Whether you have a small space or an entire dedicated space for a homeschool classroom, you can homeschool in your house. You don’t need fancy shelving or a special room. You probably will want to think through what kinds of homeschool supplies you want to store & how you want to use those things on a daily basis.

We’ve homeschooled…

• in a very small house with no dedicated extra room or hidden storage
• in an extra dining room
• in a dedicated homeschool room, though we might be giving it up for my husband’s home office soon 😉

I’ve polled a bunch of real life friends & internet mamas to try to round up a TON of pictures & ideas from real-life homeschool moms and their normal learning spaces.

From our own experience and from everyone I’ve talked to, I’ve realized one very important fact about creating a homeschool area in your home: you can homeschool no matter your space. 

Whether you have a lot of room or a little, whether you want your house to scream “this is a learning environment we homeschool!!” or not, you can teach at home and make it work with your home decorating style and your lifestyle. 

So, grab your homeschool mom beverage of choice (I sure hope it’s coffee…!) and let’s dive in to all the homeschool room ideas.

What Do You Actually Need Space For?

The first step to planning a homeschool storage space is to figure out what you actually need space for… any time we’ve changed rooms or organizing solutions, I just brain dump a list on a scratch piece of paper.

It’s a great idea to write out everything you need to store. Or you can just pile it all together Marie Kondo Style and start sorting!!

Besides the basic school supplies – scissors, markers, pencils, etc. – the types of supplies you want to have on hand will totally depend on your homeschool style & curriculum.

When I’m reorganizing I imagine what items I have and where it makes sense to put them for our family.

• Accessible art supplies- water colors, brushes, paper oil pastel in a drawer or basket
• Extra art supplies – out of reach cabinet
• Every day writing utensils – pencils, markers, colored pencils, erasers, rulers, etc in a portable supply caddy of some sort.
• Extra office supplies – hole punch, stapler, paper cutter – maybe a drawer or office supply station set up; or a school supply rolling cart
• Paper – whatever kind gets used regularly at your house… graph paper, lined paper, blank paper, art paper, construction paper, paper scraps
• Books you’re currently reading – basket or shelf in the family room
• Books you want to read soon – I pull all the books used for a year’s curriculum on to one shelf!
• Library book bin
• Individual kid workbooks – each kid has a basket or caddy for their books
• Etc, etc, etc.

Dedicated Learning Spaces & Homeschool Room Ideas

We currently have an extra entire room for homeschooling. I’m not going to lie – it’s really nice to have one dedicated spot to shove everything and just close the door when it’s a mess.

But also – it attracts clutter & extra materials to sort through and I don’t feel at all like we need it. Sometimes, I want to repurpose the room because the kids spread out all over the house to work anyway… anywho! Use what you have!

The basics of a dedicated homeschool room are:

• A table or desks
• Book storage
• Wall storage
• School supply storage

Here are some realistic looking homeschooling room ideas I’ve seen:

Picture from @willowtree_schoolhouse on Instagram

None of them scream “classroom.” Each of those rooms is set up for organic living & learning & allow kids to access what they need. There is space to spread out or work side by side.

Normal Life Homeschool Spaces

When I was looking for ideas for my homeschool room, I realized almost every idea I saw on pinterest felt like it was straight out of a magazine… not that those beautiful images are bad for inspiration, but sometimes it’s helpful to see what actual homes look like.

Here are a few more homeschool room ideas that are more everyday homeschooling life in action.

This is our personal room… it gets slightly rearranged each year, but here it is in all it’s midweek glory.

Small Space Homeschool Room with Creative Ideas

I love the way Ashley from the Vanilla Tulip Farmhouse built a narrow desk along the wall for some added workspace.

Using wall space is a great way to store supplies in a functional and cute way.

I’m sort of obsessed with this green hutch & old desk combo below. Great use of small space.

This a great small homeschool room by @thebrownfield shared on Instagram.

And the truth is, you just don’t need a dedicated room to create a beautiful & functional learning environment in your home.

Invest in a lap desk with compartments for your child. This allows them to take their work anywhere in the house – on the couch, at the kitchen table, or even curled up in a sunny spot by the window.

Chalkboard vs. Dry Erase Board1?

A chalkboard wall used to be all the rage. Maybe it is still!? My husband hates chalk. He hates the sound of chalk, the feeling of it, and the dust. LOL so we have never had a chalkboard wall… We just snagged a secondhand magnetic dry erase board.

It’s nice to have for a different space to work and to hang stuff, but I could totally do without it too! You can see below, half of ours is covered with charts/ things we reference & half is used for school and games. Ha! I also use sticky tack to post our artist prints each year! That’s a fun collection.

Kid Art Wall Displays & Other Wall Ideas

Turn a blank wall into a gallery of your child’s masterpieces! String up a clothesline or install a tension rod to create a rotating display area. Clip up artwork with clothespins or binder clips. This not only showcases their creativity but also fosters a sense of pride.

Speaking of walls… walls are your friend. No matter the space, utilize vertical storage solutions.

• Hang shelves or pegboards on unused walls to hold books, folders, and art projects.
• Door organizers with clear pockets are perfect for storing flashcards, reference materials, or frequently used manipulatives.

These maps & clocks are a super fun use of wall space. Plus the wooden drawer organizer from hobby lobby holds books by category!!

A basic sturdy cube shelf below packs a lot of punch!! Above it, I just hung up twine & used mini clothespins to hang kid art.

Homeschool Book Storage & Categorizing

For years, I just piled books throughout our house on random shelves. It was starting to get a bit out of control, so I overhauled our book organization system last summer. 

I put all chapter books alphabetically by author’s last name on one ikea shelf. (The tall one in the corner below.) They’re not TOTALLY alphabetical… just all the A’s together, all the B’s together, etc.

Then the cube shelves below hold non-fiction picture books for math, science, and Bible. I also have a basket of all my early-reader books.

The books on front facing shelves are random… mostly for decoration & the ones that are too tall for normal shelves. The bottom front facing ledge shelf has ones we were actively using.

The rest of our picture books are throughout the house in kids’ bedrooms and family room areas on shelves.

This other tall Ikea shelf (Below) on the other side of the room holds collections of non-fiction and seasonal kid’s books. Plus, the topshelf that holds all my books for that homeschooling year. (The ones we’re actively reading go in a basket in the family room, but all the ones I know I’ll want throughout the year for literature-based history, curriculum manuals, etc. are on one shelf of the unit.)

One of the Homeschool Book Storage ideas is a milk crate – plastic or wooden, which can turn out to be a surprisingly versatile solution. You can paint them in fun colors and use them to store curriculum workbooks by subject. This keeps things accessible for the kids and adds a pop of color to the space.

For our extensive collection of reading books, I believe that a walk-in closet could be a homeschooler’s dream! Just clear out some space and add sturdy shelving, creating a dedicated library area. This not only keeps the books organized but also allows you to curate a special reading corner. Plus added comfy cushions and a beanbag chair, transforming the space into a quiet haven for independent reading or story time.

Now, when it’s time to pick a book, you can have a designated quiet space that fosters a love of reading. Plus, everything is neatly organized and easy to find, making your homeschooling days run much smoother.

My friend bought these skinny Ikea Billy Bookcases and put them wall to wall in a basement nook. Clear bins on the bottom hold paperbacks and other kids books that they can thumb through easily.

We helped my sister in law install these cute front-facing ledge shelves from Ikea in a wide hallways. She has plastic crates underneath with overflow books.

I love this cute shelf in a friend’s small homeschool room! She has the daily used stuff out on this shelf and then the closet holds everything messy she wants to hide… there is a square work table in the middle of the room. You can totally make any room work!

Individual Work Spaces

It can be helpful to have individual work spaces for each of your kids if you have the space in your home. You might give each child their own study space or small desk if you have a spot. You could put a child-size table in the corner of a room in your home. 

However, if you don’t have enough room for kids to have their own space, you can give each kid a shelf or cabinet or cart with their supplies and they can take them around the house when they’re ready to work. (This is what we do! More ideas below!)

Try to think outside the box and incorporate creative reading and learning spaces in your home. For example, you could use a beanbag and a small wall shelf or basket to create a quiet reading nook. Or you could place a little school supply caddy or book basket in a child’s bunk bed with their individual materials. 

What if You Don’t Have a Homeschooling Room?

Homeschooling supplise can actually be located anywhere in your house! You don’t need a designated homeschool room to create great storage space. You just have to sort of think outside the schoolbox (pun totally intended!)

Remember, the key is to be creative and adaptable. By utilizing different areas of your home and employing clever storage solutions, you can create a functional and inspiring homeschool environment without needing a dedicated room.

Portable Homeschool Storage

Honestly, my kids take their caddies or laptops all over the house! So, I spend more time & energy & money creating a cozy house we love being home together in and just make sure we have the school stuff stored in accessible & portable ways.

Each kid has this individual work tote for all their schoolbooks and supplies like the one pictured below.

We’ve had them for years! They hold up great. My art-loving kids also have an extra one in their bedrooms for art supplies.

Supply Caddies

You can find very cute school supply holders at Homegoods or TJ Maxx… especially in the summer when they have all their outdoor silverware caddies. (Pictured above.)

Laptop & Learning Cart | Homeschool Cart Ideas

If you have any older kids doing online classes, you might need a laptop & headphones station. This laptop cart ideas from blue i style is good inspiration… she uses a cart to keep all the kids’ supplies contained in a small space. Whether they study at the kitchen table or cozied up on a couch, this cart can be rolled by their side.

When our kids were in a hybrid homeschool program where they went to class 2 days a week, a lot of their materials lived in these rolling backpacks that went back and forth. During those years, I didn’t need much storage space at home for their workbooks, but I did need a spot for all the teacher manuals and hands-on supplies.

For what it’s worth, we still use those same backpacks years later (pictured below) for travel and library trips!

Cute Homeschool Storage in the Living Room, Dining Room or Kitchen

Art Cabinet

If you’re into projects or arts & crafts, you might need a dedicated spot for tons of art supplies. This Small Stuff Counts is a good example I found…. she repurposed a craft cabinet and small spaces for her kids’ art supplies and organized them in clear bins. Voila! Minimalist and organized art storage filled with essential art supplies.

The Friendly Fig shows (below) how a simple cabinet could store the most needed supplies near a kitchen table or dining table. Each kid has a tote bin from the container store. You can keep books in baskets, separate shelves, or on a bedside table.

The corner cabinet above is just in a dining room and holds all the homeschooling supplies for this family!

The Living Room Corner

A dining hutch in a dining room or a little work space in the corner of a family room can work.

This picture is a tiny space corner idea from Love and Marriage Blog, utilizing the corner space in your home, setting it up for your kids study space.

Other Living Room Storage Ideas:

• Bookshelves galore!
• End tables with storage
• Ottomans or coffee tables with hidden storage compartments can hold workbooks and craft supplies.
• A mobile shelving unit/ rolling cart can be tucked into a corner or closet when not in use.

Kitchen Nook with Custom Shelves             

Don’t underestimate the power of your kitchen either!! Purge a few kitchen things you don’t need and set aside one little drawer and cabinet…

• A designated drawer can house everyday homeschool essentials like pencils, markers, and glue sticks.
• Wall-mounted magazine holders can become organizers for student work in progress.
• A pull-out pantry shelf could have science experiment materials

A friend of mine downsized from a large house to a small apartment near the beach. With 3 small children, she wanted a way to organized her hands-on learning materials and books without having to worry about a busy one-year old getting into stuff all the time. I love these simple, custom shelves her hubby put up. He anchored them to wall. She just stores toys and toddler stuff on the bottom and teacher’s manuals & small pieces up higher.

Maybe you can minimize some kitchen supplies (or relocate the ones you don’t use very often) and put your most used homeschooling supplies in a kitchen cabinet. A kitchen cabinet is a great option because so many families homeschool around the kitchen table. It’s so nice to keep school books near to where you do your work.

Homeschool Supply Closet!

This is a personal favorite of mine!! I know so many people who just give one big closet in their house to homeschool supply storage.

I’m a huge fan of basic hardware store shelves in a closet! In fact, I turned our front coat closet into a toy/ game closet and inspired my friend to turn her spare bedroom closet into a homeschool supply storage closet.

Lots of people I know keep extra homeschool stuff in closets. They keep the main supplies that are used daily out in baskets, rolling carts, or a bookshelf and everything else gets stored in coat closets, extra bedroom closets, or even basement storage closets. If you’re not using it on a daily or weekly basis, you really don’t need it to be easily accessible.

This one has more custom finish shelving with room for carts & I love that over the door hanger! Raising Three Marigolds.

Hutches & Cabinets for School Storage

A friend who lives abroad sent me a picture of her Ikea Kallax style shelves holding everything they use! So organized!

Many homeschool families store most of their homeschool stuff in repurposed dining hutches.

The Perfect Homeschool Space is What Works for You!!

Remember, the “perfect” homeschool room is the one that is perfect FOR YOUR FAMILY!! It’s a space that is a reflection of your child’s learning style and your family’s needs. Don’t be afraid to experiment and personalize the space to create a learning environment that fosters creativity, focus, and a love for lifelong learning!

Happy Homeschooling!