Summertime in the O’Leary family is often moving time. Being part of a military family means living in many different houses. One of the biggest challenges, once we’ve selected our new home, is to figure out where all the furniture will go. I like to make a scale drawing of our new place as well as scale drawings of our furniture. Moving little pieces of paper furniture around on a piece of paper sure beats moving big, heavy pieces of furniture around a room several times until you’re satisfied. Perhaps you’re not moving in the near future, but you’d like to rearrange some of your furniture to make the most of the space you have available in your house. This can be a great homeschool family project.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A tape measure
• Pencil and paper
• Graph paper (Graph paper can be downloaded from the Eclectic Homeschool website.)
• Crayons or markers
• Glue or tape

First measure each of the rooms you wish to rearrange. Be sure to include the measurements of all closets, doors, and windows. Next, draw each of the rooms on a separate piece of graph paper. Let each square stand for ½ foot. Make sure you mark each of the doors and windows. Then measure the furniture (top only). Draw each piece of furniture on a piece of graph paper. Be sure to label each one. Color each piece of furniture. This makes it easier to see on white graph paper. Use a different color for each room. Green for the living room, for example, red for the master bedroom, etc. That way, if a piece falls on the floor, as they often do, you will know which room it belongs to. Have each child who is old enough measure his or her own room as well as the furniture. This is great practice in measuring. Cut out each piece of furniture and have fun arranging them in the rooms in which they belong. Be sure to keep your scale in mind. For example, if you have one square separating two pieces of furniture, remember that’s only 6 inches. Once you have decided on the best arrangement, glue or tape pieces into place so you don’t forget. Now you’re ready to use those muscles and move the furniture. But you should only have to do it once, knowing that the bed, couch, or whatever will fit where you planned to put it.

This is a wonderful math project for kids of all ages. Even the youngest students who are not old enough to measure accurately can help color, cut and arrange the furniture. They can see that a 4-foot table will not fit into a space that is only 3 feet. Older students can practice measuring and making scale drawings. Have them practice their computational skills by figuring out the square footage of each room. Perhaps you would like to get new carpet. Have them figure out the cost.

For those who like to dream, they can use what they learn to build their own dream home. Have them draw their dream floor plan on graph paper. Figure out the square footage of each room as well as the total square footage of the house. Then have them figure out the approximate cost of building the home. By calling a local builder or realtor you can probably find out the average cost per square foot to build a home in your area. Multiply that by the total square footage of the house to get the cost of building the home. Once they figure this out they just might find out why Mom and Dad have a home that’s smaller than the one they might have selected.