If you don't have a homeschool room...

[shanvan]

All those threads about school rooms are making me twitch!  I don't know why, but every time I read even a thread title I get a sort of boxed in feeling.  It's almost like someone just told me I have to stay in one room all day.  

 

I don realize that the school room idea works well for some people, but I thought those of us who don't have one ought to have a thread too.  (Plus I'm looking for excuses to post so I can avoid the housework that has piled up here.  :blushing:  )

 

So, if you don't have a school room, where do you keep your supplies and books?  Where do your children do their work?  Describe how you organize.  

 

I have been pondering our set up for the upcoming year and i'd like to make some changes.  Currently we have our books in several different locations.  My absolute worst problem is where to keep curriculum that includes a TE & Student book but the TE does not have the student book contents in it.  Quite often I need to look at both, yet Ds or Dd needs to have convenient access to his/her book.  I haven't come up with a good solution yet.  

[Leav97]

We don't have a school room.  This year I'm trying something different.  I'm making a checklist for every week and copying everything needed for the week.  Then having it spiral bound.  It's worked well for the first 2 weeks.  I'm in the process of printing/copying the next 4 weeks and have tentative plans laid out for the year.  I don't want to print more then a couple weeks out just in case we get off schedule.

 

Last year every time I went to cover a topic that required more than one book, I couldn't find some part.  We'd be reading history and couldn't find the notebook or SOTW.  We'd work on Beast and couldn't find the workbook after doing the reading.  Even though we had a bookshelf where everything belonged.

[shanvan]

 

Last year every time I went to cover a topic that required more than one book, I couldn't find some part.  We'd be reading history and couldn't find the notebook or SOTW.  We'd work on Beast and couldn't find the workbook after doing the reading.  Even though we had a bookshelf where everything belonged.

 

Oh, boy.  I can relate!  Any idea how you are going to solve the problem this year, or are you still thinking about it, or just accepting it as a fact of homeschooling life?  I sometimes think it is one of the unofficial laws of homeschooling. You know, something like "If a book can be misplaced, it will, and it will always be misplaced when you need it.  Furthermore, it will turn up when you no longer need it and possibly even when it is no longer even a desirable item to sell."

[Hoot]

We don't have a dedicated school room.  All of the curriculum stays on bookshelves in the office.  On the top shelf are my teacher's guides and the literature books for the year.  The next 2 shelves hold magazine boxes with his textbooks and subject binders.  The bottom 2 shelves are reference books and additional literature for upcoming years or for possible inclusion in the current year if there's time.  On the bookshelf closest to the door are my 3 stackable paper trays - completed work, fix and return, and to be copied.  The rest of that bookshelf is for library books and tutoring materials.  We have an "L" shaped desk in the room so I sit on one side and he sits on the other with his laptop for some of his work.  For other work we may use the kitchen table, back porch, living room, or he may work on his bed.  Honestly, I wish we did have a school room.  It would make organizing a little easier and would mean that we had a little more room spread out. 

[Leav97]

That's why I'm copying/printing everything into 1 book for the week this year.  I'm hoping with only 1 book to keep track of per week we won't have that problem this year.  But, it's kind of a pain getting everything copied.

[TraceyS/FL]

I'd have to work out of totes or crates to keep everything contained. One year I found these nifty red "leather" totes on clearance at Target for cheap... and i'm still kicking myself for not buying all they had beacuse i didn't realize how awesome of a deal they were.

 

But because they are "leather" they look nice on a shelf or sitting, have handles for easy moving them around.

 

Probably similar to this, but not as tall, http://www.landofnod.com/kids-storage-bins/kids-playroom/rattan-i-am-cube-basket/f7092

 

To corral and have portable the other stuff, i'd look on the scrapbook aisle at Joann's or Michaels. You should be able to have pretty tote with pencils and such to store back away and take with you wherever.

 

KKinVA (i think that is her board name), had some great pictures on her blog or in a post of her living room with the hidden spots she has school stuff. She uses the Desk Apprentice from Staples - which is another great thing to consider but not overly portable.

 

We have a "room" but it is an alcove open to our main living space. I didn't do well in the room separated from the rest of the house. We have chosen to decorate it with a home office/project area feel and it flows with the family - and gives us a spot to put everything. Technically.  :laugh: 

But there have been a lot of great threads in the past on small spaces and non-school rooms. I love reading and looking at them all because honestly, I take something away from every room I see. It might be a, "that would never work for me", but even that saves me money!!

[Carrie12345]

I don't have a homeschool room, but only because I truly don't have an extra room. I long for the day I have a space with a door where all our materials live.

 

In the meantime, our living room is arranged so we can have space between the couch and a wall of shelves. Our dining area (no walls separating it from the living room. Or kitchen, for that matter) has another shelf shoved against the small and only wall space available.

My side table in the living room is stacked high with school stuffs. The fireplace hearth and space in front of it often is, too.

 

Science and art supplies plus extra paper, pencils, etc. are kept upstairs in my bedroom @@. So is the wireless printer, which means going up and down the stairs all. the. time.

 

We school on the couch and coffee table, on the dining table, the girls do some work on their beds, I often teach from the kitchen counter.

It's been this way for 6 years. It's like school threw up all over our entire existance. I hate it.

[TechWife]

We don't have a dedicated school room. I have a large (very large) bookshelf in the dining room where I keep my books & supplies. DS's desk and computer are also in the dining room. His books are on his desk shelf. We tend to do most reading in the living room, although sometimes he takes things upstairs to his room. He works on his papers on the computer, so he does that in the dining room (he has no computer in his room). He does his art in his room or in our bonus room. His studio desk is set up in the bonus room. He sometimes does his math on the couch in the living room, sometimes at the dining room table. Much drawing, painting and photography takes place outdoors.  I have a laptop, which I mainly use in the living room or at the kitchen table for planning. I do my quilting/sewing at the dining room table. Any studying or planning I have to do is done either at the coffee shop or on the living room couch. 

[swellmomma]

I've been posting in the organize our hs rooms thread and I don't have a homeschool room.  We use the kitchen and livingroom.  There is pictures in my blog of the new set up ever since the expedit "exploded".  It doesn't show all of my storage solutions, because well I am still figuring those out, or they are in rooms too messy to document with photos, but it gives a basic over view of where we do school.

[SilverMoon]

We've never had a school room.  We do most of our seatwork in our dine-in kitchen. There's a bookshelf in the corner of the room that is just for current school books, literature, history readers, loose leaf paper, and such. A pencil holder, eraser can, tub of crayons, tub of colored pencils, rulers, and electric pencil sharpener live on top of it.

 

Our dining table has the map at the moment. (There's a sheet of clear vinyl protecting it.) There's some random math posters and a big white board on the wall.

 

The TEs live on my big corner computer desk in the living room. For planning I take my planners and TMs to the table near the kids' bookshelf so I can grab anything I need.

 

The school books not in use, literature that's for later in the year, random supplies, and such live in a closet in the hallway.

[AngelaNYC]

No schoolroom here.

 

Almost all books and supplies are in the china cabinet on glass shelves behind glass/wood doors.  It looks nice in the dining room.

 

The books we use daily are in one shelf of an Ikea Expedit cubby bookshelf in the living room.  Whiteboard and globe are also in the living room.

 

Daily academics (2-3 hrs of some combo of math, lit, hist, sci, and geog) is done on the couch or at the dining room table.

 

 

[sixpence1978]

I don't have a homeschool room either.  We used to have one and it was nice, but we felt very isolated.

 

We now school just in the dining room/living room combo.  Most of our eating is in our nook, so the dining room table was going unused.  I keep the pencils, crayons, etc. in little dollar buckets from Target on a lazy susan in the middle of the table.  We will soon be replacing our tall bookcase in the living room with either an expedit or horizontal bookshelf in the dining room.  We only keep current school year books out, the rest are either packed away, given away, or the kids adopt them into their rooms.

 

We have decided that we don't like posters hanging on the wall, most of those we just buy or print in notebook size and put in our binders for reference.  No big whiteboard either; we just use little lapboards.  All reading is done on the living room sofa, so we have our basket of library and current reading books out there.  Our computer is just in our main office.  Extra supplies (pencils, etc) are stored in the office, files for the year are in a filing cabinet in the office.  Our science experiment supplies are kept in a cabinet in the kitchen (since that is where we do experiments).

 

Other than that, our most frequently used books are kept in a 31 organizing bag that we bring to the table each day and store back at the end of the day.

[quark]

We used to school on the coffee table too. Basically, like I was explaining to Woodland Mist in the minimalism thread, our set up is to have stations all over the house.

 

I would love a school room in theory but I don't think it will work for us mainly because I have to be in the kitchen or working around the house or just need to get up and move about and kiddo usually likes to have me around although he is old enough and can be alone if needed. A room would be stifling for us as well and I might start to feel that I need to decorate it beautifully etc...it's just the way I am, a little picky and all that. :P

 

We do the majority of his seatwork in the living/ family room that is attached to the kitchen. It's a small-ish family room and we seem to have chosen a lot of dark colors for furniture in the past, buying for affordability instead of looks. For that reason I didn't buy tall bookcases or it would feel darker than it already is when our shades are down (and I keep the shades down in the very hot summer weather we get here). So the room holds two short 9-cube bookshelves, one short 6-cube bookshelf, a bench bookshelf, the TV, kiddo's long study desk from World Market (campaign desk in black -- I paid just over $100 when it was on sale), recliners and an office chair. We have one corner set up with a reading light and armchair for reading but kiddo alternates between other seats too. The recliners are especially nice for reading at the end of a long day. We get a good amount of natural light in the daytime when the shades are up or down but adjusted to open slightly with the lever mechanism.

 

Then, we have some craft and simple experiment apparatus/ kits and his microscope set up on the formal dining table in bins, baskets and trays (for easy removal when we have guests).

 

There's also a study/ office upstairs where kiddo discusses things with his dad. And they are just wrapping up putting together a chemistry lab in the garage. The garage also has space for their electronics projects (just a small-ish table for now). They have a mini fridge, kettle, a couch, that old coffeetable we used to use and TV in the garage as well to watch documentaries while they work on other projects together.

 

Things are so much easier to locate after using bins and baskets. Things he is working on are kept in folders in a small file sorter on his desk. Things I use with him are kept in the bench bookshelf behind my recliner and in a straw tote next to it. We rarely use curriculum that requires a TE. When we do, the TE goes into the straw tote.

[HRAAB]

Well, I do have a sort of homeschool room.  Probably a more accurate name would be the curriculum/computer room.  It's our smallest bedroom.  I got it all set up with desks for the twins and a big white board on the wall, painted it a light shade of green, nothing fancy like some of the pictures I see but neat and clean and small.  We start off in there every year, and within 2 weeks everybody is in the living room.  Especially during winter the girls want to be in front of the fire or curled up in a blanket.  I give up.

 

I bought each girl a desk apprentice where they keep all their current books.  I have a couple milk crates where I store extra books that we're using for certain units or whatever.  I found that easier than getting up every few minutes and trying to track down a book in the schoolroom and usually an hour later finding it under a cushion upstairs.  We have a big white board and maps that I slide behind the couch when we're not using them.  The desk apprentices and milk crates and shoved in a corner when we're done for the day.  The girls have lap desks to write on,, and if they need a computer they use my laptop.  Sometimes they migrate to the kitchen - especially if I'm in there.  I try to make sure the floor is clear before dad gets home.  He's a neat guy and having books and stuff all over could send him over the edge.  Me too, actually.  I like clear spaces, but I've learned to compromise with years of homeschooling.  We throw everything in a crate and move it out of the way.  I'm lucky in that I do have a large living room.  We don't have a downstairs family room - it's upstairs - or I would use that.  I did try that once.  Huge fail.  I didn't need that much exercise going up and down stairs.

 

My 16 year old is at school 3 days a week and when home she's sometimes in the living room - especially when the wood stove is going  :001_rolleyes: (they like heat), or if she needs to be alone and have all quiet, she's in her room.  She has a big table in there with all her books and a bookcase.

 

I've been told the schoolroom defeats the purpose of homeschooling.  Homeschooling means being comfortable, and comfort is curled up in an easy chair.

[craftyerin]

I have been posting in the organizing our HS room thread, too, even though I no longer have a dedicated school room. I had one until mid-spring when I realized that we didn't like it or use it.  Like you said in your OP, no one wanted to be in that one room all day! We like to use our whole house.  I moved all of the school stuff to the living room and haven't looked back!  Fits us sooooo much better this way.  I have new pics on my blog:

 

http://lookwhaterinmade.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-school-stuff.html

[shanvan]

Thanks to those who pointed out there are ideas I might use in the school room threads.  I started this thread b/c I have organizing in the back of my mind, but I don't think I'm ready to deal with it yet.  I still have piles of books to go through to plan the year, so I don't even know which books we are using yet.  

 

Currently, organization looks like piles of books & curricula by subject on our fireplace hearth so I can assess what we have available and make decisions.  My mind feels scattered today and every time I start thinking about organizing it just seems to shut down.  

 

I think this year I would probably like to have all books used in one location on a shelf of some sort.  I tried keeping books in the rooms they are used most and that seemed to contribute to inability to find them.  And the number one organizational tool that would do the most at our house is enforcing the "put it back where it belongs every single time you are not going to be using it (even if you think you are going back to it in 15 minutes)" rule.  That alone would probably cut down on a lot of the problems we have!

[Spryte]

The one year we tried a homeschool room it was a colossal failure.  It was fun setting it all up, and it looked great - but we didn't use it.  The location was all wrong, in our house, and it simply wasn't a good fit.

 

We have "stations" around the house also, and that's worked well for us for several years.  We have a small home, and almost all of our furniture has storage.  Most of our books for the year are on the large bookshelf in our living room, below that is a small closed cabinet for toddler toys to take out during school time.  We have 2 desks in our living room also - but they don't look like desks unless they are in use.  :)  One is a secretary, for me, and it holds my supplies.  The top drawer holds paper type supplies, the laminator, and other organizational stuff; second drawer is science manipulatives and anything needed for the year's science (I order the kits so we have most things on hand); and the third drawer is for math manipulatives and extras - at one time it was mostly dedicated to Right Start, but now it's a mix.  DS has a roll top in the living room also.  When he's done for the day, he rolls the top down, and it's hidden away.  We also have an armoire for the printer, and other electronics.  Most of our work is done at the kitchen table or on the couch though.

 

Art supplies and science supplies that are used daily live in the kitchen, at a built in desk area.  It's a sore spot for me, as I think it was a poorly planned little area, but we try to make it work.  We have one large bulletin board in the kitchen that I love - it has a wonderful, thick teal frame that makes me smile.  I try to swap out any posters on it, but it isn't utilized well.  Other than that, we don't do educational posters.  I found that they fade into the background and DS doesn't see them.  So we stopped.  We do have a whiteboard for AAS hanging in the kitchen as well.  I used to slide it behind a bookcase, but got tired of the tiles falling off, so it is mounted now.  That may be temporary, though, as it seems we used to more when it was portable.  Oh, and I do have a small collection of posters that, in theory, I clip to a board as needed for review.  The board slides behind a bookcase when we're not using it.  But, I'm finding that we tend to print things smaller, laminate (or not) and put into binders for reference.  That seems to work better here. 

 

Books that are not in use at the moment are on built in bookshelves in other parts of the house.  They are everywhere.   :D

 

 

[Loowit]

We don't have a dedicated room for school room, it just has taken over most of the house at this point. When the kids were little we used to do a lot on the couch. Now we use the dining room table for most of our work, although DD doesn't most of her either in her room or at the computer. Our timeline exists on the family room wall which can be seen from the dining room. We keep all of our books on a bookcase that is on the wall next to the dining room. We also have two computers set up on a table in the living room for the kids to work on papers, research, German, typing, etc.

 

We have a very open floor plan and very little storage. Books are expected to be put back when we aren't using them, doesn't always happen. But they are always in a few spots like my desk, the dining room table, etc. I try to keep all of my school books in some organized fashion on the shelves, but the kids are not good at putting things back where they found them. Most of our current year, commonly used books are kept on one of two shelves.

 

This year DH has told me that I need to stop taking up all the bookcases with schooling books. I am currently only using 1 1/2 bookcases. I don't think that is bad, we have 8 bookcases. He said I don't get any more shelves and I need to box up the stuff we aren't going to use this year. He is grumpy that he still has some of his books in boxes. So my new mission is to clear bookshelf space this week and get the house organized. I am thinking I need to go through and weed out all the stuff I don't need anymore. I just have a very hard time parting with any of it. But I started my ordering a few days ago and have more I am doing soon, so I have to clear space for my new stuff.

[shanvan]

This year DH has told me that I need to stop taking up all the bookcases with schooling books. I am currently only using 1 1/2 bookcases. I don't think that is bad, we have 8 bookcases. He said I don't get any more shelves and I need to box up the stuff we aren't going to use this year. He is grumpy that he still has some of his books in boxes. So my new mission is to clear bookshelf space this week and get the house organized. I am thinking I need to go through and weed out all the stuff I don't need anymore. I just have a very hard time parting with any of it. But I started my ordering a few days ago and have more I am doing soon, so I have to clear space for my new stuff.

I did 4 bookcases earlier this summer and I plan to go through them again and purge more.  I still need to get to the bookcases upstairs in bedrooms & the hallway.  I'll probably give those a 2nd purge too.  I seem to do better if I go through twice.  I had planned to have all of that done by now, but the county fair and 4h events got in the way.

[MinivanMom]

We don't have a schoolroom.  We have always worked at the kitchen table and read on the living room couches.  I have still have little ones, so I like our home looking and feeling like a home.  The only homeschooling item out in the open is a large kids bookshelf where the books face out.  I keep dictionaries, the thesaurus, and the atlas there (along with storybooks and board books for the younger children).  It is situated right between the kitchen and the living room so it's convenient, but not in the way. 

 

Everything else is close, but out of sight.  We use our coat closet as our main homeschool closet.  I put organizers inside with drawers where the children can keep their current school books.  The closet is close enough to the kitchen that it's convenient for the kids to pop back and forth to get books or put them back.  I also have two cupboards in the kitchen where I keep art supplies, science materials, math manipulatives, and whatever books and teacher's manuals I'm currently using.  I keep everything we aren't currently using (other books or teacher's manuals) on bookshelves upstairs.

[AK_Mom4]

We have always homeschooled right in the dining room.  I work from home and my desk is there too.  It's actually one big room open to the kitchen on one side, so getting more coffee is easy (that's an important success factor for me!).

 

Kids keep their texts and workbooks in cubes that stack.  There is a smaller desk next to mine that DD12 likes to use when she works.  Pens, Pencils, etc sit in jars on my desk as do the TEs.  I have one shelf in the pantry with school and craft supplies.

 

It is really quite cozy.  We usually have music playing.  DD practices her piano and saxophone in the living room and flops on the couch to read.

[raceNzanesmom]

I sort of have both. We have a small room in our basement with three bookcases full of books and some artsy type stuff. It's not really usable as a school room tho, because it's far away from everything is and cold most of fall to spring. I do, however, appreciate it as a storage area. I have lots of books from our older son that I want to keep either for the younger son or to pass onto grandchildren someday. Our current school stuff is stored in the kitchen, under the coffee table, and a little in ds's room. We have our large whiteboard and maps in the kitchen. It works, so I'm okay with it.

[Lori D.]

No school room here. We curl up on the living room couches, or sit at the coffee table for writing, or use a lapboard and write. We use lapboard-sized whiteboards, so no need of a big hanging one.

 

We have a bookcase for school books and all the texts and manuals we'll be using for the year in the hall, in a right-angled recessed section of the wall, and maps are rolled up and stored in that space of the 3-4 inches between the wall and the bookcase. The bookshelf portion holds all the books; the bottom portion of the bookcase has cupboard doors, so that's where plastic tubs with lids go that hold all the science and other bulky supplies. Books look nice on the bookshelves, and the messy supplies are organized in the tubs AND are hidden from sight in the bottom cupboard.

 

The day-to-day student and teacher books are pulled from the bookcase and, along with the spiral notebooks, are kept in stackable, heavy-duty crates in the laundry room (can close the door on it!) and are brought out each morning for school. One crate per student, with loose supplies (markers, pencils, etc.) stored in 2 or 3 plastic lidded pencil boxes that sit on top of the books in their crates.

 

We have bookcases in all the bedrooms, so past school reading books, potential future school reading books, and just fun reading books go in those bookcases. I try and go through the bookcases about once every 2 years and either box up and save a handful of the most treasured/favorite books, and get rid of those books everyone is done with. We have additional shelving in the laundry room to store those treasured books; other people have garages or storage sheds for boxed books.

[texasmama]

We are kind of a hybrid.  :D

 

We use the dining room space as a place to put all of our homeschool materials.  I call it a space because it is not a room, as it is open to the living area and kitchen and foyer.  So I have two walls, essentially, and a folding table sticking out perpendicular to one wall to put all of our school items in.  I have one large bookshelf, one small (very small) bookshelf, a set of four cubbies, and a plastic three drawer thingie.  This space also houses our two hamsters, a tote of craft items (stuck underneath the table), and a two drawer filing cabinet full of our personal/medical/financial records (not related to homeschooling at all).  We have very limited wallspace, and no actual schooling happens in this area.  I work with the kids on the couch, and the kids are free to do their independent work anywhere they want.  I do a lot of read alouds while the kids are eating at the kitchen table.

 

It sounds like you at least need an easy access bookshelf for your texts and teacher's manuals.

 

ETA:  The kids' curriculum items are in the top of their cubbies.  Their bookbags with co-op materials are kept in the bottom part of the cubbies. I have one bookshelf for our history/literature books for the year.  I put the IG on the top of the small bookshelf with the history books we are currently reading.  On a small end table I keep the current extra literature read alouds (currently, this is four different books).  I have a container of sharpened pencils on the table in the homeschool area and another one on the small end table, which is within reach of my spot on the couch.  The other bookshelves are for curriculum that will be used at some point, good books we will read at some point and free reading books.  Also, the top of the cubbies is lined with books and history DVD's.  We also have a globe on top  of the cubbies.  I have an old style teacher's cabinet full of overflow curriculum, empty binders, science equipment, etc. in my littlest dd's room, which is adjacent to the living area (was originally an office) and an under the bed storage unit full of new supplies of various types.

[texasmama]

Dang, we're gonna need a bigger boat...

 

lol

[PachiSusan]

Well....

 

We dont' have a dedicated school room. We have a dedicated space for school. That doesn't mean that we stay there the whole time. We start there and then wind up using the couch, the kitchen table, the floor, her bed, our bed.

 

For 4 years, I desperately wanted a dedicated school room. As time went by, I realized that I didn't want it to do school in, I wanted it to "pinterest" a really rocking, cool looking school room. It was more about me decorating a cute room than a need for it. 

 

I have a four hole IKEA bin with 4 pull out baskets that hold all her books and supplies and a desk organizer on top with a rounder of craft scissors. I have a 66 qt container of all of her art supplies that we take out when we do art. She has a table, a computer and a task chair. That's about it for our school room. 

 

I do wish we had wall space for a world map and possibly a time line, but there is no wall that has enough room for that. 

 

This is the IKEA thing we have. It's the Expedit in birch color. 

[Mommy22alyns]

We have a large living room, so the school table is tiny and right in the middle of it, behind the couch and chair.  We've got bookshelves and a PBK caddy/cabinet set to hold books, and a tall rolling cart for things like markers, glue, pencils, etc.

 

We have extremely little wall space available, but I try.  I so wish we could have one of those nice, huge, airy rooms.

[twoxcell]

We don't have a school room. We used to have our laundry room made into a school area but it just got too small and inconvenient. Our dining room and living room or just basically one big room and we do school in the dining room and living room. I have two book cases my dh made on one wall of the dinning room and one little plastic three drawer organizer. All of our school books and supplies are kept right in the dining room. I have board games, puzzles, and educational preschool toys in the laundry room. All seat work is done at the dining room table while the kids who aren't working are playing in the living room or watching cartoons. The room is L shaped so you can't see the TV from the dining room table. Each kid has one of those fabric totes and I put all of their school books etc. needed for the day the night before in them and put them on the table. :)

[ThisIsTheDay]

All those threads about school rooms are making me twitch!  I don't know why, but every time I read even a thread title I get a sort of boxed in feeling.  It's almost like someone just told me I have to stay in one room all day.  

 

. . .

 

So, if you don't have a school room, where do you keep your supplies and books?  Where do your children do their work?  Describe how you organize.  

 

 

 

I know, me too!  I can't imagine feeling stuck in a *room* for school, away from the kitchen and the rest of my life, lol!  I know, it works well for some people.

 

My challenge was that while we schooled in the kitchen or family room, my dh (and I) never wanted our house to look like our school.  Depending on our home at the time, we've had different situations. 

 

We've had school books tucked inside the bottom of a china cabinet, with school supplies in the drawers.  This meant moving more kitchen things down into the basement, but it worked.

 

We installed a narrow bookshelf along the top of the basement stairs, which were behind a door in the kitchen.  I would just open the door, stand on the stairs, and pull out what was needed.  At the same time, we have a cabinet in the kitchen with other books/supplies.

 

In our smallest house, we bought a buffet (the bottom part of a china cabinet), used it as a sofa table/room divider, and put all of the school books in there.

 

When my kids were much older, my dd kept most of her books in her room and worked independently.  My son's books are in one cardboard box under an end table in our living room, which is our typical meeting place.  The rest of everything is on shelves in the basement.

 

In general though, I've always tried to keep one spot for the things we used daily, and a second, easily accessible place with the things we used several times a week.

[melbotoast]

We school at the kitchen table. When we moved into this house, DH bought me two secondhand file cabinets that hold all of our school supplies. They sit right next to the table. Not very stylish, but we like it :) I do need to figure out something to hang above them though.

[Arcadia]

Living room - a computer table for each boy and a 2x2 expedit cube hosting current semester's curriculum.  Their computer monitors faced the kitchen so easy for me to monitor while cooking/cleaning.

Dining room - dining room table for boys to do their seatwork and a 5-tier chrome metal rack for hosting curriculum. Science and Art materials are on that rack too.

Music stuff is on top of the upright piano

 

[wingedradical]

DD homeschools all over the house (except her bedroom) as did my two sons. Maybe they will all end up with posture problems, but they are usually on a sofa. Sometimes DD uses dining room table for math; usually not.

 

The school rooms in the other folder look really attractive and they are tempting because they look so cool to me (and probably look very reassuring to relatives who aren't sure about this homeschool thing) but I think they would be totally impractical for me. Plus, at least when children are young,  I like the idea that education isn't separate from life. As they grow older, they are more in need of an uninterrupted place for study projects, but it needn't be a dedicated room, just an isolated one.

 

That being said, both of us are tired of carting books and I would like to make a corner of the living room into a school area. This might include a desk that she can use when she wants or a really comfy chair plus shelves and maybe, examples of art work, a map, etc. on the wall. It is a big living room, somewhat rectangular, so this shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

[LazyDazy]

We don't have a school room either.

 

We do our work in the living room. The boys will sometimes do independent work in a bedroom or in the office. Our office is too small to function as a schoolroom but, it houses two bookshelves filled with our curriculum, teacher guides, reference books, and all books not currently being read. Office supplies and printer are in the office. Art supplies and school-only supplies are in the living room in the coffee table drawers or in the end table.

 

Each boy has a bin that slides under the sofa.  All daily supplies are kept in the bin including current workbooks, reading books, planners, math supplies, clipboards, and favorite writing utensils. Any school related items found around the house get tossed it in the bin. The bins are messy though. I couldn't function that way but, it works for my boys.

 

I keep my planner and a timeline book (that the boys share) in a basket next to the sofa. My favorite pens, markers, and post-its are in a jar on the end table. Library books stay in the "library" bag which sits next to the reading chair.

 

I wouldn't say I wish for a school room but, a dining room would be nice. A big table we could spread out on but, not have to clean off every time we wanted to eat would be fabulous. :)

[happymomofboys]

I have cube storage bookshelves in my living room, a ladder-style bookshelf in my dining room, and a side table with a trough-style bookshelf in my dining room.  I keep our school books that we're currently using this year in those.  Library books are on one shelf of the ladder with bookends to keep the "to read" books separate from the "to return" books.  All other books are kept in a spare room that we call the office but is really just a catch all room as no one actually does any office work there.  One of the smaller cube bookshelves is turned on its side under our front picture window.  On top of that I have two big plastic bins/baskets where we keep all of the books they're currently using this week.  Between those is a desk organizer with supplies.  My printer is on top of one of the bookshelves and in the first cube I have printer paper.  Our TV armoire has two cabinets where we keep all of the art supplies.  I have one upper kitchen cabinet dedicated to science kits and supplies.  We try to make our school blend in to our home as much as possible.  I think if someone didn't know we homeschool, they'd think we just really like books and have busy, creative kids.

 

The boys each have a lapdesk that opens to hold papers, pencils etc.  They also have these dry-erase lapboards which I love.  They've each got a binder in their favorite color like this one that has an accordion file and pencil pouch built in.  We use the accordion file to keep track of work-in-progress and then they use the binder as their notebook for the year with dividers for each subject.  The kids sit on the couch or in bean bag chairs in the living room to do their independent work.  For lessons, they pull up a chair next to my recliner and cuddle with me.  My Homeschool Tracker Plus, TOG DE, Intellego Science, and some other materials are on my laptop so I almost always have it in my lap during school.  We also use the Kindle quite a bit so it's always nearby.  We watch videos and listen to audios on the computer as well.

 

I try to make learning as much a normal part of daily life as possible.  I don't hang posters or decorate the room with big timelines or anything like that.  I just fill their world with lots and lots AND LOTS of books.

 

 

[Guest boonefhh]

I'm making a checklist for every week and copying everything needed for the week.

[meggie]

We don't have a school room.  We live in a fairly small apartment (about 850 sq feet) with no extra space at all.  We are at our max with two bookshelves, three filing cabinets, 2 closing cabinets and a Desk Apprentice in the living room..  We have a little preschool table from Lakeshore Learning that sort of doubles as a coffee table.  I put all my lesson plans into Evernote, so I can use my tablet instead of pulling out all the teacher's guides.  In addition to the lesson plans, the tablet keeps track of our schedule and has the timer.  It also has a couple fun preschool apps for when the little two are at their limit.  The Desk Apprentice holds all our supplies for the day: books and worksheets.  The filing cabinet holds art and craft supplies, tot school activities, extra school supplies, COAH Letter of the week in manilla envelopes, and anything else I don't want the little two getting into without supervision.  The cabinets are about waist high and they hold the more commonly used supplies: markers, pencils, tape, math blocks, notebooks, extra printing paper, and teacher's guides.  Digby and Chuck do preschool at the kitchen table while Pigby does Mark Kistler at the little table.  It's actually kinda nice schooling in a small spot, everything is close by and easy to access.  Then when they're done, we all stay at the little table together.  They play with math blocks while he does math, they do their little preschool activities while he works.  For big projects where we need more space, we go to the kitchen table.

[hsmamainva]

We do school in the dining room.  Books and supplies are stored in the hutch and we have a few of those plastic stacking drawers you can pick up at Walmart for storing completed work and papers for each student. 

 

The computer is in the next room and my 13yo son completes many assignments in there -- it's quieter! 

[Forgiven]

Well, I'm in the process of changing things around, but we don't have an actual school room. We don't have room for one. Well, we will have room in the basement if my dh ever gets the leak fixed. Until then, we don't do anything in the basement...it's all gutted out from the flood we had. Ugh.

 

Anyway, we started schooling in the kitchen with all our books in the china cabinet. Yeah, my dh was not cool with my moving all our china into boxes and placed down into our leaking basement, but oh well. that's life. So, we started with just the china cabinet and doing school in the kitchen. The kids would do things in the living room here and there, but mostly would sit with me in the kitchen. I work full time, so I work next to them while they do their work.

 

Anyway, I prefer to work in the living room, so we gradually moved there. And we keep accumulating books, so I bought one bookshelf, then we got a free bookshelf from my in-laws. But the free bookshelf couldn't hold the weight of all the books, so just went out (On Saturday) and bought another bookshelf that matches the first one I bought. These bookshelves are in our living room. I'm starting to empty the china cabinet. It was a pain to have stuff in there because only the two middle panels opened, so anything on the ends was hard to get to. Such a pain!

 

Anyway, I sell Thirty-One, so I have tons of storage stuff from there that we use. I was going to buy an Expedit on Friday to put some of our Thirty-One cubes in (they're 12.5" X 12.5" X 12.5". So, perfect cubes, but too big for most shelves. I had put all the kids books that they will use during the year in them. But then I was in Target and found these adorable storage cubes with a cushioned cover. They are the same size as the Thirty-One cubes I have, but they have a cover!  OOH!

 

So I bought three of them...The kids love them. My Thirty-One cubes are now in my room, doing duty as my "stuff" holders. I have too much "stuff".

 

Anyway, I'll take a picture later today to post. I have one wall in my living room that is designated to Homeschool stuff.

 

Eventually, we want to move the china cabinet downstairs and put all our china back into it. Then we can move the bookshelves into the kitchen, where the china cabinet currently is, and I'll get so much more room. I'll even have room for another bookshelf. ;) My dh doesn't know all my plans...just that I want to move things around. I ask for a little at a time. That's it. If I told him everything I want to do, he'd shut me down. I have to reveal little-by-little. LOL

 

Oh, and we have hanging file folder thingies from Thirty-One on our walls. These hold the kids' planners, clipboards, writing folders, spelling folders, dry erase boards, etc. They hang on the wall directly above their cubes. :)

 

 

[Lizzie in Ma]

Youngest has a desk in the living room, I keep all her books on a shelf just for her.  All the TM's for her are on a shelf right next to my computer desk, also in the living room.  She works most often on the couch.

 

Oldest's desk in in the downstairs office, all her things are on a shelf right next to her desk.  TM's for her are also next to my desk.  She works most often in her bedroom.

 

I don't care to have a schoolroom, we work where we are comfortable and most often, together.  I do what I need to do in and around our everyday lives.

 

When they were younger we most often worked around the kitchen table, an heirloom from my parents house where I spent many an hour doing homework.  We did a lot of read alouds or just reading together from assignments curled up on the couch together.

 

I have a large library in the downstairs office that I rotate things we need from as needed.

[bobbeym]

No school room here either, unless you count the one in my dreams.

 

Books and binders are stored on a bookshelf in the living room.  I need to get some magazine holders or something for spirals and smaller books so we can sort things better this year.

 

DD usually does her schoolwork in the living room, either on DS19's desk pc or on the couch with a laptop.  DS does most of his work at my desk pc b/c DH can keep a closer eye on him.  I think he'll move more into the living room this year though, since they'll both be on the same schedule for once.

[DianeW88]

Meh...we don't have a schoolroom. 

 

In my early years of homeschooling, I did, because I thought that's how it should be.  Now, after 19 years of homeschooling...it isn't even on my radar.  We do our homeschooling at the kitchen table for the most part.  It's convenient, more spacious, and doesn't have that "Now we are doing school" authoritative, formal feeling to it.  We do school wherever it's convenient.  When the weather is decent, it's usually outside on the back patio.  If my son wants to work on an assignment in his room, he's welcome to do that, too.

 

Schoolrooms box me in too much, and I tend to have several other things going while I'm doing school (like cleaning the kitchen and laundry), so they just don't work here.

 

I've also found that other families who've homeschooled for 15 years or more tend to have dumped the "schoolroom" by the wayside as well.

[Sobeknofret]

We don't have a separate schoolroom, but I much prefer it this way. We homeschool at the heart of the house, the kitchen/dining room area, and I can keep my eye on everything that's going on.  Every once in awhile, I really wish that I had a separate room, but when I think about it I much prefer it this way. 

 

Supplies and books are kept on a bookshelf and a three drawer cubby. I'm beginning to realize that we need a taller set of bookshelves though, so maybe next month we can get those set up. Textbooks and reference books are on the shelf, free reading books are in ds's room, and school supplies are in the cubbies. My blog has a good picture of our current set-up.

[quark]

I wish IKEA was closer to us. :(

We have two 9-cube shelves and one 6-cube from the Closet Maid line. These things may not be meant for living rooms but I liked the price and the extra space.

 

Hey, we could start the coming year with a back-to-the-non-schoolroom party! Or should that be the not-back-to-the-schoolroom party? I'm always confused by the not-back-to prefix. :party:

[Erin]

Our "homeschool room" is the kitchen. 

 

We have a desk area in our kitchen, though.  One of those deals where there's just an open space under the counter for a chair to slide.  

But, the computer is at the desk area, then the cabinets directly connected to it are for homeschool storage.  
The table has our Desk Apprentice on it and, because 90% of the time it's just myself and the two kids eating at the table, it lives there.