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Sarah M
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 11:30am | IP Logged
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SuzanneG wrote:
| I prefer to live in a bit more messiness/clutter in the main living space and use the basement or other areas for more storage. Kids being able to work and do things is more do-able when i'm in the kitchen. |
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Ditto this.
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Sarah M
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 11:37am | IP Logged
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SuzanneG wrote:
Feeding the troops 3 times a day is not a 20 minute deal like it is in schools.  |
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Realizing this has helped me a ton. I would estimate that I spend 4-5 hours per day preparing, making, or cleaning up meals. So if we "school" too far from the kitchen, I am sure to feel behind or torn between too many conflicting tasks. Being in the kitchen/dining area allows me to be tuned in to the kids while I chop the vegetables or scour the sink.
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KerryK
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 11:50am | IP Logged
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We are in the kitchen and dining room, as well. I briefly entertained the idea of using an upstairs room as a school room, but quickly abandoned that when I realized that we'd probably end up downstairs anyway!
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Kerry
Mom to
Matthew (10)
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New baby Samuel 2/26/07!
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 1:24pm | IP Logged
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Syncletica wrote:
| I've finally hired a professional organizer to help me get things in order. Today we did the 2 bedrooms for the children. |
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I'm curious -- any specific tips the pro organizer gave you that you can share with us? Other than what's been shared here, I mean. I'm wondering if the professionals have other "thinking out of the box" ideas that we "professional homeschooling moms" haven't thought of yet.
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stef
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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 2:12pm | IP Logged
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I too am curious about the professional organizer! Do tell!
Also, we do school in the basement daily. There is also a playroom in the schoolroom, but often the little kids get noisy and I have to send them away to play upstairs with another child which often leads to messes.
Someone mentioned not being able to do laundry, make dinner etc. when you are relegated to the basement. if this is important for you, I would have to second this. My laundry was incredibly piled up for some reason recently. (Even with 5 daily loads.) We had problems with a water pipe in the laundry room, and things had piled up due to that as well. Anyway, I mentioned this to my husband and he suggested the kids do school work upstairs (we have the laundry room on the bedroom level) until I got the laundry caught up. I got it ALL caught up in two days time since I was able to do laundry AND school at the same time. So, there is a lot to be said for having school on the same level as your other work. Having said this I tend to have a trouble staying focused on school and not getting side-tracked, so it has been helpful for me to "go to school" and stay in the basement for several hours. Then, we come up for lunch, breaks etc.
You can also bring down extra clothes, diapers, wet wipes...you could even bring down your coffee pot (I always run upstairs for coffee and to use the restroom). So, if you have access to both of these things downstairs, you could stay there all day! (Just kidding.) But, I do bring down the things I think I may need. I have a laundry basket down there since laundry was always ending up there for some reason. I have diapers, wet wipes etc. So, you can plan around those things that you may run upstairs for!
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
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Syncletica
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 9:24pm | IP Logged
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Unfortunately, I can't say that I've had any remarkable tips given. I'm already fairly naturally organized, and she pointed that out to me a number of times, so, what I needed most was a different point of view. I felt like I was drowning in chaos and no longer able to pull myself out. Like she mentioned, sometimes you just need another person to bounce ideas off of.
What is different is that in the one closet we added 2 more shelves, there were already 2 on the bottom and one just above the closet rod. The boys don't need to hang their clothes, so we put everything in nice clear file boxes and labelled them. I had 2 shelves on the wall beside the closet, and put up another one. The baby wipes, diapers, and whatnot are in nice wicker baskets on the first shelf (it's high), above and beside the change table. (There used to be 2 desks where the chest of drawers and change table are now.)
In the new girls room the large closet (it used to be the upstairs laundry room when this house was used as 2 rental apartments) was emptied out. There was a large closet rod going the long way, and my dh cut it to size and put it the short way. There are shelves on 2 walls just above where the closet rods are/were. I ended up lowering the 'closet rod holders' so that I could put another shelf right above the new closet rod just below the other shelf. There's just enough room to fit small boxes or hats. The lady bought a closet hanger thing that hangs from the rod and gives you a lower rod for smaller items, and are so nice for children. My daughters can now easily hang their clothes up. This thing even has hooks on the sides to hang things from. We just piled some boxes higher and closer together and everything fits, except for the big things which we took downstairs to the spare room as a holding place for now. I had had the swing, crib mattress, playpen, etc. all stored in there. There is still the toddler bed pieces, but also a 4-drawer chest of drawers in that closet. Their swimming bags are on there. The rooms look so tidy and roomy! I'm just not sure how things will work out when this baby comes... 
It sounds like most people are fond of the dining room table. I have 2 student desks in the girls' room, so, if I need them to go somewhere quiet, they can work in there. I'm just concerned about this huge shelf in the dining room. It's 6' tall and 4' wide and 15" deep. The dining room is about 10' x 8'. Our table goes the long way. I had to move to the side in order to fit. My son is right next to the patio window, and when dh sits down (or anyone, for that matter)there's no room to get behind them. The dining room window faces south. The playroom window faces north. We're in Canada. It can get cold. I've been thinking that they do need a place to be able to run around, and if there's a table down there, I don't see how they can run around much. Unless, the table is on the linoleum in the kitchen area, which is where a kitchen table would be put, anyway. But, the keyboard is also down there. Talk about disruptive when it's piano practice time. I have another shelf in my living room that would be nice in here and not take as much room but would still hold pretty well everything I need, I think. But, the problem then is where to put this one. I wish I knew how to post pics, then maybe I could glean some advice from those who'd like to give it! 
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AndieF
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| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 9:31pm | IP Logged
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I feel like the odd person out, because we DO mostly school in the basement. But I think part of it is because our situation is a little unique too (My 9 year is homeschooled, my 6 year old goes to public school, and my 4 year old is taught preschool here at home with 5 other preschool aged children.) We have a different sort of floor plan too - we have an main level with the living room, dining room, TINY kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms, and then a finished basement with a very large family room that 2/3 of it is used as the school room, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. The kitchen is NOT eat-in, and so eating has to be done at the dining room table, and I don't want to have to put schoolwork away 3 times a day, and the dining room is in full view from the front door (as well as the living room).
I used to have the preschool room in one of the downstairs bedrooms, but we turned it into a bedroom for my two girls a couple years ago when we moved our son out of our room. The only room left that seemed big enough was the family room.
It isn't perfect, but it works out pretty well for us. I have shelf on the perimeter of the room/back of the couches, and space for them to work in the middle of the room. There is a bathroom very close by. I have a large closet at one end of the room to rotate materials in and out of.
At the beginning of the year, my daughter was doing most of her work upstairs (she is very independent) while I was with the preschool kids, but we both wanted to be together, so now she does at least a couple of hours downstairs with us.
We do use the upstairs too - we start the day doing reading - my daughter does her literature, and the preschoolers look at picture books, and then my daughter does her copywork and the preschoolers do their "journals" (they draw a picture and I label it and they write their name) at the dining room table. Then everyone puts their writing stuff away (I have drawer in one of the end tables for journals and her notebook)and then we go downstairs. My daughter does her math and history while the preschoolers do shelf work. At 11:30, we go up for lunch. The preschoolers leave at 12:00, and then my daughter finishes up her academic subjects (downstairs) and then does some cooking or handwork or something in the afternoon (upstairs).
So we use both areas, but we definitely do most of our schooling downstairs, and it works for us.
Andie
Mom to 3 on earth, 4 in heaven including Christopher (born still on 3/28/08) and preschool teacher to 5.
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Syncletica
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| Posted: Jan 16 2009 at 5:18pm | IP Logged
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I've got another question:
Where is a good place for statues? They are in our living room on a sofa table. They're 2 foot statues. I'm wondering if there's some kind of big "wall thing" that statues might be set on safely. This way I might be able to get the big shelf out of the dining room into the living room, switch it with the other shelf, move things around, and perhaps have everything fit smoothly. Any ideas?
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Jan 17 2009 at 8:03am | IP Logged
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My husband made a small shelf out of scrap crown molding for statues. It is kind of like if a pedestal (without the actual pedestal part) were hanging on the wall. A very small version of those crown molding shelves that have been so popular from Pottery Barn and such places but where the shelf space just the size of the base of the statue.
Some day we might open an Etsy shop for such things, lol.
I think I bought a similar shelf at Marshall's or Home Goods except it had a lion's head for the base and a little shelf over the lion's head. Come to think of it, shelves that size aren't uncommon, lol. I think I had one in my room growing up that I put figurines on.
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TxTrish
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| Posted: Jan 17 2009 at 8:12am | IP Logged
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Our house has a "bonus room" 2nd story (and a full bath). We school upstairs in the schoolroom. In the past we have had school all over the house, from dining room, to living room, or whatever worked best for us at the time. Our mornings are totally structured. Wake up, pray/breakfast, chores and upstairs to school at 9:00am. We stay upstairs until 11:30 or 12:00. Then break for lunch.
This works really well for us, because I always finish with what I consider essential for daily school. After lunch is quiet time/nap time. Everyone reads, my choice on Mon - Thurs, their choice Fri, Sat, Sun.
After quiet time, we have project time, tea time, goof off time, or whatever.
I have to be organized and scheduled or I cannot accomplish anything. So, our new habit of going upstairs for school every single day at 9:00am has been a boon to our school year. We just moved last January, our upstairs school room is a new thing for us, and the very reason my dh chose this house. I find that with the changing season of my children's lives, and their growing we change what works. I have to remain flexible enough to make sure we are all happily learning together
As far as statues, we have several wall nooks around the house that we put them in, isn't that nice?
This house really was ideal for us.
But, next time I would like not to have my bedroom off the kitchen. Seems to be something they do when they build 'split' plans here. Lucklily it is a big bedroom, because it is rarely tidy!
Trish
Mom to 5 - ages 17, 15, 9, 7, & 5
+AMDG+
http://myhomeschoolportfolio.blogspot.com/
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Where is the ideal place to do schoolwork
