A Classroom Discussion
Recently, the question of whether or not to carve out dedicated space for a classroom in the home of a homeschooling family has crossed my field of observation in multiple places at once. This is most likely a result of the inevitable “Back to School” type topics that are floating through disscussion boards, email lists and homeschooling blogs this time of year. Apparently, this topic makes the Back-to-School cut.
Folks seem to come down on two basic sides of the debate, as well as falling somewhere in the middle. Either people are really excited about the space they’ve designed for their homeschooling or people think that homeschooling is far too integrated into their daily lives to seperate it into a self contained space of its own. I have been facinated by the elloquent explanations from both points of view.
I am especially enjoying sifting through them since we recently bought a new house and kept the need for a dedicated homeschooling space close to the top of the list of “must haves” when hunting for our new abode. As a matter of fact, I already cracked the whip on poor Patris Maximus and he has managed to crank out one seven foot by five foot shelving unit along one wall (which I have, naturally, already filled to max capacity.) I have one wall left to paint and I will get the rest of our maps and whatnot back up. Patris Maximus will be lending a hand and mounting two large pieces of showerboard on that wall once it dries to use as dry erase boards and one of these days, he’ll get an indentical shelve built on the wall across from the first one. We ended up converting the formal dining room of our new house into our classroom space. It is bright and sunny with hardwood floors and right off the kitchen for sink and stove access when needed. I guess I come down somewhere in the middle of the discussion. A dedicated space for our homeschooling feels lovely. All our materials are easily within reach and well organized. We have lots of wall space for maps and posters and our timeline. We have a small television set on an old fashioned foot locker that the kids can work themselves to watch science, history, Spainsh and sign language videos any time they choose. The material Athena is now capable of working on completely independently is easy for her to locate and settle down with whenever it suites her. Artemis and Apollo even have their own shelf of puzzles and games to amuse themselves with when Athena and I are working together on a lesson. I like this cheerful, cozy space where we are busily making memories of delightful learning adventures together. I also like that half finished art projects can be left to rest where they are and returned to when inspiration once again comes to call without risking a nasty run-in with someone’s lunch. And that science projects have an official spot to progress in without the risk of a well-meaning Patris Maxius mistaking them for trash before Athena has finished her observations. Does this mean that all learning must take place in this room? That no homeschooling occurs elsewhere in our home? Uh. No. Not even close. Any project that requires a sink oven or stove, naturally takes place in the kitchen. Now that we’ve entered the modern era and have cable for the first time in four and a half years, we’ve discovered the amazing capabilities of a DVR and at any given time there are a slew of programs stored on it about biology, dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt or Greece, and of course the latest episodes of Word Girl. There is a facinating fungi we are observing spreading across our front landscaping and sidewalk chalk drawn hop scotch boards are our favorite method of practicing skip counting. The computer is in the back bedroom we are calling the office for the time being and them, of course, there is the reading. The reading that happens in every room of the house. Even the bathrooms.
I am really happy and satisfied with the classroom space we’ve created for ourselves, but it in no way extricates learning from our daily lives. If anything, it anchors it, gives it a cornerstone even. A classroom, we are finding, is not a limiting factor for us whatsoever. How about you? What has your family’s experience been with a designated homeschool space? Did it work for you? Why or why not? I would love to continue the discussion here, so feel free to leave a comment that shares your thoughts or experiences with this topic.
