Where We Have "School"

Leslie asked about how we decided to use desks instead of a table. I remember someone else asking that question awhile ago too. Since there is a story behind the desks, I thought I'd share in a post rather than a comment.

Evan's desk was my old desk when I was little. My dad used the rent money to buy 20+ such desks when I was about 5. He painted them and fixed them up and sold all but a few. He made a tidy profit and I got my desk.

FishMama had the pink one that Amy uses. Having all boys at the time, she offered it to us knowing that Evan had a similar one. I spotted Emily's little one at an Antique shop. I traded a basket full of dried lavender from my yard for it, and a few other things.

The first year we started homeschooling, we used the kitchen table. The desks were in the kid's rooms. Our house was only 1400 square feet at the time and we didn't have room for a separate school area. I made mats out of posterboard and got them each a little pencil box for their stuff. I copied the alphabet on a strip of posterboard to go at the top. This kind of gave them a defined work space and a harder surface to write on since our table had a protective cover on it.

The next year we used the table for a few months until I got put on bed rest. Then we used clipboards. They could come and sit by me on the couch or lay on the floor and do their math etc. While I was on bed rest, my husband built our addition. We added 900 square feet, a homeschool room, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

Last year was the first that we used the desks. We use them for math and writing assignments. (Science is done primarily in the kitchen, History on the couch, reading cuddled up wherever!) We actually have a really big table in our room right behind the couch. Sometimes Evan will want to work there, but mostly we use it for projects. You can see a picture of the whole room including the table here.

Sometimes Amy will grab a clip board and want to sit next to me on the couch to work out her math, especially when she's needing extra help. Evan has also adopted the stairs as a favorite place to work. He can set his paper or book on the landing, and have his legs dangle down the stairs. If he had a choice he would rather build a fort and crawl in there to do his work. But I don't let him do that too often since it really distracts him!

We have a quiet reading time in the afternoon and Amy loves to curl up on the couch. Evan likes to lay on his bed but sometimes he'll just sit at his desk! It cracks me up to see them on a Saturday both sitting at their desks coloring or sculpting with clay. I guess they really like them!