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Willa
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| Posted: May 13 2005 at 10:15am | IP Logged
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Our master bedroom is upstairs and kids' bedrooms downstairs -- Dh's idea, he designed the house! But what happened is that the kids sleep upstairs in our spacious loft-- there are window seats that are cot-size-- until they feel grown-up enough to start using their real bedroom. That's usually about age 12, almost like clockwork. Presently the 5yo and 2yo are upstairs with us -- and the 9yo and 12yo sleep in their room about 50% of the time and upstairs the rest of the time. Depending on where they have seen the last spider or if one of them has been reading Sherlock Holmes 
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Elizabeth
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Location: Virginia
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| Posted: May 13 2005 at 10:23am | IP Logged
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Irene,
Mine are paired according to gender, but also according to temperament. I have my naturally messier, more eccentric, animal lovers together (Christian and Nicholas) and then I have my naturally neater, more organized, neater ones together (Stephen and Patrick). This creates a situation where I have a big kid and a little kid in each room because I have a big and little girl and they naturally share. My eldest has a basement bedroom to himself. He vacates it when we have company. It has not been without its share of hassles and I'm not sure I'd do it again. but i do like the big-little combining.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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ALmom
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| Posted: May 18 2005 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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Teachingmom,
Until recently, we were in 3 BR with 6 children and small fr and eating area. The br space was fine even though we had 2 girls and the rest boys. It's obvious how the divide was - girls room, older boys room and babies with us until they chose to move in with brothers. With 4 yr difference between the 2 girls, they had vastly different ideas of decorating and neatness esp as the oldest hit the teenage years. Our solution was to build a loft bed using the dresser as one end and then we sewed curtains to go around the side. This made a space for one girl's mess and the common area could be kept neat until the teenager hit the messy stage herself and roles reversed. They learned a lot about working things out, communicating despite very different interests. The best way to get the rooms cleaned was to have guests over.
House hunting was difficult - even in Alabama the houses all seemed to be a mansion for master br and bath - the bath in a lot of them could have been about 3 br. We just kept looking - school was taking over our life with posters on the wall, a in house clothes drying rack converted to a wheeling map holder, books everywhere. We lined the laundry room with shelves, the linen closet was full of books, our kitchen had bookshelves with manipulatives, our coat closet was converted to school supply shelving from top to bottom and our under stairs closet became our pantry - only during tornado warnings we had to unload everything in order for us to fit in the only "safe" place in our house. There are very few houses with basements in Alabama. Also we had children practicing piano, violin and cello - chaos reigned most of the time and we barely fit around the table esp. since one of us is left handed. It was fun too but it seemed like it was time to move on - but where. Looking at older houses was the key. We kept telling people what we wanted - all br together on the same floor, a LARGE place to sit and eat and a room where we could all actually sit down together and recreate. It took a long time before anyone really believed us - we just kept rejecting these pristine houses with all kinds of dazzle features (and big masters but small eating areas). We also wanted a yard big enough for the children to play - not where if they all went out together there was 1 square inch per child. We didn't limit where we looked location wise other than commute time for husband. We finally saw a house that had been on the market for over 18 mo. It was "dated" so it wasn't selling and it was perfect for us except every closet in the place is puny - but the rooms were large enough that we can stick a piece of furniture in the rooms to hold the linens. We did have to roar though because the linen closet for 4 br was only big enough for 3 narrow shelves. When we looked at the house we never dreamed of checking out the closets because the house was so large we figured it had to have average closets.
We got a great price because the carpet was prestained and the linoleum already had those nicks and cuts - good we can finish it off between the boys mud and the dog and all the knives we drop when unloading the dishwasher - and it had stairs everywhere and was very woodsy with a fox den in the back yard and nothing flat. The stairs are fine - we figure when we get old and decrepit, we'll convert the downstairs school room to the master br and add an elevator from the garage and in the meantime I could use the exercise to lose some of the excess pounds from the last baby (hopefully not the true last one - the children once were daydreaming and said - wouldn't it be great to have a million children in the family). The woods gives us some privacy so we do not become the neighborhood daycare and all the rocks and dens are scope for imagination for all the children who explore everyday - sometimes bringing back ticks and poison ivy. That is the standard joke among family and friends - we said we wanted acreage with a garden plot and sun to grow vegetables - we seem to prefer crops of poison ivy, oak and sumac. It has given us breathing room and we use the useless formals as playroom and music room so practice can go on all day long without disturbing others trying to figure out a math problem, etc. We just kept "kicking tires" for over 2 years and then happened upon this house. So keep on dreaming - you never know. Other friends bought land and designed their own by taking and modifying plans with an architect. Their teenage son did a lot of the construction work and all the trim work. They laid their own floors and planned everything for durability.
Only advice - try not to move in the middle of the school year, it really wrecks havoc on whatever semblance of routine we thought we had!
homeschool mom of 6 in Alabama
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Molly Smith
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| Posted: July 01 2005 at 6:57am | IP Logged
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dhbrug wrote:
At one point with all 5 of them in the one room, James (8) woke up crying, "I'm lonely!" So we moved him to the middle bed and he was much happier!
Lonely! There are 4 other's sleeping in the same room with him! A room of their own is a threat not a reward.
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David, I've been thinking of this post for a week now. While we were at the beach, four of my kiddos shared what is called a duo/bunk/trundle--full size bottom bunk with twin trundle underneath and a twin size top bunk. Anyway, my 5 yo was on the top, the girls on the bottom and my 7yo on the trundle. My 5yo literally cried one night because he had to sleep alone. I thought, "are you kidding me?" He was dead serious. It was really cute.
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Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: July 01 2005 at 8:23am | IP Logged
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Molly Smith wrote:
| While we were at the beach, four of my kiddos shared what is called a duo/bunk/trundle--full size bottom bunk with twin trundle underneath and a twin size top bunk. |
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This is how 4 of mine sleep every night!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Genevieve
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| Posted: July 01 2005 at 9:11am | IP Logged
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Twin trundle? Does that mean that there are actually two twin-sized mattresses under then full bunk?
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Genevieve
The Good Within
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: House plans for big families
