Homeschoolers? How to get organized? and a few other questions

[binny]

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling?

Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

 

[Pixiedust34]

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling?

Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

We live in a small house so we don't have a dedicated school area. We do most of our writing work at the dining room table, which is also where we eat 3 meals every day. I spend much of my time clearing off that table for the next meal/lesson/project, but we're well organized so it works for us.

The computer area gets some school use, too. Ds uses the computer for math because his math lessons are on a CD. Both kids use the computer for German and for research.

For reading assignments, the kids go where they are comfortable. They'll usually lounge on the floor with pillows or on the couch or soft chair and read their assignments in a comfortable position.

Because we have weekly speech therapy appointments and frequent orthodontist appointments, sometimes we take our school work "on the go" with us and will do a little bit of work or reading in waiting rooms.

 

[horseshowmom]

We are also really flexible on schedule.

I also make it VERY clear at the beginning of the year that the amount of work on the table (I show her the binders) is what we will do for the year. I let her know that SHE has complete control over how long her school year goes, and when her summer starts.

The flexible schedule was a great help to us. DD was involved in horseshows (multi-day and sometimes out-of-state). Also, she would spend time at the trainer's and didn't have time to do the work then. She had the option of doing extra work early or making it up after she got back.

Most of the time, she worked to have her summer start early, but if she showed a lot, she sometimes didn't finish her school year until the end of June. We always started back the first of August.

Of course, you do have to have "controlled" flexibility (in other words, don't get too far behind because that creates stress for everybody).

In our case, we used ABeka, and it came with a curriculum guide that had the lessons mapped out by day to keep you on schedule (we just adjusted it as needed).

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling? Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

My daughter always just did her work wherever she wanted.

 

[Momvic5]

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling?

Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

I dedicated a whole room. In the beginning, we worked in our kitchen, but after time, the kitchen became too hard to manage between meals and school time. Working at the same table was also very difficult because someone was always moving and shaking the whole table. I can't tell you how many shouts of "Mom, so and so is shaking the table," I had to hear. After careful consideration, I decided my sons could share a room so I moved them in together and turned the extra room into our "school" room.

A whole room is not always possible, but I have loved having a "school room" because now we have a place to be consistent and to keep our things. After instruction, they may move to a different room as long as they are being productive and are able to get things done in a timely fashion. For instance, my oldest will still move to our kitchen table to work because he loves to work under natural light, and our kitchen has plenty of sun light. My younger two prefer to work at their desks in the school room.

In my experience, most young children need a specific place to be able to work, but that doesn't mean that they have to work from that specific place everyday for every subject. I just mean that they need to be able to associate a specific place with working on their school work. For instance, I know that when my kids lie on their beds to work, they end up doing more resting than working. Most days you will probably be happy to use what you have in the moment, but you will probably want a place to be able to direct them back to just in case the moment stops working whether it be a desk or your kitchen table. As long as your children have a place that helps them achieve their goals, I think you will be fine.

 

[Beavers5]

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling?

Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

Our computer room is right off of our dining room; we use both for school. Usually DD "works" in the dining room because she is 2 and is usually painting or using play doh and I am usually right there in the kitchen. DS works on independent assignments in the computer room and works in the dining room when he needs my help.

Each of them has a plastic milk crate with their supplies/books, so I can move their stuff from place to place easily.

 

[minkydog]

So what room do you do the majority of your schooling?

Do you have a dedicated room or do you just use whatever works at the moment?

We homeschooled three kids a total of 12 years. My oldest graduated from home and went to college for a few semesters before he decided to drop out. We've used just about every kind of curriculum except computer-based--I didn't care of that.

My oldest son was a very hands-on learner. He has severe learning disabilities. He had to see it, smell it, touch it taste it in order to learn it. We mostly did our lessons in the dining room. the first year(3rd grade) John literally stood at the table and rocked from foot to foot while he worked.

We don't have enough room to make a dedicated school room, so we outfitted the dining room with our supply cabinets and resource books. I found it to be very useful to set a specific start time. We began every day with breakfast and chores, then at 9am we stopped everything for short Bible study, about 5 min, then hit the lessons.

The great thing about homeschool is your ability to fine tune to your child's needs. I don't know how many "learning walks" we took--every two hours we hit the road for multiplication tables, memorization, math facts, spelling.

Remember, you don't have to do everything the first day. Relax and enjoy it. Even though homeschooling can be stressful at times(wait until you're stuck indoors for 14 days straight.) it also can be a joyous experience. Good luck!

 

[binny]

thanks so much for the great ideas! Right now I have to figure out a second desk in the toy room/ now school room. It has a whole wall of built in book shelves so it should be easier to use that room than any other. I had already packed a lot of their books so I used what I had left and I put all of their reference books on one shelf, all of the girls' chapter books on another and have 2 free for workbooks and binders. The rest of the shelves higher up can store their toys for now.

I think I will have them doing their computer work up there and then give them the choice of moving somewhere else for reading and bookwork.

 

[teacups]

Binny there is the "Curriculum Cottage" in Meridian. Its good to go in and look at all the books. She can give you a list of what each grade should be studying if that helps you get started.

 

[binny]

Thanks teacups, I will head over. I used to get our summer books there.

Well I remembered that I had a large long piece of countertop out in the garage so I just put that on top of two rolling drawers. Wroks great for a writing space.
So we have 2 tables and a small desk in there now it should work well for that.


We have finally been approved and they are sending the materials next week. Hooray! We are excited to begin.


I will be flexible if it gets too loud in there they can move to other places in the house but I am hoping between and the kitchen nook, they will find their most productive place.