The Classroom

Where does our schooling take place? The Homeschool Classroom is today's topic at Schoolhouse Review Crew's Back to Homeschool Blog Hop.

When I first started homeschooling two years ago, I transformed our upstairs playrooom into a schoolroom. Every morning we tromped upstairs for school. And that only lasted a couple of weeks. It was too sterile, boring, and dark. So, we moved one room over to the upstairs living area. It was much better and we spent a good deal of time there. Then slowly we found ourselves downstairs in the living room and kitchen the majority of the time.

So, for the next year I closed down the schoolroom and moved all of our supplies to the downstairs hall closet. All of our schooling occurred on the couch, at the kitchen table, or at the breakfast bar. Occasionally Dawson ventured up to his room to do some work. Brynne and I sometimes sat out on the back porch, or she moved into the office to do some writing.

Our intention for this year was to keep our schooling in our living area. This is advantageous to us in many ways.

• It reinforces our style that schooling occurs at all times instead of just in a specific time frame and in a specific place.
• I can do housework while still being close by during assignments.
• The kids can more easily be involved in what the others are learning.
• I can stand in the kitchen doing many different things while the kids are sitting nearby, and this allows us to carry on a full day of conversations.
• We can spread way out with supplies that are within reach, and those things can easily be put away.
• It allows us to be involved in the outdoors, even when we are inside, just because of all of the windows and natural light.

Then we made the quick decision to move to Missouri. We have a beautiful little sitting room that would make a perfect classroom. And we may end up with a table in there or small desks or something.

Don't you love the color choices of the previous owners?

However, I still like the idea of just making our education a part of our regular life. So, school will primarily occur right in the dining room. This is what it looked like just four days ago.

Those upper walls are actually dark purple!

Since Sunday, every wall, piece of trim, piece of woodwork, brick, and doors have received new paint jobs. Now the walls in the main parts of the house are a vibrant yellow, gold, and green. The fireplace was painted a pretty brick red. The brick in the kitchen was painted a fresh white. The tile in the kitchen and bathroom were laid today. And on Friday we are sanding, staining, and sealing the hardwood floors.

Our kitchen table will be in the dining room, along with my desk. In the hall closet around the corner, all of our school supplies will be housed. The room will be flooded with natural light with our hummingbird feeder right outside the window.

I know that actual school rooms work so well for many families. And, I honestly thought I would be one of them. But, we are a lot more free-flowing than I ever imagined we would be. So, our "living as school" philosopy just works for us.