We have had a wide variety of Homeschool “Classrooms.”
Our very first space was a small corner of their bedroom. Literally. Everything you see here, and that’s it.
We have homeschooled in a hotel room. (Multiple times, actually.)
In our next home, we started with a converted walk-in closet.
But eventually, we moved both girls into a smaller shared bedroom and combined my office with our homeschool space. This is my personal favorite setup.
We used that idea again in our next home after we moved. This house was the biggest home we have ever lived in, and had a huge “home office” space right off the main entrance and living room, so it was ideal. (We had their school computers at a table in the kitchen – but I can’t find a picture of that anywhere.)
When we moved back to DC in 2017 though, our townhouse was TINY. Super tiny! And the girls didn’t want to do their schoolwork in “my office” anymore – they said I was too loud and distracting while I was on the phone! (This was about the time we flipped our schedule so that they were working more independently while I was doing my client calls in the morning.) So, we ended up doing all school work at the dining room table. What you can’t see are a box of schoolbooks hiding under that chair in the corner! And a bookcase shoved into the stairwell where we stored everything else. (The girls loved it, but I hated it. I hated that it was always a complete mess, and a struggle to get them to clean it up so we could eat.)
Their computers however, stayed in my office, and anything computer based was done there. (This was so we could monitor usage of the internet and electronics better.)
Which leads us right up to now! As you know, we just moved, into an apartment. A beautiful, spacious apartment, but an apartment nonetheless. And space is always at a premium, but we’ve managed to make it work.
So, this is how our homeschool space looks now! (Real life, folks. Have you noticed the rollerblades just sitting in the corner of the hall there, not put away? LOL)
We have this wide hallway space that we’ve turned into our homeschool space. (The floorplans called this a “family room.” Duh. It’s not. LOL)
That bookcase that you see on the right is actually blocking one of the entrances to this weird, completely closed-in “balcony.” It’s kinda a useless balcony, so that bookcase contains “school-related” books, reference books, books I’m saving for next year, that sort of thing.
In between their desks is this IKEA Kallax (replaced the Expedit) bookcase, holding all the books and such for this year. The bins contain the art kits, various art books, and science experiment kits we’ve purchased for this year. The file boxes on the top hold all the handouts, copies I’ve made for this year.
This is our hall closet, and has turned into a “bulletin board.” Wall space in this apartment is definitely at a premium.
The inside of this closet holds my “collection” of school supplies, and OT equipment. I may have gone a little overboard at Staples before our move.
Let’s face it, through, Homeschool never truly confines itself to a desk!
Yes, most days this is what my dining room table has looked like recently!
Homeschool work on my bed, while I work (and fold laundry). The cat enjoys this too!
Moral of the story?
Make homeschool fit your home, not your house fit homeschool!
You can homeschool ANYWHERE, and in any type of home! It is perfectly OK if your homeschool space doesn’t look like magazine-worthy, don’t have a huge house, or if you don’t have a completely separate space!
Make YOUR Homeschool “Classroom” YOURS!
This post is a part of the Homeschool Success Hacks: Back to School Blog Hop series. You can find more posts and more participating blogger articles by going to this link. You can find my other participating posts here.
I loved this so much! The walk-in closet was my favorite! 🤣 And it’s so true, you can make homeschooling work anywhere!