What is your favorite place of the house to do your homeschool work?

Question

Do you like your bedroom, dining room, or do you have a special 'school' room? I just bought a huge laminated world map to hang up on my wall, but there is no wall space in my room (too many posters and stuff), and my 'school' area (my old sewing area) has a strange room shape, with a slanted ceiling and my desk takes up the available "straight- up" wall space. I am at a loss with what to do with it.

When you started Homeschooling did you have to "re-work" your space to get it all to work? Or does your house look unchanged?

I'm thinking about switching around the furniture in my room, the posters and taking the shelves down and maybe I can create a small school nook in my room.

By the way, I will be in 10th grade next year if that helps : )

And also, I noticed a lot of older homeschoolers do their work on their bed, unfortunately that gets distracting for me :(

Answer 1

I homeschool in the living room, where I have my homeschooling desk. I'm in 10th grade right now and will be an 11th grader next year. I deffenitley get distracted on the bed also.

Answer 2

The living room floor! We are in a tiny 2br mobile home right now (hopefully not for much longer) and the place is crowded. So we spread out on the living room floor with all the books. Our maps are on the walls of the living room as is the dry erase board.

Answer 3

Kitchen table, floor, living room couch, outside on swing and trampoline, games on carport,

Answer 4

I do my work at my computer, because I'm in 9th grade, so I go to an online school.

The only thing in my house that looks different from homeschooling is that theres piles of books everywhere.

Answer 5

I prefer sitting out on the verandah or sitting at the top of my favourite tree in the bottom in-bye paddock or sitting in the sheep paddock or in the poddy shed.

We're a family of unschooling auto-didacts so we don't have an actual 'school' place in our house. Anyway, Mum complains if we stay indoors; even when we're sick, she chucks us outside, telling us: 'you'll feel better once you get out in the sun and the fresh air'(!)

Oh, and I'm 15...and I *THINK* I'd be in Year 10 too, if I were to go to school.

Answer 6

The simpler the better for me. I work at my desk in my room which has a computer and lamp. Next to my desk is a organizer that has three shelves that I keep all my text books for schooling. I agree that sitting on your bed can be distracting. Sometimes if I try to read on my bed I get tired easily. I usually do all my work at my desk and it seems to go quickly because I am organized and I can focus. But, I did read somewhere that sitting in new locations can help you grasp the concept of what you are learning. Sometimes I might work a little bit on the living room table. I say, keep it simple and organized and do what works best for you! Sometimes it takes time to figure out your own system!

Answer 7

I usually just do it on my bed, or sometimes on my desk.

Answer 8

It seems like our "school" area is in a constant state of metamorphosis.  The kitchen is our main area of study, but the kids are welcome to take their seat work, reading and private study stuff anywhere they want.  My daughter loves the gazebo, especially when it rains.  She actually takes a folding card table out there and works away quite happily.  My son prefers his room.  For a boy his age, he actually keeps it reasonably tidy.  My youngest loves to read in odd positions.  It's not unusual to find her hanging upside down off of the couch with the book standing upside down on the floor.  I often find her reading up a tree, too.  The fact that they have so much flexibility with location and position has gone a long way towards their willingness to apply themselves.  I love that they're learning and still getting to be kids.

Answer 9

I just work on my bed, it's easy that way.

My family doesn't actually have a single, large whiteboard, we have several personally owned smaller ones, which we stow away after the completion of each school day, in fact, our house actually looks fairly normal after everybody's school is done for the day and put away...

Answer 10

I am having the same problem with my child's study area which has a slanted ceiling and no solid walls.  Ours has windows.  But we study all over the house as needed.  I do like the idea of selling the desk for one that fits your space and I'm not with the bed studying mine kid will go to sleep too fast for me.  You seem to have already answered your problem.  Hope you fix your room into a workable area soon.

Answer 11

I live in an apartment and share a room. With 630 square feet -and remember, that includes a kitchen and a bathroom- we certainly don't have a place for a school room. My room rarely works.

I go to the library, or work outside. Our living room and dining room are basically the same thing, and our TV and stereo are in the living room. It's really not fair for me to say that everyone in the apartment has to shut up because I need to do my homework. Also, I have unusually sensitive ears, and the rest of my family can talk a bit loudly, so it's even more unfair for me to insist that they all rearrange things. They're not unwilling to, but I try to be fair.

I'd advise against setting up a school nook in your room. Are you familiar with the psychological concept of 'conditioning'? Essentially, you learn to associate certain places or objects with certain actions and/or feelings. Insomniacs are often advised to get out of bed if they can't sleep so they don't associate their beds with stress and awakeness. Your room should be where you sleep, chill out, talk to your friends, and whatever else you do to relax. Your school area should be where you work. Also, at some point, you need a break. I sometimes feel sort of bad for kids whose entire houses are schoolized. They have school stuff on every wall and in every room. It's one thing to be a nerd and have a geeky poster in your room. It's another thing to have the periodic table on your shower curtain.

Is it possible for you to move your desk?

EDIT: I'd recommend ditching your desk and getting a replacement off of IKEA's website. Go to Staples or Office Depot and get yourself a better chair. For your sewing nook, get a clipboard to keep on your desk to smooth out your writing surface. Sometimes I'm stuck writing on this bumpy leather desk, and I use a clipboard to keep my writing slightly less illegible.

Your room and study area should be conducive to relaxing -for the former- and thinking -for the latter-. If it's not, you're just going to be handicapping yourself.