Twice now we’ve had a designated schoolroom — the first was when I tried to get the kids to share a room, and the second was when we moved into a house with a basement — but we always end up doing most of our schoolwork at the dining room table or on the couch.

Last year I set what I think was meant to be a linen closet in our bedroom up as my “office,” and now I just grab the day’s work from there and (when I’m being a responsible adult) reshelve it when the kids are finished. The only thing I’ve changed there from last year — aside from switching out some of our books — is the printer. It’s supposed to be a wireless printer, so I had it set up in the basement with the modem. But the wireless aspect stopped working about six months ago, and I’ve yet to figure out why. So now the printer has joined the rest of the supplies in the office-closet. Maybe it was just lonesome.

Of course, sometimes we do school other places, too, like hotel rooms or at homeschool co-op, museums or aquariums, the backyard, the zoo or the library. And sometimes our reading lessons take place in the coziest place of all: