Schooling at adult sized table?

[Ariston]

I'm wondering how others have made it work schooling at adut height desk or tables with little ones. Has anyone used one of those Stokke style adjustible high chairs? Or what about an adjustible office chair with a footrest?

 

How can I make a regular height table more ergonomic?

[Meriwether]

I use barstools at one table. At the other, Dd used a booster seat, but she has long outgrown the need. The boys have had a short table I picked up at auction. I'm too cheap to buy nice adjustable chairs when I can make it work with stuff I already have, but I think they are a great idea.

[Laura Corin]

I'm wondering how others have made it work schooling at adut height desk or tables with little ones. Has anyone used one of those Stokke style adjustible high chairs? Or what about an adjustible office chair with a footrest?

 

How can I make a regular height table more ergonomic?

 

Loved our Stokkes - we had two and they worked really well. They still look brand new after about ten years (we don't wear shoes in the house).

 

Laura

[Wabi Sabi]

We bought a Svan high chair when my oldest was a baby. Almost 9 years later it's still getting daily use! My oldest now does his schoolwork at the table sitting in a regular chair, but the 5 year old sits in her Svan still for eating and for her schoolwork. The chair wasn't cheap, but we'll easily end up getting a decade's worth of daily use out of it so in the long run it was a great purchase.

 

[craftyerin]

We have Ikea Junior Chairs and LOVE them. We got them when my kids were 3 and 2 and wanted to move out of their booster chair that was strapped to the adult chair. I have Agam chairs, which are no longer available unfortunately. But there are others, and they're the same concept. They have fit my kids well from 2-3, to now (turning 5 and 6 next week). http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=junior+chairs

[boscopup]

We got the Euro chair from One Step Ahead. It's about $100. I also used it for my little one to eat at the table. ;)

 

Now we have school desks that we got from public school castoffs for $5 each, but when we schooled at the kitchen table, that Euro chair was awesome. My son had trouble with his hand hurting during writing, and raising him up took that pain away.

[MeaganS]

I'm giving some serious considerations to making a few of these chairs from Ana White's plans as the previous chairs are too expensive for our budget. They aren't adjustable, but look like they'd work pretty well. http://ana-white.com/2011/03/harriet-higher-chair

[TraceyS/FL]

I use a drafting chair at my expedit desk - I have to have my elbows be at desk height, and regular chairs don't adjust high enough. (those are the ones that have the foot rest)

 

At our new project table, the kids are using Ikea stools, and they are a good height, and I am doomed because they plus the boyfriend) all like sitting higher now. I could NEVER do schoolwork/writing at the kitchen table for this reason... it hurt ME!

 

Taller chairs are not cheap, the barstool solution is a much more affordable solution if you can find the right height. I can't get the Ana-White page to load at the moment, ok, there it is - that looks like a good solution! Thanks for posting that, I will have to put it on my "to do" list :p

 

For the record, my floor to chair height right now is 22", and my desk height is 29.5"

[Tracy]

I posed this same question a year ago, and I settled on Keekaroo chairs. They are are a lot less expensive than the Stokke ones. (Even then, for us the Keekaroo's seemed a big indulgence.) Nevertheless, they have helped tremendously to reduce the amount of distraction, especially, my older dd. They are sturdy and easy to clean. My only complaint is that the back legs stick out a bit from where the seat is, and I am forever tripping over them.

[airforcefamily]

Decided this year to purchase appropriately desks for the older ones and a child sized table for the younger ones after years of everyone being uncomfortable at a regular table. The desks, table, and chairs are from community playthings. The desks and table have adjustable legs so they should work as comfortable workspaces for years.

[dbmamaz]

i started when my youngest was in first - but he's pretty short. he just used the same chair he was using for eating? i did give him my old nursing foot-stool, so he could put his feet 'on the floor' - that helped his handwriting a lot. he still uses it at dinner, too.

[staceyof1982]

We just use a regular chair at the dinner table, or sometimes the kids kneel at the coffee table in the living room. It would be nice to have something special, but we have too many people in a tiny house!

[UrbanSue]

We have one Svan, one family-heirloom "youth chair" and my 8yo who is in a wheelchair has his own surface in the same room but off to the side that is a couple inches lower to accommodate his chair height. I'm a big believer in appropriate seating for school and the variety of chairs really helps. My 6yo could, in some ways, use a better chair but she is a pretty wiggly learner and tends to prefer a regular adult chair at this point. But I'm thinking of forcing her to sit at a better height just for copywork. Her handwriting is starting to frustrate her and I think she just needs to practice it with decent posture for awhile.

[chelsmm]

We have two keekaroo (I think that's how it is spelled) chairs. I ordered them from Amazon. They were easy to assemble, and they are less expensive than the Stokke. The quality isn't going to be as good, but for us, the keekaroo was perfect.

[xixstar]

What we are using are IKEA step stools with two steps and I love theym. They're comfortable for the kids and the second step makes a good foot rest. I think this will actually work for a while as they grow. Downside, there is not back to the 'chair' but if we were using the dinging room chairs, they wouldn't use the back either. Major plus size, the push all the way under and take up less room that way. My girls can spend an hour or more sitting in these if there is a project that holds their interest but rarely do we sit that long. :)

 

I originally bought them for the kitchen (they were great for little cooking helpers) and stole them when we set up a table for activities and art. I now need to buy 2 more to replace the kitchen ones again.

 

this step stool:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60178887/

 

This is my 4yo at the table:

 

Oh and I just asked my 17yo to sit down for me to see if she fits, kinda dark photo though... she is 5'4 or so I believe. She thinks it's comfortable, especially with the foot rest. Adding some padding to the seat would help some too, I think.

[sbgrace]

We use a Keekaroo at the kitchen table. It's worked well for us.

[Ellie]

I would have loved for my dc to have tables at their own height. However, all we had was the kitchen table. We just all learned to deal with it. ;-)

[Suzanne115]

My daughter actually prefers to do her school at the counter sitting on bar stools. She's been working there since first grade. Before that, she used a Stokke chair at the kitchen table. She has an appropriately sized desk, but it doesn't get used for school.

 

Suzanne

[birchbark]

We use Keekaroos and the BEKVAM Ikea stools. I love using full-size tables with higher chairs. Great investment.

 

Although we always trip over the Keekaroos too. :)