How We Manage to Home School in a Small Space
We live in a two bedroom apartment. We lost a bedroom when we made our move last year. That extra bedroom served as our home school room over the last five years. I don’t necessarily miss the extra space because we enjoy schooling in the open. It’s a bit freeing learning in the middle of everything.
How we make homeschooling in a small space work for the better:
· The adults are okay with our dining area looking like school is taking place. First off, I would suggest removing expectations of “not looking like” you home school in the main living space. We have maps and periodical table hanging on our walls. If anyone visits us, there’s not a doubt that we home school.
· Invest in storage. We have several bookshelves. One bookshelf is in our living room. The books on this shelf are books that the girls read for leisure. We have two bookshelves in our dining area. One holds our curriculum and reference books. The shorter shelf holds their daily material and resource books for enrichment activities. We use our coat closet to house things we do not use daily. We have two three drawer bins which hold art supplies, extra school supplies like pencils, and construction paper. Each of the girls also has a drawer for keeping folders and extra stuff that isn’t used daily.
· Purge often. Do not read that as throwing away or selling something that you will use again in the future. We have two learners in our home so when my youngest moves past something I often pass things down to my friends who have younger children. If something doesn’t work for my youngest, I don’t hold on to it for a long time, but if something doesn’t work out for my oldest I will hold on to it if it could possibly be a fit for my younger daughter.
· Think about purchases. I try really hard not to purchase something that we do not need or that is really similar to something we already have. It’s so easy to buy many resources especially if they are on sale, but if you have a similar resource consider if you really need a new piece of curricula or can you use what is already on your bookshelf. New books take up space. J
· Put things away when they are no longer in use. I really don’t like when work books get wet. The pages are wrinkly and dirty, and although they still can serve the purpose it makes me cringe. Making sure to put away things that are no longer being used keeps the main living area from looking cluttered, and it also keeps materials neat.
When we first started our home school journey in our house, we home schooled in our kitchen. I loved it. We had big windows that brought in lots of sunlight. We moved to a room because I had collected too much stuff. Being back in a smaller space has really helped me to be efficient and prioritize the girls’ needs. Homeschooling in a small space isn’t too bad.
Tell us a bit about your learning space in the comments.
Join me and the rest of the Crew as we share tips for home school parents.
