A common question amongst new homeschoolers is “how should I set up my homeschool space?”
Everyone’s homeschool journey looks different, and so does their homeschool setup. There is no right or wrong, so long as you have the essentials and aim to create a welcoming, organized space that motivates your little learners.
In this post, we’ll give you eight homeschool room setup tips to create the right learning space for you.
How Do I Set Up a Homeschool Room?
First things first. While Pinterest will show you a mind-boggling number of drool-worthy homeschool set ups, try not to let those pins stress you out or make you feel like your space needs to be picture perfect. Having a homeschool space that is straight out of a magazine doesn’t make your homeschool journey better than anyone else’s.
Okay, so, where do you begin? The first step is deciding what space you will use. Do you have a separate room you can dedicate to homeschooling? Or will you be using another space in your home?
If you are like me, it’s really about where your supplies will live, since homeschool doesn’t always happen between the four walls of a classroom anyway. Think about what you want to include in your space based on your child’s age, and what you have room for.
8 Homeschool Room Setup Tips
Work With What You Have
No matter what size space you are working with, rest assured that you have everything you need to create an amazing homeschool experience. Learning can come to life anywhere, and many homeschool families gather around the dining room or kitchen table everyday.
Infact, we have a designated homeschool room and we still end up dragging supplies downstairs to cuddle on the couch or do schoolwork while we are eating lunch.
Repurpose items you already have, and take advantage of shelves and organizers to make your small space feel big.
Create An Inviting and Clean Workspace
This is super important, because nothing throws off well-intended motivation like a messy workspace.
Wherever you are doing school, try to minimize what you keep on your workspace. I’d suggest setting up shelves nearby, where all of your supplies and books can be housed and pulled out as needed.
It’s okay to keep a little storage caddy of pencils and other basics on the desk, but everything else is really better off in an accessible caddy or bin.
Stock Up On Storage
My next tip is to organize, organize, organize.
Whether it’s bookshelves, cubes, drawers, or boxes, make use of anything and everything that’ll help you stay organized. Having a home for your items not only keeps your area clean and tidy, it really helps foster responsibility when your kids know where to put their supplies away each day.
If you are homeschooling multiple children, it is helpful to set up a basket or cubby for each child’s workbooks and curriculum.
Use cubes or bins to organize things like flashcards, manipulatives, craft items, and smaller learning items like math games or puzzles. Just be sure that you label the bins for easy access.
Organizers are also great for creating systems to ensure that your day runs smoothly. Workboxes are great for planning out your week and preparing your child’s lessons ahead of time. No more running around last minute and printing worksheets before your coffee has even set in!
Make Use of Wall Space
Shelves are your friend, and so are hanging organizers and baskets. Throw in journals or clipboards, books for the day, and other goodies.
You may want a dry-erase board or chalk wall for teaching and working out problems together. I find that my children are less intimidated when working on a dry erase board, since mistakes can easily be erased and corrected. This is also a great creative outlet for your kids, offering plenty of room to doodle and engage their imagination.
Speaking of doodles, make sure to designate a little area for displaying your kid’s “work of the day”, whether it be a writing sample they are proud of or their newest art creation.
Posters and maps make great additions to your homeschool space, and you’ll likely want a calendar of some sort to track the date and any important dates coming up.
But be careful not to fill up your walls with too much clutter, which can overwhelm your space and be distracting. Remember, less is more.
Last but not least, don’t forget to hang a clock in your school space. There are lots of options out there for teaching clocks, which really help your child who is just learning to tell time.
Avoid Unnecessary Clutter
If I had to pick one pet peeve of mine, it would be CLUTTER. Clutter is my arch-nemesis, and yet somehow I can’t keep myself from adding to it as I stroll down the dollar section of Target. The struggle is real, am I right??
Keeping clutter in check means being mindful of what you are bringing into your home, and using a little will power when your friend tells you about the latest and greatest learning gadget you should check out.
I’m not saying not to buy new things, but in this Amazon-era of instant gratification, it is easy to get carried away and have a box full of new goodies at your door within a few days.
Before you buy something, ask yourself what need it will serve. Is it something you can use for months or even years down the road? Or will it come to rest in the back of the closet, after only one or two uses?
To stay on top of your “stuff”, aim to clean out your space at the end of each semester, as your child’s learning needs change and some supplies become obsolete.
Keep Your Papers Organized
If there is one thing that clutters our school space faster than you can blink an eye, it is paper.
I’m talking school papers, construction paper, and random artwork and crafts the kids make throughout the day.
For sanity’s sake, it’s important that these things also have a place to live. You’ll want a place for your child to keep current projects, and a place for them to put papers and other work when complete. Finally, designate an area for work that you have already seen and looked over, but that needs to be put away in a binder or file cabinet.
Paper trays or shallow bins are great for organizing everyday work, or if you are short on space, hanging wall files will do the trick too.
But remember, avoiding clutter means you’ll have to keep an eye on the papers you file as well. Go through these papers and art pieces periodically, organizing what you really want to keep and discarding the rest. Trust me, I know, it is so hard to throw away your child’s artwork.
Artkive is a great service that will turn your child’s artwork into a stunning picture book or mosaic, or check out Artbox and Keepy in the App Store for more great options.
Every so often, I like to get my kids involved and make a pile of the work they are most proud of, and a pile of goodies they would like to send off to friends or grandparents as little “thinking of you” cards in the mail. Everything else gets tossed or repurposed for things like scissor practice or a craft collage.
If you want to keep a hard copy of their work, I suggest keeping the best of the best in a file cabinet or portfolio that boasts just the highlights of each year.
Keep All Your Daily Items In Easy to Reach Places
Stuff all of your everyday items like crayons, extra pencils, glue and scissors in a rolling storage cart or organizer on a nearby shelf. This will keep things organized and within arm’s reach, without cluttering up your workspace.
If you are using a bookcase or cubby organizer, keep these types of supplies on a middle shelf, about eye level for your kids.
Magazine organizers or paper sorters are great for organizing your paper supplies, like lined paper, construction paper, and printer paper.
Maximize Corner Space
Don’t underestimate the value of corner space.
Even if you are not limited on space, utilizing corner space can really open up your room, making it more inviting and less cluttered by big, bulky furniture pieces.
Look for desks and even bookcases that are specially made for these areas.
Or, throw some pillows and cushions in the corner for a fun reading nook that your littles will love snuggling up in. We tend to gravitate to this area in our schoolroom when we need a change of pace in between subjects, or when the kids are feeling a little under the weather.
Final Thoughts on Homeschool Room Setup
Remember that your homeschool room setup doesn’t have to be over the top. Keeping a well-organized space is one of the most important aspects of a thriving and fun learning environment.
Have fun with it and get your kids involved in setting up your space. It may take some fine tuning here and there, but with a little work and creativity, you’ll have a homeschool space that fits your family.
