Developing a Home Classroom

Location

Unless you have a large home with areas you don't currently use, you likely won't have much of a choice about where to locate your homeschool; you will use a room that isn't being used for some other purpose that you can't live without. However, if you have some options regarding location, consider the following factors:

• More space is better. You really can't have too large an area for your school.

• Distractions are distracting. Homeschool kids are still kids and if your homeschool is subject to lots of outside distractions, you might have to deal with distracted students.

• Light is important. A room that is well lighted is obviously important; if it has lots of natural light, that can be even better (unless that light comes through lots of windows with interesting things to look at outside!).

• Storage is king. You will have a lot of materials to store. A room with a closet, bookshelves, or other storage areas will make it convenient to keep your homeschool materials accessible and organized.

• Holes are inevitable. As you homeschool, you will invariably need to post things on the walls, such as maps, posters, and so on. This will inevitably lead to some minor damage to the walls, which, fortunately, is easily repaired when your school days are done.

• Doors are good. If your schoolroom has doors that you can use to shut it off from the outside world, it will help your students stay focused.

Although being able to have a room dedicated to your homeschool is ideal, it isn't a requirement. You can use any area in your home for homeschool that has enough room in which you and your students can work. Some people use their dining room or other place that has at least a table at which you can work. If this is your situation, be aware that you will still need storage areas and unless you are extremely dedicated about getting everything out at the start of each day and putting it all back again at the end of the day, it will be impossible to eliminate the signs of a homeschool in that room. (For example, if you have and use a formal dining room, that isn't a good option for a homeschool.)

If you can't dedicate a room in your home to school, you will need to dedicate some area in your home for storing the books, papers, projects, and other fallout from running a homeschool.