School room: what you can't do without!

Bookcases.  More bookcases. 

A room….with bookcases.

I know that isn’t any help but bookworm’s comment made me lol, and it’s spot on for me.

What works?  Squeeze bookcases everywhere.  LOL

Seriously, if I knew someone building a home wanting good things for homeschool, I’d pick a couple of rooms and do WALL TO WALL FLOOR TO CEILING built-in bookcases.  Really!  Single best investment.  I’d rate it right after indoor plumbing and electricity.  <g>

We put up maps on the hallway walls.  We have a rolling center with space for a whiteboard on it.  Those things are OK, but the thing I dream about is having enough bookcases that I don’t have to double- and triple-stack my shelves!

I second the bookcases, though they don’t all have to be in the same room – we have shelves in a basement room where I have books arranged by time periods or subjects for all the overflow, and keep upstairs only what we use regularly. We keep our history and literature books on shelves beside the fireplaces, and the children have bins for their individual subjects. My teacher’s guides are on a smaller shelf in the dining room. If I were building something in, I’d look at the area I planned to use most, and plan in a few covered storage areas for books, guides, etc, or find some funky old pieces to double as school storage; a giant antique buffet that was likely part of a country store is now a counter/craft/coffee cupboard.

What works for us? Wallspace. We sort of “house-school” rather than having a schoolroom, and don’t mind living with our schooling. If that is an issue, she might want to plan a space more out of sight. Our dining area sports a large, laminated world map, paintings from our picture study artist, and children’s artwork. It is amazing, by the way, the conversation these things have sparked with dinner guests, particularly the world map.

What would I change? I’d love to have a more organized (and out of my way) area to keep the children’s individual school bins – right now they’re in my pantry (a space I could really use for food and appliances!). And I’d sure like more bookcases, LOL…

Amen to bookcases!  And yes, I’d LOVE built-in, floor to ceiling bookcases….in every room in the house.  Currently I have lots of bookcases stuffed inside closets of rooms we don’t sleep in…then I add bookcases along the walls too.  Windows are also a great idea or at least great lights, not dim lights.  Possibly a window seat or some sort of reading nook.  I’d also include a cabinet of some sort where you can have all your manipulatives, craft stuff, etc that can be closed, as in you don’t have to look at the containers every minute of the day.  And where little hands can’t make a mess.  Tall and short shelves to organize but a way to close them off.

For wall space I’ve only ever used large maps and one BIG white board.  We may or may not turn part of a wall into a chalkboard/magnet board with paint.  A place to display artwork would be nice.  Usually it’s a piece of twine strung along the wall with clothespins.  And I’d REALLY love a cool way to display a timeline, somehow.  A more permanent kind that you want to leave up because it looks so dang awesome, and you just add to it every year as you learn new things and go more in-depth.

We’re slowly moving away from a schoolroom that looks like a schoolroom and trying to make the various areas of our house look like a room, a nicely decorated room that might have school stuff in it.  Mostly I’m trying to make each room an area where you feel comfortable and want to READ.  Every room is getting some sort of chair/couch/beanbag/something to encourage them to sneak off for quiet to read.  And we’re trying to find various workspaces all over the house.  The boys are getting old enough that they need quiet areas to work on math, Latin, etc and sitting in a room with lots of little brothers is distracting.  We’ve been looking at slim desks (not big and bulky, just wide enough to have your books and paper) or built-in desks/counters.  We don’t want big clunky desks all over the house so we’re trying to be creative.  

I can’t live without a few other little things, but they’re little and would easily go on shelves or bookcases or cabinets.

Bookworm – we are building a home this year (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!). We designed it ourselves and my school room will have floor to ceiling bookcases (I am contemplating doing drawers in the lower 2 ft. with a bench-type area that the shelves start with, I don’t like the books on the very bottom shelf getting dust and dirt on them, plus this would eliminate any ugly metal file cabinets), right now I have it drawn with two bookcases 9 ft. long and to the 9 ft. ceilings. I may do more, but this is where we are starting.  When the school years are over, this will be our library. There are other areas of the house where I plan to do built in bookcases, but for budget sake, I am focusing on the ones in the school room first. My husband says that every week between Monday and Wednesday I WILL order a book – he thinks I may have a problem Kindred spirits we may be!

I am liking these ideas, I am tucking them away in our construction folder! Thanks!

I guess I should mention that we don’t have a schoolroom either. I like school being a part of life…at the table, in the kitchen, on the couch, laying in bed. Our new chalkboard is in the dining room, which is where the majority of written lessons occur. We are blessed to have lots of bookshelves already and tons of closet storage with built-in shelving. Little reading nooks would be great too.