We have a school room. It's all decorated with their projects, maps, etc. I love to be able to shut the door when school is in. We also school outside, and when someone isn't feeling well, in bed! I don't think it's a necessity by any means, but for us it's a definite plus.
We have a study that I use as a school room, (it contains my computer desk and the kids computer/desk) So one child can work at that desk, (usually my oldest son) my daughter has a desk in her room where she works and the little guy usually does his work at the kitchen bench where I can help him. We tend to school all over the house though. Sometimes in the family room, sometimes in the Lounge room (that's where all read alouds and other reading gets done), front yard (out back the dog is too annoying, unless gardening is happening) the floor, anywhere really. Next year I will need a more dedicated space as the evaluator actually looks at that (we are moving interstate at the end of the year, where we are, everything is done via phone, our evaluator lives to far away for house calls!) But I now in our new state they like you to have a designated area that fits the needs of your children....
The sequential/orderly side of me likes having a place for most the books and resources to be handy and organized as well as a place to put projects so that they are not all over the house, but then the abstract/artist side of me often feels too confined to work only in designated spaces. We have two large finished rooms in our basement. One room is an office area, the other is a craft room (was my inventory/shipping room), but it has no windows and a low ceiling (a bit depressing unless you are really focused on a project). Since I closed up my business, it just seemed logical to convert most of the office area to store homeschooling resources, and I hoping to clean out the craft room once and for all in the next couple of months so that we can use it as a craft/art studio. Now as to where we homeschool, my daughter has her own computer in the office area as well as a table and chair for a desk/projects table. We have a white board easel there, which we use so much, particularly with math! However, it gets crowded and inconvenient when my husband is working from home (which has been infrequent but is supposed to become more frequent now). I also like cuddling on the couch when it is cold or grabbing the picnic quilt and pillows when it is warm to do most of our reading/language arts. We have been known to take out everything on the back deck or front porch and have lunch while working also. I have a laptop computer which goes with me about anywhere, which comes in handy, otherwise I would feel (did feel) chained to the designated area. What I do not have is wall space. I have bookshelves in nearly every room in my house, most of them in the homeschool/office area, but they take up wall space and I would love to have a wall to hang up a time line and her artwork/projects. I have been eying the guest room, but with aging parents I have been trying to keep that option open for them and not take it over for our homeschool room--although that would be ideal for our lifestyle as it is right now, I think.
We built a 12x24 building for our schoolroom. It is separate from the house, I like having all the school stuff completely out of the house. And I like the privacy of the schoolroom. If dh is home he can watch tv in the house and we are not distubed by it. And I can go out to the schoolroom to work on lesson plans or whatever I need to do, and have total peace and quiet.
i have a designated school area. it helped my oldest realize that it was still "real" school. as they had both been in public school. it's been a year and they still love having their own area and such. in our home we have a HUGE front room and what we did was split the front room in half. half is tv/video games etc. the other half is the school room/area. and when we need to watch a video everything is right there. However my kids need alot of supervision to keep them on task (ADHD) i have the 2 computers against 1 wall, 3 bookcases and storage on the wall kitty corner, the one opposite of the computers has a huge whiteboard on it. there is no fourth wall but i have more storage and filing cabinets along the boundary and a spare kitchen table and chairs in the center of the area. It works for us and the kids get a kick out of decorating the school room.
Although we do not have a set room to school in, we do keep all of our supplies in an armoire. It holds all the school supplies along with my craft supplies.
vote for separation Perhaps a separation of the “school” area is a good idea. Getting the desk, the library and the supplies needed for the lessons into a special studio instead of allowing homeschooling all over the place should help kids concentrating. Separating school from the rest of the daily activities sounds like the right thing to do. Otherwise things might get messy. Lloyd Burrell officedeskreviews
