When You Don’t Have a Dedicated Homeschool Room
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.
Raising six kids in a small house has meant I’ve never had a dedicated homeschool room.
I’ll walk into the living room to find a child reading their literature book, hanging upside down off the couch. Homeschool books and cookbooks mingle on the bookshelf.
Homeschooling without a homeschool room is a different kettle of fish!
Homeschool in the Kitchen
Your kitchen suddenly becomes the center of your homeschool life when you don’t have a dedicated homeschool room.
I started my homeschool career by sitting all my young children down at the table and giving them work to do. They were little at 7, 6, and 5 years of age. Even my little 2 years old sat down with toys. Otherwise, he was off doing what toddlers do best: destroying the house!
I walked around and around the kitchen table giving a hand here and help there.
Periodically I’d sit down next to a child to explain a math problem or listen to reading.
The kitchen is still the hub of our homeschool. All the kids and I gather there for our morning time routine. The teenagers and I sit down at the kitchen table for our weekly history and literature discussions.
Of course, the youngest children and I still sit at the kitchen table, side-by-side, to work through their schoolwork.
Art, science, and history projects happen in the kitchen. The kitchen table is perfect for laying out supplies and the sink is right there to make clean up easy. The teens also have a small alcohol burner for chemistry. It’s set up on the kitchen stove for all science experiments which require a burner. Chemistry at home can be quite exciting!
The trick to homeschooling in the kitchen is to keep all needed supplies in or near the kitchen. Books, teacher’s manuals, art supplies, and science supplies are all stored near the kitchen. Even if it means cookbooks mingle with math textbooks on a regular basis!
Homeschool in the Living Room
As the children grow, they eventually move part of their homeschool out of the kitchen and into the living room. Any reading assignment is fair game for curling up on a chair with a hot cup of tea. The kids sit and read.
And I’ve even walked into the living room to find kids reading literature while hanging upside down off the sofa. I guess the extra blood to the brain helps kids think!
The living room is not a good place for messy science and art projects. The kitchen is so much easier to clean. But it’s a great place for munching popcorn while watching a documentary or movie for the homeschool.
And it’s perfect for curling up on the sofa and enjoying long read alouds.
To be honest, I’ve found my teenagers sitting on their favorite chair with the piano bench in front of them. The child is completing their daily math assignment in comfort.
The trick to homeschooling in the living room is to stay on top of the mess. Remind kids to return their books to the bookshelves after they’re finished reading.
Otherwise, you’ll sit down in your favorite chair to find it filled with books!
Homeschooling in the Bedrooms
School books enter the bedrooms and never reappear! They’re swallowed by the black hole under their beds.
Still, teenagers love homeschooling in their bedrooms.
I’ll walk in to find them curled up on their beds reading literature, working through a math lesson, or browsing a history book.
The biggest issue with the bedrooms is the lack of supervision. Sometimes kids get distracted. They’re supposed to be working through math. They assure you they’re finishing that math assignment. But two hours later and only one problem has been completed.
When that happens, just move the kids back to the kitchen where you can keep an eye on them.
Homeschooling without a dedicated homeschool room has been challenging but fun.
The kids spread all over the house and homeschool truly becomes integrated with our daily life.
Recommended Reading:
We are kitchen table homeschoolers too – I think you summarized the evolution beautifully!
Do you ever find the kids curled up in wacky spots? Mine sometimes land halfway up the stairs or flopped on a blanket behind the sofa.
Yes! 🙂 I think the wackiest was on top of the washer and dryer, lol. What’s the wackiest spot you’ve found?
Great blog!! Thanks for sharing your thought I am sure this might help every homeschooler and your blogs are amazing. I have gone through a few of your blogs and they are really great.
Thanks, Ashley. 🙂