Ok, so it's taken me over a year to finally post pictures of our homeschool room. Yikes!!
Seriously, it's taken me this long to get it functional and neat enough to actually take photos of! It's a working space so when we're in it...it looks like it.
Honestly though, I feel so blessed to have a space...messy at times or not. Since the beginning, our homeschool working areas have taken on several looks. Largely our area was relegated to the kitchen table and a roll around cart my husband made where I stored our daily work items. We bought and made bookshelves to hold our ever growing home library. Having to be creative as to where to place it all because our home then was very small. At it's maximum our master bedroom served as an office, bedroom AND nursery...whew! Busting at the seams with five little ones was an understatement.
Thankfully, we did have a basement (without an indoor access though) for storage and craft area, but it just wasn't convenient enough to school in daily with little ones who needed nap breaks, snacks and bathroom visits. The kitchen and living room were the most efficient for me to continue with daily tasks while supervising lessons, etc. In reality this IS where most families set up homeschool and it works great! Especially for moms who have to juggle many duties all day long.
So, is it necessary to have a homeschool classroom per se? Absolutely not...and that's the beauty of the lifestyle. You fit your schooling around your home needs, space and finances. The traditional classroom was a model for handling large groups of children...and to keep them under control more easily. Can you imagine thirty children allowed to sit where ever they wanted? Wouldn't work...but it does at home. Each person has their own learning style and can often concentrate better in an area that accommodates this.
For instance, my oldest son loves the couches in our homeschool area. He likes to spread out on them to read and for me to read to him. My oldest daughter likes to use her desk for writing but will even disappear into her room for some assignments. Just depends on the day and what we're doing.
No matter how large or small the space is for learning it can always be made more learning conducive. Using colors, posters, organization bins, maps, lights or whatever can to give any area a creative and cozy feel. Ditch the institutional wall paint and furniture and experiment with more life-like accommodations.
My desks sits right next to the only window in the den where I love to peer outside and see our cows in the pasture or watch the kids at "recess". Our learning space makes mommy happy too...and we all know about keeping mommy happy, right?!
This was our new homeschool space just days after we had moved in. A rather daunting task of getting the tons of book, folders, craft items in place and with really no plan as to where to start.
So here's the before....yuck.
...and ta da!! After!
Definitely a cozier feel than the white tile and bare walls.
There are learning stations and desks so that the children can spread out with their work. The older kids have their own workspace on the counter/bar area where they can leave out their work. This being so nice for me since using the kitchen table I was used to packing and unpacking their work daily.
We have a computer center for the children and a desk space for me. We will be replacing their computer soon, freeing up more desk space. Course with laptops, ipads and ipods the necessity of a desk space is not as critical. We may just keep the old clunker for the little ones to continue messing around on.
Cubby shelves used as exploring space for outdoor finds, lace cards, puzzles, blocks. Easy to access and constantly changing for kiddos for imaginations. Also, a white board for teaching lessons.
Book shelving of some sort is a must have for a schooling family. I grew up around tons of books in our home and started purchasing many old classics from used books stores when my oldest was small. It's wonderful to see him enjoying these pieces of literature now. We usually keep the books for the older kids and adults higher up on the shelves and the picture books for the little ones where they can reach. Since we are not big television watchers and do not have cable, our flat screen fits nicely between two of the shelves. It's not the center of attention and blends in with the books and games that we'd rather have occupy our time. I also have a bookshelf devoted to teacher's materials that the children are not to touch. This houses manuals, and the kids folders from each grade, so I can easily access them when needed. Manipulatives are kept high so that little hands can not get to them and I can dole out on-by-one. I used to let them help themselves, but tired quickly of lost/broken pieces.
We use the clothes-line style for hanging our history time-lines and displaying art projects. Serves as a great drying contraption for all projects as well.
My favorite centerpiece is the use of an old pull-down classroom map doubling as a window blind. Found it on eBay for a great price and perfect size. I was out of wall space for a map AND needed a covering for the window...this serving the perfect dual role!
The craft closet is also convenient. A place where all the messy stuff can be in one spot. The bar sink was a nice bonus for quick clean-ups. I'm sure the designer of the home had different intentions for "entertainment" amenities, but they serve us quite well in our homeschooling capacity. :)
I'd like to say that the room is a finished product, but as the needs change so will the space. For now it works for us and I love having a place for our family to learn together.
Hope you enjoyed this peek inside our home school!
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