Guess what time it is…back to school!! And this school year is totally not what I expected. We ended up deciding to homeschool the two kiddos this year. And with homeschooling comes lots of things, like materials, workspaces, and supplies. Which means that I have to get super organized. Good thing I know how to do that! And so does this incredible group of bloggers who have joined me in a back to school blog hop showcasing how to set up a homeschool space! These aren’t just for people who are homeschooling, these ideas are for anyone who may have to set up a school at home, virtual or otherwise!

How To Set Up A Homeschool Space

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1. Create Work Spaces

The very first thing you have to do when setting up a homeschool space is to create work spaces. Yes, plural. The kids need a few places to actually do their work. For my kids, we have the desk, the floor, and the counter in the kitchen. The reason being is that I want them to have space to sit, lay, or stand to do their work. In a traditional classroom, they would have many places to do work, not just one spot. So find different nooks and crannies around your home that can count as work spaces. 

For us, our desk is a 3-seater. I created it that way. (If you are interested in learning how I created it, you can read this blog post with the full tutorial.) 

As for working on the floor, I have a few items that will help the kids. The first is floor pillows. These are just oversized pillows that the kids can sit on. We also have rugs they can lay out to do their work. And I have lap desks they can use to write on a hard surface while sitting on a pillow.

Recreate My Desk:

2. Allow Space For Materials

The biggest thing when creating a homeschool space is to make sure you have ample space for the materials. The very first thing we did was create zones in the drawers. This allows supplies to be readily available for the kiddos in their drawers. We have things like Post It notes or dry erase markers easily accessible.

So everyone wants to know what’s inside our desk drawers, so I will give you a peek! The far left drawers are electronic cords and batteries. The bottom drawer is files for my husband, since his desk is next to ours. The next two drawers hold office supplies like paper clips, extra tape and staples. That filing cabinet is for my work files. The third set of drawers is holding the Post-It notes, and cut mats for my Silhouette. The bottom file drawer holds my camera and headphones. The far right drawers hold Duck tape and notepads. The bottom file drawer holds files for the kids’ school.

We also are using rolling carts. On these carts we have school materials the kids can roll over to where they are working. That’s why these rolling carts are one of my favorite organizing tools! They can be used in so many ways!!

Recreate My Storage:

3. Create A Charging Station

If you have a lot of schooling online, it may be wise to create a charging station for all the things. Back in the spring, we set up a space for each of the iPads and headphones to charge once the school day was done. This year, we are using the lights as chargers! These desk lamps have space for charging things so it is a perfect charging station right on the desk!

4. Setting Up A Schedule

Not only is setting up the physical space important, but setting up a schedule you can handle is as well! For us, I started by giving everyone a routine in the morning to start their day. Then we are starting our day. For me, I have to have everything written down so that I remember what I wanted to do. I have Post-It notes everywhere. (If you weren’t aware of my freakish obsession with Post-It notes, now you know!) I put Post-It notes all over the house to remind me of things I want to do and number them so I do them in order. This is the only way I can change my behavior. And it totally works!! I shared more about how I went about setting up our schedule here. 

5. Limit Distractions 

Finally, you have to make sure that you limit any distractions for the kiddos when setting up a homeschool space! While I love the bright, colorful spaces, I am always trying to keep it to a minimum. There is a lot of research that shows that the more visual distractions students have, the less they retain the information they are supposed to be taking in. So try to keep only what is necessary to their learning up on the walls. We kept it really simple and only have a few pictures along with my project boards. Less is more when you are trying to focus. Which is why I try to limit the cord clutter too! For us, most of the cords are velcro’ed to the desk. The computer charger is too heavy to velcro so I just wrapped the cord in velcro to keep it contained. Because nobody likes looking at cords, right?!?!

Cords on the desk you can use the cord holders, which are a game-changer when you have multiple cords everywhere. I like the weighted ones so you don’t have to stick it to the desktop.

6. More Tips For How To Set Up A Homeschool Space

Each year, I always share tons of tips for how to set up a workspace for kids, creating order for your home, and more! This is a list of some of my favorites that may help you create space in your home.

5 Sure-Fire Back To School Mom Hacks

Helpful Back To School Organization Ideas

Getting Kids’ Clothes Ready For Back To School

7. Check Out The Bloggers Joining The Back To School Blog