It is Back to School time and I am so pumped to get our home ready for it. I like to take time to prepare our home so it’s ready for school time. Some years when we have started in a rush it just feels like I’m trying to constantly get organized. So this year I will start early. The TIME to organize is NOW. Use your summer to get everything organized so you can FEEL ready for the school season when it starts.
First, decide where you want to do school.
Whether you homeschool or just have an area for homework, knowing you have space is important. Your space for school work can be on the counter, living room, desk, office space, or whatever works for your family. Creating a constant space where your kids can work, think, and learn, will help them create habits that will help them for years to come. It’s important to make sure the space is designated so it remains a study space and doesn’t become just another dumping place for things etc. We do school everywhere. All the places I mentioned and outside sometimes too. Follow my 5 simple steps to transform any space into a homeschool workspace.
Second, we stock the space with the supplies
If your kids are doing homework in the kitchen, or at the dining room table, a small bucket of supplies may be sufficient. Stash a small box of supplies on the coffee table in the living room. Use desk drawers, shelves, or storage containers neatly on top to store supplies. This can be a place where kids can constantly go to get what they need. The idea is to have supplies close so your child doesn’t have to go looking for them. This helps them not get distracted from doing their work. If yo udon’t know what supplies to get follow my back-to-school supplies shopping guide to get the right supplies at a good price.
Third, Get in the MOOD of learning!
After you have a designated space, and supplies are gathered, now you need to set the mood. Some people like to have a snack ready for kids when they sit down at the kitchen table to do school work. In our home, we like to have soft music in the background playing. It is also a great idea to sit down somewhere close and read, or do your own work so your children can see that this is the space where work happens. It helps a ton to be close when your kids need help working out a problem. Again, they don’t have to go looking for you and possibly get distracted.
Fourth, Creative or reading areas are so fun!
I always wanted a cute reading nook in my house growing up. Now as a parent, I like to create that space for our children. I love having a bookshelf of favorite or appealing books close to a seating area so the kids can grab a good book, relax and read. We have a few bookshelves near a couch for a comfortable reading space. Now, let’s talk about craft supplies. I absolutely buy way more than I should! I love crafting. Having a little craft table, craft shelf, or cupboard to store your supplies all in one place if possible is a good idea. I try to keep supplies easily accessible for my children so they can create something amazing whenever they are feeling in a crafting mood! Our guest room doubles as our craft room. You can see in the photo below we have a lot of open storage where I store some craft supplies.
How do you prepare your home for Back To School? Comment below, I’d love more tips on what you do!
Rach
Great tips! For our family it seems to work better when we have a central place to do our main portion of school. This way I can help each individual but they are able to listen in to the lessons of their siblings picking up extra details and I can be focused on school instead of my own things.
We put away the previous years curriculum so the current year is all fresh even if we used it 3 years prior. This year we added online curriculum for high school so we just added an area near by so I can help but far enough not to be a distraction.
Despite all that my #1 thing that has seemed to help is a way to communicate daily/weekly expectations/goals. We use to use a white board but that caused anxiety for one of my boys comparing how fast they were getting done so I went to planners. This way they can work ahead, they know things coming up like appointments, videos and I can adjust their daily chores easily.
It sounds like you have a great system for your homeschool! We love to use planners too. It really helps our kids stay on track with finishing their curriculum.
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