Individual Desks vs. Community Table

[TheAutumnOak]

I am in the planning stages of reorganizing our school room...One aspect I am not sure about is whether I want a community table or desk (something the boys and I can sit at together), or each boy continue to have his own desk...Each boy has his own desk now, but I am wondering if there are advantages to everyone being at the same table together...Which do you do?...Which do you prefer?

[Snickerdoodle]

We have a community table, because that's all we have room for.

 

Community table means having the opportunity to try out 1 million + ways of distracting each other.

[kandty]

We work together at a table, but the boys have desk in their rooms. Once in a while someone is in a bad mood and needs to do their work alone. The indivdual desl are great when someone needs silence to do their school work. If you really can't do both, I vote community table.

[justLisa]

I voted you must have both, however I don't know that you MUST, it is just our set up and I like it. I have nice wood desks with a small hutch behind for each, plus we have my desk which is large and I can pull up another chair, plus the big dining table. We have a very open floor plan and school in the main area.

[Farrar]

I think you need both together space and individual space. I really like the big table, but I don't feel like actual individual desks are essential.

[Karen in CO]

If you only have room for one, a community table is better. However, there are days when my kids cannot work in the same space. My younger has a desk in my office next to mine, and the older has a desk in her room.

[nykatie]

We have a table, but if it gets too loud the older kids set up tv trays in the adjoining room. Desks have been a total fail here -- I've received and given too many to count.

[momma aimee]

i vote both, but if you can only have one --a table. Personally I am planning a big table and a small table -- so that there is 'alone' space -- but it is not the only options so we can pour over things together (since Little Brother HAS toi be in teh MIDDLE of everything :001_smile:).

[Maeintx]

We use our dining room table but I purchased smaller tri-fold poster boards at Walmart. They decorated them with some pockets and other printables, stickers, etc. Ours are for the 50 States, Capitals, other facts, U.S. Map.

 

When I need them to focus more, we use them to create an individual "cubby" area on the table.

[Pam Wilhelm]

I think it depends on the age of the children.....

 

When younger, my kids used individual desks....now that they are jr. high aged they use a "community table" and the kitchen bar...in other words, wherever they can find room.

 

I have two that are on the same level and the older girl used to cheat off the younger one, so I always had to keep them separate...it isn't as big of a deal now. :D

[umsami]

We used to do community table, but now it's too small for everybody to have their space.

 

DS1 requested his own desk for next year.

[Samiam]

We've done both.

 

Once my second DS became school age, I got a big dining room table from Craigslist, sanded it, and painted it a fun color. Thought how wonderful it would be for all of us to sit at the table, I can monitor older DS, teach middle DS and even third DS (around age 2 at that time) can sit with us and color etc.

 

Ugh, can you say "distraction"? Looking at each other's work and making distracting comments, making faces at each other, one moving the table during eraser action bothers the one, etc etc etc. My middle DS turned out to be a HIGHLY distractable student and really can NOT focus with all of that going on right in front of his face. By the 2nd year, I got those big cardboard tri-fold display things so that each boy could be seperated by those. So it was a table of colored cardboard walls. Umm, not exactly what I had been going for.

 

By the time third DS was school age, I was over that one table thing. Got everyone their own desks, their own space. Was SO much better for us. Since they are still in the same room, we still get some of that distraction but no where near as much. The highly distractable isn't distracted So much because it's not RIGHT in front of him. I mean, it's going on in the same room, but he doesn't have to stare right at the distractions, KWIM. If we ever need to do group projects, which is usually more DS9 and DS6, we use the island in the kitchen.

Edited May 31, 2012 by Samiam

[Meriwether]

Our kids do most of their work together. We do have extra small tables if we need them. I used to think I wanted them away from each other. Even though they distract each other occasionally, I prefer their physical proximity. I like that they interact as much as they do.

[Mom0012]

Well, I impulsively voted "individual desks" before I saw the "you must have both" option. :lol:

 

My kids would take a looooong time to get their inidividual work done if they were both at the same table unless I sat right there with them. They are both excellent independent workers as long as they have their own space. I can just imagine my dd complaining every time my son shook the table while erasing or my ds complaining because my dd was humming. I'm past the point of wanting to sit in the same room with them all day while they work.

 

But, we do have a table in our schoolroom where they eat breakfast together while I do our SL reading and discussion. I don't know what we'd do without that.

 

Lisa

[yvonne]

We have both. I'm getting rid of the individual desks this summer. We use a sturdy dining room table in the back room where we do all the schoolwork that I have to teach/help with. The children usually use the table too, even when I'm working with someone else, but they often do their reading on the sofa or in their rooms and they sometimes do their independent work at the real dining room table.

 

They used their desks more back when we had a table that would shake whenever anyone moved or used their eraser. It was hard for us all to work at that table at the same time. So, if you go for a table, get a large, sturdy, stable one!

[lea1]

We have both but the boys really only use their desks while they are doing their own thing, like coloring or drawing for fun.

 

We do almost all of our seat work at the kitchen island. When they are doing math, they must sit on opposite ends, otherwise they are tempted to look at the other's work.

 

Sometimes we use the kitchen table but the vast majority of the time we work at the island.

[Dory]

We do a couple of things together at the table, but I've found with my oldest son's APD that he works better if he is at his own desk. I continue to have together times simply because it's easier for me and he has to eventually learn how to work with other people around him.

[Joyofsixreboot]

My youngest three use the kitchen table communally. My 7th grader uses the couch or her laptop mostly.

[~Anna~]

We are just starting out and we will have both. Me and my DD will both have an individual desk and then I ordered a 36" round table to go in the center of our room for when we will work together or she needs to look at the whiteboard.

[LillyMama]

Well... we sort of have three community tables, and no desks, but we can spread out each at our own tables so they act like desks. Does that make sense at all? :D

 

We have a small kid-sized table in the school room, our dining room table and our small kitchen table. My laptop hangs out at the dining room table during the day and it's basically one big room with the school room. So one kid can work on the computer and one on the school table, or both on either table together.

 

My kids aren't really old enough for independent work, but we may get them desks for their rooms when they're older. I don't think I'll ever go for individual desks in our school space, but that could change, I guess.

[happypamama]

We have both. :) I have a desk, and DD has a desk; she is easily distracted and does much better with her own desk/space. The boys have a table that they share, and that works fine for now, though we'll re-evaluate as time goes on.

 

If I did not have a schoolroom and was mostly using the kitchen table, I would probably need to find somewhere else for DD to work (and I would still probably keep my desk for the computer and everything, even if I didn't sit at it much during the school day).

[Pixjen]

We've always had to use the kitchen table for school since we live in a small space. However, as my DD moved up into middle and high school she started doing more work independently. She eventually got a desk for her bedroom and did most of her work there. With my 8 yr old we're back to the kitchen table again.

[Wyndie]

We've always had individual desks that almost-sorta worked sometimes. I recently bought a large table and it's been heavenly. They store their stuff at their own table and if the large table gets crowded, they scootch over to their own desks. They tend to rotate around the large table so we rarely run out of room at the big table. When two kids are there, the third will go work on the computer so it's been a real boone to our homeschool!

[bluemongoose]

We have individual desks that are all identical, so if we would like a community table we can push them together.

 

I like them to be individual because they distract each other, and complain about someone getting too close or touching their book etc.:glare:

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

I'm just starting, so take what I say with a grain of salt. :tongue_smilie:

 

We are going to use our dining room table for gathering, going over individual work assignments and experiment-project type things. Once the girls get their work lists, they can go wherever they want to get it done. If that means staying at the table, heading off to their rooms, hanging upside down out of a tree (really only an option for DD9), it's all good with me as long as the work gets done, and done well.

 

DD11 wants a desk in her room, so DH will be building her one. Of course she must wait in line, b/c I need a new computer/storage area in my daycare space. I asked first. :tongue_smilie:

[mom31257]

I think it depends on your kids. Mine are 6 years apart. Ds is very verbal, likes to discuss, and do stuff out loud. Dd is quiet, likes to read, and is distracted by the noise ds makes.

 

She works in her room the majority of the time at this desk. Ds works at a desk on the wall between the living room and kitchen, giving him easy access to the table for us to sit together or the living room for reading and such. His has a shelf above the back with a magnetic dry erase board.

[CatholicMom]

I don't know how to vote because what I *have* is a table, but I don't know that it's the best way ever. I think ideally you'd probably have both and be able to switch up when necessary, but I don't have room for that.

 

I think ideally there would be something called a "school mama table" that has a recliner in the middle and an attached table surface surrounding it on 3 sides so you can see what all the kids are doing. :tongue_smilie:

[Crimson Wife]

The kids do some work at our dining room table, and other work on the couch with lap desks or clipboards. DS does a lot of his work on the whiteboard side of an art easel.

[NCBlueberry]

We have a community table but I'd prefer to have both (of course I want to have it all!) If I had to pick just one or the other I'd rather have the table I think. I'm hoping to have a desk within the next year or so for my oldest who's 9, possibly in his room.

[jewellsmommy]

Community table. You can always use the trifold type boards to give each person their own space. But, it is nice to be able to lay out a map or project across that space. I just find it more versatile.

[nukeswife]

I've tried them all and the best solution so far is what we have now. We each have our own 2X3' table and we can push them all together into one large table or pull them apart if we need to for individual space. I find this size gives everyone room to spread out even when they are all pushed together (which is most of the time) but there are easy to see boundaries too.

[ALB]

I like our community table. I put my kids on the ends and I sit in between them. For now, its spacious enough and I can keep an eye on both at the same time. We only have 2 dc right now, so it works. Not feeling crowded is a big deal to me (maybe because of the crowds outside- we're in China :lol:)! I really like to have enough room for our books/ TMs/ elbows, etc.

[cmp3400]

I was was really excited about getting my boys their own desks...they hated them and we use the dining room table instead.

[Amanda_Jo]

I vote community table because my children are still at the age where I need to be involved in most every subject. It makes me easier to help them when they are all close together. I feel that my oldest will soon want her own space for concentration though. I'm leaning toward buying 4 of these desks and putting them together as one table--then I'll be able to break them apart when the kids are ready for that.