Having a large space or an entire room dedicated to homeschooling is great. Sometimes I dream about having a house big enough to have an entire room just for our books and school supplies to do our projects and school work in. Not everyone has space for that though, and that's okay. You don't need to live in a large house to successfully homeschool. In fact, I follow several blogs about families that homeschool out of RVs or renovated buses, and my own family is currently homeschooling out of a small apartment. In this post I share some of my best tips for homeschooling in a small space.
Remember That Learning Can Happen Anywhere
Like I mentioned before, as awesome as it would be to have a whole room dedicated to homeschooling, it's not necessary (and it's a whole extra room to clean). One of the greatest things about homeschooling is that it doesn't have to look anything like public school. You can make it whatever you want. The idea that learning has to happen in a designed place is a public school construct. Really learning can happen anywhere.
We do school where ever we want. Many days we work on projects at the dining room table and we lounge on the couch while we read. Some days we work on the porch or even at the park. On busy days we listen to audio books in the car and do math at the grocery store. We learn by taking nature walks and visiting museums. The world is a classroom, use it!
Don't Be A Pack Rat
There is so much cool learning and crafting supplies out there, sometimes it's hard to not want to order all of it, but resist the urge. When you buy new supplies and tools for your homeschool, keep space in mind. Are you going to have anywhere to keep it?
When you get ready to purchase new curriculum and supplies, make a list of priorities. Don't purchase a lot of items you don't need. As much as I'd love to have a laminator at home, I haven't bought one yet because I can use the one at the library, and I'd rather use the space for extra craft and STEM supplies.
Always keep size and available storage space in mind when making purchases. I had wanted a big world map and a big U.S. map to hang on the wall, but since we don't have any wall space where it would work, I opted for large roll up laminated maps instead. They roll up and can easily be stored in the corner next to our homeschool hutch. We just pull them out and spread them out on the floor when we use them. And instead of a large wall chalk board, we have small lap size chalk boards we use.
Dedicate A Closet Or Large Cupboard Space To Homeschooling
All homeschoolers need some place to store their curriculum and school and craft supplies, even if it's it's not in a fancy school room. A closet or some cupboard space works just fine. We use an old hutch my great grandmother gave me that sits in our dining room. The important thing is that it has doors so that you can store your supplies out of sight.
Keep Things Organized
Organization is key in a small space, though I admit, I am not always on top of it. My favorite way to organize school and craft supplies like markers, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, ect... is in small plastic bins with lids. School pencil boxes are great too.
I keep different types of school supplies separated into different drawers and cupboards in our school hutch. The upper fold down cupboard holds all our boxes and bins full of pencils, markers, scissors, glue sticks, etc... The small drawers hold this years portfolios and workbooks. The large drawer is for learning tools the kids are allowed free access to like coloring and activity books, puzzles, and magnet sets. The lower cupboard is where I keep our curriculum books and science kits.
Rotate Books And Other Learning Tools
If your like us and own a ton of books and other learning tools like puzzles and craft supplies, try rotating things in and out of a storage space. Since we only have space for a small book shelf and one drawer for puzzles and activity books, we keep some books and puzzles in a large plastic storage bin in our hall closet. Every few weeks, I rotate what's on the book shelf and in the drawer with the stuff in the storage bin.
Don't Compare
Don't let societies idea of a perfect school space or anyone else's school space make you feel inferior about yours. Everyone's situation and needs are different, so everyone's learning space is going to look different. We don't have a fancy school room with bulletin boards and learning posters on the walls. We don't have school desks or a huge wall mounted chalkboard, but we do have a dining room table and a porch for messy projects. We have a comfy couch for reading together on, and an entire world outside our door for exploring. Some days our space is messy and chaotic, but what's important is, it works for us.
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-Homeschooling Resources and Curriculum: My Top Picks
-Homeschooling on a Budget
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Remember That Learning Can Happen Anywhere
Like I mentioned before, as awesome as it would be to have a whole room dedicated to homeschooling, it's not necessary (and it's a whole extra room to clean). One of the greatest things about homeschooling is that it doesn't have to look anything like public school. You can make it whatever you want. The idea that learning has to happen in a designed place is a public school construct. Really learning can happen anywhere.
We do school where ever we want. Many days we work on projects at the dining room table and we lounge on the couch while we read. Some days we work on the porch or even at the park. On busy days we listen to audio books in the car and do math at the grocery store. We learn by taking nature walks and visiting museums. The world is a classroom, use it!
Don't Be A Pack Rat
There is so much cool learning and crafting supplies out there, sometimes it's hard to not want to order all of it, but resist the urge. When you buy new supplies and tools for your homeschool, keep space in mind. Are you going to have anywhere to keep it?
When you get ready to purchase new curriculum and supplies, make a list of priorities. Don't purchase a lot of items you don't need. As much as I'd love to have a laminator at home, I haven't bought one yet because I can use the one at the library, and I'd rather use the space for extra craft and STEM supplies.
Always keep size and available storage space in mind when making purchases. I had wanted a big world map and a big U.S. map to hang on the wall, but since we don't have any wall space where it would work, I opted for large roll up laminated maps instead. They roll up and can easily be stored in the corner next to our homeschool hutch. We just pull them out and spread them out on the floor when we use them. And instead of a large wall chalk board, we have small lap size chalk boards we use.
Dedicate A Closet Or Large Cupboard Space To Homeschooling
All homeschoolers need some place to store their curriculum and school and craft supplies, even if it's it's not in a fancy school room. A closet or some cupboard space works just fine. We use an old hutch my great grandmother gave me that sits in our dining room. The important thing is that it has doors so that you can store your supplies out of sight.
Keep Things Organized
Organization is key in a small space, though I admit, I am not always on top of it. My favorite way to organize school and craft supplies like markers, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, ect... is in small plastic bins with lids. School pencil boxes are great too.
I keep different types of school supplies separated into different drawers and cupboards in our school hutch. The upper fold down cupboard holds all our boxes and bins full of pencils, markers, scissors, glue sticks, etc... The small drawers hold this years portfolios and workbooks. The large drawer is for learning tools the kids are allowed free access to like coloring and activity books, puzzles, and magnet sets. The lower cupboard is where I keep our curriculum books and science kits.
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| Our bottom cupboard where I keep curriculum books, read aloud books, and science kits. |
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| The top fold out cupboard is where I keep our basic school and craft supplies. |
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| The kids free access drawer is full of coloring and activity books, card games, puzzles, magnet sets, etc... |
Rotate Books And Other Learning Tools
If your like us and own a ton of books and other learning tools like puzzles and craft supplies, try rotating things in and out of a storage space. Since we only have space for a small book shelf and one drawer for puzzles and activity books, we keep some books and puzzles in a large plastic storage bin in our hall closet. Every few weeks, I rotate what's on the book shelf and in the drawer with the stuff in the storage bin.
Don't Compare
Don't let societies idea of a perfect school space or anyone else's school space make you feel inferior about yours. Everyone's situation and needs are different, so everyone's learning space is going to look different. We don't have a fancy school room with bulletin boards and learning posters on the walls. We don't have school desks or a huge wall mounted chalkboard, but we do have a dining room table and a porch for messy projects. We have a comfy couch for reading together on, and an entire world outside our door for exploring. Some days our space is messy and chaotic, but what's important is, it works for us.
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-Homeschooling Resources and Curriculum: My Top Picks
-Homeschooling on a Budget
Follow me on:
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