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TracyFD
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 5:50pm | IP Logged
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Would you "do school" in an unfinished basement? A full basement, not a look-out or walk-out?
Not having grown up with a basement I will admit to being squeamish about spiders and cobwebs and potential water problems.
The Pro's:
* it's newer (2003)
* it has in-floor heat
* we would have much more room
* I would have room for my own planning desk
* more room for books and wall charts
* room for circle time
* room for reading nooks
* would keep the toddler from wandering around the house
* might be fewer distractions and help keep the kids focused
* current learning room would become wooden toy/play kitchen room
* main level more company-friendly
* getting more books and toys out of the bedrooms might help morning and bedtime routines go quicker
The Con's
* lack of natural sunlight
* no view of backyard
* away from kitchen
* bathroom up the steps
* away from washer & dryer
* away from fireplace in winter
* cost of adding more lighting, bookshelves, desk, rug and a new computer
* noise of mechanicals
* spiders, and when it's damp - centipedes
* plastic-covered insulation and all the stuff in the ceiling beams
* if we settle in there now the basement will probably never get finished
What do you think? Do any of you use an unfinished basement?
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Tracy
Mom to 3 girly girls,
1 absent-minded professor, and one adorable toddling terrorist.
Pinewood Castle
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 6:10pm | IP Logged
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Our school room in in our finished basement. I will admit that I am not a basement person. I would much rather be upstairs near the kitchen and light-filled areas of the house. Our basement has a walk-up, but it does not get that much sunlight. The walls I have painted are bright, yellows, blues and greens.....I think they are all Laura Ashley colors from Lowe's.
Can you hold out until the basement is finished?? Is that in your plan??
When we are down there, we get a lot done.
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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Mimip
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 6:55pm | IP Logged
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I am so very jealous, Oh to have a basement! I would use it and make sure that you get out a lot. You could also try with a folded table and see if the whole natural light thing bothers the kids?
Maybe a area rug and some great poster would help?
Good Luck with the decision!
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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folklaur
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 7:13pm | IP Logged
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it would make me sleepy.  I need that natural light streaming through the windows, or else I would be yawning and dragging. I agree that all the pros are desirable - space, etc. But - that lack of natural light, and sunshine, would really do me in...
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 7:21pm | IP Logged
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of course instead you could make it a play area with all the toys out of bedrooms?
good lighting and those full spectrum lights might balance it though
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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sewcrazy
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 7:52pm | IP Logged
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)My basement is semi-finished. Most walls are drywalled, and even the ones that aren't are painted. The floors are painted bright white and we have bright throw rugs here and there.
A few things we have learned the hard way:
All of our books are on shelves mounted on the walls, not free standing book cases. Basements can flood (repeatedly  ) Also be sure anything that can be ruined by moisture is put away every day.
Buy a good dehumidifier (or 2!) Books and damp are not a good combo. Also posters not stay on damp walls well.
Install lots of light. We have box lights set in the rafters with full spectrum bulbs. The bulbs cost about $10 each, but have lasted 3 years so far and really make the space more bearable.
We use natural bug traps for any creepy. But truthfully the more you use the basement the less bugs you get.
For "desks", we love the utility tables that youcan get at the hardware store for about $35 for a 5 foot table. The legs are steel and the tops plastic. They are light, easy to move and indestructible. Also easy to collapse when they want the length of the basement for a roller derby
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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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helene
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| Posted: March 17 2009 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
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We have a lovely walk-out finished basement with windows that are taller than me on one side. But for many years before we could finish it, I threw down a rug and had all my Montessori shelves and desks here. But now it is generally a recreation/all-purpose room- the computer, piano and tv are down here. That helps keep the main floor of the house fairly quiet and "recollected" enough to do school on our livingroom couches and kitchen table BUT we do end up doing a good bit of schooling in the basement, too, as there is a nice couch down here and sometimes its a good way to "escape" the baby for a solid 20 minutes or so! I also utilize the upstairs bedrooms when a child needs to be alone and focus. We have even done school in the van and in waiting rooms at doctors' offices. For many years when I first started schooling I tried hard to contain my school in one room at one special time every day. It turned out to be too restrictive and just didn't help the learning-all-the-time education we wanted to foster in the children. So I say, use that basement!........and everywhere else you can manage. You'll never regret it!
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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 6:11am | IP Logged
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We school in our basement as well. Half of the basement is my husband's side with his work bench, woodstove etc and it is not finished. My husband put up a wall and a door and my side is "finished". We put sheet rock on the walls and painted it a soothing green color. We put stick down tiles on the floor and they seem to be holding up well, although I would like to transition to carpet one day since it is cold on my feet and I occassionaly have to use a space heater on really cold days to take the chill away. We do have area rugs down there now which helps when kids want to sit on the floor and play.
We also put up several natural sunlight type floresent lights. That really helps. If you have no windows, I would recommend trying a color that looks really great with floresant lights. SOME DO NOT! I am re-painting my old school room that we stopped using a beige color. We had floresent lights in there and the beige looks horrible and dingy! I might have to re-think that color. Perhaps a sunny yellow. Also, what about putting up a row of those stick on glass squares along a wall?? (Or a long mirror. Ikea has a cool squiggly one that I used to have hanging in our basement school room.) This would help bounce the light around a but, and give a feeling of spaciousness.
Another cool thing about the basement is the freedom to experiement. One Labor Day that my husband was off, he brought two trees into the school room and nail-gunned them to the ceiling and the floor!!!!!!!!! It actually is kind of cool looking and I get many oohs and ahhs about how interesting it is.  So, you can do whatever you may be afraid to do decorating-wise in your "real" living space. A
A neat chalkboard idea I got from my SIL is to use all white paneling as a white board!! It only costs $8 a sheet and it is as large as the normal size chalboard. You just screw it onto the wall, and you can even go so far as to trim it out and put a little chalk tray under it if you are so inclined. It works really well with the white board markers, and the cleaner too. I have had the same on for two years now and it is going strong!! Then, if you ever do need to replace it, you just unsrew it and put up another $8 board. You can find this in the paneling section of Home Depot or Lowes. It is a glossy white.
One side of the school room is a playroom for the kids. We just divided the room with a couch, not a wall. That way the kids don't feel separated, but it sort of creates a visual barrier for the older kids who are schooling. There is a problem, often just with me, dealing with the noise of the little kids playing so nearby and trying to read something to the older kids. I assume it is better than having to chase them around the house or wondering what they are getting into etc.
Also, my handy husband built a girls playhouse right there in the school room. It is walled off with sheetrock, has a little set of stairs and a handrail. It has a built in fridge, a countertop, and even little windows for them to look out of on the bottom AND the top floor! (He installed grates in the "top floor" of the little house so the little ones won't fall out.) I had him put carpet in the upper level and he built a little bookshelf so the girls can go into the top and read picture books etc. They sometimes will even fall asleep up there. I also have a little bed my husband made in the basement for my 3 year old twins to nap
on when they get tired.
We also created a private little nook for my distractable eldest son. He has a cool desk made from an old table top UP on a raised platform in this side "room" which is connected with openings etc.; there is just a sort of half wall. (Hard to explain.) I put a blind over the opening though because he could see out from his high fortress and would comment on everything the little kids were doing. His little quiet zone is really nice, and its being up from the main floor level keeps his things "safe" from the little kids, and he can concentrate without the visual distractions. (I didn't realize how cool my school room was till I wrote all this.  )
We have not had any trouble with moisture or molding in our basement. We did hae a pipe break once from an outside faucet and water came into one of the windows and almost reached my bookshelf!! But, that was a fluke.
It is nice to just "go to school". When we are downstairs, we can focus. It is annoying to have to run upstairs to the bathroom constantly! I didn't realize my bladder was so small until we started schooling down there. Also, the kids will ask to use the bathroom or go get a drink, only never to return!!!! I have to go track them down and haul them back. So, it is easier for them to "escape" the classroom since I am working with another child and may not notice they have been gone longer than a bathroom break.
It does help keep down on toy messes upstairs, and I don't mind the mess of school as much. We can just walk away at the end of school,and since no one ever goes down there except us, I don't have to feel stressed about that area. (Although we do tidy up daily and deep clean once a week.)
And, yes, the bugs won't be as comfortable there once you move in, although I will find an occassional bug here and there due to the woodpile "nextdoor"
Maybe try it for a month and see how you like it and what problem crop up. I also use the plastic tables you can purchase from Home Depot that fold up (along with other assorted desks). So, you could use this and try it for awhile and see what you think. It can be a fun space to work in since there are no limits to what you can do in such an open, forgiving space.
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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TracyFD
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 6:44am | IP Logged
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Wow! I love all these ideas!
DH came home today more motivated than ever about taking this on as a DIY project. Now he's got the graph paper out and is calculating the amount of lumber needed for framing. We will definitely use some of these tips.
Even though I am not sure we could pull it off, I would love to see some photos of your playhouse, Kim! We are thinking of sheet rocking the area under the stairs for a kid's reading nook as well as the "tornado shelter".
I think we've gotten the water problems fixed - we had a floor drain pump fail twice. It's been replaced with a better pump that has not failed (yet). The floor drains are on the side that would remain unfinished so we would just have to peek in there every day or see if there is some sort of alarm we could install. The noisy dehumidifier that runs in the summer would be in the unfinished storage room as well.
We also think we could install a larger window and hire someone to dig out the window well and make tiered steps with railroad ties. His website shows how you can plant flowers in the tiers. It would let in more light and the view would be more pleasant than corrugated metal!
I think we might be in for a change! If we could just get our morning seatwork done down there more efficiently I think we could have more time for reading, crafts and cooking upstairs in the natural sunlight.
Here's to a summer of sawdust and sheetrock dust!
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Tracy
Mom to 3 girly girls,
1 absent-minded professor, and one adorable toddling terrorist.
Pinewood Castle
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sewcrazy
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 9:06am | IP Logged
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We have the area under the stairs walled in also. The stairs go up, then half way up turn 90* for the rest. On one side there is a window framed in and the other side has a window and a door. We put shutters on the windows and the door we cut down from a real door that we found at a salvage yard for $5. The is my little one's office, or castle, or drive up restaurant or where ever his imagination takes him. The one window opens on the side we do school work, so he can peak at us. I tacked LED rope lighting around the perimeter of the area for good light that I didn't have to worry about. The rope is plugged into a timer so it clicks on in the morning when we usually go down and clicks off in the evening. He gets scared if he goes down and it is dark.
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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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Jody
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 3:17pm | IP Logged
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Awesome school room Kim!!
I would love to see photos of your son's high fortress and the girl's playhouse. What a wonderful place for children  Thank God for handy husbands.
LeeAnn, What a great idea! Perfect for imaginative play and keeping little ones happy while older ones are learning. I love these ideas. 
Go For It Tracy! It will be worth it.
peace,
Jody
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SylviaB
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 6:42pm | IP Logged
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Our learning room is also in the basement. it is partially finished, my drywall and no carpet. but it is painted yellow, my husband made a huge table and we have a walkabout so we have lots of windows and natural lights. We have a wall of shelves and a futon so we can do projects, read stories, etc... We also have a bathroom downstairs so we can down down there and work on project and be very content.
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anitamarie
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We are in the process of having someone finish our basement. (Let's hear it for not-so-handy husbands, as well!) We need to get the school off the main floor of the house. When complete, we will have a learning room, with a locking door, a playroom right nearby, a storage room for all our seasonal stuff, a bathroom, and a great big laundry room .Oh and a small shop for dh. In between the playroom and the laundry room there is the neatest little nook that we are going to extend linoleum onto in order to be safe for arts and crafts. Can you tell I'm excited?
Our reasons for doing this are these:
There are far too many distractions for the big kids on the main floor.
I want my dining room BACK! It is a little difficult to entertain guests in a classroom.
The little kids want to be near us, and spend any time that I am not 100% focused on them taking out everything they can get their hands on. (names like Destructo-Baby and Hurricane Hannah are popular around here.) With the playroom open to where we are I can watch them, and they can be with us. With the playroom in the basement, I can shut the door and walk away when it is not cleaned up.
We go outside for a break in the morning, and spend a good deal of our afternoon outside as well. I'm hoping that will satisfy our needs for sunshine.
Good Luck with your decision.
Anita
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hmbress
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| Posted: March 21 2009 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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Yes Kim, please post pictures if you can of your whole basement set up. It sounds wonderful!!
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Heather Rose (ds13, ds10)
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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: March 23 2009 at 7:02am | IP Logged
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Hi all,
I guess I peaked some curiosity! I am in the middle of a tiling project with my husband right now, and I don't really have a blog per se. (At least I haven't written on it in forever and have trouble uploading pictures!) But, I will try to think of something!
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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Topic: Schooling in the basement?
