I’ve been homeschooling for over 15 years so our classroom has been through MANY changes. About once a year… or more… I assess how the current layout is working for us and adjust as needed. Honestly I love the current layout more than any other and can’t imagine changing it. It feels more like a library now which I’ve always wanted. If you have younger kids my old layout may have more ideas for you and you can find that here.
We used to have a big school table but as our girls have gotten older I find that it works best for us to just use our dining room table so we have some open space…. and more room for books. I do have a tablecloth I can throw on it for art projects if they will be especially messy (the IKEA disposable shower curtain liners are super cheap and work WAY better than those thin disposable tablecloths!) But I also have a folding table I can set up for extra messy projects that need to be set up for longer as we do eat at our table every day.
Ledge shelves work great for holding art items used most frequently or for displaying books and I always keep baby wipes on hand for cleaning paint off.
Wall shelves hold a variety of art supplies. Pom poms, different mediums, papers, paintbrushes, pallets, etc. It can be helpful to group things together and label.
Below the shelves I have these drawer carts on wheels that hold more art supplies, another for legos, and one for miniature making (one of my youngest’ favorite hobbies).
On top of them I keep some bins of things we like to have handy. Crayons, fidgets, a silverware caddy makes the perfect caddy for markers, colored pencils and such.
I used to use an IKEA cart (you can find similar ones at craft stores everywhere now as well) but I found our current set up is better for us since we have so much art supplies.
The bookcases on one side of the room hold educational books and supplies.
I like having a big basket for holding each child’s finished work and occasionally go through and sort what should be kept (I keep a couple of bins in a closet) and what should be recycled.
We use these green bins for each subject for my youngest daughter. They contain everything needed to work on that subject. We use thinking tree journals for her and supplement with a few other items. This way she can just take the bin to the table or outside or even the couch to work on that. She really likes the flexibility to do that and not having to gather everything needed before getting to work.
My oldest has special needs and a developmental delay so in alot of ways she’s a preschooler. It works best for her to have one basket with some workbooks.
I used to use these guys from the container store but they just didn’t hold everything needed for each subject so the green bins work better. I think I bought them a decade ago at Joann fabric store!
In the corner is an amazing rotating bookcase someone made for us (It is the most amazing thing ever!) My youngest has her miniatures displayed in it. We recently added a love seat i snagged an amazing deal on!
We used to have this swivel rocking chair with a tent canopy over it but wasn’t the most comfortable and they were ready for a change. I had made it from a giant embroidery hoop and some old curtains.
This 50 cent broken globe was turned into a hanging light (we reused the light cord and disco light bulb from the tent)
Under the loveseat is a simple box with small wheels. It’s currently holding some legos for a stop motion my youngest is making with her Dad but she plans on setting up a prehistoric diorama on it.
And now we have room for a little table and displaying current interests, like a fossil, rock and mineral collection my youngest adored making.
On the other wall is more books… of course! The large ottoman stores our puppet collection that our girls just don’t want to get rid of yet!
Those green play mats from IKEA have held up great over the years and have been used a lot for yoga and such.
And since we don’t have an extra table there’s room to do yoga or games in the middle of the room.
By the table I have a magnetic dry erase board hung (I bought the giant frame for almost nothing. I was pretty excited t fit so perfectly over the dry erase board. I hang happy thoughts, or current things of interest or to work on. Or you can write out a quote every day for your kids to copy down in a “Words of Cheer” book.
And just to keep it real, this is what it looked like for a good week or so while I rearranged everything!
If you don’t have room for a homeschool classroom you can still be successful! I have seen set ups where each child gets a basket or a cart on wheels and that can work too. Every a cardboard box each child gets to decorate can work! The most important thing is that you are learning together. Embrace a little mess. It won’t always be perfect and it won’t always be tidy. Be willing to make changes as needed and always choose time together engrossed in your child’s passions and interests over fighting over academics.
