Today in sharing how to turn a house into a homeschool space Part 2, I want to share a few things that worked for me in my homeschool area. As the boys grow older, some of the things I shared in How to Turn a House Into a Homeschool Space Part 1 stopped working for us.
Sometimes I miss the separate crafts area when they were little. Not having it now reminds me of how quickly a learning space can change.
No longer was it important to have so many posters and visual aids up on the wall. Things they needed to learn could now get sized down to letter size and put into their individual notebooks as a reference for them. Too, as you learn each kid struggles differently in subjects and needs individual references and helps in their own notebooks.
Also, even though I had a learning area upstairs where we homeschooled when we moved into our present home, it lasted just a few short years too. Again, moving to a different room was one more sign that my boys have grown older because we didn’t have to go upstairs to a separate formal area for part of our day. Good study habits and a regular routine were now formed. Easing up on such a formal area is a plus when your kids start taking responsibility for learning.
What’s The Difference Between Relaxed Learning Places & Play Areas?
It was time to move all of our homeschooling downstairs. We took over the formal dining area.
It’s important to me that you know from the very beginning of homeschooling that I have always had a time in our day where we moved out of the school room to a more relaxed place like the living room.
Balancing our day with formal and informal spaces has been the key to good study habits for my boys.
In the beginning my school room played an important part in teaching my sons how to learn even at times when they may not have wanted to learn. Though I am all for relaxed areas, as adults not all things in life indulge us in our whims and moods. Some days I was just real business-like with our school.
If our school had been in all relaxed areas every day or all formal areas every day, I am not sure if my kids would have self-motivation for learning. My kids won’t know everything by the time I finish homeschooling, but they will know how to learn.
As your kids get older, learning at the table has a huge advantage over just learning in a space your kids may choose on their own too.
It’s important that the height of the work table encourages neat penmanship, they have good light and adequate cool air. Sometimes my boys had a tendency to close their doors in their rooms and the warm, still air made for more sleepy time than learning time. I would change that in the day and insist they come back to the table. Learning how important their environment is to good study habits, they naturally chose the table to do their formal studying and writing at as they have hit the older years.
Sometimes folding a learning area into a home can look somewhat out of place but there is no need for it to look that way. At times I miss the cutesy posters on the wall that I had when they were young. But one huge plus that I am loving is that as they got older, the homeschool area could be organized the way I want it as the teacher.
{No longer organizing for small kids, set up the area in a way that is good for you and your older kids.}
{I used clear shoe box containers for small item storage and toothbrush caddies (new of course) to store pens, pencils and another toothbrush caddie for the scissors.}
{I never use the binder the teacher’s manuals come in because well it doesn’t match. (tee hee hee). Because I like to label and color coordinate my room as much as I can, I choose binders that will last longer and inspire me.}
Like I told my boys, you have to be a manly man to use the area while mom uses some of her favorite colors like orange passion and hot pink. On a serious note though most of the time older kids express their creative outlets in their individual rooms so the school area design can be all about mom. I am loving that!
Look at a few of these tips that helped me to make our last learning area be part of the main living area.
Don’t always look for conventional pieces.
For example, if you’re looking for a bookshelf don’t think you have to look just at bookshelves. Think: What do I need and how much space do I have? One year, I used shelving that belonged in a garage. Look at greenhouse storage, baby furniture storage (even if you don’t have babies, this furniture is compact and small), garage storage and even dorm furniture.
Just remember the least inexpensive storage options sometimes are storage pieces made for other places in the house that may not be viewed so beautiful. A coat of paint and some hooks and it could look like it belongs in the house.
Store crafts in less expensive containers that say they belong in the kitchen or bathroom.
For storing crafts and all those other small bits and pieces of learning tools look outside of storage containers that belong in a kid’s room. For example, I have the most beautiful color choices when I look for bathroom storage in my homeschool room.
Look for other things that could double as bookends.
I won’t lie here because maybe it’s a fettish of mine that I love bookends. My weakness, but I will pay top dollar for something that makes my heart go pitter patter.
Look at these things I rounded up to show you where I would start looking for some things when I get to design our next homeschool space.
It says it’s a soap dish, but it looks like a smokin’ hot paper clip holder to me.
It says it’s a bathroom tumbler, but looks like a hot color for storing my pens and pencils to me.
It says it’s a combination toothbrush holder, but looks like a streamlined beautiful way to organize my kids pencils and markers. And another one in a pretty color!
It says it’s a small wastebasket, but it looks like a chic way to store rolled up maps or artwork. Be still my heart because I found orange.
It says it’s a toothbrush holder, but it looks like scissor storage to me.
It says it’s a cosmetic carousel organizer, but it looks like a great way to store school supplies in the center of a table.
Turning a house into a homeschool space means using things that we normally would use each day to redesign, reinvent and rethink how we create learning spaces. Do you have out of the box organizing pieces you will be trying out this year?
Lastly, I will be doing a 5 Day blogging series next week that I am so excited about. You know I like reminding you when I go on 5 day rolls. It is 5 Days of Clever DIY Hacks For Your Homeschool Spaces.
Hugs and love ya,
Linking Up @ these fabulous places:
The Thoughtful Spot | Hip Homeschool Hop |Turn It Up Tuesday|Titus 2 Tuesday|Good Tips Tuesday|
I have been home schooling my youngest child who has Down Syndrome for the past 7 years. I m constantly looking for ways to make better use of our space- especially since our older two children have moved out. Thanks for the great tips!
Hi Carmen,
When the dynamics of the family change and you have room, it is exciting to create new learning spaces. Enjoyed your comment and thanks for being here!!