Simple homeschool organization ideas for creating a life-giving, simplified space to learn and teach in this upcoming year. Summer break is the perfect time for fine tuning our homeschool organization.

End of Term Reflections

The 2023-2024 school year is coming to a close and the warm, welcoming days of summer are near. As we wrap up each term I find it helpful to reflect on what worked and what needs some fine tuning for the success of the next term.

To clarify what I mean by term. We follow a Classical Charlotte Mason model of education in our home. Schedule wise we use a 3 term year, each term equal to 12 weeks.

At the end of our third term, I like to celebrate. Though some books we will leave unfinished, we have all received a wealth of knowledge, grown in character, and delighted in our learning. This has been abundantly greater than books left undone. My children have grown in some amazing ways.

Addressing Homeschool Organization

Aside from books, and the deeper heart matters of growing in character, the physical atmosphere of our homeschool room and home need consideration. How is our homeschool space functioning? Homeschool organization makes a difference in the home atmosphere.

Are children able to independently put away their supplies? Is an area constantly piled and causing chaos? Can everyone find what they need when they need it?

I function better in a peaceful environment and so do my children. Little stressors in our environment contribute to chaos in our home atmosphere. Summer break is the perfect time for some fine tuning to our homeschool organization.

Homeschool Room Organization changes from last year

This past year we moved a few times, lived in a trailer, I had a new baby and there were some big changes in my husbands career. All that to say, our homeschool room organization had to remain flexible.

A few key things were helpful through all of the changes. Even though we are now in a wonderful home with a great homeschool room situated in our dining room. I hope that you find a few inspiring ideas for your own homeschool room organization, to create a life-giving space for learning in the year ahead.

Simplify

One of the key priciples to my homeschool room organization is to simplify. I like to have only what we need for the homeschool year I have planned, in our main homeschooling area. If I am having to shuffle around a bunch of material that we “might use” then it’s too much.

Storing extra resources

First, I have a dedicated bin in our garage for the homeschool extra resources. This helps to remove the materials I don’t need right now but save just in case. If I have completely forgotten about a resource by the end of the year, I consider if it is necessary to own and can go to another family. Homeschool resource materials can clutter so quickly and I have found this method to be helpful in our homeschool organization.

Record keeping

In our state we do not have to start keeping records of our children’s education until 8 years old. Even though my children are not at that age yet, I do like to keep a few examples of their work. I have a document box for each child with a folder in it labeled with the school year. For more information on your state’s requirements for record keeping, check out hslda.org.

Supplies

Next, I have a box for extra supplies that I can grab as we need to restock. We use plenty of pencil grips, chalk, pencils, erasers, paint, tape, note cards, etc. These have a special home at the bottom of our homeschool cabinet that are easy to grab as we need them. It would cause more chaos in our school day if we had to run out to the garage for supplies or frantically search for that random pencil grip that left the school table. What’s worse is not knowing we are out of the necessary material for the school work while we are in the middle of a lesson. Ask me how I know.

Keeping a box of the basics all in one place really helps to simplify our homeschool space.

Home library organization

In addition to organizing extra materials, I also have bookshelves to catch the overflow of books.

We utilize so many books in our school days and I am constantly bringing new books into our home library. Not all of these books are in our scheduled reading for the term so extra bookshelves house the books to browse for free reading, reference, and family read alouds.

Keeping just the books we need for the school year lessons help our shelves remain functional and easy to navigate. This is a game changer for homeschool organization in our home. I know everything has a home. And the things I need will be within reach as we go about our school day.

Systems

Encouraging independence

One of the key aspects to our homeschool organization is making sure my children are able to independently access what they need during our school time. Charlotte Mason writes that education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life. Part of the disciplines in our school day involve taking out and putting away our own school materials properly.

Each child has their own box of belongings and activities. Having these items accessible and easy for a 6, 5 and 3 year old to keep organized is an important system in our homeschool organization.

Limiting interruptions

It is also important that as I am teaching lessons to a child that the other children are able to get what they need with little help from mom. If I am having to constantly get up to access something for somebody, this interrupts the flow of our lessons more than it needs to. If I can implement a system that allows for more independence, our days run a bit smoother.

Things out of baby’s reach

On the same note, I keep the items I do not want accessed all the time, out of reach. If I am going to be concerned that the baby is going to get into something she is not supposed to, we reorganize so that option is not available as much as possible.

There are a few baskets I like to utilize in our homeschool room organization.

The baby basket

Quiet time basket

Next is a quiet time basket. This will be new to our days this year as my older children are dropping their naps. Our home always has a mandatory quiet time from 1-3pm while babies nap and mommy has some time to rest. I thought that a special basket just for quiet time would be a wonderful addition for my older children.

I plan to have a designated basket for each child not napping. In this basket we have books and activities such as Lego sets, audio books, special craft items only to be accessed during these hours. I may switch up the basket throughout the year to help keep it fresh and exciting. We will see how it goes.

Morning basket

Then we have our morning basket. This basket is the kick-off to our school day. Our Bible time, poetry and family subjects I want to do collectively go in this basket. With everything in one place, this makes the start to our school day very simple as I know all we need is right where we need it.

Sunday basket

Finally, the Sunday basket. The idea of Sunday readings is something I have read in the volumes of Charlotte Mason and planned to do all year yet did not consistently implement. I think part of the reason for that was the materials I wanted to read were all over the place. Out of sight, out of mind. This year I want to designated a basket with these readings to help set us up for success in enjoying these books together.

The types of books I plan to include in our Sunday reading basket are Pilgrim’s Progress (or Little Pilgrim’s Progress- we love this one). Missionary biographies, Bible time material that is not scheduled in our weekly school lessons. Really it’s a special basket full of truth, goodness and beauty that is set aside for the Lord’s day on Sunday. I hope we are able to really enjoy these readings as a family this upcoming year.

Some fun additions to our homeschool room organization for 2024-2025

After simplifying our space, I have added a few fun things to our room for this upcoming school year.

DIY chalkboard

First, I made this vintage looking green chalkboard from scratch.

We utilized a small whiteboard throughout the year but this larger chalkboard was something I had been envisioning for a while now. I wanted a clean, beautiful place to daily write the date, key ideas for the day’s lessons as well as a place for our chalk board drawing instruction. Completely necessary? No. We could not have had one of these in our trailer and we would have been just fine with the smaller whiteboard option. But I love the aesthetic this adds to our space and it’s fun for me to curate and make a space more beautiful if and when I am able.

Displaying art pieces

Next, I found that displaying our artist pieces was a bit of a struggle this year. I used poster command strips for some and just binder clips on a tack for others. This did not result in the cleanest look. I am hoping to find some second hand floating picture shelves in the next few weeks.

Refreshing the shelves and walls

Finally, I switched out artwork and added a few functional decor pieces I’ve been collecting.

Though I love the extra storage in a small house, having exposed shelving can easily add visual clutter that affects how I feel in our space. Something that helps is to display things beautifully. Some of our materials in glass jars instead of ziploc bags, utilizing colors that are easy on the eyes, and enclosing clutter where I can. These simple homeschool organization ideas help me to feel more at peace in our space.

How are you planning for the year ahead? What homeschool room organization tips would you add?

For more reading on home organization check out the following posts:

• 5 Steps to Creating an Organized, Efficient and Peaceful Kitchen