dining room, it just helps so much with motivation. Also, it's closer to the living room, so that means that we are doing more cuddling. We love it. It's actually made learning more of a family event, if that makes sense.

[Paintedlady]

No, I wouldn't get rid of mine. I can just barely fit all our stuff in there and not very well at that. I love leaving the school room and it's messes away from the regular living space.

[elegantlion]

No, I love our dedicated classroom. But it's also my private space after school. All of my writing stuff is in there. We also don't have space anywhere else. I like to have a classroom.

[Ellesmere]

We had everything set up in a spare bedroom. But we turned it back into just a spare/storage room and moved all the school stuff to the living room. Our living room is small but for some reason, we get more done out there. The only thing I wish is that the room were just a bit bigger for a more comfortable couch and another bookcase. (I would take that over having a dedicated room.) But we are a small-ish family and using baskets and containers has helped keep the materials from taking over the room.

[lakotajm]

I would kill for a schoolroom to keep littles from being distracted and keep the cats off the school stuff (ARGH!) But if you have only older kids now, I could see turning it into a sewing or crafts room or something. My 9th grader does all her work on her bed.

[The Girls' Mom]

Although I have an "office", our school stuff is kind of all over the house. We have had a classroom set up...and we never stayed there. As long as I have a home for all our books and a place to return completed work, I'm good. The kids prefer to do their work in their rooms anyway.

[prairiewindmomma]

If it works for you, go for it! We have gone back and forth between having a dedicated school room a few times now. We are currently back to having a dedicated room, but today we did school at the table because that worked better for my family.

 

My main issues are:

1. storage for books and supplies

2. keeping a visually clean space for my eyes to rest---keeping the school clutter downstairs but schooling at the table (& then putting it all away) does that for me

 

I do still have littles, including a toddler.

[Margo out of lurking]

..

[Michelle My Bell]

I think change is good. I have moved my school room all around this house. I even eliminated it for awhile. Whatever stage you are in, go for it. When you want the room back, then reclaim it. :)

[cin]

We have a GREAT schoolroom in the basement. BUT we recently acquired an extra 50" TV. AND we have been doing school at the kitchen table for the last year. So, the basement is going to become a playroom/man cave. The traditional family room will become a TV room, and the living room will be the mom cave ;)

 

We will move the Wii and stuff downstairs, and get some comfortable chairs, and paint it brightly. And school will continue at the kitchen table.

[Farrar]

In my dream house, there would be a schoolroom somehow located just off the dining room/living room area. My mother's house actually would be perfect.

 

But as it is, we could either rearrange bedrooms and have a school room upstairs or rearrange playspace and have a school room in the basement. I decided to decline either option. We school in the dining room, which is actually the largest room in the house. I need school space to be near the main living space and accessible to the kitchen.

[OrdinaryTime]

We started off the school year without a schoolroom and did all of our work on the livingroom/dining/kitchen level. It was rough. I could not stand the visual clutter. During breaks my kids would go down to the playroom and destroy that level of the house, too. By lunch, the whole house was in disarray. I wish I was a better person, but I could NOT handle this.

 

Thankfully, my younger sister who was in a spare room downstairs decided to go out on her own. Ahhh... I turned this room into a school room. It is perfect. The playroom is right off it, so the toddler/preschool crowd can go in and out at will. The older two can take breaks very easily. The laundry room is down there, too, so I am actually keeping up with the laundry. And it is just WONDERFUL to go up to the kitchen at lunch and have a clean, peaceful space to enjoy.

 

Of course, our lower level is not a basement, but has lots of natural light and the entrance to the backyard. If it was dark and damp, that would certainly change the situation.

[hsbaby]

We're kind of going through the same thing. We have been using our school room for the past two years. However, for some reason this year we have migrated to the family room. I'm surprised to say that I enjoy it a lot more! I thought I just HAD to have a school room but it just didn't feel right for us. Now we spend our days wrapped up in blankets reading on the couch, drinking hot chocolate at the dining room table while doing math, lying in front of the fireplace while studying grammar, etc. It just feels so much cozier and relaxed. So, yes, we seem to be willingly giving up our school room:)

 

ETA: although we aren't doing our work in there, all of our stuff will still be stored on the bookshelves in there!

Edited November 18, 2011 by hsbaby

[misidawnrn]

No way! We just bought a new house in May and one of the top requirements was to have a dedicated space for homeschooling. I HATE having pens, crayons, markers, rulers, paper, books, etc, etc all over the house. Toys are one thing but our old house we HS in the dining room which was just off the kitchen and visible from everywhere. It always looked like a disaster! Now if the school room is a mess, it doesn't matter, it's in the basement and out of sight.

[Swimtaxi234]

I love leaving the school room and it's messes away from the regular living space.

 

 

:iagree:

[nukeswife]

Nope, we love our school room. When ever we have to move, that is one of the top requirements. I would never be able to keep all the stuff we use daily in our living room or where we eat. The formal dining room is where our school room is so it's right off the kitchen as well as the kids downstairs tv/playroom. If we followed a different method that was more AO or similar maybe we wouldn't need one.

[redsquirrel]

Oh my goodness, I think I would sacrifice a small, nonvital body part to have a dedicated school room.

 

I have a small house and my poor dining room has to work so hard. It has the dining room table (no eat in kitchen), the school books/supplies/everything we need for school and the piano. And the flute and it's stand. And the art supplies.

 

How I wish for a room for everything else but the eating. It is to dream.

[Night Elf]

We never used our school room. It was just a place for our bookshelves and supplies. We've always preferred to sit at the kitchen table or in the living room. Sitting at the school table in the school room felt too much like school.

 

Without a school room, I had to get creative in storing things. When I had lots of supplies when the kids were younger, I am afraid room decoration and style wasn't a top priority. I had a couple of the plastic filing bins on wheels and a little bookshelf in the dining room. I kept larger supply boxes in the hall closet. As the kids got older, we didn't need all the supplies. Everything fits into a couple of baskets. We put up nice black rack shelves in the dining/kitchen area and filled them with pretty baskets that have fabric lining. It's a great storage system for other things besides school supplies as well.

[Greeny]

Thanks for all the wonderful responses. They've really helped me think through this. I thought maybe I was loosing it because when we were house shopping having a schoolroom was very high on the priority list. I love the idea of hanging the kids art in picture frames! I think I'm going to go for it. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling, being free to do what works?

 

I think for now we'll just keep daily supplies and books upstairs and everything else will stay down in the schoolroom.