Schoolroom Questions!

tamarar5

We have a really small house.  I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate our schoolroom anywhere in my house... and unfortunately the only option is in our second floor playroom.  I previously had used this finished attic as our playroom so I would never have to look at the mess! We have since divided our toys and put three quarters of them away and my daughter is doing MUCH better at keeping the playroom picked up. 

Yesterday I had DH move my computer and desk upstairs.  I am not worried about my daughter playing with things she shouldn't be when playing upstairs because we have discussed how if she plays with the computers inappropriately, Dad will build a wall to separate the playroom and school room and that would make the play part really dark! She's still semi-afraid of the dark so that is a good threat. 

 My question is, we have a baby.  What do any of you suggest in regards to letting the little one play? By the time we start school, E will likely be 6+months, and probably moving about.  I can bring up the pack & play, and we will school during his long morning nap.  But as he gets bigger, how do I keep the small toys my 6 year old plays with (Playmobile, Calico Critters, Legos, etc) away from the baby?

tamarar5

After posting I realze the logical answer is to keep them picked up.  And we will.  My concern is more how should I keep him out of those bins? What do you guys use for small toys around little ones? My daughter was Houdini at opening anything and everything! The box could have an entire roll of duct tape on it and I might need a saw to open it, but she could pick it open in like five seconds flat.

The best answer would be to move to a bigger house.  But unfortunately that is not in our budget.  YET! We're hoping to be relocating to Alaska within the next few years.

wifeofadam

Do you feel like you really need a school room?  We have limited space in our house, so we just use a corner of our dining room for school.  I have some bookshelves there that hold all of our supplies and we do lessons at the table.  Maybe you could do something like that.

As far as keeping the little toys away, we have that problem in our house too.  What we had to do was take all of the Legos/Playmobil toys away and put them in our basement.  The boys only get to play with them at certain times and when they are done with them they get put back in their boxes and go back in the basement.  If we don't do this the pieces end up all over the house and are a serious choking hazard.  I would find a closet or some cabinets where you can lock up the toys with little pieces and save them for the times when your older child can either play supervised so the baby doesn't get into them or when the baby is napping.

barnwife

Ditto pp.

We have no plans to ever have an official schoolroom. Work will be done at the kitchen table or a table in one of our two living rooms.

As for toys, like the pp, there are certain toys J. is only allowed to play with when A. is sleeping. And even then those toys stay on a table. And they get cleaned up immediately when he wants to move on to something else. We call these "table toys." Examples include play-doh (which A. does get to do sometime), his button box (random buttons I've picked up here and there that he likes to sort), sight word tiles (he like to sort them - he's too young to understand the words; they are a table toy because I hate having a million of them on the floor), and the Lincoln logs he will get for his bday. 

tamarar5

We don't have a dining room and no other place. Our kitchen table is our only counter until we finish our kitchen.

Ritzy19

It sounds like you've worked out a decent solution under your circumstances.  Where there's a will, there's a way.  I think like PP's have said, just keep the toys you don't want your younger one getting into in containers with lids, and out of reach or view.  When my 4 year old wants to play with toys that have small pieces, I wait until my youngest is napping and then I get those things out for her. 

Gwyneddlesliegrace

Have you thought about wearing the baby during school? A jumperoo and bouncyseat might help too. 

hayleydeee

WIth small toys I do my best not to bring them into the house in the first place. I figure DD won't miss them if she doesn't know about them! I do my best to chose things for her that are baby safe too.

We won't have a designated Homeschool room (although I'd LOVE to). I have a cabinet dedicated to school stuff, but then we'll just use the rest of the house (mostly the table and couch for reading).

I met a mom who homeschools her 4 kids in their 500 sq ft 1 bedroom house Anything is possible!