Small Space Homeschooling

This week, our long-awaited student desk chairs arrived and completed our improvised classroom. Now, I can give you a little virtual walk through our small space homeschool.

I have always preferred a separate space for school activities. I know some families perfectly manage to homeschool their kids at the kitchen table (kudos!), but that has never worked for us. Mostly, because sometimes the kids are still working on their projects when it is time for me to prepare lunch or dinner. 

You do not need a separate school room (though it can be great for keeping school items in one place). Instead, a designated area where the kids can learn and work is all it takes. Now, in the past, we had a desk per child and we arranged them two by two, forming a rectangle that was conducive to collaboration. Unfortunately, this had two disadvantages: first, the kids had to turn their heads when I explained something to them on the whiteboard; second, desks can be a harbor of too many things stuffed into drawers and then conveniently distracting from school. In other words, the desk interior was always a mess and notebooks, worksheets etc. disappeared into a "black hole". This year, we decided to try something new and I researched student desk-chairs. They finally arrived this week and so far I could not be happier. They are sturdy, prevent the kids from slouching, and you can easily arrange them in whatever constellation you need. Plus, with the little baskets underneath the seats, they provide just enough storage space for books, notebooks and other school materials.

Besides desks/chairs, you do not need too much additional equipment for a successful learning environment. I use a wall-mounted whiteboard when I teach something to the kids. We have a simple printer to print or copy materials (ours only prints in black and white, though sometimes being able to print in color would be great). It is useful to have some kind of organization for the school materials: shelves, bookcases, a cupboard, boxes, you name it! I like to color-code my kids' school supplies: each kid has its own assigned color for notebooks, pens, folders etc. This way there is no discussion as to which item belongs to which kid.

If you are interested to see some more pictures, feel free to visit my Pinterest board!

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I hope you found this little "walk-through" helpful. What does your homeschool space look like?