Canadianmumof5 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Does it? We are finishing up our 4th year here and have basically used our main floor rooms (kitchen, LR/DR and family room) for all of our daily homeschooling. When we first started we only had 2.5 doing "school" and the tidiness factor was manageable. It got messy but not overly so - we didn't have that much to tidy up. But wow - what a difference now. The kids are doing their work in the usual places on our main floor but now they are in their rooms, in the basement, pretty much everywhere. Books are all over the place. The kitchen table is always covered in work and it is such a hassle to be cleaning up for every meal - not to mention, it feels like the entire main floor is a disaster by the end of the day. In the fall we will have 4 doing "school" + a toddler. I am really starting to see the wear & tear on the house and it is starting to drive me crazy. I'm not OCD about keeping our house spotless but I do enjoy a tidy home, with a place for everything & everything in its place. I am wondering if a homeschool room, complete with work tables, bookshelves, etc in a separate area of the house will actually help decrease the clutter that ends up all over the house. Am I in la-la land on this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2three Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Well, it gives me a dedicated table to dump all the workbooks and books and crafts and worksheets that I find all over the house... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 And you can close the door and ignore the stacks of books. Actually, I like the separation. I have a cat that likes to eat papers and when we had an open classroom it was a pain. Another issue, however, is that when we're doing school in one room, it's easier to ignore the messes in the other rooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prissygirls Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Nope. But it does give me a place to put everything back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Yes and no. It's great for when guests come over; however, the books start to spread. Last night, DH had to move the globe off of our dining room table so we could eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Yes, it does help here. I also have toys live mostly in that same room (I divide the room with bookshelves), so toys don't go all over the house. That has helped immensely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Well, it gives me a dedicated table to dump all the workbooks and books and crafts and worksheets that I find all over the house... Yes, this. Mostly, we clean up the first floor (kitchen/dining room, living room, playroom, and schoolroom) every afternoon, but if we really don't get to it all, we focus on the kitchen/dining room, because we can ignore the rest, but our kitchen is really the central room of our home, the most used entrance and exit, etc. What I notice is that there is a mess somewhere, each day, depending on what the small boys (2 and 5) do. If they spend the day playing trains, the living room has the mess. If they play with other toys, the playroom is the mess. If they end up hanging out in the schoolroom with the big kids (because that's where I have the Duplos), that gets the mess. It's fairly rare that the whole first floor is too messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 We had a schoolroom that was rarely used, books still ended up everywhere. Can you give each child a tub, and have that be the home for all their books/stationary/papers, to streamline cleanup? If you set a time, say, friday afternoon or monday morning to 'sort' the tubs then if you have a rushed day where everything just gets thrown into the box you know it will be organized again in a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSinNS Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Yes, absolutely. I don't always do school in there, but the stuff goes back and we shut the door. Then I don't need to clean up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Didn't for us. It actually made it worse! We found that none of us had any interest in spending the morning in one room altogether, so we didn't use our homeschool room. We preferred to do school in the kitchen, in the living room, at the dining room table, etc. So the homeschool room became a place we had to send someone to get this or that, and then all the school stuff just ended up sitting in piles around on the table or kitchen island because no one wanted to carry it all back to the school room and put it away at the end of every day. If I was using a room adjacent to the main living areas, say a formal dining room or something, I could see it working. But the spare room we had was the converted garage, so it was pretty isolated from the rest of the house. I gave up and moved all the school stuff back to the living room on one giant 5x5 Ikea Expedit bookshelf. Now everything is a couple of steps away, so it's much less painful to clean up when school's over. Much better. :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 It keeps our kitchen table clear so I don't have to move school stuff every time we eat. I like having a separate school room, but school stuff does still find its way to other rooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Well, it gives me a dedicated table to dump all the workbooks and books and crafts and worksheets that I find all over the house... This. I call it the Black Hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I have been wondering the same thing. Between trying to limit distractions for the kids (teaching 4 with ADHD is driving me crazy) and the mess I am debating turning the mstr bedroom into a school room since it already doesn't have a bed and I sleep on the couch anyway. I was going to get a new bed next fall when I got a bonus cheque for work but I keep thinking what's another 3 years, I can sleep on the couch for another 3 years if it means my house looks and feels like a home rather than a classroom. Having a place for everything so the shelves, bins etc are not in all the other rooms and where we can go do school without a million other distractions really doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggie96 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 This is our first year (4th year homeschooling) with a fully dedicated school room complete with shelves, tons of wall space, table, chairs, supplies, printer, computer, doorway, and EVERYTHING school related stored in the same room. It is heaven! It has definitely eliminated the school clutter. I LOVE it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in WI Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 It absolutely helps in our case. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 School stuff is the least of my problems when it comes to the house being clean so I would have to say "No". lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItoLina Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yes. Mostly because that's where I have all my shelves and cubbies to store school supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 For a while, yes, it helped. When the boys were young and I was adding a new one every year or two, a dedicated schoolroom with all the trimmings (bookshelves, white board, computer, etc.) was definitely a house-saver. But when they became teens and were working more independently, they left the schoolroom and flopped wherever they liked :) Still, having all the "products" housed in one area is/was a great help to keeping the house clean. Often the all rooms except the schoolroom were picked up, neat and orderly. The schoolroom was often the scene of piles of books, papers, half-done projects, etc. But I was OK with that because the rest of the house made me seem sane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Only for the first year, when I only had one K student. A school room was a nice idea, but not a great long term solution for us. In recent years it has become the school-materials-storage-zone, because we found that we prefer to hang out in the dining room. (More light, more comfort.) I now have a lovely room for school storage, which I adore, but the daily school chaos still needs to be cleaned up between meals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Nope. But it does give me a place to put everything back. Another vote for this, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 It depends on so much. Is the room separate but still very close to everything else? If it's in the far reaches of the house (like an upstairs bedroom) it probably won't work. But if it's in a den off the living room, then it could be ideal. Is the room big enough to spread out in? If it's a tiny little room and everyone is on top of each other, then it might not work. But if it's big enough for a couch and a couple of desks and some floor space to play in between lessons (for the littles who don't have as much work as the olders), then it could work. Is it a room that everyone likes? If everyone likes sunny rooms, is it sunny? If the family likes darker rooms, is it dark? Is it ugly? Is it pretty? I have a separate room and it works for me, but it does because of the above mentioned things. My house is a bungalow, so there is only one bedroom upstairs that is used only for sleeping. Everything else is on the main floor of the house. Our basement is for storage only. Therefore, our school room is close to the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, etc. It's easy. The school room was the boys' playroom before it was a school room. At 20x15 it's the biggest room in the house. There is a lot of room for desks (4) and lazyboy chairs and a full sized couch and coffee table and treadmill and bins and bins of toys. We aren't falling over each other. There are toys in there! When I'm working with DS11 and DS8 is done his work, DS8 can play while he waits for his turn again. This is key. If he was always leaving the room to find something to do, it would derail our day. We like bright and sunny and this room is bright and sunny and painted yellow. We would spend time in this room even if it wasn't a school room just because it's one of the best rooms of the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 AARGHHH! I thought you would all tell me the same thing LOL It looks like a pretty even split! Thanks for all of your insight :) Nothing is irreversible so I guess it couldn't hurt to try it and then see if it makes a difference to our days. DH hates when I change things around like furniture, etc but as I keep reminding him - everything is a stage and we adapt and move on. I'm not asking to tear down walls or anything! What I thought we could do is basically have the basement as our homeschool zone. It is probably around 1200 sq. ft? It is above grade so lots & lots of sunshine through the big windows - no worries there. We have a spare room we use for guests - so we could put some desks in there along with the laptops, bookshelves, etc. Doors close so kids could have quiet if the little ones were watching TV in the main area. Plenty of room for the guests as well as our school stuff. Then we have the play area for the little ones with all their toys. And then the typical TV/couches/comfy relaxing chairs for taking a break or reading or whatever. I think part of the issue is not being able to be in the same place at the same time! The little ones want to play in the basement with all of their things but the older ones are doing school on the main floor. So inevitably, someone is left unsupervised and you all know what happens from there........ My DH doesn't think it will work. But he isn't the one here for 8-9 hours a day with 5 kids trying to keep little ones entertained while schooling the olders. I also work PT from home so the ability to be linked into the office and still be available to the kids is critical. Right now - my "office" is in our master bedroom. I feel like I am running between the 3 floors all day!!! Who needs a gym?! Still pondering......doesn't help when someone on kijiji is selling phenomenal ikea stuff dirt cheap that would be perfect for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 We have a dedicated classroom but it's cold down there right now, so we naturally migrated to the kitchen. That being said, either way things weren't getting put away and the room was so messy we didn't want to be int here when it was warmer down there. So, I instigated the PPP. Personal Property Patrol. Twice day, just before lunch time and just before bed time. Everyone goes around and collects their belongings and puts them back where they belong. It's now part of the kids daily check list and since they have to bring their list to me to sign off on it, they know I'll check. It is so nice at 7:30pm when supper is done and the house is picked up and I can just put up my feet for the night and do whatever I want. If 6 people leave 10 things out that's 60 items that I used to put away. Now, I'm only responsible for my junk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yes. I have a dedicated classroom, but it's not 'classroom' like. I have all of the school shelves in there (not that there aren't other bookshelves all over the house!) a dining room table with chairs, plants, a piano, an art table, framed art on the walls and it has a fireplace, also. Even a chaise lounge. So it's a very homey, den/Charlotte Mason. It keeps the school books in there, instead of on the actual dining room table, which is wonderful. BUT, it also serves as an additional table for when we have gusts, projects, places to read, chat, listen to music, and draw. So it's very much our house, IYKWIM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 We have a dedicated school area in the basement & dd#1 (same age as your oldest, but opposite gender) is supposed to mostly stay in her room (next to school area) to do her work. However, the kids (mostly my girls) tend to want to move upstairs because the basement is a few degrees colder than the upstairs. We end up spread around the living/dining room in the afternoon. The key for us has been to have everyone pick up their items (books, notebooks, colored pencils, etc.) and return them to their dedicated area (shelf / magazine holder, craft cabinet) when "school" is over. (Oldest sometimes has huge stacks she's accumulated over the day. We help her carry them downstairs. She will sometimes keep one 'subject' worth of stuff upstairs if she's going to work on it in the evening, but it has to be kept neat & out of the way.) Any type of long term project (needing to be kept overnight) must be worked on in the school area so it doesn't get in the way of dinner! We have three & a half doing school + a preschooler, so I feel your pain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I've found that nothing helps my house stay clean. :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Didn't for us. It actually made it worse! We found that none of us had any interest in spending the morning in one room altogether, so we didn't use our homeschool room. We preferred to do school in the kitchen, in the living room, at the dining room table, etc. So the homeschool room became a place we had to send someone to get this or that, and then all the school stuff just ended up sitting in piles around on the table or kitchen island because no one wanted to carry it all back to the school room and put it away at the end of every day. If I was using a room adjacent to the main living areas, say a formal dining room or something, I could see it working. But the spare room we had was the converted garage, so it was pretty isolated from the rest of the house. I gave up and moved all the school stuff back to the living room on one giant 5x5 Ikea Expedit bookshelf. Now everything is a couple of steps away, so it's much less painful to clean up when school's over. Much better. :thumbup1: This is our experience, too. It didn't help that our school space was a darkish room, while the main living space is always in the sunlight. And even though it's a pain to pick up every day, I pick it up every day. When we did our things in the school space, clean up was neglected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Nothing is irreversible so I guess it couldn't hurt to try it and then see if it makes a difference to our days. DH hates when I change things around like furniture, etc but as I keep reminding him - everything is a stage and we adapt and move on. I'm not asking to tear down walls or anything! I've re-arranged furniture plenty of times in my home as my boys grow. I have even given away furniture and buy new ones. All Ikea and all affordable so hubby didn't mind too much. I do have a messy "work area" in the house though so that the big mess is contained in that area. I am okay with the little mess as I can get my kids to clean their own mess very fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 To an extent. Trial and error is the way to go. We had a small room, smallest in our house as a school room for the first 2 years and it just ended up as the black hole, although it did have a door that shut. It was small and we didn't want to be shut up all day in the smallest room. DH and I had an Ah Ha moment. We are a homeschool family. The kids and I are the ones who spend most of our time in our house, so it should be set up in a way that works best for us most of the time. We converted the "formal living room" into our living room and the family room off of our kitchen became our school room. It is bright and airy and central to the whole house and we use it all the time. I can't shut it away, and anyone who stops by for a cup of coffee can see that we homeschool. At this stage in life it works really well. We still end up everywhere (reading aloud always ends up in my bedroom), but we put our things back, the house is tidier, and our space is central. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I don't home school. But I am of the opinion that living happens in the living room so that is where the toys, crafts etc are. I don't care if I have a globe on the coffee table or a world map on the wall. I do keep intending to set up the garage (of the kitchen) for messy crafts such as clay and painting. I am not getting far though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmtzc2009 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 We do have a homeschool room complete with lots of organization, book shelves, desks and a large white board. I thought we would use it and it would contain all the "stuff". My son enjoys being near me as I'm doing household things and that typically means he does his work at the kitchen table. If we're reading we go to a bedroom or a comfy couch. The only purpose our homeschool room serves is if company is coming over I can gather up all homeschool stuff from our main living areas and dump it on a desk in our official homeschool room. And now I have an extra room to keep clean and organized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 To an extent. Trial and error is the way to go. We had a small room, smallest in our house as a school room for the first 2 years and it just ended up as the black hole, although it did have a door that shut. It was small and we didn't want to be shut up all day in the smallest room. DH and I had an Ah Ha moment. We are a homeschool family. The kids and I are the ones who spend most of our time in our house, so it should be set up in a way that works best for us most of the time. We converted the "formal living room" into our living room and the family room off of our kitchen became our school room. It is bright and airy and central to the whole house and we use it all the time. I can't shut it away, and anyone who stops by for a cup of coffee can see that we homeschool. At this stage in life it works really well. We still end up everywhere (reading aloud always ends up in my bedroom), but we put our things back, the house is tidier, and our space is central. yep, yep! In this house, the only option for a school room was a room separate from the rest of the main living areas. We expect a move in 12-18mos though, and my plan for the house hunt is something with both a living room and a den, so that I can make the one closest to the kitchen the school room, and make the other the TV/game room. Sounds perfect for our lifestyle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alicai Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 It depends on so much. Is the room separate but still very close to everything else? If it's in the far reaches of the house (like an upstairs bedroom) it probably won't work. But if it's in a den off the living room, then it could be ideal. This. I think so much depends on where the room is. We have schooled in: 1) Our dining room - poor fit. Nowhere near enough storage, constant mess in our front room. 2) An upstairs loft - better, but still a poor fit. Still not enough storage or space, and nowhere near the heart of the house so I couldn't multi-task and oversee the kids. When baby #3 came along, we converted the loft to her bedroom and took out a wall downstairs to turn our guest room into a living room extension. It is separated by a sort of half wall that we turned into a bookshelf on the school room side. We also built a full-wall built-in. This has worked out pretty well for us. We now have a great room set-up where the kitchen, living room, and school room are all essentially one long room. I can cook and answer spelling questions, clean and remind kids to stay on task. Nobody needs to go upstairs until playtime. The kitchen table stays clean and ready for eating. The schooling space isn't as big as I would like and I could still use more storage, but the increased storage and organization help things stay a lot neater. At times I wish I had a door when company comes over because our work table might be covered in books and papers, but as the space looks like a workspace/crafting area I think it's ok. Books still travel, of course, as books do and I don't expect that to ever change, but projects, art supplies, worksheets, etc remain confined in the space. Does this mean that the rest of the house doesn't somehow get destroyed every day? No, tragically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I feel like if we had a dedicated homeschool room, we would dump everything in there and it would be a pain to keep up. We live in a two bedroom apartment, and if we don't clean up all of our school stuff when we're done, we won't have a functional living space for the rest of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Honestly I don't think anything short of a full time cleaner would keep our house clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Honestly I don't think anything short of a full time cleaner would keep our house clean. WSS. Which is why I refuse to get a house cleaner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacyh270 Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 This is our first year HS'ing (DS10, twin DDs 5) and we started out using an armoire in our family room to contain all our daily school supplies and books and used our kitchen island. After a couple of months of this, I couldn't stand the constant clutter in those rooms so we moved one twin back into her sister's room and are now using her bedroom as our school room and I LOVE it!! It's especially nice because the two bedrooms have a jack and jill bathroom so potty runs never take a kid out of earshot when reading aloud. I also love being able to display our huge (i.e., tacky) wall map unashamedly :rolleyes: and since the room has a walk-in closet, I can keep the majority of all our school supplies and books in there. I have a glider in one corner next to a short bookshelf that is our "reading" corner and we have the PBK Caroline craft table for the kids to work at. We have one PC and the printer in our laundry room (next door to school room) for DS to work on math (TT) away from his sisters (vice versa for when they do their Reading Eggs time) and I have my computer in the school room so I can be working/researching/web surfing while kids are working on assignments and I can keep them on track. I like to keep the main areas of my house orderly (and my OCD DH demands/requires it for sanity) so having a dedicated schoolroom works well for our family. We try to put everything away at the end of the day but when we don't have time, it's nice to shut the door on all the mess. Sidenote: DS often goes to another room to work on his independent work when the noise of his sisters bothers him; however, he brings all his books/work back to the schoolroom before starting the next assignment. We found we got way too distracted to do school in random places throughout the day (but that could just be my kiddos and their ages). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abecedarian Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Does it? Yes...makes the rest of my house less messy. :blushing: The kitchen table is always covered in work and it is such a hassle to be cleaning up for every meal - not to mention, it feels like the entire main floor is a disaster by the end of the day. For me, this is why I couldn't go back to not having one. We used to be spread all over the house. This meant that we had supplies in different areas all over the place. I'd have a lasso session every Friday and gather all of that together to make it seem less overwhelming. It was exhausting. :willy_nilly: So now, we have a room, things are in milk crates or sterilite containers with handles and lids and labels. Once supplies are needed, the tub travels to and fro with the particular student. Then at the end of the day, it has a place in the dedicated school room, instead of getting stacked against the wall or under the kitchen table. Once everyone gets in the habit, it isn't that hard. My school room isn't cut off from the other living areas though. That would be hard if the room felt isolated. I am wondering if a homeschool room, complete with work tables, bookshelves, etc in a separate area of the house will actually help decrease the clutter that ends up all over the house. Am I in la-la land on this one? No, you aren't in la-la land. :D However, I wouldn't invest much in the actual furniture so much as the organizational items. You can evaluate how much time is actually spent in there once you start setting it up and build from there. For us, we have a folding table from Wal-mart and some office chairs. It is mostly bookshelves and bookcases with crates and tubs. Tests and math (bc whiteboard is in there) are what we actually do in the school room. It is the 'serious' room. :001_cool: And yes, we spread all over the house. I love homeschooling :001_wub: but who wants to look at it all the time. I needed to walk away from it and not be reminded of something else that needed to be done. We all feel better being able to walk away from 'school' and the necessary mess that goes with it. (Ok, it might *just* be me, and everyone else is just humoring me! :blush: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenDaisies Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 AARGHHH! I thought you would all tell me the same thing LOL It looks like a pretty even split! Thanks for all of your insight :) Nothing is irreversible so I guess it couldn't hurt to try it and then see if it makes a difference to our days. DH hates when I change things around like furniture, etc but as I keep reminding him - everything is a stage and we adapt and move on. I'm not asking to tear down walls or anything! What I thought we could do is basically have the basement as our homeschool zone. It is probably around 1200 sq. ft? It is above grade so lots & lots of sunshine through the big windows - no worries there. We have a spare room we use for guests - so we could put some desks in there along with the laptops, bookshelves, etc. Doors close so kids could have quiet if the little ones were watching TV in the main area. Plenty of room for the guests as well as our school stuff. Then we have the play area for the little ones with all their toys. And then the typical TV/couches/comfy relaxing chairs for taking a break or reading or whatever. I think part of the issue is not being able to be in the same place at the same time! The little ones want to play in the basement with all of their things but the older ones are doing school on the main floor. So inevitably, someone is left unsupervised and you all know what happens from there........ My DH doesn't think it will work. But he isn't the one here for 8-9 hours a day with 5 kids trying to keep little ones entertained while schooling the olders. I also work PT from home so the ability to be linked into the office and still be available to the kids is critical. Right now - my "office" is in our master bedroom. I feel like I am running between the 3 floors all day!!! Who needs a gym?! Still pondering......doesn't help when someone on kijiji is selling phenomenal ikea stuff dirt cheap that would be perfect for us! This works for us. We have 2 finished rooms in a daylight basement. One room is where my oldest works, and the other is where the younger ones work and play. The younger ones like to be close to me, and I can move between rooms while maintaining a fair amount of order. For us, it keeps the school mess in one area and the little ones aren't upstairs creating a huge mess unbeknownst to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Having had both a dedicated room and not, I have found that it does help, if you actually make an attempt to stay confined to the space, and to return things there when they do get taken elsewhere. For now, we do not have a dedicated schoolroom and my dh just built some IKEA Expedit bookshelves for me, except mine are better (LOL) because they are made from solid wood. He built two 4x5 cubby units and we took another bookshelf we already had and put it between them. We are not quite done with reorganizing, but I am thrilled! I had school stuff all over the house and now it is confined to the dining area and though to definitely looks like a schoolroom more than a dining room, I am satisfied with that. A huge portion of our lives is homeschooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom@shiloh Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Yes, yes and YES!! I was hesitant to designate a room for it because I like life and "school" to mesh, but when we did it was such a relief to walk up the stairs (obviously, ours was in the basement) and have the rest of the house clean. But then, I function better in clean. Right now we have a small room, but it's not big enough so we spill out everywhere and it depresses me. I'm fine with kids having messes, but I like having a few places where I'm not tripping over their messes and our current house doesn't allow for that. We are moving soon and our schoolroom will be the entire third floor of our house -- a HUGE room with windows on three sides. Just. can't. wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rutamattatt Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 For us, YES. We turned my lovely, wonderful Florida room into our school room, and while I sighed and moaned and groaned, it has been a HUGE help. We had been doing school upstairs in half of our bonus room, but the clutter migrated over to the couches, TV area, etc. and it made being upstairs unbearable to me. Our Florida room has tons of windows for light (and some distraction, but it isn't too bad). One wall has a giant white board and shelves the length of the wall where we put everything. We have bins, books, markers, baskets, etc. While the school room doesn't always stay as clean or organized as I'd like, it does make a huge difference in the rest of the house. We don't have a door - it is open to the kitchen - but I can mentally compartmentalize enough to pretend I don't see it. ;) We still school in the living room or bedrooms sometimes, but everyone knows where all the school stuff must end up. And that has been a huge help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollhouse Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Another vote for "somewhat"--we have a homeschool/office room, but it's mostly used to store our school books and supplies. Although we do have two kid desks in there, we usually end up at the kitchen table, unless someone really needs quiet work space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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