REALISTIC & BUDGET FRIENDLY

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If you’re considering setting up a homeschool room for your family on a budget, then I think you will enjoy this post. I am sharing why you might consider designating a space for a homeschool room, as well as the key elements that make a homeschool room work. And how I’ve kept it budget friendly for my family. This room is not picture perfect but it perfectly suits us. You too can create a warm and welcoming learning environment on a budget with a little patience and a lot of creativity.

Why you might consider a homeschool room.

There are several reasons to consider a homeschool room. By the time I began looking into setting up ours I was definitely ready. First, I wanted our coat closet to be a designated coat and shoe closet instead of where our curriculum and arts and crafts supplies were stored. Second, I prefer the homeschool mess not to intrude on our daily mess and vice versa. Lastly, but most importantly, I was struggling to compartmentalize homemaking, homesteading, and homeschooling. This was making me a stressed and grumpy momma.

Some mommas love that they can switch laundry or wash dishes while leaving their kiddos to work independently. My boys are 7 and under, we’re not to independent homeschool work yet. Instead of staying focused on one task, helping my son with his math, I would think, “he can solve 35-8 while I sweep the floor.” 10 minutes later I’d still be asking him for the answer. Having a designated space, we disappear into our own little world and complete what needs to be done. We can then emerge to tackle the rest of the daily chores and tasks.

Reasons you may not be ready for a homeschool room.

There are valid reasons that can keep a family from having a designated homeschool room. Maybe you simply do not want or need one. But if you do, consider if you’re actually ready. One, your home and/or number of children may prevent you from being able to dedicate an entire room to homeschooling. We now have all our boys sleeping in one room. They love it and actually asked for it so this worked out for us.

Another reason is that the season of life you’re in may stop you. I wanted a homeschool room for years but knew we couldn’t manage it because we were still homeschooling with a little one running around. But I knew our season of life would eventually change.

Seasons of life change.

Let me explain first why it wouldn’t work with my youngest son being 2 years old. Our home is an “L” shape. On one side are our living quarters, as I call them, and at the other are the sleeping quarters. Or all the bedrooms.

Our current homeschool room is one of the bedrooms at the far end of the house. This set up wouldn’t have worked only a year ago. My youngest was too little. First, he still needed his own room for naps and early bedtime away from his brothers. Thus, we still needed the space for another purpose. Second, he required a lot of my attention. Locking him in the room with us was distracting for his brothers. And to him very unsatisfactory. By homeschooling in the main living quarters (dining room and living room) he couldn’t slip outside unattended. He may try to flood a bathroom but I at least knew where he was.

I determined a homeschool room was in order when he turned 3. This is because I noticed his capacity to sit and color, play with a train, or put a puzzle together was better. This means he can join us in the homeschool room for longer periods of time and I don’t have to worry about where he is. Also, he has his own lessons and that means I have some specific requirements for him at the same time as his brother’s lessons. And lastly, where we live, I trust him to be outside without direct adult supervision or his brothers nearby. 

What a homeschool room needs.

All this to say, as soon as I knew we could have a homeschool room I began setting it up. After being it in for 6 months I still love it. And the best part it barely cost anything. The main two elements a homeschool room needs are a place to do work and store supplies. Anything else is extra. And many of us who dream of a space solely dedicated to homeschooling, also dream of it being a warm and welcoming environment.

Additionally I need to throw in a quick disclaimer. Learning doesn’t only take place here. Our kitchen, nature, books, and the world is our classroom too. So never feel like you must have a homeschool room. If you are wanting one though, then do read on Momma.

Homeschool room features we can’t live without.

The extras can get expensive if you’re not patient and not creative. I’ve been both of these to help bring the space to life. A lot of our furniture I repurposed from other areas of our home or grabbed off alongside the road and repurposed with a lot of love and help from my husband. Other items came from garage sales or Facebook Marketplace. They’ve been a slow accumulation of items, getting creative, and honestly shopping my own home. 

A whiteboard and quiet activities.

Whether it’s a whiteboard or chalkboard I love having this central location to easily reference what lesson my kiddos are on. It also allows me to write a verse down for my son to copy for his handwriting and spelling practice. Or to use for math examples.

The last thing we keep on here are our alphabet magnets, one of our many quiet activities available in the room. There are other quiet activities throughout the homeschool room like coloring books, busy books, and wooden toys. Some of these are specifically only there to keep my younger kiddo entertained. And other items like connect cubes are actual manipulatives I need for lessons but the kids have access to when we’re not using them and we’re in the room.

A table and chairs.

I knew I wanted a table that could seat all my kiddos at once. Because as they grow older they’ll be able to work on individual assignments or engage with a group lesson. I began searching for a new dining set because the varnish on our old one was chipping. Our old dining set could move into the homeschool room once I had a replacement for it.

I hadn’t even had time to tell anyone when within a week family asked us if we would like a family piece to replace our dining set. It was truly perfect timing! So we simply took the leaf out of our old one to make it square and painted the top because the varnish was chipping. The paint job isn’t perfect but it works!

Another bonus of having this table set up in another room, and it’s near the craft supplies, is that I find our actual dining table is less cluttered at the end of the day. My boys set up their random art projects on this table instead. It isn’t all rays of sunshine because it can be inconvenient when we’re ready to do lessons but it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as when I’m attempting to put a meal on the table.

A child’s set of table and chairs.

If you have younger kiddos who are learning to write then make sure to have a table and chairs for little ones. A child will have more success at learning to write if they have a table and chair that is the correct height for them. This is the set I purchased 5 years ago and it has withstood a lot. It’s not pretty anymore, nor should it be. My kiddos love this table and chairs and it shows!

Bookcase(s)

Workbook trays and more.

Having a spot for educational books, curriculum, manipulatives, and assignment trays all come together in bookcases for us. Two of our bookcases are children’s bookcases from my childhood. When my youngest moved into his brother’s room the bookcases came together in the homeschool room. 

These are the horizontal trays that I use for my sons to keep their current workbooks, manipulatives, printables, and assignments in. Be sure to measure your bookcase first, I had vertical turn in trays from my days of teaching stored so I was able to make the space work. My two oldest kiddos use all three slots for math, reading, and writing. My youngest is learning his letters, numbers and more using the free preschool curriculum, Letter of the Week. The materials and printables that we need to use frequently are kept here in his trays.

Our curriculum spot.

When we lived in Ohio in the suburbs I noticed a sad and beaten up wooden dresser sitting by the side of the road on a rainy day. My husband said I was nuts, the bottom drawers were in tatters and someone had poorly painted designs on it but I knew it had to be saved.

My sweet hubby carried it to our home and it sat in the garage for another 6 months. After moving this sad, broken, and painted dresser all the way to Mississippi … and a year later… I finally fixed it up with my hubby’s help.  He converted it to a bookcase with two shelves. We left the only drawer that was still intact. The top drawer.

It took a lot of sanding, scrap wood, stain we already had, and a new back with contact paper to make it beautiful again. But I saw it’s potential and am so glad my husband loves me and all my craziness. It’s now where we store the majority of our curriculum and the drawer at the top is the perfect spot for my office supplies.

Parent’s station.

The side table I use as my catch all and reverse planning binder. You can read more about reverse planning by following the link if you’re interested in tracking and scheduling your child’s learning the easy way. This table has served many purposes over the years. My parents bought it for me as a birthday present before we even had kids. It has been an entryway table, a plant stand, and a spot for diapers and wipes. Now I use this table for our reverse planning binder and more items that we use on a regular basis. 

Nature collection.

If you homeschool and you don’t have a nature collection, I’m not sure we can be friends. Just kidding but my kiddos take their nature collection very seriously. I have an entire mini bookcase (given to me by my mom who no longer needed it), two tan shelves, and two homemade bug boxes that house our nature collection. 

Once again these two tan shelves have moved with me in every stage of life since I was a teenager. And the bug boxes my husband made out of old picture frames I had been saving from a random purchase I made on Facebook marketplace. I removed the prints in the frames and used different frames but couldn’t bear to part with the old, beat up frames because once again I knew they would serve a purpose for some crazy project or vision. Maybe I’m just a hoarder but some leftover wood, Styrofoam, old paint, and new hardware created these bug boxes for basically free.

Arts and crafts, math manipulatives, and science central.

Arts and crafts supplies and even math manipulatives, and science exploration kits can become overwhelming for homeschoolers. Finding the right organization method can be tasking and expensive. Instead I make what we have work for us. 

All the odds and ends accumulate in the closet of our homeschool room. There are arts and crafts, manipulatives, science gear, a little more curriculum, my kiddos portfolios, and some random items that have nothing to do with homeschooling. The cube storage organizer I repurposed from the the boy’s bedroom and the plastic drawers I once again picked up alongside the road. They are in perfect condition and yet someone was just throwing them out! If you want a similar cube storage organizer check this one out here.

Add a warm and welcoming touch.

Now that the main work is done. We’ve been creative, shopped our home, and the side of the road. Finally it’s time make the space warm and welcoming. A rug, curtains, framed pictures, and other small elements can help create a cozy and beautiful space for learning. The animal flashcards came from a garage sale in a tote of other flashcards. I never got rid of them and eventually decided they were perfect to hang up on a cute yarn in the homeschool room. 

A rug is always an easy way to cozy up a space and the one we use came from my parents who were done using it. The curtains and picture frames came from another room that was getting painted and redone when all the boys were moving into the same room.

Future ideas for the homeschool room.

I’ve added to my hubby to-do list a wood frame for the whiteboard because why not! Also, I’ve been holding onto an old farmhouse lamp that my parents were getting rid of when they replaced their back room light fixtures. I’m looking forward to it hanging above the homeschool table. Lastly, I hope to refresh the table lamp shade and do something different with the closet.

All these items just require the time to do it and creativity. Whereas I’m also on the hunt for a dirt cheap atlas to hang behind the door, this really just takes patience.

It’s not perfect but somehow it actually is.

For our family this homeschool room is practically perfect in every way. Is the organization perfect? Far from it. Is the furniture and decorations in perfect condition? Not at all. Does the space serve us? Definitely, one hundred percent yes!

I’m so glad I waited to create this space for our family because it wouldn’t have come together like it did. It’s always evolving but this setup has suited us for over 6 months now. My encouragement to you is to realistically consider if you’re in a season of life that will allow you to use a homeschool room. And if you are, then be patient bringing it together. If you’re creative and patient you can create a warm and welcoming learning environment for you kiddos.

Patience and creativity created our space. And as the boys grow I know the room will naturally adapt to accommodate the new materials, curriculum, and whatever else is needed to successfully homeschool them. If you have a moment, share about your homeschool room in the comments to encourage and inspire others as they dream of the space that will suit their family’s needs the best.