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~Rachel~
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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I did not want to hijack the other thread, so I was wondering:
What do you do if you do not have a spare room to make into a learning/school room?
Our house is small... we school in the kitchen or the living room or the kids bedrooms.
We have no dining room, our kitchen in eat-in...
and DH has declared the study off-limits... that is his room.
MY computer and desk are in my son's room... and there is NO ROOM in this house for the kind of wonderful learning centres that Katherine has.
Now, this has only bothered me in one way... I want to do some Montessori activities with DD (3), and I want her to be able to access her 'activities'.
So I was wondering, how DO people make the space for Montessori learning, in a small house?
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~Rachel~
Wife to William
Mum to James 13, Lenore 8
Lighting a Fire
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earthmaven
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 11:05am | IP Logged
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Rachel,
We're in the same situation here. The best I've been able to come up with was this:
A chestnut-coloured shelving unit from IKEA that coordinates reasonably well in our living room houses all of our math materials. There's just enough room on our living room floor for both girls to unroll a mat (if I can keep the dog off them). A basket next to the shelves is dedicated to all math-related books, stories, etc. I put a rocking chair next to it in an effort to make it an "area" all its own.
The shelves in the living room armoire house all family games, puzzles, and DVDs/CDs. And I need somewhere to just be able to close the doors. Two large wicker baskets beside the armoire contain all the library books.
A large bookcase in the kitchen has been divided with shelves dedicated to research/reference books and materials for science, history, language/foreign language and art. We have the kitchen table right next to it, so it works well for the girls.
The art materials that aren't used everyday I store on the bottom shelf of one of the kitchen cabinets, and things like blank canvases I simply store in my bedroom closet so they don't get dinged up.
I'm thinking about freeing up more kitchen shelf space by getting my dh to put up pantry shelves in the basement so that I can move tinned goods down there. Less convenient for me, but space is at a premium around here.
I've tried to keep the formal "learning" materials out of my daughters' bedroom. We keep that as their play area with toys, puzzles on shelves, and all story books, chapter books, etc. This way, I can ensure that the reference-type materials stay in one place, downstairs, instead of getting chucked in with Magic Treehouse!
Not perfect, but the best I can do for now.
Tracy
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Celeste
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 11:25am | IP Logged
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Great ideas, Tracy. Elizabeth Hainstock in Teaching Montessori in the Home described a three or four shelf bookcase that she put casters on so she could roll it in and out of a closet. (The first time I read that I just laughed because my closets had no room for rolling bookcases.) I guess that would reinforce the start of the work period and that certain materials are not for play.
Celeste
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Erin
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| Posted: Aug 11 2007 at 1:20am | IP Logged
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Rachel,
I have pictures here of our learning shelf. I would LOVE to have lots of room to set up but I don't. Like Celeste I laugh at the closet/ bookcase, as I only have one tiny linen closet (three shelves for nine people) This table is our workspace, that's it. Maybe I need to take a photo to show you just how small the room is, the table takes up nearly half the room, this is our dining/study/family/lounge room all in one 
It can be done, just differently. What does concern me is that it is harder and I don't know if its worthwhile getting the little ones to put it away in the cupboard as it is all so balanced in there. I can teach them though to tidy the table.
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Erin
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Angel
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| Posted: Aug 11 2007 at 6:27am | IP Logged
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Our house is not tiny, but we don't have a separate room available either. We use parts of a few rooms, with the dining room being the main workspace. Since we don't have an eat-in kitchen, though, we use the dining room 3x a day+ for eating, too. I have some of our stuff in a china cabinet which is also for dishes... and some of our stuff in a buffet. These cabinets both have doors with toddler locks. I have a media cabinet in there, too, but I really need a tall, skinny bookcase. The problem with all of these pieces of furniture, however, is that there's hardly anywhere to set out the longer materials.
I have a couple of low built-in shelves in the living room which are full of books, but I use the tops for math materials. I have a couple of those wire shelf extenders you can buy at Wal-mart and that increases the shelf space somewhat. That space is open to our entryway, though, and it's not the most decorative in the world... I guess I could just say I decorate in "early Montessori."
Practical life trays involving things like pouring, scooping, and tonging I mainly make up in the morning and set on the dining room table, then dismantle when work is over. Kid-friendly knives for cutting cheese, vegetables, and fruit are in the kitchen with the rest of the kitchen gear. I ordered some hanging organizers for kid-size brooms, etc., and I'm planning to put those in the kitchen as well.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Genevieve
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| Posted: Aug 13 2007 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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Rachel,
I just posted pictures on my blog of our Montessori-inspired room in a big house and in a small house. Before these two, we lived in a small one bedroom apartment. Even then, we managed to have a similar layout as the small house. I can't seem to find photos of it but I"ll let you know when I do. We move a lot so it's great to have the flexibility of different layouts.
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Genevieve
The Good Within
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Speaking of Learning Rooms
