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Where is your "classroom"
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We are new to homeschooling and plan to start this summer, sort of easing into only doing science and grammar for at least 1 month before adding in the other subjects. My question is where in your house do you have your “classroom”. We have a large kitchen table and that would provide the ideal space for me and 3 kids to work, but I loathe the thought of constantly having to clean it all up for meals, etc. We have a dining room that is currently being used as a playroom/office. This could work with some rearranging but we wouldn’t have as much work space as I can’t fit a large table in here with all the other stuff we have, plus then it would all be left out in the open. Not sure if my organized self can stand having all that stuff out! The last option is that we do have a guest room/craft room, but 2 of my kids are still sharing a room and I feel they will eventually want their own, so that might not be a permanent solution, plus it’s upstairs, so I’m not sure how I like that – can’t supervise them if I’m doing other chores, etc. And none of our family lives here so if we take the bed down to make room for a table, they won’t have anywhere to sleep when they come!
Any opinions and experiences are appreciated!
We do our read-alouds either in the recliner or on the couch. We use the kitchen table for math, handwriting, and anything else that requires manipulatives or writing.
Karen
Our “classroom” is all over. We do most of our seatwork at the kitchen table. The kids each have a school box with their books, papers, pencils and such in them. They have these next to them at the table and pull out what they need as they need it. They also do school on the couch, in their beds, wandering around the house (mostly studing spelling or something like that-I have some kids that learn best when moving), outside, etc.
As far as where we store our stuff, I have a bunch of bookshelves in one area in the basement that hold all our “not in immediate use” stuff. We also have two bookshelves in the living room (near the kitchen) that hold everyone’s school boxes as well as the “in immediate use” stuff. I rotate the books as we finish with some and need new ones out.
We use to have a school room-just a small bedroom with bookshelves around the walls and a 6 ft table in the middle. But then our daughter was born (baby 6) and we needed the space (all 5 older boys were in one room at that time) so the school room was taken apart.
I think you just really need to look at your space, your preferences (you mentioned “your organized self” so that should definitely be considered), how your kids work best (sitting still, moving around, curled up with blankets, etc) and then determine which space would be best. It really is a personal preference. DO NOT feel that you have to replicate the public school desks/school room at home. This generally doesn’t work well for people.
HTH, Rebecca
Mom to DS 13, 12,8, 7, 5, 13 months and DD 2I’m with Rebecca-our “classroom” is our entire house, our backyard, even our roof on nice days!!
I let my boys work wherever they are comfortable. Our oldest likes to work in his bedroom, and on warm days he will go out his window and sit on his roof to do some of his work.
Our middle child mainly sticks to the living room table to do his, but will sometimes go into his bed to do his reading.
The youngest boy wanders the house most of the day to do his work. He’ll start in the living room, maybe move to the kitchen table for handwriting, and normally ends up in my husband and my bedroom. Although, I will say, there have been many a time when I have found him in the bathroom doing his work!!
In the fall, the boys will back up a bookbag and head out in the cornfields (we rent a house on a farm) to their work.
This is just what we’ve found that has worked for us. You might just have to try a few different things before you will find what clicks for you. And, a lot of this will depend on the age of your child, how much parent interaction they need, etc.
We recently did something like this; our dining room was a space off of the kitchen. Just the table and chairs were there. My husband had the idea to switch that room with our office/bedroom space. In there we had bookshelves, and all of my homeschooling supplies were stored in there. So, we emptied that office/bedroom, I painted it. We took the wooden closet doors off the closet opening. My husband installed a rubbermaid configurations system in there which made organization much easier. The dining room table and chairs were moved into there. A shower curtain (whimsical) was put on a pressure rod in the closet opening so that it can be slid open easily to get items, and closed when we are eating or have company.
Now, the only things in that space are my dining room table and chairs and all the supplies for homeschooling. Bookshelves are on one wall full of our books. The computer desk, trash can, etc…went somewhere else in the house. Having the dining room table and our homeshool supplies in one room has been a huge help and blessing. We do our seatwork there.
We school everywhere else in our home and out too. Sofa for reading, outside sometimes, of course nature study is outside or another location away from home, bedrooms for some subjects, van going places for some, etc…
Hope this helps.
I have a very tiny home and have no dedicated area specifically for schoolwork. We do our readings on the couch and kitchen table. The kids do desk work (copywriting, math) at my desk, the kitchen table, or on the couch with a writing board as a portable desk. Sometimes we do big projects on the floor. Living in a small space, we constantly have to pick up after ourselves to make way for whatever is coming next (the books do pile up on the kitchen table until my DH loses patience and moves them to a bookshelf). Every once in awhile we do schoolwork at the public library or cafe.
Yep, I’m with everyone else…the kitchen table, the sofa, recliner, bed, front porch, barn. LOL!! If you have a few bookshelves dedicated to current books/general school stuff being used, it will help keep everything off the kitchen table. As long as you can get into the habit of putting it away each day. After 14 years of homeschooling, I’ve never managed to get in that habit.
IF you are concerned about all the stuff ending up all over the table and everywhere–well, it probably will. 🙂 But there are things you can do. We’ve kept little milk carton crates or totes of some kind for each child, with all their books, paper, supplies that they generally need, and then it goes with them whether they are working at the table or the living room floor or the cow pasture or wherever. 🙂 Another thing I really liked was to get a rolling plastic card with 3 shelves/bins (I have 3 kids) and put all their stuff in that, then we just roll it around with us. I got a plastic bin to put on top to hold all the teachers’ manuals. Now that we have so very much stuff, my dh a few years ago bought me a tall rolling organizer intended for homeschool use with shelves, baskets and hooks on the sides, and a mounted white board on the back. I love, love, love it! It wasn’t cheap but it has made my life so much easier. The company used to advertise in homeschool magazines, but I don’t take many of those any more so I haven’t seen the ads lately.
One of my boys does his math sitting high up in a tree.
We do most of our school in the living room, sitting on the couches or on the floor. The 3-yr-old flits around doing whatever. Many times he’s at the dining room table to play with play-dough or something messy.
We have a schoolroom upstairs in the 4th (small) bedroom. It has 2 bookcases, a shelf in the closet and a shelf on another wall. We have a long, low table with blue plastic ‘school chairs’, like you’d see in a school. It has a white board (okay, 2 of them) and a big magnetic whiteboard for their spelling. We do math, spelling and handwriting in the schoolroom. The boys also use the table for Legos and K’nex and such. I could never keep my dining room table clean enough to school on. How’s that for an honest confession?
Do you need a dedicated schoolroom? No. Does it work for me? Yes. But I’ve also let that schoolroom get out of control and cram it with more things than necessary. I’m in the process of de-junking it. Ouch.
We also pack our books into a backpack and go read outside somewhere, even the basketball court. Mostly it’s the couch though. We bought new comfy couches 3 years ago and it was such a great investment!
We school everywhere, too. To be more specific we use the kitchen table for math (sometimes the floor with 7 yo), handwriting, spelling, science (experiments, worksheets), etc. My 4 yo has a 3 drawer tote for playdough, puzzles, crayons, etc., my other 2 boys each have a plastic milk crate for their own supplies/subjects and each crate either sits behind the couch (by the table) or my oldest keeps his in his room, all other *family* subjects have their own totes/crates/shelves. Loaned library books live in a black crate and our own books that we’re in the middle of reading live next to those books or on a side table in the living room. We also have an attached 1 car garage that is really not large enough for a real life sized car so it acts as our supply room for extra books, crayons, paper, craft components, puzzles, construction paper, etc., etc., etc., I think you get my drift. We have 2 long tables and several shelves in the garage that hold a lot of the supplies as well. We meant to use it as a *classroom* but it’s either too hot or too cold out there, so I just use the tables for working on projects and such.
To be honest I didn’t think I could handle all of the *supplies* invading my space when we first started hsing; clutter really makes me crazy, but it’s something you just have to adjust to. We are in the process of purging our text-booky supplies and lots of overrated supplies so really you could get by with far less in the house, not less books, just less junk (I’m not accusing anyone else of having junk, but myself:). I’d like to get down to the bare necessities then work back up again with better quality supplies or no supplies at all if they’re really not necessary. I had alot given to me in the beginning and had purchased items that were huge amounts of wasted money that need to find a more appreciative home, which I’m working on:)
Oh, and we do use our kitchen table everyday and I clear it every afternoon for dinner. We have to have dinner as a family at the table and I can’t handle all the stuff out so it gets put back in its crate or in the garage. Unfinished projects can just be put out there so that’s not a problem. Oh, and our house is the size of a cracker-jack box. We have more outdoor space then indoor as well:)
I am also anti clutter and have had to adjust my expectations a bit but here is how we do it most days. All of the things we do not use for the week are stored downstairs in what is supposed to be a kitchenette. I go there on Sunday nights to get everything we need for the week. The things I need for the week or the things we use everyday (scm guides etc) are in a Rubbermaid tote under a spot in our regular kitchen where the counter overhangs. We have one low kitchen drawer that is for weekly supplements like puzzles, magnet scenes, coloring pages. On the overhanging counter is a basket with current library books. We do our school at the kitchen table and each morning I lay out in order all the things we need to do that day. I put them away as soon as we finish that subject so if we are not done by lunch time at least most of it is put away. We do move around a lot so the kids don’t get sick of sitting at the table. We read on the couch, sing at the piano, and go outside as much as possible. I know I have stuff in my main living space that people do not normally have but I try to keep it contained and put away as we go so I don’t have to go crazy! Oh, and our hallway, which is off the kitchen where we work is our gallery so we have had lots of ancient Egypt work up, world maps, full size body system posters, and timelines. So it is out of the way, but easy access. Hope that helps but do what works best for your living space and style for sure.
Like most others have posted we are all over the place – couch, beds, outside!
We have a small house so our table work is done at the kitchen table. I designed and dh built a cabinet especially for our everyday school things that is next to the table. We try to keep it tidy and for the most part we do. I designed it so the bottom has 2 openings for pretty baskets that hold the loose items.
For storage and shelf space I use the linen closet at the end of the hall – and just keep our linens either in the bathrooms(towels) or our bedrooms(sheets). I like it because I can shut the door!
And we have several book cases in various rooms that hold “our library”. Sharity
Read alouds on the couch or in the garden, and since the girls do a lot of self paced work now in high school they work mostly in their rooms, or on the family computer. When they were younger we had a spare room we made into a room where we kept all our stuff and had a table to work at, but we often just worked at the kitchen table.
And we have several book cases in various rooms that hold “our library”. 
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