Practical and Simple Homeschool Room
There are two words that are crucial in my life: simple and practical. Here’s a simple homeschool room that meets all the practical needs of my family.
There are two words that are crucial in my life: simple and practical. I need a simple homeschool room that meets all the practical needs of my family. I bet you do too!
Having moved 6 times since I started homeschooling, coming up with practical ways to make our homeschool space work has been a fun challenge to say the least.
A few years ago, I wrote about my journey from the traditional dedicated room to a more family centered atmosphere in The Tale of Two Homeschool Rooms. If you are still trying to decide which approach to take, you might really enjoy my thoughts and ideas from that post, too.
My Simple Homeschool Room —>
I’ve actually been working with this setup now for over a year, so forgive me for just now getting around to sharing it with you. When we moved a year ago, I bought this 4×4 shelf from IKEA. Since it’s purchase, it has been living happily in the dining room.
I love that setup because it’s the central part of our home. We don’t need an extra table in the house, it works for food and school just the same. (Kinda crucial when you are dealing with smaller spaces.) I also love that I can be in the kitchen cooking while calling out dictation or spelling words.
The Homeschool shelf —>
So what’s on this shelf anyway? Let’s start at the top right. I have our amazingly wonderful best-printer-ever (seriously saves on ink). Next to that is our multi-age studies. These are the things that the whole family works on together. We use: Apologia science, Mystery of History and Who is God Worldview.
Of course, we also have 2 dictionaries and computer paper on this shelf. One of the best features of this shelf is that it is only 4 feet tall. Which means that my girls can easily reach the items on the top when needed!
Shelf 1 contains our student cubbies. I’ll explain those a little more below. Each child has their own and the end is reserved for my 4 year old. Since he just has one simple box, we also keep the world’s best pencil sharpener (yes, it’s actually endured 3 years of kids without issue) and a 3 hole punch in his cubby.
Shelf 2 houses these sweet boxes to cover up all the junk. Ha! Seriously, in these boxes we keep the messy stuff like math manipulatives and extra pencils, glue sticks, and folders.
Let’s look at shelf 3, starting on the right. This is my “preschool fun” cubby. Basically, there are some letter games and puzzles there for the little guy. He tends to like to do “big school” at the table and will opt for a coloring book or something written, but he does often get done with that quickly and will sit an enjoy these learning activities.
After preschool fun is my teacher’s guides. I’m not really much of a fan of the teacher’s guide except for the answer key. It’s very helpful for this busy mom to have all the answers laid out before me. I can still usually figure it out without the key, but this is a huge time saver. Right now we have textbooks for next year in the third cubby.
Last but not least, I keep some of my favorite books series here that way I can grab them quickly when a child needs something new to read.
Shelf 4 starts with a paper shelf on the right. Here I keep card stock, plastic sleeves, gold envelopes, etc. Next is the white boards and finally I keep a box of supply boxes. In these boxes I store markers, extra colored pencils, and other fun supplies that we don’t keep on the table everyday.
Student Cubbies —>
Maybe it’s the classroom teacher in me, but I simply have not found a way to give up personal space for each student. It’s crucial for helping them keep their materials together and know where to find what they need each day. The white magazine boxes are from IKEA and I usually update a photo of them for each school year to make them fun.
In the white boxes, they keep their work texts. Basically, anything they write in. I really prefer this method to having a bunch of papers strung all over the place.
Each student has a notebook. It’s divided by subject and stores important tests or papers that are keep-worthy. I don’t keep all the work texts from year to year because there simply isn’t space. Also included in the notebook is the morning checklist and daily school checklist.
I bought the little black box at Target. It has been great for keeping books that are perfectly on the child’s level right at his fingertips so he can read them at any time!
Supply Central—>
This one thing has been a lifesaver in our homeschool. All you need is a few mason jars and some kind of container to keep them together. I bought mine at Target.
Before I started this, there was always a lack of supplies. Now everyone knows where to go and where to put it away… AND it’s easy. No need to figure out who it belongs to, either! Although we could remove it, I have to admit that it sits in the center of the table all the time. (Yes, even during dinner.)
One note about size. This basket barely fits the 4 mason jars that I have in it. At first I was kind of annoyed, but then I realized the beauty in it. There really isn’t room for a mess. My kids have been at camp all week and no one cleaned this jar up before I took the photo.
Doesn’t it look nice? That’s why I like it! Just enough room for everything seems to make it a much better fit!
What are your best tips for creating a simple homeschool room? Share them with us! If you have a blog, be sure you leave a link to your post so we can see it!
Through practical tools & Bible-based resources, Kim Sorgius is dedicated to helping your family GROW in faith so you can be Not Consumed by life’s struggles. Author of popular kid’s devotional Bible studies and practical homeschooling tools, Kim has a master’s degree in education and curriculum design coupled with over 2 decades of experience working with kids and teens. Above all, her most treasured job is mother and homeschool teacher of four amazing kiddos.
I like it. I like the black and all the baskets/bins. We are doing school in the dining room and I decided I need to design a classroom that cleans itself.
When you get that designed, please share Beth! I’d love one that cleans itself. haha
I LOVE it!!! I’m all about keeping things as simple as possible, and I’ve always loved the look of the Expedit shelves. It’s beautiful! Nice work! 🙂
Love how compact it is! I am just starting to plan our school space — never thought about them needing their own “space” — love your idea for that!
love simplicity, but we have a lot more art supplies. how do you store those if you have them?
Hi Lauren,
I have a separate place for most of our art supplies. We keep them in a coat closet. You can see more about that in this post. https://www.notconsumed.com/2012/09/14/organizing-school-supplies/
Wow, this is almost exactly like our set-up! We also have the black expedit in our dining room! The very top holds 3 baskets for oversize things (we made some paper tepees, horse & carriage, etc this school year), the 4 cubbies are for my 3 students and one for my teacher manuals, the next row of 4 cubbies holds: science books (Apologia & a basket containing binoculars, field guides, and journals), the next cubby has our circle time items (binder with poems for the year, hymn books, Apologia Who is God, character books), the next has our history books, and the final cubby in row 2 holds my preschool books, plans, etc.. The 3rd and 4th rows of cubbies have baskets that hold activities for my toddler and preschooler (busy bags, toobz, books w/cd, etc.). There are a number of these 8 baskets that are empty still waiting to be filled (I’m going to be participating in a busy bag swap this summer, so that’s where they will be
stored).
Oh, and I also store my pencils,,colored pencils, paint brushes, scissors, etc in glass canning jars in a basket! They are just on the other side of my dining room on top of another cabinet (where I keep math manipulatives, paper, stickers, glue, etc).
Love your space, so organized!
Thank you for recommending a pencil sharpener! The one we have is terrible and shopping for one blindly on Amazon is overwhelming, especially with conflicting reviews. I trust that you wouldn’t steer your loyal readers wrong, so I’m going to order one! Great post on homeschool organization, thanks for sharing!
I definitely wouldn’t steer you wrong. This pencil sharpener has been a lifesaver for me and I know many other homeschool moms with 4+ kids who swear by this model, too! I’m sure you’ll love it! It’s worth about $2K in my opinion. Haha
Where did you get the bookshelf? Would love to copy it!!!!!!
I got it at IKEA.
This is exactly what I was trying to explain to a recent client. Thanks for the visual!
I’m taking a break from organizing my homeschool room to read about YOUR schoolroom. Looks so nice and organized! Better get back at mine:-)
I just love that. haha. 🙂
Hi…Love your space! I am still working on ours. One thing that might work for someone is something we have done…our schooling happens in our kitchen “nook” and our table is 30″ x 60″ , we were able to purchase a sheet of plexi-glass that exact size at Lowe’s Hardware (or they can cut a specific size for you) and I have loaded the table with verses we are learning, and just a lot of things that don’t have to be moved away because we can write while seeing them through the clearity of our cover! This is working wonderful for us…hope it helps someone else.
Brandy, that is an excellent idea and much lighter than a sheet of glass! Thank you for that awesome tip!!!
Kim, your blog is so helpful as are some of the downloads you’ve given away and the ones I’ve purchased!
For all you IKEA shoppers… lucky dawgs! I know I hear people say it’s cheaply made, but I’m like, yeah, but a least it’s cute! I’ve got Wal-Mart and Big Lots so… I gotta get creative!
So sorry you don’t have an IKEA Anne. I do have to say I love it. And actually, my IKEA stuff has withstood far beyond the shelving that I got at Walmart, Target, and even Staples. 🙂 I think it’s pretty good quality, personally!
Cute idea! So do you write the verses on the plexiglass with dry erase or do you stick them under the plexiglass? Good idea!
Hi. I love your ideas. We are getting ready to move again… with the Navy… and are going to a much smaller house. I love your IKEA storage solution. Just out of curiosity, where did you get your table? We are going to buy a new one and yours looks perfect. Thanks.
The table is from IKEA, as well. It’s a wonderful table. It has two leaves and can seat up to 12 people!
Can you tell me more specifically what style it is? I am dying to get the table 🙂 Thanks so much!!
Here is a link: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70116262/
I love the bookcase. I wish that my setup could be this simplified. But, with my 5 bambinos, I kinda went full force as soon as I knew I was going to home educate, collecting resources up to the 12th grade level. I do have a large shelf, for all that I have in my learning room, but I like the idea of picking one color for storage baskets, etc.
I love your table and chairs. I see from another comment that you got the table from ikea. Did your chairs come from there too? And do you remember the names of the table and chairs?
Thanks so much!! We are getting ready to set up our dining room as a school area and your post helps so much!!
Yes, the table is from IKEA, too. 🙂 Here it is: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70116262/
I love the simple classroom setup and would love to do the same thing in my home.
Off subject…I have to ask; how on earth are you a single mom, and able to provide for your family all while homeschooling too? How do you support your family financially? I don’t mean to be intrusive, I’m impressed, and wonder if you may have the key to help me bring in a little much needed extra for my family.
By the way, thanks for this much needed blog post. It is really helpful for me, needing to see how everything is organized, especially since I am really new to all of this. Thanks again!
Not an offensive question at all! I understand completely why people are curious about this topic. Here is a post that shares some info: https://www.notconsumed.com/can-a-single-mom-homeschool/
Thank you…Thank You….for posting this and coming up with this very functional homeschool cubbies. This is my third year homeschooling and we school in the dining room as well. Within the three years our homeschool supplies have grown. I tried a few things but it always looked unorganized and I was always going from here to there to find what I needed. Then I saw your Pinterest photo and I ran to Ikea. Well, I could not be happier it is so organized and everything has a place that all I could do is stare at it 🙂 Thank you again.
Hey! I love this set up but don’t you have more books. I am over run with them. Where are they? Please help.
If I am not using the book for that year, I store them other places. Teacher’s guides and curriculum all go in a box by grade level in the attic. Then I fish it out if needed before the year starts again.
Thanks for sharing. Tin cans function as well as mason jars, are free, and on hand! Fold down any sharp edges by going over them again with the can opener. Take the labels off for the shiny tin effect or have the children decorate them. I use large soup cans (for white board markers), medium olive cans (one each for pencils, mechanical pencils, pens, colored pencils) and small tomato paste cans (extra mechanical pencil leads and spare erasers). I have an enamel compartmentalized bucket (formerly an easter basket) for scissors, glue, glue sticks, tape, staplers and staples, an abacus and most-used manipulatives. Also have the electric pencil sharpener. All are on a hutch with easy access as the children have child-size office chairs with casters from IKEA that easily roll to the supplies when they need them- very comfortable! They are also useful for moving easily from the kitchen table to the computer desk. (warning, wheeled chairs become vehicles for racing around the kitchen and may result in children using them to play bumper cars) This set up works great for traditional-school students as a homework center too, if you have both types of students.
Where is your table from? And how do you keep it scratch free with homeschool? I love it!
It’s from IKEA. 🙂 I wouldn’t say it’s scratch-free. This table is well loved and many years old, but it still looks pretty good!
Your homeschool room looks great! I am sharing your ideas on pinterest
Beautiful space! It looks really functional, too. I don’t homeschool my kids, but our homework table actually has an individual magazine holder for their work in progress papers, sitting on the table and that works great for us. I just wish that our table wasn’t pushed up agaisnt the wall becuase it would be easier for me to jump in & assist each kid from across the table, instead of only across the table. Thanks for sharing your room! I hope it continues to work really well for your family!
Love this! So nice a simple and it seems to flow with the rest of the home that I see.
Hi! I’ve enjoyed many of your posts over the years. Thanks for your commitment to writing and sharing! You’re amazing! I love your bookshelf. Where did you get it from?
Thanks!
Thank you for your sweet words. The shelf is from IKEA.
What size mason jars are you using? I love your ideas. I actually did our kitchen/living room with similar shelves that I bought at Target by Threshold. They are most likely not the quality of IKEA, but we don’t have one nearby and I just needed to get something done to organize. We had stuff going everywhere and couldn’t find what was needed. We spent more time searching than schooling. They were also within my budget. I had already purchased some very inexpensive cardboard magazone holders a few months ago and they were a perfect fit on the 13 inch cubbie shelves. You are a true inspiration. I am currently working part-time, in my last semester of a master’s program, and homeschooling 2 children. I hope I can figure out how to work full-time and continue homeschooling once I finish my degree. I have help from my oldest son and my mom, or else I wouldn’t be able to do it.
I think they are pints. And thank you for your kind words. I’ll be praying for you!