Family Room Tween/Teen Makeover ~ Homeschool Style

Tomorrow we will have a teenager in our home. I can hardly believe that I only have one remaining child under 13! The years race away! I am so blessed to have these years at home to train and enjoy my kiddos. This year I have seen the kids let go of many toys. Things that used to be permanent fixtures in our home, such as Lincoln Logs, Playmobil and Polly Pockets, have given way to guitars, computer time, reading and crafts. They are growing and preparing for adulthood. With that in mind, it is time to rethink our family room. This room has been utilized much less than I expected since we moved to this house. When we moved here, I thought this room would be the hub. Instead, the kitchen/dining room is by far the hub of our home. The library room in our home is very popular with adults, but not used by the kids much. They take their books to their beds. I wanted to give the kids a place to explore their interests and a public place to hang out with friends. We do not allow friends of the opposite sex into bedrooms ~ NOPE ... NO WAY ... NOT HAPPENING!

First, I will share an overview of the room from opposite corners. We are blessed with ample space in our home.

As you can see, we have lots of seating space for family or friend movie nights. Now, I will go around the room and show you all the highlights.

I bought this sewing machine a few months before we became foster parents and immediately brought Tom Sawyer and Goldilocks home. I haven't touched it in 13 years. It has been living at my mother's home, getting an occasional workout. I've been really busy. However, I have great hopes that Little Red Riding Hood and I will be sewing on it by the end of the summer.

This is our microscope corner. We are blessed with two different types of microscopes. Grandma gave the children a stereoscope (on the left) for Easter. It took us some time to figure out how to make it work with our old computer, but now it is a great tool. I will show you how we use it in a future post. The compound microscope on the right was purchased for Tim (our oldest son) when he was in homeschool high school.

Our Lego corner. Lego's are the most played with "toy" in our home. They seem to be retaining their popularity into the years of puberty.

This is our media area. The kids play on the Wii, watch DVDs, and listen to music and audio books on the CD player. They occasionally watch a cooking show on cable. 

This is our overflow cabinet of science and math manipulatives that are not part of our current lessons. The bottom shelf also holds games that are not currently in use or require floor space to play. 

Below our science/math cabinet are Tom Sawyer's physical therapy supplies. The Bosu ball is used to train midline strength and stability, as well as for balance and coordination. The blue beam next to it is for him to lie on to stretch his chest wall.

Lastly, we have our multipurpose wall. On this wall is our "getting ready to leave the house area" (coats, shoes, etc.), Tim's microwave, library book area, the guitars (one has wandered to my son's bedroom), and a bookcase filled with all of our kids's medical records, continent boxes and seasonal books.

We are really fortunate that the room is large enough that there is still plenty of floor room for gymnastics, dancing or putting together a project that requires lots of floor space. 

What would you add to a tween/teen space?

Blessings, Dawn