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Moving next week/daydreaming about HS space...


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We are going from a tiny 2bd apartment to a 4 bedroom house with a finished basement.:D (Yeah!!! We survived the un- and under-employment nightmare!!!) I am so happy to be packing, even if it does interfere with Thanksgiving cooking.

 

 

We've decided to give the kids their own rooms (so HSing in a bedroom is out, atleast for now). The kitchen/dining room is large and open, sun-shiny with windows overlooking a fenced-in backyard. It's a happy place.:001_smile: But, it's also a central place, seen from the front door. The finished basement has no windows, but it's very large, has a cozy woodstove, and is out of sight from the rest of the house. Oh, and right off the basement is a large walk-in closet space and the garage.

 

I'm see-sawing between doing school in the dining room or the basement. I *really* don't want the dining room to look like a classroom, though I *really* like the natural light and the thought of sending 2/3 of my herd outside to play while I work 1-on-1 with the other third. If we schooled in the basement, I could more easily multi-task between the 3 (not all 3 at the kitchen table making faces and stealing each other's snacks...:glare:). I would definitely have space to keep all of our supplies/books handy down there. I'm highly inspired by http://mthopeacademy.blogspot.com/2011/09/mt-hope-academy-live-and-learn-studio.html Heidi's room. (It's amazing!) I want to mimic the bookshelves/desks set-up. (That would minimize some of our distractions LOL.) Another thought...the vast majority of the toys are going to go in the basement.

 

 

Where should I set up school?

 

How would you keep a dining room look/feel while doing school there?

 

How would you organize a basement school room that's also a playroom?

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It is a great problem you have, two rooms to choose from, but I totally understand your reasons for wanting to choose one or the other. We have for the last 3 years schooled at the kitchen table to take advantage of the natural light, and I am thinking we might need to make a change. Being able to see out into the backyard has been very distracting for my youngest 2, and it is easier said than done to have all our materials picked up and put away in time for dinner. I will likely spend the next year slowly transforming the playroom/family room into a more academic center so we can reclaim our dining room.

 

Is it possible to put in some track lighting in your basement? Track lighting properly placed can be very dramatic and attractive. Ikea has some that are very attractive and affordable.

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I'd set up downstairs, but use some bookshelves to section off an area so you don't mix the play area with the school stuff. If you have a couch, you can put it in the play area OR the school place. Makes a nice divider, too.

 

That said, I'd definitely plan on spending time upstairs, too. What happened here is that we started in the basement, but the last year or so, dd wanted to do the bulk of her work upstairs. We stopped reading aloud about halfway thru 4th grade (sadly) b/c she just preferred to read by herself. Dropping that and letting her school around the house meant that we may start the day in the basement or find ourselves doing a subject or two down there, but really only used it to store our materials. Worked great, really. School became more of a global learning idea, which I liked.

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