My Perfect Set-Up Gone Awry

Before our school year started I agonized over where the best spot would be to set up our "school room". I'm the type of person that has to have stuff put away at the end of the day.  Clutter makes me go cookoo!!  I need clean surfaces- even if that means junky drawers! Ha :) I decided on our basement.  That way even if things didn't quite get cleaned up by the end of the day it would still be out of sight.  Plus it offered the most space for all of our supplies along with our sewing and craft area. I had such a great set up down there. We got a nice big desk and had everything organized.  I even set up another family room down there so they could sit in a cozy chair with a lapdesk and do their work there if they chose to do so.  Maps were hung on the walls along with our history time line.  It was perfect!

I'm not even sure we completed a full month of school before the kids started migrating upstairs to do their work. Nooo! This isn't the way it was supposed to be! Jenna moved completely up to her room and Jared decided he wanted to sit at the dining table where there was natural light.  I told them both that was fine but STUFF HAD TO BE PUT AWAY or else mommy's head would start spinning.  Still some things would be left out at the end of a busy day and piles would begin forming along with shoes & coats & crumbs! Oh my!

It's been a few weeks now and it looks like they aren't budging on moving back downstairs, much to my disappointment and despite my cajoling.  I decided to move all of their books and supplies that they use everyday up to our living room so they can sit and do their work at the dining table.  I cleared half of the armoir out, which is what used to be our game chest.

Each of them has a door to put up their schedule and anything else they might need to hang up.  It's almost like having a locker- they like that :)  Hopefully this set up works for us...for more than another month!