“Education that creates a child’s future is not something grand.
“Just spending 30 minutes a day together in the living room is enough.”

The easiest way to fill 30 minutes of time together each day
14 years of living room education expertise that connects the value of "togetherness" to a child's "growth."

6 minutes a day.
This is the average amount of time a father in South Korea spends with his children.
According to past surveys, our country ranked last among OECD countries.
It's a shocking number that makes you doubt your eyes, but this reality is familiar to many parents in our country.
In the morning, parents are busy preparing for the day with their children, and in the evening, they are often exhausted from work and fall asleep.
I can't even remember how many days ago it was that I sat down with my child, looked into his eyes, and had a conversation.
What the numbers are saying is not simply 'time', but the absence of 'relationships'.
We live together, but we are not together.


"The Power of 30 Minutes a Day Together" is a book that shows how just 30 minutes a day, spent together with parents in the living room, can help children grow and shape their future.
For 14 years, the author couple raised their two children in an ordinary space called the "living room," turning it into a special stage for education, and thanks to this, they were able to send them to a gifted school.
The couple, who realized early on how precious the time parents can spend with their children before they go into their own rooms, wanted to make the most of that short but important time, so they started 'living room education'.
All family activities, from childcare and study to play, conversation, and relaxation, were carried out in the living room, creating natural times for parents and children to meet.


An unbelievable number: just 6 minutes a day.
For the authors, living room education was the simplest and most effective way to change this reality. This book suggests small but powerful practices: removing the TV and installing a family table in the living room; laying down carpet for children in the early elementary grades to comfortably read and play; setting up a desk for children in the upper grades to foster study habits; and setting up a computer in the living room and setting up a designated game time. This book encourages parents and children to spend at least 30 minutes together each day.
The authors' living room education method, which was introduced in the 2023 SBS Special: Change Part 2 Study Room Elimination Project and gained attention, will become a new and practical way of child education that anyone can follow.

As the children grew and changed, so did the living room.
At first we were together, then we gradually became apart, and now we empathize and care for each other just by being together.

Now that my first child is in college and my second child is in high school, I can proudly say this as a parent.
Education doesn't have to be grand.
That ‘time spent together’ comes before teaching.
And the space where all of that was possible was the ‘living room’.
《The Power of 30 Minutes Together》 is the most truthful record of another world our family has created together in our living room for the past 14 years.
I hope that with this record as a starting point, another world will open up in your living room.
I hope you and your children grow up together there, slowly and warmly.

--- p.009, from "Prologue - 30 minutes a day, our family's quiet miracle that started in the living room"

Living room education refers to all learning processes that take place in the living room, a space in the home where the whole family gathers together.
When we talk about living room education, some people ask if it means having children study in the living room.
But for our family, the living room is not just a place to study, and living room education also has a meaning beyond just studying.
The living room is where family members engage in all their daily activities, including studying, playing, reading, playing games, talking, and relaxing. Through all of these activities, parents and children grow together, and this process is called 'living room education.'
--- p.025, from 「Chapter 1 - Living Our Lives in the Same Space」

Some parents feel that they have to give up what they want to do in order to do something for their child.
I had the same thought for a while when my children were young.
When my first child was born, I thought I had given up my job because my husband was so busy.
But when I look back on my life, I realize that I didn't 'give up' on what I wanted to do, I just 'chose' something more important.
As we go through life, we have to make choices at every moment.
You can't do everything.
After getting married, having children, and starting homeschooling, my husband cut back on golf practice and socializing, and I cut back on work, hobbies, and alone time.
I made the choice to spend more time with my children and my family.
Those who want to make their living room interior pretty may think that they have 'given up' on living room interior by turning it into a study or a library.
But I haven't given up.
To ensure a comfortable and enjoyable time with your child, you have wisely 'chosen' an interior design suitable for living room education.
--- p.039, from 「Chapter 2 - Things to Consider Before Starting Living Room Education」

In our house, we frequently changed the location of the desk while doing living room education.
When the children were young, the dining table doubled as a desk so that they could often make eye contact with their parents in the kitchen. When they were in elementary school, overflowing with curiosity and inquisitiveness, the desk was placed in front of a wall or near the veranda window to help them concentrate.
As they entered middle school, the absolute amount of studying increased, but because the children's concentration improved, the desks were placed in the center of the living room.
In this way, the children went through various changes according to time and purpose and found their own places in the living room.
In particular, the first number was studied by taking online lectures at a desk with a computer in front of the wall.
I was worried that studying while looking at the wall would be frustrating, but I heard that it actually helped me concentrate better.
Second, Hyun studied at the desk in the center of the living room, which he said was nice because it didn't feel stuffy.
If you are going to place a desk in the living room for living room education, you can start by placing it here and there.
Try different positions, such as with your back to the wall, facing the wall, in the center of the living room, with your back to the veranda, or facing the veranda window. Be sure to ask your child where he or she can concentrate best.
Even if you decide on the location of the desk based on your child's wishes, if time passes and you want to change the atmosphere, you can discuss it with your child and change it.

--- p.068~069, from 「Chapter 3 - 3 elements that create a study environment」

When the children were young, we scattered books all over the house, including the living room, bedroom, kitchen, and veranda.
This makes the book more effective as it can be used not only as a reading tool, but also as a tool to stimulate the child's curiosity and create an environment where the child wants to read.
Even while playing or doing other things, children would naturally look at books hanging from their hands or feet.
The best place to spread out books in the house is definitely the living room.
Because it is not only where children spend the most time during the day, but also the largest space.
My husband and I would scatter a bunch of books around the living room and try to keep them as they were as much as possible, only cleaning them up when they got too much.
Of course, there are parents who think that, on the contrary, they should teach their children how to organize their books after they have read them to some extent.
In fact, the direction is a matter of choice.
In our house, the kids would freely take out books and look at them, but we were worried that organizing the books would be a hassle or inconvenient and might interfere with their reading, so until elementary school, my husband and I would organize the books after the kids went to bed.
--- p.117~118, from “Chapter 4 - How to Make Reading in the Living Room a Habit”

When filming our living room in “SBS Special: Change Part 2 Study Room Elimination Project,” the producer in charge asked our family, “What does a living room mean to me?”
The answer that the second Hyeon gave to this still lingers in my mind and heart.
“I want to say that the living room is the heart.
Just as the circulation of blood begins and ends in the heart, my family always starts and interacts in the living room, and we end the day there, so I think these aspects are similar to the heart.”
The heart pumps blood that comes in at low pressure throughout the body at high pressure.
As Hyun said, the living room is really like the heart of our house.
Because it is a place that recharges the entire family when their energy is depleted and on the verge of discharge, allowing them to move forward with renewed vigor.
--- p.150~151, from 「Chapter 6 - The living room is the heart」

My husband and I have naturally developed horizontal relationships with our children through living room education.
Since being educated in the living room, children have been able to talk to their parents honestly and freely, ask for favors, and sometimes even give advice.
To get to this point, we spent time together in the living room, talked to each other every day, and made a constant effort to accept and empathize with what our children were thinking and what they liked.
In any case, the first step is the most important.
First, wait for the child in the living room, and when the child appears, I hope you will be the first to open your heart and approach him.

--- p.163, from "Chapter 7? The Best Place to Reconstruct Family Relationships"