New Schoolroom

[MusicMama]

Ok guys, I may actually be getting a house that will allow us to have a schoolroom, not just a school shelf! :) I have a more minimalist mentality for my life, focusing on a few well-loved and used items instead of having a huge collection of things we *might* need. Anyway, that is my schooling and organizing motto. Oh, and my oldest will be K next year, and need LOTS of hands on mommy help.

 

I have a couple of options:

 

1. A devoted school room, adjacent to a basement playroom. This room would have a window. This would be great because the boys could supposedly play while we go over our quick lessons. But it is so far from the heart of the home, I don't want to lose the "snuggle on the couch" feel I really want for K. But the school mess would be far from the eyes of a visitor, I could shut the door on it. The room is about 13*13.

 

2. Us the formal dining room. It overlooks the entry way, one wall is a banister. It will be out in the open for ALL to see. But it is right across the hall from the kitchen and living room, where we will be most of the time. The room is about 12*13. But it has a much more open feel than the basement room.

 

3. Set up a school "nook" in the breakfast area, and move the dining table into the dining room. I could put in a armoir or small shelf to contain the common materials, and have a small table set up for the two of us. The room is much smaller, about 8*9, it opens to the kitchen and living room, and has a bay window. I feel like this would be the best option for our short, morning K'er lessons, but need the voice of experience! I also have two small boys to love and tend to.

[Mama_Rana]

I'm actually debating a similar question, so I'm not much help. Currently our homeschool room is the room that was originally intentioned to be the dining room. It opens to the kitchen on one side and the living room on the other. Because our floor plan isn't really "open" it's a separate room, but there aren't doors to close. Our family bookshelves are right on the next wall in the living room so I can be close to any book I might want to grab for school.

 

The room that we currently use as a dining room is on the other side of the kitchen. It's slightly larger, still no doors [though we could add them, I guess], has windows on both ends, is carpeted. It's a nice room, originally meant to be a den. There's not as much wall space for putting bookshelves.

 

Or I could move down to the basement. Pros: there's more room down there to spread out. It's cool in the summer. It opens to the outside so we could walk out whenever, or the toddler could play outside and still be within sight. It's out of sight of the "heart of the home". Cons: It's cool down there year-round; there is no heat in the winter. It's out of sight of the "heart of the home". It's somewhat musty down there at times, and it's not a completely finished basement, so it's sorta ugly. It has flooded in the recent past, so that's always a concern.

 

I dunno. DH would like to move the school room downstairs. He feels like he lost his "study" when we turned the office into a school room. The idea had been that we could all "study" together, but the reality is that he's relegated to one corner and we're spread over the rest of the room. At the same time, I really want our learning to be central to our lifestyle. I'd love to figure out a way to incorporate both.

 

 

So I guess I'm no help, just letting you know you're not alone. I like the idea of your nook, at least for the kindy year and a few to come. When you're homeschooling more, you might want more space.

[KAM]

We had a homeschool room all set up, but ended up turning it into more of a library. The kids prefer to do school all over the house and it feels easier with wiggily distracted boys to do so. This way, I can send one into the library with his spelling and have one at the kitchen table doing math. If I had more space, and less books though, I would love to have a basement room setup like you described for arts/crafts/projects.

[Parrothead]

I found that a school room was lovely the first 4 or 5 years. Then it became obsolete. Dd got old enough that she could do more work independently and preferred to do it on the sofa. So we ditched the school room a couple years ago. It has been nice not to be stuck in one room for most of the day.

 

If I had it to do over, I don't think I'd bother with a school room.

[AK_Mom4]

I voted for the dining room. That's where we do our work - both DD10 and I have our desks there at one end (it's a big room). I have another room that we use for storage where I keep materials we don't use often, but both DD and I are happier working right in the center of everything.

[jenL]

I voted open dining room (or the nook would work nicely as well) because I've had the "out of the way" room, and although our stuff was stored in there, we kept heading out into the heart of the home where it was sunnier, more central, and we could do the cuddling on the couch while working. We also had a table in this room, and my kids continually would head to the floor or the couch.

 

I moved our room to the open dining room which is in the front of our house. It has a huge window so it's always bright, and we'll often lounge on the floor in the large spot of sun that streams in in the mornings. Right next to the room is the kitchen and off of the kitchen is an eating area. We travel between the eating area and the school room and our living room (next to the eating area). I feel like my home has a better flow this way. I can also separate the kids (one at the kitchen table working and one in the school room with me cuddle in our papazan chair) if I need to work one-on-one with them while the other works independently. The boys have responded better to this arrangement as well, even prefering to sit at the kitchen table whereas they hated the table in our old schoolroom. I think we all felt "holed-up" in the designated out-of-the-way room.

[JudoMom]

Our school room is in the basement, along with a bathroom and our playroom. I love this setup. We've been here for 6 years, and it's one of the things I love about the house. We do our reading aloud upstairs on the main level.

 

When my guys were younger, I could lock the basement door so the toddlers/preschoolers couldn't escape and get into trouble, but they were in a separate room with their toys so they weren't as big of a distraction as they could've been.

 

Now that they're older, and there are a lot more books and pencils and papers involved, I like having it in a room that's away from the main living area.

[MusicMama]

Thanks for all the input! I appreciate the picture Jennifer, I always love seeing what works for everyone else.

 

Even though I don't like the feel of the basement room, from reading everyone's comments that might be best. It would prevent the current problem of how to keep the boys from climbing in the dishwasher/standing on the kitchen table/digging through the utensil drawer for the perfect "sword" from happening. Oh my boys...they give zest to life! I could just lock the playroom door, and find a comfy chair to stash into the school room. If this all comes together, hopefully I'll have pictures of my own to share in June!

[momofsbandeg]

I voted dining room for the fact that it would be in the main area of the house and you can work in the kitchen or other areas and not be far from wherever school is happening and it is a bigger area for bookcases and school stuff.

 

You could do the breakfast nook if you prefer having your dining room and if you can make it work in a smaller space. Plus it would contain the "messiness" in a smaller area.

 

I personally don't care for the basement option just because it is isolated from me being able to cook and do other things around the main floor and still be close by to teach or monitor. Having school on the main floor just flows better for us.

 

Does that muddy the waters or what?:blush5:

[amyco]

I vote for the basement too, only because of the smaller children. Then maybe in a couple years when they have settled down a little and started school too, you can move upstairs. As far as basing a decision on whether or not people can see your schoolroom when they visit, I wouldn't worry about it. It's your life, your house, and I bet you'll use the school room far more often than you have people over. (Written by the woman who finally moved the school room into the unused front formal living room, instead of the dining table, so the first thing you see when you walk in are enormous wall maps! I love it.)

[higginszoo]

Definitely one of the last two options -- we tried a basement schoolroom, and it just didn't get used. Even now that the dc are older, they mostly want to be where we are most of the time.

 

Having your school space IN the kitchen allows for more messy things that are always the most fun for the little ones (and sometimes the big ones), I voted for that for now, though as they get bigger, I could see the dining room option becoming more practical.