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OK! So you have all these kids (or just a few), and you have all these school books for them. Then you need pens and pencils and paper. And, of course, you need a dry erase board and pens. What about crayons and colored pencils, scissors and glue!! Also, you need manipulatives. You are a homeschooling family, but what do you do with all this stuff?!!
It’s a little easier when you start with just one child who is in kindergarten. This is how we first started homeschooling. At the time we had a guest bedroom in which we could fit a desk and chair with a white board up front. I attached alphabet cards as a border around the room and stored my other things in the closet. Then we had more children enter the ranks of homeschooling, and we were able to add one, then two more, desks to that space.
After that, there was no more space in that room for desks. Not only that, but we needed that space as a bedroom for our expanding family. Thankfully, the enclosed front porch we had been renovating was completed, and we were able to make that our new “school room”! That is where we still do our school today. Over the years we have changed out desks to our current setup of 6 matching desks for the kids and one small teacher desk for me. We have also added bookshelves in the corners and handy organizers on some of the desks. Finally, a large plastic set of drawers holds other supplies.
I would like to give you a tour of our school room to give you ideas of what can be done. I will describe to you how I organize the space, how I store things efficiently, and what little tools really come in handy when we are homeschooling. Of course, everyone has their own space to work with; each is a different shape and size. Get creative and gratefully organize the space God have given you!
Curriculum shelves
This set of book shelves is actually in my husband’s office. The four bottom shelves are where I store all my curriculum that we are not currently using. I have it sorted by grade and sometimes by subject for high school. As a new school year is approaching, I go here to see what I already have for a specific grade and what I will need to purchase.
Teacher’s Desk
This is not a necessity, but it is very helpful to have a small place where I can store flash cards, a calculator, dry erase boards and other items below. The little organizer on top is the place where my students put their completed papers that need to be corrected or graded.
Student Desk
This desk belongs to one of my boys. He has a coveted corner spot with two window sills! Note the open “shelves” in this type of desk, extra storage space on the floor for books, and even the toothbrush holder for pencils!! Except for the youngest students, I have each child keep his student books in his desk.
Paper Organizer
This unit has 8 shelves on it- one for each of my children!! As a child is working through the school year, they put finished and graded papers here. When the pile gets too large, I weed through it, deciding what I want to keep and what can be discarded.
Personal Size Dry Erase Board
This little item is one of my favorite tools for one-on-one learning between me and my children. They can sit right next to me at my desk, and I can have them practice their spelling words or their math problems or handwriting…. right in front of me! This would be a great thing to have even if you don’t have the space or resources for a larger board on the wall.
Manipulatives
These are just a few of the items that I use for the lower grades’ math class. Learning to tell time and to count money may not be taught in public schools any more, but I still feel that they are valuable skills to have!! As an added bonus, these types of things add hours of enjoyment to children not quite old enough to be formally schooled. (Of course, not for kids who are so young that you have to worry about choking!)
Dry Erase Sleeves
This is probably my number one homeschool hack that saves me so much money!!! These can be purchased many places, including Oriental Trading Company. I even found them at the Dollar Tree at one point. (If purchasing some of these, look for the side opening kind, which can be used for pages that have not been torn out of the book.) My children use these sleeves to take tests or quizzes or even worksheets. We leave them on the page until I grade them. Then they are removed, erased, and ready to go again. Meanwhile, the test or quiz is unmarked and ready for the next child to enter that grade. *These also give me incentive to grade the papers fairly quickly after they are completed. If they are left lying around too long, things begin to get stacked on top of them or brushed against them, and the written answers accidentally erased!
Large White Board + Heater
We were blessed to get this large, wall-mount white board from a friend. On the top right-hand corner I always write the date and the lesson we are on that day. This board really comes in handy when I am teaching a math class to a couple of children at once. I can work the problems up there or have them come up and try the problems. Then everyone can see at once.
The heater is necessary, because this is our front porch. Although it is enclosed, it is not connected to the heating system for the rest of the house. We manage through most of the Wisconsin winters with this electric heater, but we retreat into the house on the coldest of days in the dead of winter.
Bookshelf and Storage Drawers
The top shelf of the bookshelf contains all of my teacher books that we are currently using. I have dividers between each grade level, so things are easier to find. The bottom shelves have reference books, including dictionaries and a set of encyclopedias. The storage drawers hold most of our extra supplies, like pens, pencils, dry erase pens, notecards, etc. They don’t always stay perfectly organized, but the drawers keep things within easy reach.
Windows
I don’t actually recommend having this many windows in a school room. My students in the outward facing desks have many distractions, especially when a lot of things are happening that day on our street!!!
Messy Desks
This picture shows the large window that is between our porch and our dining room. The front door is to the right of this picture. I left this picture for last, because it is a reality check for all of us! These two desks belong to some of my younger children. They tend to accumulate junk and messes all around them. I could have had them clean it up really nicely just for the picture, but that isn’t reality. I am very much against the social media and other venues that try to make everything look picture perfect when they really are not! This area is always in some level of disorder. It is a work-in-progress, right?! When you get discouraged and begin to think that someone else’s life is perfect, remember that isn’t true. We all have areas of trouble that we need to work on. Just keep laboring for the Lord!!
I hope you have enjoyed this tour of a homeschool school room. I recognize that everyone’s situation is different. Whether you are teaching your children around the dining room table or you have a separate building devoted to your children’s education, make the most of it and be grateful for what God has given you!!
