desk for homeschooling waldorf

[spiritofthings]

We are homeschoolers doing waldorf at home. My son will need a desk now that he is of grades age.

Can anyone recommend a nice wooden desk? 

[zoebird]

i'm confused. why does he need a desk? can you use the kitchen/dining table?

I know i'm crazy. don't worry about it. if you feel he needs a desk, then i'm sure he does. I have no clue how to source one though. :) maybe see if you can find old school desks. they are really popular here and readily available through things like craig's list. they are pretty cool, too. :)

[spiritofthings]

Hey Zoebird, somehow it's good to hear from you. You've replied to my other posts in the past. It's always been fun! :)

Yeah well I guess he doesn't need a desk, really. I might hold out and eventually get some kind of old school desk if I find one I like. I was going to set up a little homeschool room, you know? Trying to do waldorf at home I thought I could kinda replicate a waldorf classroom. But maybe that's the thing about homeschooling - you don't have to imitate school. When my second kid comes along I could put her at the dining table too, or they could have their separate school-like desks. Hmmm, I dunno. 

[zoebird]

well, waldorf is designed to look like a home, so it's kinda funny to me that we would then design our homes to look like waldorf classrooms. LOL oh well. it's funny how that goes.

i would say that we are pretty much designing our whole house waldorfy -- which isn't a big space -- and if we opt to homeschool or whatever (man, we are on *so* many fences. LOL), then well, we would just use our house as is.

but, that might be because we have a super tiny house. i mean, there is no room to make a classroom, kwim? I know, i'm silly. :)

[teamsalem]

I bought a little wooden table from Pottery Barn.  It is small, but it is big enough to use as a desk.  I got it at the Pottery Barn outlet, scratch and dent, so it wasn't too expensive.  That being said, we set up a "school room" in our house, because I felt like it would help maintain some sort of school-y frame of mind.  It honestly didn't do much for us.  We do most of our "work" on the fly, just pick it up when the interest is there.  We don't really have a schedule for it.  I guess we are more unschoolers that way (not what I intended to be, but it just happened that way).  I know some other mamas have luck with having a separate place for school stuff, but the only thing it has done for me is have a place to keep everything set up and away from the baby. 

[teamsalem]

Zoebird is quite fun, isn't she?  So smart and insightful, too.

 

Originally Posted by spiritofthings 

Hey Zoebird, somehow it's good to hear from you. You've replied to my other posts in the past. It's always been fun! :)

Yeah well I guess he doesn't need a desk, really. I might hold out and eventually get some kind of old school desk if I find one I like. I was going to set up a little homeschool room, you know? Trying to do waldorf at home I thought I could kinda replicate a waldorf classroom. But maybe that's the thing about homeschooling - you don't have to imitate school. When my second kid comes along I could put her at the dining table too, or they could have their separate school-like desks. Hmmm, I dunno. 

[zoebird]

thanks. 

pottery barn has some nice stuff. the scratch and dent place/area/whatever is a good idea. after all, it's likely to get heavy use anyway.

i think it might be helpful (or it is to me anyway) to see how you use a space first, and then see what it needs. I mean, teamsalam uses the room mostly for keeping things together and organized (good use!) but not as a classroom per se. So, there may be things in there that she doesn't use quite as much as she thought she might.

on the flip side, another mama might note that having a separate space is essential to her child's process, and I could definitely see that working too. :)

[spiritofthings]

I've been thinking... I think I need to have a separate school space, so to limit the clutter in the rest of the house (or my husband will go crazy.)

Do you favor one desk per kid, or a small dining table that all the kids can sit at? That could feel less schooly, ya know? 

[seawitch]

I always, from a very young age, had a desk in my room growing up - not a school desk but a real desk with drawers and such. I always think of a desk as necessary bedroom furniture for a kid.

We plan on homeschooling and I plan on having one desk per child (if they have their own rooms then all the better, but even if they share they'll have a desk each). We wouldn't homeschool there, though. They're not quite school-age yet but we just tend to do together-things (story-time, crafts, etc.) in the living room, or outside, or at the dining room table.

[zoebird]

my husband, eventually, will need an office for similar reasons. he loves to have his work nested around him. it's just how he rolls out.  my plan for him, though, is to have a large table in the middle of the room, and book cases around. in addition, a space for dry goods (eg, nuts, dried fruit, etc) and his coffee, i'll probably have an electric kettle for him so he can make coffee/tea. not only does he work alone and love to spread out on a table, but he also likes to work with friends and so having a space where they can both spread out, have coffee, etc, is a good option IMO.

so, i can totally see why a homeschooler would want something similar.

also, a desk in one's own room can be great. I honestly never used mine, but my sister had one that would tilt -- a drafting table really -- and she used hers a lot for her various artworks and projects. Again, it's a matter of the kid. I much prefer to sit on the floor and work (which, btw, I am doing right now), and so a desk is needless for me.

But, DH hates it, lol, and needs a table.

i figure if "grown ups" have different needs, so also do kids.

Do you think your kids would work well together at a shared table, or are they more space-possessive and their own desks would be better?

[MommyKelly]

We have a separate schoolroom here, but we fashioned it like the local Waldorf school which has what looks like big dining room tables LOL.

[spiritofthings]

Hmm, thing is only one of my kids is ready for a desk. He is 6 and my middle girl is 3 but I think she will want to "sit in" at times when we are doing 1st grade. I guess I have some time to sit on this one. We have moved and are looking for a house. Once we have found something (hopefully soon) then it should be a little clearer depending on how much space we have etc. Thanks everyone for your input. 

[zoebird]

true, once you know how the space you have is laid out, and how it works for your family, you'll have a much better picture of what you need to do and have. :)

[spiritofthings]

Interesting. Look at these desks that they're introducing for grades 1 and 2 in this waldorf school : http://www.pinehill.org/Grades18/TheMovableClassroom/tabid/409/Default.aspx . 

Looks like the kids are sitting on cushions. 

[zoebird]

woah. that's what i'm doing right now. the lap top is on a bench, and i'm on the floor. LOL

[blumom2boyz]

We are waldorf inspired homeschoolers.  For the first two years, I just used the kitchen table.  There was a nice big closet under our stairs which was accessed in the eat-in kitchen and that housed all our materials.  Once we moved into our current home, we had the space to have a learning room.  We got most of the furniture from IKEA.  The table was fairly inexpensive as I knew it would get covered with all sorts of stuff (and boy did it!).  We also went with a table as we have 4 kids.  There would just be no way I could fit that many desks in one room!  I think once you start getting into it, you will find what your needs are.