We've had a variety of homeschool layouts over the years.  When we first started homeschooling, we had a room off the kitchen with a backdoor to the patio.  That was first the toy room and changed into the homeschool room.  

When we moved, I packed our "school in a box" into huge tote bags and we did school in TLF (base motel) and at grandma's, until we were settled in our new home.

When we first moved in to our current home (me and the kids, dh was in Korea) I had all the office stuff put in the loft.  The dc did school on the floor, which seemed to be their preferred place to do anything.  I sat at a desk, facing the wall, with my back to them.  I stored their school stuff on the bottom shelf of an old bookcase. 

After a month of that, I moved school to the kitchen.  I have a large pantry with lots of shelves.  I put their books and supplies on some of the shelves and we worked between the kitchen table and couch and floor.  Ugh  That wasn't working either.  The table was too small.  We had to keep moving schoolwork for meals.  And the cat got in the middle of anything we did on the floor.

Then dh and I arranged the loft to accomodate school.  The dc and I each got a desk.  DH bought me a new pc, we gave the old clunker to ds and a lady at work gave her old clunker to dd.   We bought a cabinet to store books and files.  That was fine, as long as we did our old school in a box.

Then we changed all of our curriculums and became more living books based.  We have outgrown our space!  Also, with ds starting 7th and dd starting 9th grade, they are spending more time in books and the computer (They now have new computers. What a blessing!  They do all their papers on them!)  and less time on hands on stuff.  They are growing up and getting ready for college.  (sniff sniff, pardon me)

DH and I have talked about him building a wall unit on our big wall of the loft for over a year.  But we can't figure out what to do with my desk.  What do you think?  Any day now he is  going to ask me for the "plans"!  Bear in mind, he wants a Parade of Homes look.  He wants to build this himself.  Our theme is Texas...the woodsy pictures will go. I have some huge lone stars to put on the wall, to replace the woodsy pictures.

Here is the back wall,  where we'd like to build the wall unit.  We were planning floor to ceiling, but realized we have an air vent right there.  What were the builders thinking???  Anyway, we have adjusted that plan to almost be ceiling height.  DH wants to have file cabinets below with a countertop and shelves above. Right now that little cabinet in the middle was our big purchase a few years ago to hold all of our school stuff.  Everything is now overflowing to other rooms, closets and boxes. And with more years of school ahead, there will be more books coming in!  Also I love books, so I plan on keeping them for the grandchildren at least!  I also like to keep going back to them myself for reference.  You can see the cotumes I am working on now, hanging from the little lone star on the left.

 Here is my desk now.  That's a tall file cabinet behind that dh refurbished from a trash heap years ago.  There is no way to do hanging files, so all the folders slide and get hidden underneath each other.  I am running out of room for my TOG binders on top!  That is Years 1 and 2 now!  

Here's the old bookcase dh built years ago.  I had thought perhaps he could build a bigger one, from floor to ceiling to fill the space. You can see ds on the floor, in the middle of his history reading.  I don't like anything being in front of the window, really.  I like to be able to look out.  We have to work our way behind the easel to open or shut the shades.  However I am thinking of moving my old rocking chair back over here.  I miss having a comfortable place to sit and read while I keep an eye on the dc.  I also miss just having an extra place to come to to sit.  We'd like this room to become more comfortable.

You can see here that the wall stops and the half wall beings.  You can look over the edge down into the foyer.

Here's the corner where the kids' desks sit.  They are running out of room for their books.  I thought dh could build new desks, with shelves below and a top that wraps all around, to make use of wasted space.

 The piano sits here and will stay there.

Here's the doorway...very open as you can see.  

DH took architectural drafting in college and has a degree in building construction.  He's sketched a couple of plans, but I think this one, which was his first plan, is the best.  This is for the large wall unit, with file drawers below and shelves on top.

DH has done very little, if any, measuring.  He's been leaving the numbers and space planning up to me.  So this morning I finally measured with the help of ds and laid everything out on 1/4" graph paper.  I sketched to the scale of 1/2"=1'.  Then I measured the furniture and cut that out to scale and laid it out.  I can move these pieces around.  Here are the different desk options we have struggled with for the last year. 

The placement of the desk is important for several reasons.  One, I don't like to work with my back to the dc.  I want to monitor their work, instead of them watching me type of tests, etc.  Also, I like to look at something besides a wall when I work, preferably outdoors.  I am at the desk much of the day, preparing lessons, studying, working at the pc, I moderate a few yahoo groups, and I would like to even scrapbook here if possible.  In this layout, the desk is facing the doorway.  The nice thing about this is that I am right handed and the dc are left handed.  This way we could actually see each other's work.   Also I have considered no wall unit next to the window, behind my desk, so that I could hang the white board there.  Then I could make a quilt to hang over it and hide it when not in use.  When I need the white board, I could roll up the quilt with velcro.  Remember, DH would like this room to look like a Parade of Homes!  However, I'm afraid this plan would make the entry into the room feel too small.  Who's to know when we'll have to move and put the house on the market.  What would a buyer think?

Also I like having as much space to work as possible.  When I work, I take up a lot of space!  I spread out my Latin vocubarly cards into parts of speech while I translate.  I spread out all my books when making lesson plans.  When holding Socratic discussions for TOG I have my TOG binder, books to refer to, and we explore web sites. I keep a homeschool binder next to me at all times with lesson plans, schedules, papers for the week, notes, unit celebration plans, calendars, etc.  I used every inch of space and then some!  

This layout has the desk where I have it now.  It tends to make the area in front of the window cramped.  Also, when the dc and I work together, our hands are in each other's way because I am right handed and they are left handed.  I am also wondering if the little wall unit next to the window should only be cupboards on the bottom, so I can hang some pretties on the wall.   Then we could put a groove into the countertop at the far end of the big wall unit to prop the white board. Also this seems to open the room more when you walk in.  However, it makes the space in front of the window feel more cramped.

Because we could move, we have considered revamping the plan, and dh making modular furniture to take with us.    But would our house sell better with the wall unit?  Would our modular stuff even fit in a different place?  Knowing dh, he'd probably just want to build from scratch (he has a love for cabinet making) and design something to fit the space if we move.

So, there you have it.  What do you think?????