September 19, 2012

A Study In Studying …

This is the current state of my dining room.  It looks like this every day and I am not happy about it. I actually cleaned it up a little before I took this picture.

Look just beyond the dining room doorway and you’ll see our front foyer and then into the music room.  In other words, the dining room is the first thing you see when you come into our house.

And this is the current state of my dining room every day.

Gaaaa!

I pride myself on a few things. One of them is having the front two rooms of the house clean at all times {while the back, upstairs and basement are in complete CHAOS}.  At least I maintain the appearance of being tidy.

The dining room looks this way for several reasons:

  • Big C does not use his locker at high school because his classes are too far apart and he has no time. So, the dining room table = his locker.
  • Big C has a small desk in his room. It is too small to do homework on. And he can’t do homework in his room because he will NOT focus. So, the dining room table = his desk.
  • Big C comes in from Cross Country practice exhausted and hungry.  He dumps all of his stuff on the floor in the dining room. Then he eats in the dining room – an irony not lost on me – thus leaving crumbs, wrappers and bags all over. So, the dining room = his dumping ground, kitchen & trash can.
  • Hannie B. does all of her homework at the table and leaves her glue and U.S. map behind. So, the dining room = her little homework craft land.
  • The Hubby holds his church meetings at this table.
  • Owlie does nothing but crawl around underneath this table.
  • RedDog doesn’t even go in this room. I’m not sure RedDog even knows this room exists.

At both the High School and Middle School back-to-school-nights the principal emphasized how important it is for children to have a set place to study away from the TV and busy area of the house.

Now I am in the process of trying to figure out how to create a space somewhere in this maxed out house, preferably on the main floor, where my two oldest can study consistently but without interruption.

And I need that place to not be the dining room.

4 comments:

The Queen Vee said...

You may recall that my dining room table has all of your brother's and your homework etched into it's surface. I think the dining room is a great place for them to do their homework, you can clean it up when important company comes to visit. Maybe the kiddos could do a tidy up before crashing into bed. Remember, you've got less than 4 years left with Mr C. There will come a day when you wish those books were scattered on the table.

Aiketa said...

I understand everything you say... That used to happen too to my mom. She was always asking us to take your school bags to our room, instead of leaving them in the entry of our house.

When I was Hannie's age probably I still did my homework in the dinning room table, but as I got older, I did it in my bedroom since in my house dinning and living room is the same room and it was a problem for concentrating.

If you have a room that you can adapt for them to have a great space where to study aside from their bedrooms I think it might be great.

I would have loved to have it when growing up, a study room which wasn't neither my bedroom nor the living+dinning room. But of course, we didn't have that spare room...

Kernal Ken said...

You're not gonna like this, but I also did my high school homework on the dining room table, as did you and Chris, as the Queen has noted.

It was away from the TV room and I could concentrate.

However, your grandma insisted that I take everything with me to my bedroom when I was finished. She also insisted that when I was writing research papers that I set up tables in the basement rec room, so that my source material would be okay to spread out and not get in anyone's way or be in sight.

But, remember, by the time I was in high school, I was the last kid in the house.

Sometimes function has to trump form...

Apis Melliflora said...

I love a clean and tidy house with a place for everything and everything in its place.

That said, I am forced to recognize on a daily basis that a happy house is a house where people are allowed to live, using even the prettiest furniture for function.

I do try to find ways to make organizing the mess within that room pretty. Do you have a piece of furniture in the dining room where books and craft supplies can be quickly stashed? An affordable, stylish ottoman? Some baskets?

I know you will find a solution!