You’ve seen the gorgeous Pinterest worthy homeschool rooms and spaces. The clean walls, bookshelves filled with original copies of the classics, botanical wall art with scientific names hanging uncluttered by an open window and clean wooden tables and chairs with markers neatly arranged in adorably tiny metal pails.
These spaces are beautiful. I’m sure they are a blessing to the families who have them. But are they necessary? And are you at a loss if you don’t have one? I say no, and no. Here’s why.
Learning happens anywhere and everywhere
Shifting your view of homeschool from “filling your children with information” to helping them grow in their love of learning opens the doors of education. The current requirement on children to go to school has led us to believe that education only happens in a designated building, with qualified teachers, and under the umbrella of an even more highly qualified expert who designs the curriculum. But this simply isn’t true, and actually this type of education can be detrimental to a child’s learning of actual valuable information and skills. (But I won’t go there right now. Perhaps in a future post!) To help your children learn to live in the real world, get them out in the real world. Do real life things. Have them help around the house. Start a business. Learn a trade. No designated homeschool room required.
Waste of time and money that could be spent learning
Creating a beautiful homeschool room or space might look great on your Instagram and Pinterest pages, but there’s a good chance it would be a waste of time and money. Many families just don’t have the square footage to designate an entire room of the house to homeschool. Plus, consider all of the money needed to purchase furniture and decorate the walls. This money would be more valuable when put toward field trips, classes, or gear for your next big adventure.
Homeschool Minimalism at its finest
Not having a room helps keep homeschool supplies to a necessary minimum. It can be VERY easy for us homeschool moms to clutter up our spaces with extra books, new posters, desks for every child, art supplies for every medium, more books (because there was a sale), pretty wooden math manipulatives, educational board games, more books (because an original copy of the entire Holling C. Holling collection just became available), and oh so much more. These things take up not just physical space, but they take up mental space as well. They can be a burden in cramped quarters, and a distraction to little wandering eyes. Having less may at first feel restrictive, but when life becomes the home-education, you gain so much more. Supplies kept to a minimum can easily be stored in a few places, discreetly hidden in pretty baskets, or put on display if they serve the purpose and look of the space. Extra supplies being saved for younger children can be tucked away in a garage, basement or attic. And as for all those books? Find out whether they’re available at your local library or through your favourite audiobook or podcast app. If so, consider dwindling your personal library.
Take The Learning Outside
After the couch, our favourite place to read is outside. We’ve read in the backyard while kids jump on the trampoline, we’ve read on outdoor patio furniture, and we’ve even read on a hike while we stopped to play in a stream. Learning outside is a great way to change up the scenery and get some fresh air. It’s also great for large families with small children who struggle to remain calm and quiet. Inside, that noise just bounces off the walls. But outside, there is more room for littles to roam yet stay within earshot of what’s being read, while big kids hang close by with less distraction.
Field Trips Are Better Than Book Learning
I feel like this is an obvious one, but seriously… Field trips are the best. They’re always more fun. They involve hands-on activity. Families can use more of their senses to get a feel for whatever it is they’re learning about. Why sit inside reading all-of-the-books about Native American culture when you can visit a local cultural center and get a hands-on lesson? Rather than watching a YouTube video about how to care for horses, go visit an actual barn and volunteer your help for a day. I don’t mean to downplay the value in books – they are truly wonderful and can take us places we can’t physically get to, or take us to a time period that is long since past. But if there is a way to learn about it outside of the home, it’s probably better.
Kids Need Quiet Space for Independent Work
When my children go off to do independent work, whether it’s their required math work, a book they chose to pick up and read, or a new skill they’re trying to learn, they need quiet space to do it, away from their siblings. Rather than having one room for learning, kids would benefit more from having multiple available spaces to work. Perhaps this looks like a hammock in the yard, a cozy chair in the garage, a mud kitchen or outdoor art space, a computer set up in a multi-purpose office room, or just adding some extra pillows to bedding so kids can sit up and work.
In my early years of homeschooling I very much so wanted a designated homeschool space.
I wanted a table that wasn’t the same one we ate on, bookshelves just for our curriculum and educational books, shelves to put the manipulatives on display, and pretty boxes and baskets for all of the pencils, crayons, paints and such. Why we didn’t try and create one? Simple… we didn’t have the space. As a family of 7 living in 1400 square feet, we just don’t have the space to dedicate an entire room to homeschooling.
But here’s why I wouldn’t create a homeschool room today, even if I could.
It simply wouldn’t be worth it. Today we view our homeschool as a lifestyle. We are always learning and doing life together. We read together on the couch. ALL of our books are educational (if for no other reason, then just because they require one to learn to read in order to read them). The only curriculum we use is math. We do a lot of hands-on learning, which takes us outside of the home. The learning we do do at home, when it’s not done on the couch, is typically in the kitchen, in the garden, or just generally around the house learning how to be a good keeper of the home and Christ-centered family member. An extra room to clean, that we would rarely use for its intended purpose? We’ll pass, thanks.
Do you have a homeschool room? Where does most of your learning happen?
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