-by Mimi Rothschild
Homeschool parents sometimes have a fantasy about their classrooms. “I’m going to make a schoolroom,” we say. We have it all planned: the bulletin board, the wall maps, the shelves for books, the cubbies we’ll build for the math manipulatives and board games. There’ll be desks or tables for each student, and a reading area. It’ll be our own perfect image of a school room, better than any we’ve ever seen in a school.

Or your fantasy might be quite different. Maybe you imagine a room full of cushions, with computer stations and a big screen TV for those educational videos, musical instruments and music stands, microscopes and other lab equipment in a safe area, and exercise equipment so you and the kids can do a little weightlifting to refresh yourselves between lessons.

Whatever your fantasy, the reality is likely to be very different. We have two computers in our living room, and piles of books on the desks and floors as well as on the bookshelves. There are bookshelves in the dining room, too, and there are days when studying happens on that table — but there are also days when the studying happens on the couch or on the floor or in the car.

What are the real essentials for a homeschool learning space?

• Workspace. A table is great. A group of small tables that can be pushed together for group work or spread apart for individual work can be especially great. But if you have to do everything on your laps, you’ll be limited in what you can do. Science and art lessons require workspaces that can be thoroughly cleaned, and where a spill isn’t the end of the world.

• Open space for movement. Being able to stand up and move around, to pace while you think, to get into different groupings to work on things together and alone allows you to use different approaches when different approaches are called for. Being surrounded by clutter and unable to move without moving things first is stressful.

• Storage space. Even if you do most of your schooling online, you still need some room for paper, science equipment, art supplies, and maybe even a few books. If you don’t have dedicated storage space for the things you need for homeschooling, you’ll waste time hunting for those things.

• Comfortable space. Some tasks, like reading a nice long book or drawing, require physically comfortable places where students can stretch out and relax while they work. In some households, this will be bedrooms or a treehouse. It doesn’t have to be a group space. There just has to be a comfortable place for extensive work.

• Writing space. I laughed the first time I saw my friend get up to write on a marker board while
working with one child. But I was wrong. You need a place to draw or write while explaining concepts. Lap-size marker boards work. Big chart tablets from the office supply store can work, too. It’s a matter of individual preference, and what kind of room you have to work in. But don’t reject the idea of a board on the wall just because it sounds like school.

With your schoolroom space set up – even if it’s a corner of the kitchen – you’ll enjoy school more.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.