Surprise! We’re homeschooling this school year. I’m kidding – it’s really not a surprise. Like the rest of the country, we’ve painstakingly struggled to decide how we wanted to return to schooling for our girls. Ultimately, we opted to take this opportunity to try homeschool and we’re so excited about it. I’ve felt a tug to homeschool for several years now but kept ignoring those urges until this year, which seems to be the perfect year to try homeschool if there ever was one. It’s going to be a different kind of year for all of us whether you’re doing “homeschool” homeschool or distance learning. It’s all a version a homeschool as in kids will be home during the school day. Since the spring we’ve been using our dining room as our school space and we plan on continuing that into the next school year. My friend Kate from Kate Decorates organized a really fun blog hop and a gang of us as sharing our kids’ back to school learning spaces all week. Today, I’m sharing mine along with a few others. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom for a whole list of inspiring spaces you’ll want to check out. Let’s get into it.
Our Homeschool Space – Doubles as our dining room
Like I mentioned, in the spring when schools began closing we used our dining room as a temporary learning space and it really worked well for several reasons. I have two girls, ages 8 and 4, so it was helpful to have them together in this space during learning time. The other spaces in our home are rather small and closed off which didn’t feel all that conducive for learning. Our playroom which seems like the ideal space for homeschool would be more of a distraction than anything so the dining room was our best option. Now that we’re homeschooling, I’m even more convinced that our dining room is the perfect learning space. The girls each have one side of the table as their work area so they can be together while working independently. This also gives me space to join them and work quietly when needed.
My friend Destiny shared these great desk mats she found. I got one for each of the girls. They are oversized which is great because they have a computer or a tablet out plus paper for writing or drawing. The mats are really thick and protect my table very nicely.
I also picked up this caddy so they can have school supplies at the ready. We keep a lot of supplies in the cabinet in our dining room as well but these will be specifically for school so we’ll get it out at the beginning of our school day and return it to the cabinet at the end.
Our IKEA cabinet has been the perfect storage space for all of the school supplies. Prior to COVID this cabinet held all of my pretty dishes, cake plates, etc. Those have been relocated and now we’ve got it stocked with school and craft supplies; paper, crayons, pipe cleaners, paint, you name it. It’s stored here. I try my best to keep everything labeled so that the girls can easily find what they’re looking for and return it to its home when they’re done.
Now that school is beginning we have quite a few curriculum books, readers, and manipulatives that I wanted to keep separate from our craft cabinet so I’ve begun storing those school-specific items in this cabinet. Each girl has a shelf and as more of our supplies come they should fill up pretty nicely.
This season of life feels very out of control but it feels nice to organize this space for the girls in preparation for homeschool. I almost feel in control of our school year but then I remember I have kids and that idea of control is simply a fantasy.
My hope for all of us is that our kids remain happy and healthy. I hope they look back on this strange time fondly remember all the time they got with us and their siblings. I hope they remember the stories we read them and the dance parties we had and that the fear many of us might feel, the worrying will slip from their minds and fade away.
I hope for a wonderful school year that is positive and life-giving because we deserve it.
Make sure you visit the other spaces because there are so many creative and wonderful ideas for making a great at-home learning space for your kiddos!
your kids spaces are always so cute and well organized! you’ve got this!
I love how you created such a great multi-purpose space! The supplies on caddies is so smart to grab, use and put away easily!
Our dining room is also doubling as one of our learning spaces! The caddies and supply cabinets are the perfect addition to this multi-purpose space.
Lovely. We opted out and are distance learning which is an outlier position in our private school. My boys are 7th and 9th. Starting high school as the only kid in the grade at home is going to be tough. They will both be on live zoom teaching schedules so we had to set up separate spaces. One is at a table in the corner of the dining room and one is at a big game table in the living room. Both have comphy chair cushions, beautiful windows, organized supplies, and an orchid! 🙂 Its going to be a wild ride. Good luck to us all. You will be an amazing homeschooler!
This is a great learning space, Chelsea! I love that you’ll all be together at the dining table — there’s something really special about that (even in these strange times).
You have a beautiful family and home! Love seeing some of our fave games on your shelves — Sleeping Queens, Rat-a-tat-Cat, and Sushi Go! Awesome fun (even for adults)! Good luck with the school year — I know you will rock it thoughtfully and stylishly!
SO many good ideas to help families manage school at home! Can’t wait to see more tips throughout the year!