A designated homeschool room seems like the most practical solution for doing school at home. But I actually prefer to homeschool without a school room.
Until a few years ago, we lived in a large farmhouse-style home, with plenty of extra rooms that could have been a school room.
However, we only used a school room for our first year of homeschooling. That was 13 years ago, and we’ve chosen to homeschool without a homeschool room every year since.
You Don’t Need a Homeschool Room to Homeschool
New homeschool moms may feel like they need to have a special room to do it right.
If you feel like you should have a designated room to homeschool, but you really don’t have the extra space in your home or the resources to buy more furniture, then I have good news:
You don’t need a special room to homeschool successfully.
I Prefer Not to Use a School Room
The number one reason I prefer not to use a schoolroom is that my children need their own quiet space to focus. When I work individually with one child, it’s a distraction to the others if they’re in the same room.
The chatter of younger siblings is especially distracting to my older children. With homeschooling, there are multiple grade levels, so everyone is working on different things.
My teens, in particular, do a large portion of their learning independently. They need quiet to think and process what they’re learning. It can be very frustrating for them if there is too much noise. So what’s the solution? They work in different rooms.
Another reason I chose not to use a schoolroom is that I didn’t want to recreate a classroom environment at home.
Our first year, when my oldest daughter was in preschool, I did set up a homeschool room.
Before having children, I was a classroom teacher. So, I tried to recreate the school environment at home. I quickly realized that I didn’t want this formal feel to our homeschool. I didn’t want to be a classroom teacher with my daughter.
So, we transitioned from a formal classroom environment to a comfortable home learning environment.
I started doing our reading time on the living room couch, not in the schoolroom. Instead of the little school desk in the classroom, we used the family dining room table for writing practice and math.
There’s nothing wrong with having a designated homeschool room and school desks, but for me, it was a mindset shift.
My desire is to have a relaxed atmosphere where learning is incorporated into family life.
I didn’t want school to be a separate, formal part of our day. I shifted my mindset from classroom teacher to mom tutor. And moving out of the school room helped me to accomplish that.
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Where Do We Homeschool?
In short, we spread out all over the house. My two younger children work in the dining room and on the living room couches with me. Generally, these two work well in the same space for independent work. But they split up for one-on-one instruction time.
My middle schooler works on the kitchen table and my high schooler works on a desk in her bedroom. These areas of the house are quiet enough for them to focus.
They all take turns on the computer in my bedroom office for online coursework and teaching DVDs. Also, we use the outside picnic table when the weather is nice and we want a change of scenery.
How to Stay Organized Without a Homeschool Room
Without a schoolroom, the organization of homeschooling materials is crucial. You need a place to put everything without taking over a whole room in your house with schoolbooks. So, I just spread them out. I have 3 shelves in different areas of the house to store all our homeschool supplies.
Storage for materials we use daily:
The first area I use to store school books and supplies is the dining room. A tall shelf holds everything we use daily. I found an inexpensive shelf from WalMart, which has enough shelves for each of my 4 children and one for me. Everything my children need to do their schoolwork is stored here. I keep all the teacher’s manuals and school supplies we use regularly on the top shelf.
Storage for literature and reference books:
The second area I store school books is a shelf in the living room. This shelf holds our favorite literature and reference books. If I can’t fit all our books on this shelf, I know it’s time to get rid of some. If you’re interested to know which books made it onto our favorites bookshelf, check out this post.
Storage for extra curriculum, portfolios, art supplies, and games:
The third homeschool storage area I have in my home is a hall closet with built-in shelving. This closet holds all the materials that I am saving for younger children to use later on. It’s also where we store educational games, craft supplies and portfolios from previous years that I’m required to keep in order to comply with homeschool laws.
4 Benefits of Not Using a School Room
1. You can homeschool even if your house is small.
You don’t need a bigger house to homeschool. We currently live in a modest-sized home, without any extra space for a homeschool room. However, even when we had a large home in the country, with plenty of extra rooms, we still didn’t have a designated schoolroom.
2. It forces you to keep the clutter down.
The more space you have available, the more stuff seems to accumulate. We need way less than we think we do to homeschool successfully. If you’re not careful, a designated schoolroom will fill up with unnecessary clutter very easily. When you homeschool in the living spaces in your home, you’re forced to only keep homeschool materials that you actually need. You’re naturally more selective about the items you bring into your home because you’ll have to find a place to store them.
3. Highly decorated classroom walls distract children from learning.
You may think your child has to have the walls decorated with educational posters and themed bulletin boards to create an effective learning environment. However, this study done by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that children in highly decorated classrooms had more difficulty learning and focusing. When the educational decorations were stripped from the walls, the children scored higher on tests and spent less time off-task.
4. It simplifies your school schedule.
Lastly, it’s easier to schedule your day when you don’t have to factor in shared school space. You can work one-on-one with any child at any time since it won’t be a distraction to others in the same room. I’m able to rotate from child to child as they need my help. Additionally, I don’t have to whisper.
Some homeschool moms struggle to find space for a schoolroom, especially if they live in a smaller home. I wanted to share with you about my preference not to use a homeschool room to encourage you that you don’t need to have a schoolroom to homeschool successfully.
What about you? Do you find it easier not to have a schoolroom? Comment your preference below.