Tips When Setting Up Your Homeschool Room

If you’re doing this for the first time, setting up your homeschool room can sound overwhelming. (And I’m guessing, even more so if you were forced into homeschooling unexpectedly because of the pandemic; I feel you, momma!) But having a dedicated, well-planned space for learning is worth all the time and effort!

Here are some tips you may wanna consider when setting up your homeschool space.

1. Find a well-lit room

If you are blessed to have a room with lots of natural light, use that room! Aside from having lower utility bills (since you won’t be using your lights much!) studies have also shown that being in a place with natural light helps boost your Vitamin D levels, improves productivity and keeps people happier.

Some ways you can improve the lighting in your room:

• Put mirrors around to bounce of the light
• Paint your walls light (preferably white!)
• Move furniture such as shelves, that could block out light

Make sure you also consider if the room gets morning or afternoon sunlight (definitely prefer the morning sun!) and if it gets too hot in the area or not.

2. Invest in good quality furniture

The biggest things that would take up space in your room will be the furniture you will use. It is important to invest in these items because you will  be using them a lot.

Here are my top 3 best investments for our Homeschool Room:

Kid-sized tables and chairs

Having a set of table and chairs that is just the right size for your child allows them work on activities independently. Make sure you invest in one that is durable and will last for years.

We used to have the small kiddie desk and chair set similar to the one in Ikea BUT my son quickly outgrew it. He also had a hard time working on art projects because there wasn’t enough space.

Eventually, we decided to upgrade to a bigger table, which I got from Toys for Your Tots. I reused the chairs that came with the previous set but the new table, which is wider and a bit higher worked like a charm! (Toys for Your Tots also sells kiddie wooden chairs that match the table)

Front-facing bookshelves

If you want to raise readers, this is a must! I got this front facing bookshelf from the same store where I got the kiddie table,Toys for Your Tots, and it’s really one of my best purchases.

I’ve noticed that my kids would naturally pick up the books on their own whenever I place them on this shelf! And I’m not surprised. Displaying books this way is very inviting! So I’ve learned to place titles here that I want them to read for that week/month. It works everytime! 😉

Modular shelves

If you’ve seen my previous posts about our Homeschool Room (2017 version + 2020 version,) you’ll see that it has undergone a few transformations over the years. But one of my constants has always been these modular shelves by Simply Modular.

Because they are modular, you can rearrange the planks to make them fit according to your needs. When Luke was smaller, we even used it as a desk (as you could see here.) These are very great investments because you can make it work for you in many different ways and can be used long after your kids are done homeschooling.

3. Make sure there’s a place for everything

And I am not just talking about keeping the place clutter-free (although that is great!) I’m also talking about making sure there’s an assigned place for everything. This also helps the kids be more independent when they know where to store all the items afterwards.

Oh, and by the way, when I say to have a place for everything, I mean, EVERYTHING. Some of the things that we have stations, shelves or boxes for:

• Cleaning caddy: With a box of tissue, wipes, rags, alcohol spray and a mini dust and broom set.
• Work-in-Progress and Currently-on-Display areas: Where they can put pending work so it’s not just placed at random areas around the room (most common cause of OUR clutter)
• A closed cabinet full of materials: Open shelves are good for easy access items but for everything else, I like to keep them inside a closed cabinet so that it doesn’t distract the kids.

You can see more of our homeschool room here.

4. Use your walls

Make good use of the space on the walls whenever possible. For us, this means including:

• Pen holders screwed on the walls: This helps sort out all our writing materials and also it saves space on top of our shelves.
• Printables: Right now we have a couple of Mandarin printables on the walls to aid in memory and character recognition.
• Artwork display: Motivate them by displaying their own creations regularly at a dedicated area in the room.
• Educational diagrams or posters: We have a flags poster up on our wall and a magnetic human body magnet puzzle board!

Disclaimer: I’m not saying to MAXIMIZE your walls, because I also believe it’s not healthy to have so many things going on. Having enough white space is also good.

The key is to find the right balance that works for your family.

5. Make it comfortable and welcoming!

In the end, what’s important is how our children will feel when stepping inside this room. Remember that this will be like their little home within your (literal) home since they’ll be spending hours here over the years.

Some ways you can make it more comfortable and inviting:

• Consider putting playmats: We love having our Bonjour Baby XL mats in the room because they encourage the kids to work on the floor. It also helps my kinesthetic learner whenever he finds the urge to randomly do jumping jacks. Haha.
• Always keep the room tidy: It doesn’t have to be picture perfect 24/7 but keeping the room tidy before your start your next session will help bring in an atmosphere of order and peace. (Here are ideas for easy ways to get the playroom organized!)
• Involve the children: Allow the kids to give inputs whenever possible. This encourages them and allows them to have more positive memories about the space.

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RELATED POSTS:

• Homeschool Room: 2020
• Ten Easy Ways to Get Your Playroom Organized
• How We Homeschool: 5 Years Old
• Daily Schedule at Home: Life as a Homeschooling, Work at Home Mom

And if you’re a first-timer looking for more homeschool resources, there are a lot of useful websites online that you can utilize such as this one from Study.com, which offers online instruction for kids from 3rd to 12th grade.