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This is an article with homeschooling room ideas based on our virtual school room in 2020.
With the recent pandemic, we’ve found ourselves having to switch from traditional schooling to virtual schooling at home. Seemingly overnight, the girls needed a complete homeschool room in our home in order to accommodate their new educational needs. If you’re kind of in a tizzy like we are with trying to figure out homeschool classroom ideas or you just aren’t sure what your homeschool room needs, we have you covered! We also include a few Ikea homeschool room items!
Near the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to downsize our home in an effort to drastically cut household expenses. That meant that our options were slim in terms of implementing various homeschool classroom ideas. So what do you do when implementing homeschool organization ideas for small spaces? Instead of creating an entire homeschool room, we opted to carve out a piece of their upstairs living space. This was key for our homeschool space.
This school year will reveal a lot but we think it is a nice arrangement. They are in an open area where they can call either of us for help and they are in a direct line of sight from Phil and my’s office space so we can monitor them throughout the day.
The theme of our entire homeschool room is: keep it simple.
This arrangement [hopefully] is temporary and we wanted things that were both multi-purpose and inexpensive.
Key homeschooling room ideas to cover the basics are:
- Desk
- Chairs
- Pegboards
- Pegboard accessories
- Corkboard [or bulletin board]
- Dry erase board [or whiteboard]
- Storage bin
- Decorative and educational items
Here is a full shot of what our homeschool room looks like:
Let’s break down each part of the room and discuss how our homeschooling room ideas came together.
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Homeschool Desk Ideas
In lieu of a traditional homeschool desk, we opted to use a multi-purpose folding table that could be reused for a variety of things when it is not a part of the homeschool room.
6-Foot Granite White Plastic Folding Table from Amazon.com
8-Foot Granite White Plastic Folding Table from Amazon.com
Because we are limited on space, it was one of our homeschooling room ideas to select a narrower table. This one is roughly half the width of a standard table so it fits neatly against the wall. It is also very sturdy and easy to clean. Both are important characteristics to have in a homeschool desk – especially when your kids are younger like ours.
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Homeschool Chair
This was our one true “splurge” when implementing our homeschooling room ideas. Phil and I both have quite a bit of junk in the trunk and it was vital that we have chairs that everyone could fit in comfortably. However, these chairs were still incredibly affordable – especially considering the quality.
Andrew Side Chair [Set of 2] from Wayfair.com
As soon as we had these setup, they were an immediate family favorite! They are modern and simple but also surprisingly comfortable. When or if we ever dismantle our homeschool room, these chairs can be put to use elsewhere. 10 out of 10; highly recommend!
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Pegboard
One bright side of this sudden need for a homeschool room: I discovered a love for pegboards. They’re amazingly convenient and are so multi-purpose! We are using it as a paper clipper and a pencil holder but the options are limitless. With a pegboard, if it can be hooked, it can be hung!
Skadis pegboard from Ikea.com
We purchased a pegboard from Ikea [in an effort to create an Ikea homeschool room] and love it! The Ikea pegboard is proprietary to Ikea though and only fits their accessories. Plus, I didn’t read their illustrated instructions and hung it sideways making it difficult to hook the accessories on. Am I going to take it down and redo it? Nope!
If an Ikea homeschool room isn’t your thing or there isn’t one nearby, there are other options like this White Bello Pegboard from The Container Store or the Pegboard Metal Organizer Storage Kit from Bed Bath and Beyond. Both are relatively inexpensive and offer more options in terms of things you can add on to optimize your homeschool room.
White Bello Pegboard from The Container Store
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Pegboard Accessories
Speaking of accessories, pegboard accessories can make or break the usefulness of your pegboard. Beyond just being an innovative part of your homeschool classroom ideas, they are super cool. Seriously, the kids dig them and it made their investment in having a classroom at home easier.
Each of the pegboards in our Ikea homeschool room is outfitted with two Skadis clips [that were spray painted the color of their choice] and one Skadis shelf.
Skadis Clips from Ikea.com
Skadis Shelf from Ikea.com
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Corkboard
Hanging a corkboard in our homeschool room has been increasingly useful. We use it to hang a calendar for the month, the girls’ daily schedule, and anything else they need nearby but not in the way.
This Vaggis memo board with pins was another addition to our Ikea homeschool room.
Vaggis Memo Board With Pins from Ikea.com
This U-Brands Natural Cork Bulletin Board from The Container Store is another great option. As is this U-Brand Wood Framed Bulletin Board from Bed Bath and Beyond.
U-Brands Natural Cork Bulletin Board from The Container Store
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Dry Erase Board
Incorporating a dry erase board [or whiteboard] into our homeschool room has been particularly beneficial. We use it to sketch out math problems with the girls without using a ton of scratch paper. It also provides a fun break for the girls while they scribble all over it. For the sake of our sanity, let’s just call it art.
The Svensas memo boards were another piece of our Ikea homeschool room.
Svansas Memo Board from Ikea.com
Our girls are pretty close in height [don’t tell our oldest that I said that] but we hung the boards are varying heights so that it can be comfortably reached by everyone.
If you need an alternative to this Ikea homeschool room, check out this whiteboard from Amazon.
Quartet Magnetic Whiteboard from Amazon.com
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Storage Bin
Homeschool rooms require a surprising amount of school supplies. Since we are organizing our homeschool in a small space, it was critical that we have a [neat] place to store it all. I lucked up on this woven storage bin that happened to be the girls’ favorite color. I added some caster wheels to it [from another storage tower I owned] and we were set.
Sterlite 3 Drawer Weave Tower from Walmart.com
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to source this item since I stumbled upon it at the store. These clear Sterlite 3 drawer storage towers from Amazon.com are a good alternative.
Homeschooling Room Ideas – Decorative and Educational Items
Decorative and educational items are just the icing on the cake for your homeschool room. We used some items we had around the house and purchased a few new things too.
- Glass magnets for the whiteboard [Glass Magnets from Amazon.com]
- Letter Tray to store paper to use throughout the school day [Plastic Desk Organizer Letter Trays from Amazon.com]
- Multiplication Chart for quick math [we have this Multiplication Chart from Amazon.com]
- Pencil Sharpener [Plug-in sharpeners last longer like this Electric Pencil Sharpener from Amazon.com]
Finally, here is one more parting shot of our homeschool room in our small space.
Those are our homeschooling room ideas and a complete list of how we set up our homeschool room [including our Ikea homeschool room items]! Do you have any homeschool classroom ideas to share?
