group table or indiv desks?

[hollyh]

Thoughts? My kids are 5, 2 & 2. I know they are young, but I am trying to plan ahead, save $ for the room, etc. Do you think that with homeschooling it is easier to work all together at one large table or is it good for them to each have their own desks?

 

Our kitchen table is TOO large to work at (huge seats and we are too spread out). I do a lot w/ my 5 yo on a clipboard on the couch, but she is so squirrely and I think she needs to have a designated place to SIT.

 

If you could plan your room in advance, what would you choose to do and why?

[joannqn]

Well, I won't be any help if you think your kitchen table is too big. I'd vote for a really large table, as big as you can get. Our dining room table can seat 8 comfortably, and it isn't big enough especially when we are working on projects.

 

I can't imagine my kids trying to do their school work at an individual desk. They are so tiny.

[mazakaal]

When my boys were little, I had a little outdoor plastic picnic bench in the kitchen for them to work at. It was perfect. Now that I have more and they're older, in my ideal world I would have a big table in the middle of the room for us all to work together at and for big projects, and I'd also have a separate desk for each child along the side of the room. Unfortunately, we homeschool in the dining room, so I just have the big table in the middle of the room with no separate desks.

[myfunnybunch]

Well, I won't be any help if you think your kitchen table is too big. I'd vote for a really large table, as big as you can get. Our dining room table can seat 8 comfortably, and it isn't big enough especially when we are working on projects.

 

I can't imagine my kids trying to do their school work at an individual desk. They are so tiny.

 

This, exactly.

 

Cat

[Rosie_0801]

At the moment, my girl does "school" at her desk in her room, so we can close the door between her and the toddler! Her desk is huge enough to do floor puzzles on though. If we're playing playdough, and the tot is involved, we do it at the table.

 

Rosie

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

When I had several young children doing school we used a table big enough for all of us to work. Now, with just ds and dd, I have a childs wooden table and chairs that dd does her work on. It is the perfect size for her...enough room for marker box and storage tray plus work at. My desk is right next to hers so we sit and do our work there that needs to be done at a desk. Ds is in his room to do school work, going from bed, to floor to work..he does not want a desk.

[jennsmile]

We have individual desks, clipboards and a kitchen table. Sometimes it is nice to have them at desks so they don't color on each other worksheets (9 &6.) Other times we do school wherever.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

We use the dining room table, but I was considering getting individual desks because they argue about whose pencil is whose on the table, who's shaking the table while erasing, who bumped whom, etc. So, :lurk5:

[Snickerdoodle]

We have a very large table in our schooling area.

 

I often have to separate the kids so one ends up in the schooling area and one in the dining area.

 

The kids can't help distracting each other. Sometimes I think it would be better having separate desks on opposite walls. :D

[iquilt]

We school at the dining room. Each of us has our own container for supplies (ruler, pencils, etc.) and the one who requires her own "space" has set up a large wall map as a divider from the rest of us when she is working on her own individual work. Our dining room is next to the living room so a lot of school still happens in there, too, on a large comfy couch. We considered separate desks in the guest bedroom but we felt that would be too far out of the way and we wouldn't actually sit up there for hours a day. This way our dining room can be mostly a dining room for Christmas with family coming to visit.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Table

[momofkhm]

Well, I've only done one from the "ground up" so to speak. But if you want to get one thing now to use forever, I'd vote for a large table. So much of the early stuff is best on the couch reading to them. Then you can have the table for when you need to do seat work. you sit in the seat around the corner from them so you are close. With your twins, sit on the end between them. By then your oldest may be about 7 and able to work on her own a bit.

 

But then once they are older, they will chose where they want to work. Oldest (17 yo) does everything at the school table. I mean everything even read the literature selections. Middle (14 yo) works at the kitchen table for seat work, reads on her bed. Youngest (11 yo) works everywhere downstairs. He does seat work at the kitchen and the the school room tables. He reads upside down in the recliner or covered up with the blanket on the couch. But we still have a school room table that is big enough for them all to sit at and spread their books out as well.

[Mrs Mungo]

When my kids were younger we bought a square IKEA table, dh cut down the legs, I painted and varnished the top. As the other kids were incorporated into school I also bought individual height-adjustable school desks and chairs from a local thrift store. We used both for a long time. When we moved to Hawaii I bought a long, fold-up table for the school room and we kept the individual desks.

 

Having both meant that I could send two of the kids to their desks to work on spelling or something that didn't take up a lot of room while I worked with the third at the table. They distracted each less in their own space when they were little.

 

We got rid of the desks when we left Hawaii. I don't have as much space here. Now our school room and dining room are next to each other. I have a big Expedit with the desk. The kids mostly use that and the dining room table now. Sometimes they will lay around in the floor, sit at the coffee table or work at the kitchen table.

[nukeswife]

I've used both. I still have individual desks like they have in schools, but use those to put the kids computers on. This is where my older two do their math because it's computer based. Then we had a large table but the leg on it go broke. Now I have the computer desks as mentioned and I replaced the one large table with 4 smaller classroom tables. Each one is 2x3 ft and is just enough room for each of us, I keep them all pushed together in the middle of the room, but like that if I ever want to I can split them up.

[Another Lynn]

I think ages are a big factor. With young ones, a small, child-size table is handy. (We have plastic, but doesn't have to be). When more children reached school aged, we tried having a school table, but it mostly became a clutter magnet. Now we have a couple school desks, but they are not assigned to a certain child - they share/rotate depending on who I'm working with, who is doing written work, etc. Each child has a "bin" of some kind for books and various arrangements for other supplies (plastic drawers, cups, pencil boxes, etc). And the couch is a popular spot for my olders. Ime, a family table encouraged clutter and mess, ymmv.

[*Lulu*]

I think it really depends on the child. I have a school table, but DS#1 spends most of his time doing his individual work at the kitchen table because he needs to have distractions removed. I plan to have a desk in his room before next year so he can have even more quiet while he's working. All of the other kids do fine at a table together, although I can see needing to give DS4 some quiet space when he gets a touch older.

[Tammyla]

Desks were fine with littles, but they quickly out grew them and grew into the table. We still have bedroom desks, but their lessons are done at the dining or kitchen table.

 

Use what works...;)

[Frontier Mom]

Not sure if it is an option, but when mine were that age I bought a school type table with adjustable legs at Kaplan in the scratched and dented area. I paid much less than the one I linked and I would think you could find them at a school sale, yard sale, etc. Mine had a small scratch but the adjustable legs made it perfect for them. I bought four stackable chairs to go with it and kept moving the legs up as they grew.

 

What I liked was that it was heavy enough not to tip. They make the white foldable tables with three level of adjustment but they are easy to tip at your children's ages. I do use these for counter height though because it makes projects much easier!! We also use them in the kitchen for making cookies, etc.

 

As mine got older, I also got each one an individual desk that I found at either a give away from our church or on a clearance at Staples. Over the years, they have migrated to their own rooms where we keep their desks. However, at your ages, I would say a table together works best. Otherwise you will be running from desk to desk all day.

[Samiam]

We've used both.

 

The big table was great for when they were younger, so I could sit next to him and help out...well, I should say when oldest DS was younger.

 

As all three became schooling-age, it was waaay to distracting to have them all at the table. It became such an issue that I had to go buy those big fold up display boards (like used in science fairs) to block the view of each other. Yes, crazy.

 

Now all three have their own desks, Ikea stuff, even the DS5. Even though they are in the same room, the distractions are much less....still there, but much less. DS5 loves having his own space too!

 

DS13 also has a desk in his room that he can use...,he used it almost exclusively starting around age 11, as his brothers came to the big table. This year, since we've gotten the Ikea set up.....he's with us again.

[hollyh]

Hmm... good to hear others thoughts. I want everything... a big group table, indiv desks for when they need to be focused, a little kids table for when they want to work together, etc. :) Lots of storage areas, a reading nook, etc. Why can't I have a huge area!

 

I have been sitting here drawing out possible room designs forever! LOL. I know that as they get older, they will spread out all over the house and I am actually more comfortable with that... In general I like working together at a big table. However, I am noticing that 5yo dd NEEDS an actual school area away from normal life, and I'm betting would appreciate her own area to work in while I do tot school with the twins, etc. And looking at personalities, I can tell that the twins will need to be split up for work time by the time they are 4/5 - one is very independent and orderly and wants her space.

 

Interesting idea about having some "rotating" desks. I am trying to figure out how to fit 4 indiv desks, along with a group desk, storage, etc. into a 11x14 room. :) :lol: Might need to play with that idea.

[Allearia]

My plan is a large table, as well as some other smaller tables or desks so they can go work while I am teaching the other child so they are not distracted. I haven't decided if I'll do desks, though they would probably like having a spot for their own.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I would actually do a combination of both. One larger space for "all-inclusive" work like history, science, art. Also I would have one seperate desk for the elder child to work independently, possibly in another room.

[LisaKinVA]

I vote for both... "sort-of."

 

Right now, we only have the dining room table... and it really only works for group things (when we do Bible together). It doesn't work so well when they are supposed to be working independently.

 

I would like to get two 8-ft. tables, giving each child a 4-ft. workspace. They could do their independent work there... and meet with me for small-group or family work.