If you have school-aged children, I imagine that you’ve been struggling with the decision of how to navigate their education during this pandemic.
Everything is changing at a rapid pace around here, so this is what we have planned for the time being… we are going to be homeschooling Luke this fall. We are choosing not to follow along with the county mandated virtual learning program in an effort to have more control over Luke’s curriculum, screen time, and schedule. We’re juggling a different school and pre-school option for my other kids as well. Our hope is that Luke will be attending a different school in the 21/22 school year so losing 1 year of Kindergarten at a school we do not intend to keep him at wasn’t a big deal.
We have this area of our playroom that we call “the stage”. I’ve always wanted to ask the previous owners, who built this house, what their intention was for it, but I’ve not been able to. Right now it serves sometimes as a craft area, a casual temporary crisis homeschooling area, and the space where David sits and plays Mario Kart on the Wii. Our playroom in general was a room where we just dropped our stuff and never designed or painted when we moved in. It’s the only room in our house with a TV, so our grey sectional is there for lounging and watching movies. Other than that, we are still using two IKEA storage units for toys that we had at the old house, and haven’t made any plans to update the space.
See the “stage” below, in a normal playroom state:
With growing kids, the playroom needs are always changing. Right now, it’s a nice space for fort building, wrestling, tickle monster fun, and lots of crazy playing. Eventually, I imagine it to be used for crafts, games and hanging out as the kids get older.
In thinking about setting up this space for a full academic year of schooling for Luke, I wanted to choose pieces that could work for both right now, and after we have finished homeschooling as well. In the long-term, this is a great area for crafts because of the hard floor (instead of carpet), so I’m planning for it to be a creative-looking space with plenty of room to spread out when working on art. In the meantime, it will also function well as a school area!
Below are a few inspiration images I found as I develop this area, and some art that caught my eye as well!
Original Image source: https://www.crazy-wonderful.com/playroom-makeover-built-ins/#_a5y_p=6619710
Original Image source: https://www.laybabylay.com/craft-room-ideas-kids
Original Image Source: http://www.winterdaisy.com/blog/2020/1/22/classic-blue-and-white-kids-modern-playroom-reveal
Original Image Source: https://magnolia.com/our-show/episode-09-the-chip-2-0-house/
I also thought these rainbow decals were really cool! It’s a great way to add whimsy and color to a space without committing to painting!
I’ll continue to share the process of converting this space into a homeschool/craft/work space for the kids as it comes together. I find that my personality, and my kids, tend to thrive well in a space that is functional and inspirational and I hope to create that for them in this area of our playroom!