Our Homeschool Room
Homeschooling definitely does not require a specific room.
However, my (embarrassing) need for order requires me to have a homeschool room.
The beauty of homeschool is it is so much an "each to her own" way of life. I LOVE that about homeschooling.
My kids don't always do their school work in the room, but that is our home base, so to speak.
The downside to our homeschool room is that it's the first room you see when you walk into my house. We converted our never-used formal living room into a much more functional space. Life in South Florida is small, so we did not have the luxury of hiding away the school room.
I do not love the aesthetic side of the room being so visible, however, 65% of the people in our home are children....so it is important to me that they get to live in their house (and not just let it look nice for guests).
Because the room is so visible, it's also important for me to maintain some sort of beauty in the midst of learning. So many homeschool rooms I see on Pinterest are lovely and amazing, but the amount of primary colors, posters, and the like do not really work for the flow of my house. I like simple and clean. My house is mostly never clean because of that 65% factor, so I control what I can.
So after that unnecessary disclaimer, here is my newly updated homeschool room. I change it around quite often, because I have issues. This layout makes the room feel much bigger, so I may stick with it for awhile.
When looking for homeschool ideas, this post is where I found most of my inspiration.
I went with black because white would be destroyed in four seconds in my house. The downside to black is that Ikea does not make the cute drawer system in black. Also, I bought shorter table tops because I have no spatial awareness and did not think my room was big enough for the bigger tops.
Currently, my tables are separated into two desks. I change this up from time to time because I actually like it both ways.
The overview:
After reading The Way They Learn (a great read), I realized that a bean bag would be a great addition to our school room....mostly for Chloe, who prefers to learn in comfy environments.
It will also double as extra seating during football season when all of our friends come every Saturday!
I got it on Amazon (using my reward points from my credit card...SCORE!).
We all LOVE it. I actually sit in it a lot, too.
My sweet girl can't help but be in pictures :).
Nearly cut off in the picture is display wire (from Ikea). My kids create art work regularly, so this is an easy way to change it out often.
The easel is also from Ikea (it is a chalkboard, whiteboard, and has paper on the bottom).
Next to it are plastic drawers that my sweet, crafty friend, Abi, gave me. We fill these with all of our craft stuff. Though it pains me and my love for order, I keep craft items handy....because my kids create art on a a nearly daily basis (even the boys!).
The lighting is bad on this because I used my phone, but this is my desk. Behind it is the white board I used last year when my room was configured differently. I left it up to use for personal stuff. I was watching a simulcast by Jennie Allen while working :).
Our desks and chalkboards. I wish these were as big as the white board, but they're not....so I had to get two. I framed them myself (which was....interesting....let's just say it involved the guy at Home Depot telling me, "You know, you really should have your husband do this.")
Another view of all of the desks. As I said, this configuration gives more space....before, we did not have the open floor space (for dance parties and such).
Can you see the stars hanging in the window? The black piece is the moon. This is my sweet girl's way of beautifying our home. She is often doing stuff like this. And I absolutely love it.
While I don't love this room being so visible, I do LOVE the view. Nature inspires me, so I love being able to look outside often. Plus, it provides tons of sunlight.
Precious girl.
Another craft creation....photo booth props :)
There is my homeschool room. It will never be this clean again :).
However, my (embarrassing) need for order requires me to have a homeschool room.
The beauty of homeschool is it is so much an "each to her own" way of life. I LOVE that about homeschooling.
My kids don't always do their school work in the room, but that is our home base, so to speak.
The downside to our homeschool room is that it's the first room you see when you walk into my house. We converted our never-used formal living room into a much more functional space. Life in South Florida is small, so we did not have the luxury of hiding away the school room.
I do not love the aesthetic side of the room being so visible, however, 65% of the people in our home are children....so it is important to me that they get to live in their house (and not just let it look nice for guests).
Because the room is so visible, it's also important for me to maintain some sort of beauty in the midst of learning. So many homeschool rooms I see on Pinterest are lovely and amazing, but the amount of primary colors, posters, and the like do not really work for the flow of my house. I like simple and clean. My house is mostly never clean because of that 65% factor, so I control what I can.
So after that unnecessary disclaimer, here is my newly updated homeschool room. I change it around quite often, because I have issues. This layout makes the room feel much bigger, so I may stick with it for awhile.
When looking for homeschool ideas, this post is where I found most of my inspiration.
I went with black because white would be destroyed in four seconds in my house. The downside to black is that Ikea does not make the cute drawer system in black. Also, I bought shorter table tops because I have no spatial awareness and did not think my room was big enough for the bigger tops.
Currently, my tables are separated into two desks. I change this up from time to time because I actually like it both ways.
The overview:
After reading The Way They Learn (a great read), I realized that a bean bag would be a great addition to our school room....mostly for Chloe, who prefers to learn in comfy environments.
It will also double as extra seating during football season when all of our friends come every Saturday!
I got it on Amazon (using my reward points from my credit card...SCORE!).
We all LOVE it. I actually sit in it a lot, too.
My sweet girl can't help but be in pictures :).
Nearly cut off in the picture is display wire (from Ikea). My kids create art work regularly, so this is an easy way to change it out often.
The easel is also from Ikea (it is a chalkboard, whiteboard, and has paper on the bottom).
Next to it are plastic drawers that my sweet, crafty friend, Abi, gave me. We fill these with all of our craft stuff. Though it pains me and my love for order, I keep craft items handy....because my kids create art on a a nearly daily basis (even the boys!).
The lighting is bad on this because I used my phone, but this is my desk. Behind it is the white board I used last year when my room was configured differently. I left it up to use for personal stuff. I was watching a simulcast by Jennie Allen while working :).
Our desks and chalkboards. I wish these were as big as the white board, but they're not....so I had to get two. I framed them myself (which was....interesting....let's just say it involved the guy at Home Depot telling me, "You know, you really should have your husband do this.")
Another view of all of the desks. As I said, this configuration gives more space....before, we did not have the open floor space (for dance parties and such).
Can you see the stars hanging in the window? The black piece is the moon. This is my sweet girl's way of beautifying our home. She is often doing stuff like this. And I absolutely love it.
While I don't love this room being so visible, I do LOVE the view. Nature inspires me, so I love being able to look outside often. Plus, it provides tons of sunlight.
Precious girl.
Another craft creation....photo booth props :)
There is my homeschool room. It will never be this clean again :).
I love it! I wish I had a space to do that when my girls were little...
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