Homeschool Organization and Homeschool Room Ideas
Homeschool room ideas from a homeschool mom who has taught her children from the kitchen table and also in a set homeschool classroom. Sharing how you can have a wonderful homeschool year whether you have a designated homeschool room or whether you’re using your kitchen table as a homeschool table.
We have been homeschooling for over 10 years. In that amount of time, we have lived in six different homes. We homeschooled in each one of those homes. And in each space we learned to adapt where we were learning as well as where we were storing our homeschool curriculum and supplies. Sometimes I had the luxury of having a set room to homeschool in and other times our homeschool room was our kitchen. I am going to be sharing some tips and tricks on how you can make the most of your space regardless of how big your home is. Did I mention that our first home was a 100 year old, 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house? It was tiny and we made it work to homeschool in!
If you are looking for homeschool organization ideas and homeschool room ideas, you’ve come to the right place! Below you’ll find inspiration for a successful school year and some of my favorite homeschool room ideas. I hope you enjoy browsing through some of the creative ideas below that other homeschooling mamas have shared with me. As a homeschool mom I love being able to see other how other homeschool families organize their spaces. Taking a little time to make an organized homeschool room (or space) always helps to get me off on the right foot for a new school year. I hope you leave this post feeling inspired as you create a homeschooling area for your own family!
DO I NEED A DESIGNATED ROOM FOR HOMESCHOOLING?
No you do not! You can homeschool your children from anywhere and in any size home. Having a homeschool classroom is definitely a wonderful thing, but you can absolutely homeschool your children without one. In this post, we’ll cover the best ways to homeschool using the home and area that you have. Make the most of the space that you have! You do not need a lot of room to homeschool. You can create a functional space using any area of your home. Small spaces, a large space, a side of the room… it doesn’t matter! Anywhere works!
HOMESCHOOLING FROM YOUR KITCHEN TABLE
The majority of our homeschooling years we have homeschooled from our dining table. The key to homeschooling well from your kitchen table is to make sure that you have a designated storage space for your homeschool supplies. A few of my favorite items for organizing our homeschool supplies are:
- Rolling Cart: this cart has been wonderful for keeping our supplies organized. I have a cart for my older grades and a cart for my younger grades. Everything we need to learn for the day (minus curriculum) is kept in this cart. Things like crayons, pencils, pencil sharpener, glue sticks, our favorite wooden letters, calculators, rulers and more! During our school time I’ll roll the cart to the kitchen table. It makes everything conveniently right by the table as we learn. When we are finished with school for the day, we’ll put everything back in the carts and roll them to the corner.
- Storage Bins: each child has a storage bin that they keep their school books in as well as any supplies that are their own. We have a wire rack in our back hallway where we store the bins when school isn’t in session. Each child is in charge of bringing their bin to the table and also putting it away. It keeps us organized and everything accounted for.
HOMESCHOOLING FROM A DESIGNATED HOMESCHOOL ROOM
If you have a small room, home office or a secluded area in your home, you could easily turn that into a homeschooling room. Again, having a designated homeschool room is not necessary. But it sure is nice to have everything set up permanently! A few ideas if you have a larger area to claim as a homeschool room:
- Create a chalkboard wall with chalk paint. This is the chalk paint we have used before and it works wonderful!
- Put up a dry erase board .
- Install homeschool bookshelves along one wall. Below you can see a simple bookshelf that we put together using this kit. The bookshelf kit can be adjusted to fit pretty much any space!
BEST TIPS FOR ORGANIZING HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM
This past year I taught five grades, which meant I had five separate grade levels worth of curriculum. Putting everyone’s homeschool curriculum on one shelf or in one cabinet isn’t always the best option. Keeping curriculum separated by grade and student is best. Every homeschooling family is different, but I prefer to keep our homeschool curriculum divided into separate bins. Each child receives their own school bin and I have a bin for the subjects we do together (history, Bible, science and read alouds).
HOMESCHOOL DESK IDEAS
A kitchen table works wonderfully for homeschooling! But if you find yourself wanted a designated homeschool desk for your students, there are many different seating options. One school year I built a L shaped desk along the wall. It worked beautifully for multiple children at a time to work at. Here are a few other desks that you might find useful for homeschooling:
FAVORITE RESOURCES FOR A HOMESCHOOL AREA
- Rolling Cart
- Storage Bins
- Pencil Holders
- White Boards
- Computer Desk
- Homeschool Book Shelves
HEAR FROM OTHER HOMESCHOOL MAMAS
“We have a designated schoolroom/playroom because we love to learn through play! We store all our books & supplies on these shelves as well as most of our toys in the bins. I have 2 little ones so it is nice to have a space where I can watch them play as well as do schoolwork with my 2 older kids at the table. This is our favorite room in the house!”
-Lindsay Smith @littleschoolofsmiths
“Living in a very small church parsonage, we don’t have the space for a school room. We do most of our work around the kitchen table or living room coffee table! I’ve got one kitchen cabinet designated to school books. My best idea was to have a little dollar spot tray loaded with jars of markers, crayons, pencils, and the link that is stored away and gets pulled out as the “centerpiece!” Cute and functional! It’s not perfect but it absolutely works, and we’re close to the snacks!”- Tavia @everyday.smith
“I have rising 1st and 4th graders that I am currently homeschooling while we are stationed in Japan. One staple this year has been our theme based door! We change it up based on the kids’ interests, but your Home & Haven seasonal sheets have always been one of the best parts!! It is so easy to let each child grab an activity off the door and replace once it is finished!”- April @adm0417a
“When we moved into our new home this past February, I was beyond excited to get started on our homeschool space. We live in a 2-story log home with no shortage of lovely wood work and natural light. It also has the best little nooks which led me into choosing this one for our homeschool space. Our table, while some may call plain, is quite special as it’s the very same table I sat at when visiting my sweet grandmother at her house. It’s where we gather to do school and where our morning basket, art supplies, and other everyday items are kept. Our organization is simple: 1 cart is for our course materials while the other holds our extra resources and manipulatives.”-Kal-le Schrader @mama_schrader
“We live in a small house, but we do have a dedicated space for schooling. We still move around a lot though, and take full advantage of the couch, the porch, and the kitchen table! I have two bookcases in our school room for books (each kid has a shelf), and our room has a closet for toys and games, art supplies, and papers. I love my metal bins on the wall to hold papers for the week and papers that need to be graded. Each of my kids has their own magazine file at their desk, and I have two on my desk to easily grab my teacher’s guides and planner.”- Kristen Fleming @kristenafleming
“While my family is fortunate enough to have a dedicated homeschool room, it is not where most of our learning takes place. When I first began homeschooling, I tried hard to re-create a public school classroom at home with set hours and dedicated learning zones. Over the years, I have learned that homeschooling is less about the room and more about a lifestyle. Homeschooling takes place in the kitchen while my eleven year old measures out the ingredients for breakfast. Homeschool happens in the car listening to audio books on the way to run errands, cuddled up with a blanket in bed on cold winter mornings, and while barefoot in the garden on summer evenings. Some days our homeschooling space looks just like this- one child in the kitchen washing the dishes needed for science experiment, one child studying in our dining room, one preparing to play blocks with the dog, and one that can be heard reading aloud from the next room. Our homeschool space is wherever we are.”
-Leslie Adams @hyatthouserevival
“We do do most of our school around our dining room table and keep curriculum on a cube shelf tucked into a corner of the living room. The shelves next to the window give us quick access to art supplies. The glass cabinet in the dining room keeps computers, headphones and our current read alouds at an arms reach. If the older kids need a quiet space to focus they take their work to our sunroom.” -Becky Katzorke @beckyjanek
OTHER HOMESCHOOL POSTS YOU’LL LOVE
- FREE Homeschool Curriculum Planning Page: I have a FREE Homeschool Curriculum Planning page as well as 6 Tips on Choosing Homeschool Curriculum.
- Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum: if you’re trying to decide on what Kinder curriculum to use this next year, I go over what I have used in years past and also what Kindergarten curriculum I will be using in the coming year.
- How to Homeschool with Little Ones Around: if you have babies or toddlers in the home and will be homeschooling, this post is for you!
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