Homeschool Room Organization

When we talk about having a homeschool room, homeschoolers aren’t necessarily talking about replicating an actual traditional classroom within their home. Whether homeschooling primarily takes place in your main living space or within a designated room, it’s going to need some organization. This helps us to better govern our homes and our homeschools.

Home and Homeschool Government

One way to govern your homeschool is to intentionally direct where you want specific items to be. Naturally this involves writing surfaces, books, kits, collections, etc.

With a Biblical-Principle Approach homeschool, some challenges arise when it comes to space because we may have a rather large amount of resources and notebooks in relation to our shelf space.

1. Prioritize Easy Access to Your Top Research Resources

You’ll constantly use Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, a dependable concordance, and Bibles. This is because much of your research for each subject has to do with applying the 4R method of research, reason, relate, and record.

That being said, resources nearby ought to be Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History (T&L) by Rosalie Slater, the Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America Vols I and II (CHOC I & II) by Verna Hall, Universal History: Ancient History, Law Without Liberty and Universal History: Middle History, The Law of Liberty by Katherine Dang.

If aesthetics means something to you, all three of those resources come in attractive book covers. So, you don’t need to sacrifice design for a tone of primary colored or cheap covers.

Secondary Research Resources

Primary resources will vary among our homeschools. In our home, these are placed under “secondary research resources” because we initially got by with T&L and CHOC I & 2 for the Noah Plan lessons for K-3rd.

2. Make Room for Organizing Your Homeschool Notebooks

With a Biblical-Principle Approach homeschool, we accumulate several 3-ring binders. Depending on how many children one has, that may or may not feel a bit overwhelming. That being said, keep the current year’s notebooks at hand and store the notebooks from previous years so it doesn’t feel like they’re overtaking your home.

3. Design an Environment That Reflects the Experience You Want to Create

Whether intentional or not, we’re creating memories with our children. How we govern our homes becomes a part of that experience. Home life encompasses more than the smells, sounds, and moments we spend together. They also involve memories of our surroundings (order or the lack thereof). It all has an impact on the child.

A Tidy Home

Our homes are an external reflection of what’s going on internally. Have you heard of “a messy mind, a messy home”? This isn’t referring to a “lived in” look or feel. Rather, this is referring to clutter, almost every surface covered in “stuff,” and . . . hoarding.

Governing one’s home environment doesn’t cause an individual to have Christlike internal qualities. There are plenty of ultra tidy homes filled with individuals of poor internal character. That’s for sure! However, it does affect memories and whether or not a child feels valued–especially when looking back at home life.

Disorganization is counter to God’s Principle of Orderliness.

“Let all things be done decently and in order.”

1 Corinthians 14:40 (KJV)

Having a disorganized home disrupts focus, impacts individuals emotionally, and it’s embarrassing.

Ultimately, a well-governed, well-organized home is part of a peaceful home for a loving family. It helps bring order to the world and to produce a well-ordered family. In turn, this helps us to subdue and have dominion over our private property.

4. Organize Your Homeschool with Together School

Many subjects are easy to combine so that you can teach different grades in your homeschool one lesson at a time. This helps to organize your structure and time.

It’s easy enough to:

• teach the Leading Idea,
• go over a basic understanding of the topic,
• discuss the subject,
• reason from Truth together (the Bible principle),
• allow for the children to read books at their own level,
• and then give them the opportunity to do their notebook work more independently (depending upon the age/ability of your child).

5. Organize Your Time and Subjects

Are you setting time aside to do your own studies? When?

Are you doing “together school” to save time? Which subjects?

Do you want to organize your books by subject or by grade? How you decide to teach your lessons (multiple ages at a time or individually) may influence your decision on how you want to organize your subjects. Whatever system you choose, you want it to support the individuality of your family.

6. Create Spaces

Another beneficial way is to plan out how you’ll organize zones for your homeschool. Where will you:

• keep science materials and do science experiments?
• have family members read together/independently?
• store art materials and create artwork?
• etc.

Embrace God’s Principle of Individuality

No two homes are exactly alike and there isn’t a “perfect one-size-fits-all” homeschool. This is true of both “homeschool space” within the home, so embrace God’s Principle of Individuality in your homeschool.

Footnote ¹: The Noah Plan^® [and/or] The Principle Approach^® are registered trademarks of the Foundation for American Christian Education.