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New here! (and ? about schoolrooms)
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Happy New Year! I’ve been reading these boards for a few months and I’ve already learned so much from everyone! Thank you!
And now for the questions
:I’ve been implementing several aspects of CM style education already, but with the new year, I’m hoping to make even more progress in that area. I’d like to get away from the “school at home” rut that we’ve somehow fallen into….I’m also in the process of re-organizing/re-purposing a few areas of our home. In the past, we’ve had a schoolroom of sorts, but we’ve always ended up at the kitchen table/on the couch or floor with folded laundry sitting on our desks.
I’d like to have a very cheerful/inspiring dedicated space for “school stuff,” but I also want to foster a feeling of “we’re learning all the time.” Does having a dedicated space take away from some of the warm/cozyness I’m looking for? It would be nice not to have to clear all our books off the kitchen table when it’s lunch time, however, I want there to be a natural flow to our day without the rigid paramaters of “school time.”Thanks so much for any ideas you have!
Melissa
We don’t have a dedicated school area. We do most of our school time on the couch reading books. If there is copywork or something else written, we do that at the dining room table. Also, my 10YO has some computer work (typing, his math program, etc.) and our laptop is located right next to our couch.
In that way, I am sure many people would think our schooling is very informal. We do follow a schedule, though, (not with times, just with subjects we need to work on each day).
Melissa,
Welcome!
I completely understand and need that dedicated space. I redid our school room recently and have finally achieved what I was looking for. You can see it on my blog – http://www.learningwithcharlotte.wordpress.com. There’s an older post and a recent one that describe our room. I love having this space and I love it all the more because we’ve made it lovely.
Blessings,
Christie
We do have a “school room”. We do all of our “school work”, crafting, painting, instrument practice, computer work, etc. in that room. It is good in that we have an area to get messy and a place to keep all of our stuff, but I was just talking with my husband today about the fact that when we take a school break we seem to take a break from EVERYTHING (chores, reading, instrument practice, anything creative in general) and I don’t like it.
We took several weeks off in December, and today after feeling completely overwhelmed by our messy house I realized that I had REALLY let the kids take off. I realized that I had not required them to do much of anything these past few weeks and the reason why….we had “taken off school” and I had “taken off” parenting a bit too because it was the easy thing to do.
I thought about this quote that I recently read in Home Education:
“This easy satisfaction arises from the sluggishness of human nature, to which any definite scheme is more agreeable than the constant watchfulness, the unforeseen action, called for when the whole of a child’s existence is to be used as the means of his education.”
I know she is talking about a system of education vs. a method here…but I think it applies to what I just experienced. Because we were not in our “routine of school” I neglected to have the “watchfulness, the unforeseen action, called for when the whole of a child’s existence is to be used as the means of his education.”
I do not want this to happen again. I don’t know how to fix it…and I don’t know if the school room has anything to do with it, but I just realized this today 🙂
I’m all ears for advice, too.
I don’t have one (anymore) but my dream schoolroom has a nice couch to sit on to read together, a couple of computers, a couple of desks, a table for work together, maybe a couple of beanbag chairs for comfortable reading… lots of light, etc… probably a big white board, and places for maps, timeline etc.
(yeah, I’m dreaming…)
We do not have a school room. We have a basement where I could set one up but there are no windows and all the housework I need to do inbetween teaching is upstairs so that would drive me crazy. I am a very organized, scheduled person and in my dream home I would have a well-lit space with white walls and matching storage crates for everything! But for now, we are blessed to be able to use our couch for all reading, our kitchen table for all table work, and whatever other room for individual reading time. I think you can do it either way if you concentrate on being content with what you have rather than drooling over “perfect” school rooms that others have (not that you are doing that). As you continue homeschooling, you will discover what works and what doesn’t work for your family. If clearing the table throws you off, maybe there is an office or spare bedroom you could repurpose. If those spaces are not available, there may be fun furniture at a thrift store or IKEA you could inexpensively use to help live and teach in the same space. Oh, I do store all things we are not using in our basement kitchenette or our dining room would be a disaster!
We do not have a schoolroom. We have a schoolhouse. There is a wall timeline wallpapering three of four walls of the entryway/back room. The other wall is storage for coats and shoes and a tall bookshelf filled with boardgames and card games. There is also a futon used for resting or reading.
The kitchen has a small breakfast bar where kids do their copywork and Explode the Code while I unload/reload dishwaher after lunch while supervising them for any questions. This is also where we meet for breakfast and there is a book pile on the counter with our Bibles and Scripture Memory System. CD player on the counter for singing hymn after Bible. We also use this CD player for listening to Composer music at lunch. And it is sometimes used for audiobooks in the later afternoon during chores or freetime. In front of them on the wall in the kitchen is a large 24″ by 36″ white board with the date, current Scripture for memory and current math facts. A frame is by the whiteboard with the current picture study.
Our playroom has a piano, cabinet for family photos, 7 drawer storage with coloring books, crayons, paper, etc. and a globe on top, round table for coloring, games and puzzles, etc., and a cabinet full of puzzles, and wall maps.
Besides their bedroom and play room, the sun room also has some toys like legos, Lincoln logs, wooden train, etc.
Living room has the kids’ desktop computer they use a few times per month, the tv, and a couch where we like to read for school. I also have a large picnic basket filled with early readers which is where they go to when they want to read a book to someone.
As far as bookcases, they are all over the house. They are not so strategically placed; wherever I could find room to put one! There is one in the play room (literature), one in the kids room (picturebooks and bedtime stories), three in the living room (one for history, one for art/music/literature, one for ASL and classic literature, two in the sun room (one for science/Bible and one for geography/missions/lego blocks and Old Time Radio cassettes) and two in my room (for my books or for when kids are older). I don’t care for bookshelves with doors. I tried that first and I found that my kids did not go to them for books. There is something about the doors that makes it not feel so welcoming. Now it is used in the playroom for my homeschool teacher supplies and my husband’s books (which only take up one shelf). The other cabinet we have with doors in the living room stores our dvds and vhs tapes. I like that it has doors. 🙂 I have many baskets and containers to keep things contained, but they are out to welcome the children to use anytime.
For our books, I use many book baskets or canvas book bags to contain our current schoolwork so it is not all over the table. Then I can carry my book bag to whatever room we want to work in. Days when it is nice and sunny, we go to the table in the sunroom. My personality does not like to do the same work in the same location all the time. I like the variety of moving around for some subjects. We do follow a school schedule, with flexibility.
It didn’t all happen at once. Over the year, one more bookcase was added here and there. My most recent addition was the whiteboard and we are loving it.
I have thought about changing the entryway/back room to a schoolroom since our timeline is in there. But then I found that I am happy with a schoolhouse instead. 🙂
Our basement has our playroom, complete with one full chalkboard wall, so some lessons happen there. Around the corner from that is our family room/office. It’s an odd L-shaped room. One side has the couch/TV/treadmill and Dad’s computer. The other side is Kid zone. The end wall is bookshelves containing school books, puzzles, games, and craft supplies. One side wallhas our circular timeline above a long table (actually 2 small Ikea tables) with two computers (Mom and Kids). The other wall has maps of the World and Canada and in front of those is a square table (two more small Ikea tables) surrounded by stools. The space is very small, so chairs won’t fit.
So, we can sit at the craft table and listen to read alouds while drawing, doing puzzles, or we can curl up on the couch. Usually we’re at the table – my DD is one of those multitasking kind of kids who concentrates better when her hands are occupied.
Meanwhile, the preschoolers can wander to the playroom when they are no longer interested in what’s happening for school.
It’s not nearly as beautiful as some of the school rooms I’ve seen, and I really wish I had more display space on the walls, but it’s functional. Someday I’ll get around to painting (almost the whole basement would have to be done at once, so it will be a big job) and maybe decorate in a more coordinated fashion.
Of course, we also have bookshelves in all the bedrooms upstairs, and I’m thinking of putting more in the basement hallway. We rely a lot on books online and on the ereader, but there is still never enough space for all the books!
Joanne
We don’t have a designated school room either. I didn’t want a school room feel, just a home.
We read our school books and study bible/sing hymns in the playrooom on a braided rug. There is an easel in the corner with calendar, wall map, and a small science table nearby. Our 4 and 7 yr old dds use the child sized table in this room for their writing and math while our 9 yr old usese the kitchen table. We read our literature in the evenings in our family room. I store our current school books on the bookshelf in our playroom (along with the preschool manipulatives) and the future books in another bookcase in our formal living room just outside the playroom. Finally I store our art supplies, games/puzzles, etc in the utility closet just off the kitchen. Everything is close by but tucked away for the end of the day. We simply put all books and papers away as soon as we are finished so no need to clear table at meal times. I like the Victorian saying, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” Makes me so happy!
We do have a finishesd basement but I like the set up of our upstairs and prefer to be in rooms with windows!
Good luck and have fun!Tara
I got tired of my house looking like a school. I don’t have an extra room to dedicate and honestly I like our current setup. We keep all of our school supplies in the drawers under our china cabinet in the dining room. I keep school books in the cupboard there. We have a basket of library books in the living room. I have a box of math manipulatives in the cupboard too.
We read on the couch, do any writing at the dining room table, watch our Spanish videos and do composer and artist study at the computer.
I am a very simple minimalist and I like things done as naturally and with as little extra clutter as possible.
Tara
:
I’d like to have a very cheerful/inspiring dedicated space for “school stuff,” but I also want to foster a feeling of “we’re learning all the time.” Does having a dedicated space take away from some of the warm/cozyness I’m looking for? It would be nice not to have to clear all our books off the kitchen table when it’s lunch time, however, I want there to be a natural flow to our day without the rigid paramaters of “school time.”
We read our school books and study bible/sing hymns in the playrooom on a braided rug. There is an easel in the corner with calendar, wall map, and a small science table nearby. Our 4 and 7 yr old dds use the child sized table in this room for their writing and math while our 9 yr old usese the kitchen table. We read our literature in the evenings in our family room. I store our current school books on the bookshelf in our playroom (along with the preschool manipulatives) and the future books in another bookcase in our formal living room just outside the playroom. Finally I store our art supplies, games/puzzles, etc in the utility closet just off the kitchen. Everything is close by but tucked away for the end of the day. 
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