Schoolroom vs. desks in bedrooms for school work?

[profmom]

Has anyone tried desks in kids' bedrooms as the main place that the dc do their school work?

 

Has anyone tried both -- a dedicated school room and desks in bedrooms (instead)? If so, will you share your pros and cons of each?

 

We currently have a school room in what would be our dining room. This is working fine, but I'm wondering if it would be better to move their desks into their rooms and reclaim the dining room (or use it for a different purpose -- maybe a library/reading/music room?). We could still use our couches for reading aloud, and I could possibly move around to the kids to teach various lessons.

 

Thoughts? Advice? :bigear:

[Pink Fairy]

We have both. And both are used by all the kids at different times of the day. They like to color and draw at the desks in their rooms, and will take school work there if they need some quiet. They seem to prefer to do most of their work at their school room desks--more action, I guess. We have a two hour rest period every day from 2-4 pm, and that's when the desks in their rooms get the most use. At some point I hope to turn one of the bedrooms into a "study room," and I will move the desks from their rooms into that room.

[Cheryl in NM]

Ds has a desk in his room, but he prefers to use it for his creative writing that's not school assigned. He does all his writing school work at the schoolroom desk and we do all reading in the living on the couch.

 

HTH.

[Kris]

We don't have a schoolroom, per se, and my son has a desk in his bedroom where he is wanting to spend more and more time. So I check on him a lot. I'd prefer to have him out where I can keep an eye on him -- so we compromise. The door stays open.

[Tap]

We have both and the kids use them as they want too. Ds likes to read in his room, but do his other work, especially anything that requires my input, at his school room desk. Dd likes to draw in her room, but prefers most other times to be in the general space.

 

I don't really care too much which they choose, but I try to encourage public space time so they are used to studying with noises around them.

[Mama Lynx]

I'm musing over this now.

 

For the first time ever, I have a schoolroom. However, so far it just contains my desk, my curriculum cabinets, and the bookshelves. I thought about putting a couch in here, but we do read-alouds in the living room and there's really no reason to change that. So now I'm thinking about putting a table/chairs in here, for the kids to work at. If I don't put the table/chairs in, we will work at the dining room table, or at desks in their rooms.

 

We have a little kitchen table for cooking projects, and a patio table for art ... it seems odd to get another table. OTOH, this room needs either a table, or a couch in it. Or a hot tub, but I bet I'm not getting that ;-)

[Jen500]

My boys work at the kitchen table, or on the floor, or on one of the sofas. One ds has a hard time falling asleep at night, so I try to have his bedroom mostly a sleeping-only room because it seems to help. I also want to be close at hand when they're doing schoolwork, so I can see how they're doing and answer any questions.

[ticklbee]

I just put my ds's desk in his room last week. I'm planning on working with him in his room at his desk. He will also do his independent work there. The oldest will work in the living room and the middle will probably work in our finished basement and then probably wander upstairs at some point.

 

We all tried to work downstairs last year but it didn't work very well. :tongue_smilie:

[mysticamethyst]

We have both. The do the bulk of their school work in our converted dining room, but they do about an hour and half at their computers which are all in their rooms, then reading time is also in their rooms. I have done it both ways, and for us it just works out better this way. Is it possible for you to try it out for a while and if you don't like it switch back? My dh told me I cannot move computers anymore as he has gone back to a wired connection for better speeds. :001_smile:

[Kathleen in VA]

Our house is too small for a "school room" per se. We don't have a dining room, family room, den, basement, etc. I tried putting desks in the bedrooms when I only had three dc, but they ended up being places to stack stuff *sigh*.

 

I have a table - kind of a children's library table - that I got on ebay sitting in the middle of my LR. It came with 3 little chairs and a bench. Both ds12 and dd9 work there from time to time. If I need to make the room look presentable for company, I put the chairs in the garage and the table doubles as a coffee table.

 

We have a computer desk with computer in one corner of the LR where they take turns. I also have a laptop on top of a book case with a barstool to sit on pushed up to it. Ds12 does his TT 5 math there. Dd15 usually reads on the sofa and does any writing at the kitchen table.

[susie in tx]

Um, I'm ashamed to admit this. I have both.

 

My eldest does her school work in front of the tv AND at her desk. My 10 yo prefers to do her schoolwork at the dining room table. It's away from most everything.

 

The other two are mostly tagalongs. They do the schoolwork where I tell them to.

 

We got away from the schoolroom when I had all day sickness earlier in the year. Then, the schoolroom table became the local repository for all things that looked like a book or paper. So, I need to unearth it.

 

I like using the schoolroom table, but sometimes, my children need things to be more quiet in order to do their work. Hence, the desks in their rooms. I don't know how things will go this year. My goal is to get the schoolroom in order to have it as a viable option when we start school on Monday. If we start on Monday.

[Sasharowan]

We are adding built in bookshelves with desks around our dining room. The oldest 2 kid's desks are finished and they are using them. We also have wooden TV tables that they take into their rooms and use when they want to be alone or are getting too out of focus with others around.

[Staci in MO]

We had a school room, and used it for about a year. Then the kids started bringing their work upstairs to the kitchen table.

 

My two oldest are in 6th and 4th this year, and we moved their desks to their rooms. They really like it, and school gets done a lot faster because they're not distracting each other.

 

The youngest still needs my help, and he's too short to write comfortably at the table, so his desk is still downstairs in the schoolroom. I sit next to him while he does his seatwork.