Simple Homeschool Room Ideas for beginners

Setting up a homeschool room can feel like a big undertaking, but the only thing you really need is a table and some decent homeschool organization to help keep things where they need to be. After a decade of homeschooling, I’m going to share my simple homeschool room ideas for beginners.

We have now homeschooled in three different homes and in each space we had to figure out what worked best for us.

Different years required different circumstances, like the year that math started getting challenging for my oldest child. That was the year that we had a designated homeschool room with a door so things could be kept quiet during school.

For most of the other years, we did school around our kitchen or dining room tables. I have come to realize that our family tends to gravitate towards doing school throughout the entire home. For that reason, most years you can find us schooling in the dining room and then scattering to other rooms in the house as our mornings progress.

No matter what your homeschooling style is, nor your home size, you can set up an attractive and functional homeschool room for your homeschool year.

Today, I’m going to share different ways to set up and organize your homeschool classroom.

Homeschool Desk Ideas

I grew up going to public school, so in my mind everyone needed a desk to work at. If you have the room for this, great! If you don’t, rest assured that a simple table will suffice.

If you are wanting a traditional desk setup for your school room, Ikea has some great options that are sleek and have the perfect amount of storage space for your kiddos.

Keep in mind that they don’t need to be fancy. A couple of drawers and one cabinet is all that is needed for a typical homeschool room.

How do I set up a Homeschool Room?

This is a big question for beginning homeschoolers. I always wanted a school room that blended with the rest of the home. I didn’t, necessarily, want it looking like an actual school room.

To set up a functional school room, you need 3 things:

• Storage for extra books and supplies– You can use existing cabinets, such as a built in buffet. Or, you can create your own storage space with a piece of furniture or by adding shelving units to your homeschool space. This will be a place to tuck away items you don’t use daily, or school stuff for the homeschool mom.
• A working surface for school– Students can use individual desks or you can simply add a table to your school space and have everyone work collectively off of one table. Keep in mind, you might have different needs depending on the ages of your kids and the intensity of the school curriculum. Be flexible.
• Some way for students to keep their school books organized– If your kids have their own desks, they will keep their daily supplies in their desks. This will include their utensils, notebooks, and school books. If they don’t have desks and you are using the “table set up” for your school room, grab plastic baskets for them to keep their supplies in and have them tuck them away in a cabinet at the end of each school day so that your school area stays tidy.

Homeschool Organization

One of the most important necessities for a functional homeschool room organization. If you are a minimalist homeschooler that gathers only the items you actually need and use, this should be a simple task.

If you prefer to have lots of options for homeschool curriculum on hand, this might take a bit more space for you, which is completely fine. You just need to make sure you have a place for all of your supplies.

Creative Homeschool Organization

• Dressers and Free Standing Buffets– These are great pieces of furniture to store away school and craft supplies in. They store a lot of items, but they keep your home looking like a home.
• Unused Closets- If you have a closet that has some extra space in it, tuck school items away in there to keep it from taking over the rest of your house. This is also a good way to keep things safe and sound so they don’t get misplaced or ruined.
• Kitchen Cabinets– Maybe you have a kitchen cabinet or drawer that you’re not currently using. That is a great place to store extra pencils and craft supplies!
• Old, Refurbished Lockers– Lockers have been a home-style trend for awhile. Why not grab a set of lockers, clean them up, and use them for homeschool storage?

Homeschooling Room Ideas

When you homeschool, you have to be flexible with your space and also a bit creative. My main goal is to have a very functional homeschool room that also looks lovely when school is over. Here are several ways that I have used our home to school our kids:

• Dining Room School Room
• Kitchen School Room
• Bedroom School Room
• Basement School Room

1. Dining Room Homeschool Room

The first homeschool room I set up was in our dining room. It was quite eclectic and boasted a beautiful map wall that only costed a few dollars to create. The maps were actually wrapping paper and below them was a wooden ledge and chalkboard wall. This was the most school-looking room we have had over the last ten years.

Our current school room is in the dining room and we added built ins for school storage. You can read all about that project here.

2. Kitchen Homeschool Room

The second homeschool room I set up was in the kitchen of our second home. We didn’t have space for a designated school room and we didn’t have a dining room. Our only option was to create a space in our kitchen for school.

The white buffet you see to the left housed 90% of our school supplies and things we needed on a daily basis. Everything else was kept in a spare closet.

The great part about creating a school room in the main living area of your home is that everything you need throughout the morning is only a few steps away- snacks, the front door, a sofa to read on, the bathroom… you get the idea.

3. Bedroom or Basement Homeschool Room

If your home is very loud and you have a child that needs quiet to be able to think, rearranging sleeping arrangements so that you have a free room available for a school room might be a good idea.

In our second home, we eventually ran into the issue I just mentioned. Our eldest was beginning some difficult math and she needed a quiet space to do school. The kitchen was no longer functioning well for her during her math time.

I ended up having two of our girls share a room and we created a simple homeschool room in a bedroom. If you don’t have this option, but you need a quiet space for school away from toddlers playing, try to find a space in your basement for a homeschool room.

How do you organize supplies without a desk?

For most of our homeschooling years, I haven’t had the kids at desks. They have gathered around a table to do school collectively.

The best way I’ve found to help them keep their school supplies organized without an actual desk is to give each of them a plastic basket to keep their supplies in. They store them away in our white cabinets when they aren’t using them.

Having a storage solution for homeschool supplies keeps the house looking tidy and it eliminates the opportunity for items to get lost.

Other Homeschool Posts you’ll love

• Homeschool Curriculum for Preschool to 2nd Grade
• Easy Homeschool Lesson Planning with Free Templates
• An Easy Guide for Homeschool Planning