Tips For Setting Up Homeschool Space

If anyone tells you that it is not important to carve out a specific space in the house for homeschooling, I will venture to say that they have not been homeschooling for an extended period of time.

 

Yes, I do admit that you can successfully homeschool without designating a specific space in the home for homeschooling, but after 16 plus years of homeschool experience, I think that carving out a specific space for homeschool learning will make the process of homeschooling much more successful.

 

Studies show that children just feel much more confident and secure when there is routine and predictability in their lives. I can attest to that wholeheartedly. From a very personal experience, I know that having a designated space in the home as the homeschool space creates a sense of stability and routine.

 

This does not mean that on some days you can’t choose to take the learning outdoors, to bring an element of freshness to your homeschooling routine, or that you may not sometimes move the learning to the kitchen table for example for convenience.

 

What I am suggesting is that to establish predictability and routine, that it is very important to carve out a specific space in the home designated as the homeschool space. And let me be crystal clear, this does not have to be a whole room in your home, as I understand that this is not always possible. It could simply be a space in a room specifically set apart and dedicated as the homeschool space.

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So, keep reading as I break down the specific tips for setting up a homeschool space.

 

Tip # 1

 

Make the homeschool space appropriate for your child/ren’s age level. Try to keep your child’s age in mind when thinking about designing and creating your home school space. When my boys were toddlers for example, in preschool up to second grade, the homeschool space consisted of a small room in our downstairs area with the cutest little desk and chair set similar to this one that I had bought for this purpose from Ikea. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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We had also found a beautiful little rug similar to this one, outlined with a ruler that we had set under the desk. That was all we needed at the time. ​​​

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As the boys got older and outgrew the little Ikea desks, we naturally gravitated to doing school upstairs at the coffee table where I could use the easel and the wall as a makeshift chalkboard. No special furniture needed, we simply sit around on the couch and use the coffee table as our desks. This serves every day as our homeschool space, and has served us well for many years.

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Tip # 2

 

Make sure you have at least one storage space similar to one of these in your homeschool area where you keep all items related to homeschooling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend you store and keep all your textbooks, spiral bound notebooks, pens, pencils, dry erase boards and markers etc. in one space in your homeschool room. This will save you a lot of hassle and stress believe me.

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Very early on in our homeschool journey, I had failed to purchase a simple storage unit to store all of our homeschool supplies and I would inevitably find myself running up and down the stairs looking for a particular book or item that I needed.

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I spent about $100 for a large storage shelf such as this one at Ikea and was rewarded with a less stressful homeschool process simply because as the old saying goes, everything was in its place and there was a place for everything.​​​​​​​​​

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This storage unit should be placed in the homeschool space. So for example, all of our homeschool materials are currently stored in the living room near the coffee table where we conduct our homeschooling every day.

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A piece like this one, makes a beautiful addition to any Preschool/Kindergarten Homeschool Room when the children are younger.

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Tip # 3

 

Make use of storage bins and baskets for storing additional items related to homeschooling, such as rulers, crayons and markers, etc., which will come in handy for easy and swift clean-up. Baskets are great because when clean-up time comes around, it is easy for everyone to participate, even little ones. All it entails is gathering up the items that were taken out and tossing them back into the basket.

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Tip # 4

 

Make sure that you take time to clean up and tidy up the homeschool space after every homeschool day. There is nothing worse than waking up to a mess and trying to establish a sense of order as you tackle the subjects for the day. You don’t have to spend that much time cleaning up the homeschool space. But a little every day makes a huge difference. Deep cleaning can be reserved for a particular day as I explain  in this podcast episode.

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Tip # 5

 

KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! There is absolutely no reason to run out and purchase bulky and expensive pieces of furniture to create your homeschool space. I have made some recommendations here. but as I mentioned before, we spent about $24 (now about $49) 16 years ago at Ikea when the boys were little for the cutest little desk and chair set which served us well for many years, and prior to this we simply homeschooled on the carpet or at the coffee table.

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So please remember to keep it simple. I think that all of us busy homeschool mom and dads would wholeheartedly agree that life is complicated enough.

 

Setting up your homeschool space does not and should not add to life’s challenges. What is important is that you designate a specific space or area that will serve as a homeschool space.

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