I’ve shared personal stories about my childbirth experiences, discussed the challenges of blogging, and written about using menstrual cups. However, I haven’t talked much about homeschooling, even though it’s a significant part of my family’s life, because I didn’t think most people would find it interesting. But when a picture of our homeschool room became my most popular photo on Instagram, many of you wanted to know more about it. So, I decided to share some details about our homeschool setup.
I hope some of the tips in this post will be helpful to you, even if your children aren’t homeschooled. I have two kids who are not yet of school age, so I’ve filled our homeschool room with activities to spark their creativity and keep them occupied while the older kids are learning. These activities would be great for little ones who want to be involved in the learning process.
One reason we chose homeschooling is because we believe we can provide a more detailed and diverse education than the typical school system. For us, learning happens all the time, wherever we are. We might focus on specific subjects during the day, but teaching is continuous. We incorporate elements of Montessori teaching, a couple of traditional learning curriculums, hands-on activities, and field trips. While we appreciate the Montessori philosophy, we prioritize spending time outdoors, whether it’s in the treehouse or going for walks, instead of just sitting in a classroom. We also encourage our children to choose the activities they want to do and the subjects they prefer to learn first each day.
We try to include travel in our learning as well, since experiencing new places and cultures is much more educational than just reading about them. So, while I enjoy our little school room, I truly love the time we spend learning outside of it too.
As we gear up for the school year and arrange the classroom, I’m sharing my homeschool ideas. I hope you’ll share yours in the comments so we can learn from each other. Our homeschool room reflects the variety of teaching methods we use and the different ages of the kids. All of my kids are currently under 10, so the environment is quite different from what older children might need.
I followed the “Workstations” idea commonly used in Montessori schools to design our classroom. The idea is to have different stations so that my children can move around and each have their own space for independent learning. Here’s an overview of the stations we have and how we use them:
For the younger kids, many activities are stored in bins, not shown in pictures, but they have a blast with them. We encourage the kids to focus on one station at a time and clean up before switching to another. I’m not a stickler for Montessori perfection, so sometimes multiple stations are a bit chaotic, but generally, having stations helps reduce mess. Our little kids’ area also includes a kitchen set with wooden food and an art easel, which they love.
Although we encourage outdoor and travel-based learning, we do follow a hands-on curriculum for the older children, and have even set up learning stations for them as well. They rotate through these stations to keep things manageable.
The decorations in our classroom are pretty straightforward. While some of my homeschooling friends have truly impressive classrooms, I opted for simple items from the local teacher supply store due to time and energy constraints. We have an alphabet poster around the room and some learning posters that we swap out during the year. As school starts, most decorations are children’s artwork or projects, which change often.
Structured learning is important, but my favorite part is what I call “Real Life Learning.” These are lessons that teach essential life skills. This could mean helping at the store or market, making salves and tinctures, going on nature hikes, or even participating in fitness activities. I involve my kids in cooking, laundry, sewing, and even simple budgeting because these are practical skills they’ll need, regardless of career or further education. In fact, many recipes on this blog are ones my children have helped create.
Sharing our school room setup is meant to be helpful. I’m no expert and am still learning as we go. Just a heads-up: the school room looks tidy now because we haven’t started the school year yet. While we aim to keep it clean and organized, it doesn’t always stay that way. I’m also working on being patient every day, but it’s a work in progress. Just like parenting, homeschooling is constantly changing and adapting, with no one-size-fits-all approach. Keep experimenting until you discover what works best for your homeschool routine and setup!
I hope some of these tips are helpful for you. I’d love to hear your top tips for homeschooling or teaching your children too. Do you homeschool? What does your classroom look like? Have you discovered any tricks that make learning easier?
