article: 27 Ridiculously Cool Homeschool Rooms That Will Inspire You

[wapiti]

This showed up on my FB today.  Thought some of you might enjoy it  :)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/morganshanahan/27-clever-ideas-for-creating-the-perfect-homeschool-classroo?utm_term=4ldqpia#.tbB1M06bn

[kitten18]

Those rooms are all very pretty.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Nice for little kids.  

[Farrar]

Didnt IKEA discontinue the Expedit?

[kitten18]

Didnt IKEA discontinue the Expedit?

They replaced it with something that is almost identical.

[amiesmom]

Didnt IKEA discontinue the Expedit?

 

Yes, but they now have the Kallax.

[luuknam]

Cubicles! :lol:

[BlessedMom]

Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed seeing all the lovely spaces!

[FriedClams]

They're very nice but I'm not a fan of the school-at-home feel. Seems like the list is communicating it's "legit" to homeschool if your work space looks like a swanky, color-coded b&m Montessori school, kwim? They're beautiful, and I'm sure I could steal some ideas here and there, but I hope new guys don't think they're a necessity - or even that they need a separate schooling space.

 

As an aside, I think I might die if I sat in a folding chair all day, even an adorable tiffany blue one. :-)

[raptor_dad]

Lockers and cubes for littles just depress me. Sorry.

[Alice]

These are cute, like Pottery Barn catalog layouts are cute. I kept thinking, where are the kids? Towards the end, I did count three kids, but most were empty room. I know why and why they have it look all neat and perfect. It's a better photo. It's not enough to get worked up over but I do think these kind of articles tend to contribute to the Pinterest/Facebook/blog induced anxiety. They are fun to look at but not really necessary for schooling. 

 

I think the person with the color-coded art supplies has some serious OCD-like tendencies. I cannot imagine how twitchy my kids would get if I made them put back their art supplies by color. 

 

 

[Chelli]

My kids beg for the school at home feel (little desks, cubbies, lockers, etc.). I give in as much as I can without having a dedicated school room. For example, this week I bought them cafeteria style trays at the Target Dollar Aisle. They were ecstatic! 

 

I guess what I'm saying is that before you judge these homeschool moms by having a room like this, it very well could have been a collaborative work between them and their kids. I know my kids would love to school in rooms like these.

[Guest]

They're very nice but I'm not a fan of the school-at-home feel. Seems like the list is communicating it's "legit" to homeschool if your work space looks like a swanky, color-coded b&m Montessori school, kwim? They're beautiful, and I'm sure I could steal some ideas here and there, but I hope new guys don't think they're a necessity - or even that they need a separate schooling space.

 

As an aside, I think I might die if I sat in a folding chair all day, even an adorable tiffany blue one. :-)

I feel similarly. (For full disclosure, I really liked the one they called mid-century, with the wooden table and retro chairs.) my disinclination with these "Homeschool Rooms can look like this" articles is that it annoys me when people buy piles of plastic junk in order to be "organized." You can be organized with a biodegradable and free-of-charge shoebox, KWIM? I'm opposed to buying "stuff" to hold the stuff you already bought, just so it can be color-coded or fit a particular style.

 

Not to poo-poo on the article, though. I don't mean to do that.

[kewb]

I always wished I had the space for a dedicated school room. A friend of mine has a gorgeous school room that I drool with envy over.

My dininng room walls are covered with maps. My credenza and breakfront are full of school supplies. As is my basement. My kitchen has a bookcase for school books. We school all over the house. Sometimes it bugs me but then I realize I only have 3 years left of my home looking like this and then I am sad.

[Tenaj]

I knew I shouldn't look. . .   now I have homeschool room envy.  I am organized.  It's just that my organization doesn't look cute . . . it's functional . . . but not cute . . . I really shouldn't have looked . . . 

[Arcadia]

I like all the empty space in No.7.

 

My kids are still reorganizing their study area. 6 weeks before outsourced classes start back.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

I loved the organized look of these. I don't have space for a school room but I would love it if we could keep everything neat and organized. Our school supplies are spread throughout shelves/closets in several rooms of our house. That's fine, I just wish I could keep it neat and tidy. We would save so much time each day if we could find everything more easily. I know though that, realistically, those rooms don't look like that all the time. I think they just look especially wonderful to me since I've spent my afternoon cleaning out the mess left from the school year.

[MommaOfalotta]

Ugh, Why oh why did I have to read the comments? :glare:

 

There are definitely a couple of rooms I envy, but for the most part I have no desire for a room like these ONLY because anything nice and pretty doesn't last long around here... :lol:  and it would make me sick to see such a nice (and expensive) space get ruined! But I do admit, my fantasy school room would be similar to #1. I love the garage idea with the giant screen.. although I would want to live somewhere warm and pretty first!

[Murphy101]

I liked 14 and loved 24. I didn't like any of the others. They looked too institutional for my tastes.

[momacacia]

My favorite "schoolroom" I saw online (and I think it was really a home library) had a round Harkness table in the middle of the room, with an old style of wooden chairs that I remember from my elementary days at an all-girls school, and the table was surrounded with bookshelf-lined walls. Bring a pencil, an eraser, and some paper and let's get to work kids!

[Jlynn]

Love the picture frames for artwork idea because it can fit anywhere, whether I have a "school room" or not, and have to chuckle at the cubicle and locker room ideas...reminds me way too much of my career life before kids!

[Mimm]

These are cute, like Pottery Barn catalog layouts are cute. I kept thinking, where are the kids? Towards the end, I did count three kids, but most were empty room. I know why and why they have it look all neat and perfect. It's a better photo. It's not enough to get worked up over but I do think these kind of articles tend to contribute to the Pinterest/Facebook/blog induced anxiety. They are fun to look at but not really necessary for schooling. 

 

I think the person with the color-coded art supplies has some serious OCD-like tendencies. I cannot imagine how twitchy my kids would get if I made them put back their art supplies by color. 

 

I agree with the last part of this comment. An organization system should make things more functional, not less. :) Generally I am a fan of color coding things but that's a bit much.

 

I do admit that I would love a big beautiful school room. I would set it up with a big table in the middle though. Desks facing the walls wouldn't work for us.

 

I am drooling at all the shelving and bins and so on. I agree with whoever commented on the uncomfortable chairs though. The folding chairs are cute, but this is something that I'm going to be sitting in hours at a time, day after day! It needs to be comfortable and durable.

[Ellie]

#4...apostrophe abuse... :svengo:

[Meriwether]

I think they are lovely.

[happypamama]

They all look way too school-y to me. I wanted to get away from just that environment, so I quit teaching ps! I didn't see a single room that would allow storage for 4500+ books.

I thought several of them were a nice blend of "warmth and comfort of home" and "still providing the necessary surfaces and organizational elements of a classroom." A lot were very pretty! (And expensive!). But if you look at pics on blogs like Elizabeth Foss's and Ann Voskamp's, their schoolrooms are very pretty and well organized too.

 

As for the books, if you looked at my schoolroom, you'd probably conclude that we don't have very many books. To the contrary -- we have thousands, but we keep a select few in the schoolroom, namely the current books that we are using for our studies, a large box of board books for the toddler, and a pocket hanging thingy for about ten picture books. The rest live on shelves in our library, as the schoolroom would simply have to be too big to accommodate all of them.

 

(None of my comments are meant to be a direct contradiction to yours, Margaret in CO, btw; they just piggybacked well onto your post.)

 

I would love to see an article about tips and tricks for organizing homeschool materials, one that was maybe a little more down to earth than that article, but I did find it inspiring and interesting.

[CAMom]

I think most of them are lovely and inviting. I especially liked 2, 4, 5, and 7. I noticed #4 is actually in multiple photos - #14 and #15.

 

When we moved into our new house, one of the things that really made me excited was having a room for our schooling! After homeschooling for 15 years at the dining room table or kitchen counter, I was really looking forward to a dedicated space. I love having it! I love being able to get up, walk out and shut the door! :)

 

I'm still working on decorating it. I do have the large Expidit which makes my life so much easier. I'm trying to make a space that functions easily but still inspires me because I spend a lot of time in here! :)

 

I was at a homeschool event a few weeks ago and the speaker said, "If you want to inspire your children, you have to be inspired yourself." That really stuck with me. I need to engage in things that inspire me so that I can inspire my remaining homeschooler. For me, one way to do that is to have my schoolroom be a place that suits me. Yes, it needs to be functional for my kid and it is. He has his own desk space and I even let him leave it how he wants most of the time. You should see it right now.  :ohmy:

 

But it also needs to be a place where I want to spend my time and where I am happy and content. If that means some beautiful things and some labeling and color coding, then that's what we'll have. 

 

All of those rooms appear that way to me - a functional place for the kids and a nice place for mom to spend the bulk of her days. It's going to look different for everyone. I love looking at the homeschool rooms of other families because it gives me a peek into their personalities and what they love.

[Luanne]

Lockers and cubes for littles just depress me. Sorry.

 

Who said the lockers and cubes were for "littles" anyway?  You wouldn't use those until the child was older.

[idnib]

I liked 7 and 24. Some were not to my taste but I'd rather not say which ones or why as their owners may be on the boards.  :)

[Guest]

#4...apostrophe abuse... :svengo:

Good catch.

[AimeeM]

Lockers and cubes for littles just depress me. Sorry.

Why? My kids love those things.

[AimeeM]

Probably the odd man out here, from the looks of the comments above.

I like most of them. Probably the "old fashioned" room the most.

We are pretty school-at-home. I would describe our homeschool as very "Catholic School at Home", which is probably why the mid-century room appealed to me, lol.

[HomeAgain]

I think this is another area to make homeschoolers feel inadequate.  There's this weird idea of magic in homeschooling that seems to be an offshoot of the mommy wars....if you just have the right room, the right tools, the right curriculum, you too will have children that are just like the magazines!  :laugh:

 

We look at the pretties and forget that educating is messy, children are human, and buying curriculum is like buying a dress.  It might fit, but it wasn't made for you, honey, and you may have to get it tailored.  I like some of the ideas I saw in there (were a couple using long planters on the table to corral supplies?) but oh, dear.  The idea of being boxed into a room is enough to send me screaming to the outdoors!  Show me a picture of organizing on the fly, or multipurpose tools that grow with a kid!

[Garga]

I've schooled preschool through 7th grade. That's 9 years.

 

Here are the essentials I require in a schoolroom:

 

1. Lots of sunlight. Lots and lots of sunlight.

2. A couch to flop on for reading side-by-side. I would prefer a couch with the back cushions attached, but the kids like it that they're unattached. Usually the cushions are strewn on the floor so that I get to say, "Put the couch back together," at least 3 times a day. Oh joy.

3. A trampoline to help learning. (My) kids learn better when they're jumping.

4. A chair made out of bungee cords (bought at Target.) See #3 about how my kids learn.

5. Lots of sunlight.

6. School desks. Yes, school desks. So that my kids don't try to write on their knee caps and end up with a balled up mess of a paper with holes in it and illegible handwriting. Desks are also good when my little students would rather wrestle with each other than do school but school NEEDS TO BE DONE.

7. Bookcases. Because I would die a little inside if I couldn't see them all day long. We'd miss each other too much.

8. A cat. So that when a boy is overwhelmed with math he can say, "Oh, but the kitty needs a pet!" and give himself a little break from working.

9. A mini fridge. I don't have one, but I wish I did. Yes, we're too lazy to head to the kitchen. I just love the idea of drinks and snacks being within arm's reach while we're working.

10. Lots of pens and pencils in easy reach.

11. A whiteboard on the wall. It's too difficult to balance it on my lap. Putting it on the wall made my life so much easier and now both kids can easily see what's written there. We keep a 2nd one for lap writing, but it's more irritating to use on the lap.

12. Toys. We have bins of toys. When one boy is done and I'm working with the other boy, the done son can play while he waits his turn.

13. Yellow walls, to reflect all that sunlight.

14. Scrap paper that is easy to get to.

15. A bookcase to store the school books in. One shelf per person. And binders for papers.

16. Maybe 2 or 3 cats, really. Optimally.

17. A map on the wall.

[PeterPan]

The pics were all super cute, but somehow I haven't gotten to cute yet when all my reading for ds6 is 3 Ways to Adjust the Physical Space to Prevent Challenging Behavior   :scared:    But I guess we'll get there eventually.  Meanwhile, I won't say envy but I'll say they have kids for whom their layouts work.  The only one that could come close to working with ds is 15 with the blue sofa.  Liked that one.  Some of the rooms were too placid, too cluttered, etc.  And yeah, that person sorting their crayons by colors has problems.   :smilielol5:

[happypamama]

I've schooled preschool through 7th grade. That's 9 years.

 

Here are the essentials I require in a schoolroom:

 

1. Lots of sunlight. Lots and lots of sunlight.

2. A couch to flop on for reading side-by-side. I would prefer a couch with the back cushions attached, but the kids like it that they're unattached. Usually the cushions are strewn on the floor so that I get to say, "Put the couch back together," at least 3 times a day. Oh joy.

3. A trampoline to help learning. (My) kids learn better when they're jumping.

4. A chair made out of bungee cords (bought at Target.) See #3 about how my kids learn.

5. Lots of sunlight.

6. School desks. Yes, school desks. So that my kids don't try to write on their knee caps and end up with a balled up mess of a paper with holes in it and illegible handwriting. Desks are also good when my little students would rather wrestle with each other than do school but school NEEDS TO BE DONE.

7. Bookcases. Because I would die a little inside if I couldn't see them all day long. We'd miss each other too much.

8. A cat. So that when a boy is overwhelmed with math he can say, "Oh, but the kitty needs a pet!" and give himself a little break from working.

9. A mini fridge. I don't have one, but I wish I did. Yes, we're too lazy to head to the kitchen. I just love the idea of drinks and snacks being within arm's reach while we're working.

10. Lots of pens and pencils in easy reach.

11. A whiteboard on the wall. It's too difficult to balance it on my lap. Putting it on the wall made my life so much easier and now both kids can easily see what's written there. We keep a 2nd one for lap writing, but it's more irritating to use on the lap.

12. Toys. We have bins of toys. When one boy is done and I'm working with the other boy, the done son can play while he waits his turn.

13. Yellow walls, to reflect all that sunlight.

14. Scrap paper that is easy to get to.

15. A bookcase to store the school books in. One shelf per person. And binders for papers.

16. Maybe 2 or 3 cats, really. Optimally.

17. A map on the wall.

Yes, the cat. Only my daughter is really into the cat (one of the cats is ostensibly hers), but at our house, the baby gets used in the same way as a cat. Math and everything are way more fun with a baby head on your shoulder! I don't know what we will do when we no longer have a baby!

 

I totally agree that surfaces are necessary. We have a comfy chair that anyone can go to for reading, and I'm fine with that, but I really dislike it when they attempt to do math or other writing that way. Use the schoolroom tables, or sit at my desk, or go upstairs to the office or your room, whatever, but write at a table, please!

 

Garga, what did you do with the bungee cords and chairs? That would probably help some of my fidgety ones.

[Wabi Sabi]

Lockers and cubes for littles just depress me. Sorry.

We had shelving divided into cubes for toy storage long before we ever decided to homeschool, and we've been looking for a good deal on some vintage lockers for our house for a couple of years. We don't have a coat closet and are thinking that a cute set of lockers in our entry, one per person including the children, would be a great substitute for a closet and a place to corral all the coats, shoes, bags, etc. that accumulate inside the front door. 

 

 

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

 

I think the person with the color-coded art supplies has some serious OCD-like tendencies. I cannot imagine how twitchy my kids would get if I made them put back their art supplies by color. 

 

And that is a battle I do not want to engage in. There are important things and things to let go. For me color coded art supplies is not even on my radar. :)

[Mom-ninja.]

I feel similarly. (For full disclosure, I really liked the one they called mid-century, with the wooden table and retro chairs.) my disinclination with these "Homeschool Rooms can look like this" articles is that it annoys me when people buy piles of plastic junk in order to be "organized." You can be organized with a biodegradable and free-of-charge shoebox, KWIM? I'm opposed to buying "stuff" to hold the stuff you already bought, just so it can be color-coded or fit a particular style.

 

Not to poo-poo on the article, though. I don't mean to do that.

 

I feel the same, however, I am having to buy stuff to store my stuff. I have to get rid of my cardboard boxes I am using. Cause roaches and silverfish. The buggers love paper/cardboard and use it to live in and turn into nesting sites. So, yeah. I lose. I have to buy plastic containers for storage to discourage the nasty things. Either that or spray my home with pesticide. 

 

Which is the lesser of two evils? Neither perfect. 

[Mom-ninja.]

My kids would love lockers especially if they got put a lock on it. 

 

I also have a ds who needs a cubicle. It would help him focus. I already had to move his desk apart from the others and facing a wall. I've tried those cardboard display things as a sort of makeshift cubicle wall but doesn't work well. 

[snickerplum]

I don't find them anxiety inducing, I find them inspiring. Not because I desire "school at home" but because I enjoy pleasant-looking spaces and organization. It makes me think about possibilities.

It would be funny to contrast these supposed ideal homeschool rooms with more realistic rooms! Kind of a Real Homeschool Rooms of _______ article. :-)

[3 ladybugs]

I want to see rooms for homeschooling that don't look like they are homeschooling 24 hours a day. You know, the transformers rooms! That is what I really want to see!

 

All these rooms looked fake. To afford that here, you could afford to put your child in private school.

[Garga]

 

Garga, what did you do with the bungee cords and chairs? That would probably help some of my fidgety ones.

 

 

It was premade at Target.  It's a round chair that can fold up like those round folding chairs you see a lot of now that people send with their kids to college.  But instead of having a cloth seat, the seat is made of bungee cords so that when you sit you're sitting on a web of bungee cords.  If you're a particularly clever homeschool student, you can wiggle your bum in between the cords and get "stuck" in the chair so that you can't get up to do your math.  

[happypamama]

It was premade at Target. It's a round chair that can fold up like those round folding chairs you see a lot of now that people send with their kids to college. But instead of having a cloth seat, the seat is made of bungee cords so that when you sit you're sitting on a web of bungee cords. If you're a particularly clever homeschool student, you can wiggle your bum in between the cords and get "stuck" in the chair so that you can't get up to do your math.

Thank you! I have to look for that. We just have cheap folding chairs right now, because, well, they're cheap, and little ones knock them down and such, but DS1 complains that they aren't comfortable. I've been meaning to make padded covers for them, but I'm sure he'd really love a bungee chair!

[ocelotmom]

Lockers and cubes for littles just depress me. Sorry.

 

The lockers might be depressing if they weren't, according to the caption, specifically a response to a child's desire.

 

I agree about Transformer Room. My eventual hope for a homeschool room is that it can double as a guest room, and maybe also a sewing/craft room, library, and/or comfortable quiet hanging-out space.

[mommymilkies]

And that is a battle I do not want to engage in. There are important things and things to let go. For me color coded art supplies is not even on my radar. :)

I tried, but with 5 kids, there is no way.  Heaven forbid they put my books back out of order, though.  They learn to alphabetize early. 

[go_go_gadget]

Cubicles! :lol:

 

When you've had two of them at the dining table going ''Stop looking at me!'' at each other, you'll understand the appeal.

[Mergath]

When you've had two of them at the dining table going ''Stop looking at me!'' at each other, you'll understand the appeal.

 

I only have one, and she would love a cubicle. She draws for hours every day, and it would be just like her desk but the pencils wouldn't roll off onto the floor. :P

[Dmmetler]

At age 5-6, my DD wanted all the trappings of "real school", so I bought a cute little purple school desk/chair set, DH's company was moving buildings and we were able to get bulletin boards and white boards and cute little plastic storage drawers, and the room that had been storage for extra books became a school room. For several years, she adored going to teacher's stores and picking out all the cute, thematic stuff, and we spent a good part of the summer organizing the room. After which we did most of our schooling in the car, on the couch, outside, and everywhere BUT the school room! It made her feel "real" when her cousins and dance class friends were talking about being "Mrs. Jones' Jaguars" or whatever.

 

Now, as a 6th grader, she doesn't want that kind of stuff anymore. She is all about "get it done", and divides her school time between her hideously messy computer desk, her bed, and occasionally actually at her desk-which is an antique writing desk I inherited from my grandmother. Her PS friends grumble about school and there is little she wants from their experience. She gets her joy out of th uniqueness of her school experience, not the similarities with others.

 

If you have a kid who enjoys cute, organized school-type stuff and gets joy out of it, have fun. If you have a kid who doesn't, or if you just can't make it work for you, you'll find the joy somewhere else. It's Ok.

[Seeking Squirrels]

We have a dedicated school area. I know it's not something you have to have to homeschool and I don't desire school-at-home. But our personality types just make it work better to have somewhere that is "school". It helps me to have it organized in one area and things set up in a way that works for me. It helps DD to be able to focus better when she is at her school desk. When we did it on the dining room table, or the floor, or wherever for that day, she just couldn't pay attention. She knows when she's sitting at her desk that it's time to focus for a bit. Doesn't mean she does so perfectly, but she does give it a much better go than when we do school elsewhere. We still read on the couch, do art out at the dining room table, play games on the floor, and go outside when it works. So we don't spend all day sitting at a desk staring at a wall. But when she needs to sit at a desk and stare at a wall so she can get through writing, we can. I love our little homeschool area!

 

Different set-ups work well for different people. I'm sure all those from the pics have designed an environment that works for them and their kids. I love having a dedicated school area yet I wouldn't like a lot of those in the pics. Isn't it great that we can all do what works best for us, even though it might not be a great fit for others?!

[mamiof5]

My kids beg for the school at home feel (little desks, cubbies, lockers, etc.). I give in as much as I can without having a dedicated school room. For example, this week I bought them cafeteria style trays at the Target Dollar Aisle. They were ecstatic!

 

I guess what I'm saying is that before you judge these homeschool moms by having a room like this, it very well could have been a collaborative work between them and their kids. I know my kids would love to school in rooms like these.

I am so glad to find you here!!! After seeing your Ikea room I fell in love with it and copied it as much as we could. We did this a year ago, and it has saved part of my sanity!!! Thank you for sharing in your blog :)

 

I mean literally copying it...showing pic to hubby, list of supplies, approximate cost and telling him "this is what I want". At the time I was 7-8 months pregnant and probably he thought I lost my mind. It has been the best investment for our schooling!