"How do you homeschool?" - Part 2: Setting up shop.

You researched your state laws. You filed the paperwork. Now what? You need a classroom, right? With a blackboard up front, an American flag in the corner, a student desk, and some sort of hard, plastic chair?

Well, I'm sure there are some families who choose to set up this way. If it makes you comfortable to create a space that looks like a classroom you remember being in - go for it. But it is hardly necessary.

This idea may initially be distressing to some people, but you can homeschool anywhere, in any setting. Many of us who grew up in a school system probably have this idea in our heads, whether we recognize it or not, that learning happens in a specific place, at a specific time, for a specific number of hours each day, and one must be formally educated in educating in order to educate. I didn't even realize I had that idea in my subconscious until we got started homeschooling The Big One, but it was there, and it took me a little while to get over. I remembered the little details of the big teacher's desk up front by the chalkboard, the big felt erasers that had to be clapped out, and the pencil sharpener that spun.

That's school, right?

It doesn't have to be.

Learning happens all the time, anywhere, and educating can be done by anyone. You don't have to have a "classroom".
Even if you're lucky enough to have space in your home to devote specifically to a classroom space, it doesn't have to look like a typical school. You can design this space to best fit the individual needs of your kids and your homeschooling style. Welcome to the freedom of homeschooling. It's okay if it's a little terrifying at first.

Here are some space ideas I've pinned on Pinterest, where I have a homeschool board that you're welcome to follow. These are not my pictures, so click for the link to see the original source.

A table cut in half and attached to a bookcase for a two-student space.

A dreamy arts and crafts storage space.

An amazing closet turned office space. Only, a child's would probably look a lot messier.

An Ikea bookshelf on a lazy susan. This would be a neat small space way to store school supplies and books and then turn the bookcase around when you didn't want to look at "school" anymore.

Here's an old-school (is that a pun?) storage space turned DIY pretty.

A clever, space saving, fold-away storage space and desk.

These are all wonderful inspiration. In reality, however, some of us may not have the space, time, energy, motivation, or DIY skills for such projects. Here in our apartment, I am hindered by both not being able to drill into the walls and by the possibility moving again in just a year or two.

Luckily, all that's really required as far as homeschooling setting is a place to be, and sometimes a hard place on which to write.

We usually use the kitchen table. Each of my kids has a bookshelf in their room with their school books and binders on it, and as we change subjects through the day they go to put back or take out their books. If we're not writing, we'll sit on the couch or on the floor or wherever is most comfortable and least distracting at that particular time. If it's nice out, we can even take our work outside. Keeping papers in hard-backed binders makes it easy to transport and have a flat, hard spot to write. We don't do work outside a lot, though, because the possibility of wind blowing papers away distresses The Big One.

It's not fancy, but it works.

Supplies to have on hand depend on your style and how your child best learns. The basics include pencils and paper. Then, just think about what you'd put in a typical school-box for your child. Scissors, a ruler, glue, a pen, some sort of coloring utensil (crayons, markers, etc). Most things you will probably have on hand already. All I bought for school this year was a new pack of lined paper and pack of printer paper. We already had all the pencils and craft supplies we could possibly use.

Those are the essentials. For us, a computer with internet access is also important. I don't how how people homeschooled before the internet. Some families may use the TV for educational videos, some don't have one in their home at all. Some may want lots of craft supplies such as paint, yarn, construction paper, clay, and paper plates, others won't have a use for much of this. Books of course are major, but whether you purchase workbooks, reading books, or curriculum based books will depend on your homeschool style and also the quality of your local libraries. Which reminds me, a library card would also be one of our essentials.

Making Celtic torks in our pajamas on the dining room floor - Bookwork on the kitchen table - Cuneiform clay writing at the office desk

The last part of setting up shop is figuring out your schedule, if you'll even keep a schedule. My next post will be about homeschooling methods, which will largely influence how much or how little you plan or schedule your school time. I can say now, however, that pretty much no matter what, teaching your kids will not take as much planned time as you may think. In the beginning, I had no idea how I'd do it. When kids go to public school, they leave early in the morning and are gone until afternoon. I wondered, "How is there time for all that at home?!"

There's not. If you devoted a full seven hours to sitting with your child in your classroom space, you both would go crazy. But the good news is, it doesn't take that long. Think way back to when you were the age of your child. In school, how much of the time you spent in the school building was productive time? How much of it was spent trying to get everyone to stand in a neat line, telling Johnny to sit down for the millionth time, shushing everyone, preparing film strips, and waiting for the teacher to come over and help? The truth is that with one-on-one attention, or nearly one-on-one if you have more than one child, the actual time for organized "school time" is pretty little.

Again, part of setting up will depend on how you decide to homeschool. Like anything else, all the pieces of homeschooling intersect and depend on each other. I'll have more on the specifics of planning your time and space in my next post - A Method to the Madness.