Are you wanting to set up a homeschool room but aren’t sure you have enough room? What you need is homeschool room ideas for small spaces and I’m an EXPERT in this area! Homeschool room ideas for small spaces is my forte because I homeschool my kids in a small space!
I can show you how to take any space, apply my homeschool room ideas for small spaces, and create a homeschool room your kids will love!
Homeschooling in the Laundry Room
When we were designing our Big House in the Woods, I knew I wanted to include a homeschool room. In our previous house, I had homeschool posters hanging in the kitchen and it wasn’t pretty. Incredibly handy but not pretty.
I wanted our new homeschool room to be right off the kitchen since I cook three meals a day for this troop…from scratch. That means that I basically live in the kitchen. I wanted to be able to help them with their schoolwork while peeling potatoes, loading the dishwasher, or making my third pot of coffee for the day.
I also wanted the laundry room to be right off the kitchen because I kind of live in there too. So… I decided to combine the laundry room with our homeschool room.
My homeschool room is about 8ftx5ft with the remaining washer/dryer section totaling about 3ftx5ft. It’s small.
This meant that I was going to need a lot of homeschool room ideas for small spaces.
This is the kind of challenge I love.
I LOVE trying to think of efficient ways to maximize my spaces. Usually, I lay awake all night thinking it over until I figure it out.
Here are the best Homeschool Room Ideas for Small Spaces…ever!
Homeschool Room TOUR
Would you like to take a tour of our small homeschool room?
Come on!
Homeschool room organization ideas for small spaces
Use your ENTIRE wall height
Our ceilings are 9ft high, and when I first set up our homeschool room, I was only using about 6 feet of the wall height. It worked well for about a month, but as we continued to move into (and unpack in) our Big House in the Woods, I realized that I had collected WAY more homeschooling books and materials than I had realized.
Plus, I would eventually have three children who were homeschooling which means I would need more places to store the books they are working with, their current projects, and their personal homeschool things.
I quickly decided that the only way this homeschooling room was going to work in such a small space would be to have shelves (or cubbies) to the ceiling.
I pulled everything out of our homeschooling room, and started building efficient, sturdy, cubbies to the ceiling (while baby #3 was an infant).
I painted them white and added some crown molding at the top.
I COULD NOT be happier with the results!
Pro tip: The cubbie style is the best because there is only potential for one cubbie to get destroyed at a time. Whereas, an entire shelf of books can start leaning if you pull a few books off the end. Are you following me here?
Plus, I like to dedicate certain cubbies for specific things like puzzles, manipulatives, school books for my 8 year old, materials for my kindergartener, etc.
I use this cubbie shelf for all of my kids reading books and it works out perfect.
Homeschool Room Lighting Ideas for Small Spaces
Nothing says “small space” like a dark space. At first, our homeschool room just had one overhead light. Since our homeschool room has no windows, that also means that the overhead light was the ONLY light.
With the way our homeschool room is laid out, when my kids were sitting at their desk, the overhead light was behind them. This means that the books they were reading or the schoolwork they were working on was always in a shadow.
I added two lamps in different areas and a string of white Christmas lights that runs along the back of their desk. The Christmas lights give an extra special touch to the room and make the desk look very inviting!
I love this lamp because it’s also a pencil holder and book/ iPad holder.
Homeschool Room Desk Ideas for Small Spaces
Homeschool Desk Ideas: Choose a space efficient desk or build your own
For a while we had a 4ftx5ft table at one end of the room. It was a very sturdy table that fit well in the space. I found it on the side of the road and I loved that table!
However, my kids are small and couldn’t even reach across the table so the back half was pointless.
Also, because my homeschool room is a small space, the table had to be positioned in a way that only allowed them to sit on one of the 5ft sides. After two kids spread out schoolbooks, coloring books, crayons, pencils, and puzzles, they were crammed together in that 5ft space.
After I built the cubbies to the ceiling, I decided to build a completely new school table. Instead of using the short side of the room, I ran the table along the 8ft side of the room.
I used a 1×12 and a 1×6 to create my table. I used 2x2s to build custom brackets to attach it to the wall. Now, my kids can spread out and there is even room for Child #3 to work there when she becomes school-age!
If you don’t want to build a desk, there are amazing options for traditional school desks (which I love!) and space saving options that are great for any area of your home.
For example, check out this super cute school desk with drawers, organization, and an included chair!
Savvy Homeschool Room Ideas for Small Spaces
Minimalist homeschool room tip: Look for hidden potential instead of buying more stuff
After I removed the old table and built our custom homeschool table, I was able to get to the water heater closet again. (The old table was previously in front of it.)
Since our house is new and we have been doing some of the work ourselves, we had not put a door on the water heater closet yet. As I stood there and looked at this space, I suddenly realized there was some hidden potential in that closet!
The water heater sits toward the back of the closet so that left an empty space upfront.
I was already trying to decide what to do with my kids’ computer. I didn’t want to put it on their school table because it would take up too much space and I didn’t want them spilling paint on it when they do art projects.
I also didn’t want to buy another piece of furniture to serve as the computer table.
I decided the best thing to do would be to build a wooden cubbie that would be recessed into the water heater closet. It’s custom built to fit their computer and it’s out of the way.
When they have work to do on their computer, all they have to do is pull a chair over from their school table!
I also love this wall mount computer cubby because it saves so much space!
Homeschool Room Setup Ideas for Small Spaces
Tip: Use your wall space efficiently
Most likely, you won’t have shelves on every wall. So, on the blank walls, fill them with useful things for your children.
Our homeschool room walls are filled with things like a calendar, multiplication chart, birthday chart to help us keep up with family and friends, sight word chart, hundreds chart for math, “morning meeting” posters, and my custom built crayon organizer.
When we do our morning calendar time, everything is right there on the wall, so we don’t have to fumble around for anything.
If my kids need to reference their hundreds chart or their sight word chart, they know exactly where to look.
I literally used a level when I hung every poster and I planned out where I put everything. The walls of our homeschool room are full but there is a method to our madness.
I knew that without careful planning, the walls would look crowded and chaotic. It’s difficult to have blank spaces in a small homeschool room, so your walls need to be more organized than people who have a large homeschool space.
And, since you are limited on wall space, only display things that are incredibly useful to your child’s education. When they no longer need a certain poster or chart, change it out for something new that will help them with their schoolwork.
Homeschool Room Ideas for Small Spaces- Reading Area Ideas
Must-have for homeschool room: A small bookshelf with a little reading rug.
I believe that if my kids can’t reach their books then they won’t read them.
I think this is true for most kids. Out of sight, out of mind.
So, if your space allows, have a small bookshelf full of books your kids can enjoy on their own. Also, get a small rug so they will feel comfortable and compelled to get grab a book, have a seat, and flip through it.
Our rug is a hand-me-down that I don’t worry about my kids getting paint on. You don’t have to get a fancy rug. Keep in mind that this is a space for children and children have a tendency to be messy!
Homeschool Room Must Haves
We use this calendar everyday!
A comfy (and super cute) rug makes a great place for your kids to spread out and read a good book.
You will need a Calendar and Weather Pocket Chart and I love this one.
This hundreds chart comes in handy all the time. It hangs on the wall above our desk.
This wall-mount computer cubby is a great space saver.
An awesome school desk is definitely a must have!
Have any more homeschool room ideas for small spaces?
What have you done in your small space to make it efficient and fun? Do you have extra homeschool organization ideas for small spaces to add? Feel free to leave more ideas in the comments!
Happy creating!
-Lindsey
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