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SarahA
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| Posted: April 26 2008 at 5:51am | IP Logged
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Hi all,
Sorry for the new topic, but I couldn't find a previous post about this (but had lots of fun looking!) I'm new to homeschooling--technically haven't started since the kids are finishing up Catholic school where we are now before we move to North Carolina in June, where I will start school officially in Sept (baby due in Aug). Sorry for the r/o sentence--it's past my bedtime!
Anyway, we're looking at real estate and I definitely have my favorites, based on obvious needs, like a big kitchen, big yard (with a fence!), etc. However, I was wondering what else goes along with house-hunting for a home-schooling house? I'm thinking eat-in kitchen so we're not doing school stuff in the "formal" dining room, lots of wall space for charts, posters, etc. My husband would love to have a little family chapel, but I don't think we'll have space for a whole separate room (although a quiet corner would be awesome). Bookshelves, filing cabinets...anything I absolutely need for school stuff?
Also, my husband will probably be deployed for a year a few months after getting there, if that would affect the advice--it seems several of you are also military spouses.
Any suggestions? I love reading the wisdom you ladies pass on.
Blessings, Sarah
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Maryan
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| Posted: April 26 2008 at 11:57am | IP Logged
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Hi Sarah! IMO I think so much of your own habits and preferences decide what makes the "perfect set up."
I'll tell you what I like and what it is on my "wish list"??? And you can see what appeals to you??
1. I like having a good-sized eat-in kitchen with a lot of empty wall space and a huge window... because that's where we are for most of the day. I have two bookcases with closed cupboards on the bottom for all our supplies. I have two bulletin boards (one for family life and one for picture, etc.). I have a little desk with the computer and printer. LOTS of cupboards and a little kid sized table and a laminate top kitchen table where we can do almost any project we want.
2. I like not having toys anywhere near the kitchen, so this is our "work" area -- toys are near the living room, so I can send the youngers to play and their noise doesn't bother a 6 year old doing mental math (for example).
3. I wish I had Cheryl's learning room complete with tile floor and sink... but it's probably better that I don't and I'm stuck in my kitchen so meals get cooked and dishes get cleaned in between lessons.
4. I have a first floor walk-in closet that keeps all our toys and seasonal learning supplies. I wish I had another walk-in closet to use for a little atrium room, but instead we have a family altar with our atrium supplies underneath it.
5. And our formal dining room always seems to be my "lesson planning area..." It's too big of a table not to use it.  I just wish I would declutter it occasionally. I have to invite people over to motivate myself.
6. I like having the laundry right off the kitchen, so I can sneak in a load between lessons, etc.
HTH - I'm sure other people will have more practical advice.
ETA -- Also I have boys -- so I like having a big basement for "recess" in the winter. They ride bikes and play basketball, etc.
__________________
Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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happymama
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| Posted: April 26 2008 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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hi,
I don't know how old your children are, mine are quite young. The very reason we picked the house we're currently in is because it has a "sun room" - basically a bedroom with a closet, but 5 floor-to-ceiling windows plus a door that leads to the back deck, tile floor, and a nice nature view. The instant I saw it, I thought: "this would make a PERFECT classroom!" We painted it a happy yellow. We use mostly Montessori, so it's great having both a closet to store things and a room that the little tots can be kept out of. (low shelves full of things to choke on!)
Good luck! Isn't it great that you can look at so many properties on line these days?!
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domchurch3
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| Posted: April 27 2008 at 10:53pm | IP Logged
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We have our own seperate learning room but I have to admit, most of our learning takes place on our comfy couch in the living room which is more conducive to snuggling. If we had a couch in our learning room instead of an oversized chair, then we'd probably be in in it most of the day, when were not in the kitchen. I wished our learning room had tile or hard floors because the new sand colored carpet we installed a few years ago is in awful shape due to a puppy and crafts gone awry. I would say that a learning room is a nice extra but it is not necessary.
My dream house would have an open kitchen that looks out into a living area. The living area would have built-ins for books, school storage and toys. I have this in our learning room but what can I say, the learning room is just one more room I have to clean. 
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folklaur
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 1:51am | IP Logged
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It's funny - I re-arranged the house in such way so that we would have a "school room." We don't use it. Not really. I thought we would, but....I kept leaving the room - to change over the laundry, to get meals ready, etc, etc. It ended up being a playroom more than anything - although it did give me a place to hang up some of the children's work without it being in the LR (we only have a great room - no separate kitchen/lr/dr -- it's all just one big room.) I have the idea in my head of the perfect schoolroom, still. However, I know in practice we just don't work that way....
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Lisbet
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 5:54am | IP Logged
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Welcome Sarah!
We are in the early stages of building a house right now, so I have been pouring over floor plans with the same thoughts as yourself. I think I have finally settled on what we need in a home that is conductive to large, homeschooling family friendly living.
In the way of property, we are looking at 5 acre lots, big enough for some fun animals, but not overwhelming. We insist on a wooded area, (bean fields are so easy to come by here, but I can't seem that as conductive to nature study or rowdy boyhood, kwim?) and would prefer some water. (a creek or something.) We will fence an area in for the littles to safely play outside without getting too far from home.
In the way of floor plan, I took in to consideration everything that has NOT worked for us in our current home, the ages of my children, and our daily habits.
A mud room off the entrance from the garage, which empties into the kitchen. I figure this will be a 'mud' room in the true sense of the word! This room is big enought too, that I can put shelves all along one wall and have lots of pantry space here. (It is 'technically' called the laundry room, but our laundry room will be in the basement.) Our deep freezer and second fridge will go in the garage. The kitchen will be a large, eat-in, and open to the family room. The eat-in part of the kitchen will be a place for 'school' work for the littles, with their toys in the family room. The kitchen table will be next to the patio doors, so we can do some cool outdoor stuff also. This will also serve as the place for messy projects and experiments for all of the children. The piano will also go in the familyroom, and probably the family altar also. (not 100% sure on this yet.) The family room and eat in part of the kitchen will be in the back of the house. Also on the back of the house we will have a den, which will initially serve as a 'library', with all of our book cases and stored books. I plan on putting some nice floor lamps and a few comfy chairs in there. This will also be the practice room for other instruments. (Which are currently violin and guitar!) I will probably put the cd player and all of our music in there also. If our family continues to grow (Please sweet Jesus, hear my prayer!) This room may become a 5th bedroom someday.
The dining room will be just that. That will be a nice change for us, as our current dining room houses two tables, 5 book cases, a computer desk/chair, family altar (this is on top of a smaller bookcase), and it is only a 11x12 room!) So, in the new house the dining room will house the dining room table (it's a big one!), and a high chair. This will be in the front of the house.
The formal living room will be the learning room for the big kids. This will be in the front of the house, with three big windows. I figure we this can be a 'quiet' area for their bookwork and such. I don't want any of the children to be confined or banished to any area of the house, but I'm seeing more and more of a need to keep the the littles and bigs seperated at times.
The computer will go either in the family room or the big kids learning room. I'm not real sure on that just yet. The big kids have a laptop that will definetly go in their learning room.
This floor plan also includes a large open foyer, which kind of seems like wasted space to me, but, I may just make that a very pretty area, because that can be equally important in a home as functionality!
this is the floor plan we are going to be working from. We will tweak it here and there to suit our needs, but this is the one we choose that seems to have the best 'flow' for us.
I know I babbled on and on here, but like I said, this is something we are in the middle of ourselves right now. This is the house we want our children to grow up in, and our grandchildren to visit us in, so I want to make it as comfortable for us as I can. We are currently 11 people in 1500 square feet, this will be a huge change for us!
Hope that even a smidge of this was helpful to you! Enjoy your homeschooling adventure!
__________________
Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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msclavel
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 6:33am | IP Logged
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A little OT here, but Lisa, how exciting for you! I'll be praying to St. Joseph.
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Maryan
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 7:22am | IP Logged
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Cheryl just posted about her schoolroom and it is organized, clutterfree, and really neat. We can't do anything like it right now... but even the organization and clutterfree is inspirational!
ETA - And Lisa I have mudroom plans if we ever get to build onto our house that sound very similar. We've got a lot of mud... 
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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KC in TX
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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Did anyone else click on each picture to see what books, Cheryl had on her shelves? 
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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PDyer
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 8:37am | IP Logged
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I looked at Cheryl's learning room too, and it's prompting me to take on a makeover of our learning room. When my son was homeschooled we spent a lot of time, but now that's he's off to school, we learn all over the house, so I think that room needs to be used as a consolidation space for supplies.
I have a large table in there I don't sit at; it will need to move to the basement. Once the unused table is out I will have room to move the craft supplies in; some are now in the basement and some are in the coat closet by the garage entry. Out of sight, out of mind. I think they will be more used if there are shelved in the learning room instead of in a closet. I need to ponder...
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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juststartn
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| Posted: April 28 2008 at 9:09am | IP Logged
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Well, we just moved from NC (DH retired from the Army after 25 yrs), and when we bought this house, we had the perfect setup--10 acres, BIG house (3 times what we had in NC), and two living areas, plus a "sun room" on the back of the house.
The family room is right off of the backdoor, and open to the dining area, since we don't have an eat in kitchen (wish it was, and when we eventually redo the kitchen, we'll probably really overhaul the dining room/kitchen completely, but that's for another post, lol). Then we have a formal living room. It was going to be the library. The sun room opens off of that, via French doors. The sunroom (with a separate entrance off of the back of the house) was to be our schoolroom--lots of wallspace for bookshelves, hanging things, and tons of light, as well as good airflow and (for now, lol) a concrete floor (we've got the tile, its just getting it put down--almost 400sq ft to do, with five little people, not likely to get done by moi anytime soon, lol)....
ANyway, we moved here April 1. Last Monday we heard from a SIL that her DH is divorcing her. Thankfully, there were no dc involved, but she is devastated, and has nothing. So she will be moving here, to stay with us for the foreseeable future. So the sunroom/schoolroom will be her space. It can be closed off from the rest of the house, and has a separate entrance (although no bathroom or closet, but we'll think of something). The schoolroom will have to move inside to the "formal" living room. There's a nice big brick gas fireplace there, which will be nice in the winter. But it will be hard, since the floor is carpeted, and I cannot afford to replace it anytime soon...AND its not a space I can close off (which was one of the bonuses of the sunroom/schoolroom plan).
Once SIL leaves, at some point, I will be making that space the schoolroom--but for now, that is on hold.
Anyway, I'd look for a space with alot of natural light. If you are planning on gardening, I'd try and have the schoolroom convenient to that--they get the fidgets, then you all can go out for a while to do some "earth science" (weeding/compost turning/harvesting). I'd also want to have it convenient to, altho not on top of, the rest of the house..I wanted to be able to close the doors on messy projects, or just to close the doors when we had family/friends in for a visit....so that the mess might be a bit more "contained". I'd want a big kitchen, just cause we're putting in a big garden, and I've got a TON of dishes and kitchen equipment to store.
I'm trying to think what else I'd like...LOTS OF STORAGE!!!! LOL.
HTH. What service is your DH with? AF, Army, or USMC?
Rachel
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Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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SarahA
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| Posted: April 29 2008 at 5:24am | IP Logged
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Thank you all for the wonderful ideas (if anyone has any more feel free to keep them coming!) My husband leaves in less than a week to look at houses so we've been going over our favorites, etc. At this stage, I don't think we will be able to have a separate school room, although the one from Cheryl's blog was incredible.
I have, however, been able to make him understand how important an eat-in-kitchen plus a formal dining room are (we have enough nicks in our dining set without getting paint, bug goo, etc. all over it too!)
Good luck to Lisbet looking to build (lucky you on lots of land!) and Rachel with family coming to stay (and my husband's in the Army--we're moving to Ft. Bragg--congrats on your husband's retirement!). I'm looking forward to this new transition, though it's always filled with anxiety that I can only pray away.
I'll probably be looking at the pictures from that blog for more ideas later...
Blessings,
Sarah
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Topic: Setting up the ideal home for education
