How to Homeschool in a Tiny Space – Without a Designated Homeschool Room

If you think you don’t have enough room in your home to homeschool, I would beg to differ. Can you homeschool in a tiny space? Yes, you can. Can you homeschool without a designated homeschool room? Yes, you can, and I have a secret you may want to know that supports my case.

As I researched all about homeschooling in a tiny place, or homeschooling without a designated homeschool room, many of the information I read caught me by surprise. It made me a little sad actually. I even wrote something over a year ago about homeschooling in a tiny space which made me a little convicted. My outlook, although having some similarities, are in other areas quite different now. What a difference time and trials make!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I get that. I did, however, read a lot of people saying how the perfect cookie cutter homes on Pinterest with designated homeschool rooms were NOT them. It sounded as if having a special homeschool area was a bad thing. It was like they were saying you weren’t a real homeschool family unless you were roughing it in a small space.

I would like to be the first to say that, if the Lord has blessed you to homeschool in an amazing space with a designated homeschool room that you can fill with fantastic resources, then I want to rejoice with you!

If the Lord has blessed you with just enough space to live and to make do with what you have, yet you are obeying the Lord to homeschool just the same, I am rejoicing with you too.

The Lord has made specialized shoes for each one of us to walk in. He knows exactly the journey we need to draw us near to Him. Therefore, if you want to homeschool but have little space to do so or if you are homeschooling in a tiny space and there is no way you can designate a room for it, then let’s figure out what we can do to make it happen.

I am in a second world country, and I managed to follow a few and tricks to make homeschooling happen with no designated room. 

This is How we Homeschool in a Tiny Space – Without a Designated Homeschool Room

• Our homeschooling resources are part of our décor.

There is just no way around it. I love, love a clean home. There actually was a time when I would give myself anxiety or couldn’t concentrate if something was out of place. The Lord has helped me; I have had to make space on a desk by the kitchen for homeschool. It is full of books, a globe, and papers — and visitors will just have to deal with looking at my homeschool storage area. It is OK.

• We store the bulk of our resources, books, and supplies in a living-room hutch and bookshelf.

When we moved, my husband learned to build things – through YouTube. I asked him to make me a hutch/box to put all our “homeschool stuff” in… 6 months later, I got my hutch. Another 6 months later, we got our bookshelf. Ladies, the Lord helps us with our patience. Amen?

• We have to clean as we go.

Of course, we can’t do this ALL the time. Sometimes we are running out the door for an appointment or speeding off to my son’s rugby practice. However, for the most part, it is part of our homeschool routine to clean up as we go. As one subject is complete, the resources and tools go into the hutch or kitchen desk (depending on what child you are). When we do hands-on math activities (or any other activities with materials), my kids put the materials away before moving to the next subject. It keeps me sane and keeps my kids accustomed to clean-up as part of their routine.

Side note: I was once an early education teacher, so I emphasize routine at the beginning of our school year. Things run smoother; and yes, so I won’t go nuts on a bad day. It works for me.

• Shower caddies keep our tools in one place.

Notice I didn’t say neat and tidy in one place, but plainly in one place that is mobile. Yes, sometimes the shower caddies get chaotic with crayons everywhere and small staplers or erasers thrown in, BUT at least it can be picked up and moved whenever we need it. As things start to disappear or overflow in the caddie, “organizing the caddy” gets put on someone’s chore chart.

• We get outside every day.

We have to. My son is very high energy, and so I try to create lessons that get him moving. It’s healthy for us to take some quick activity breaks throughout the day or take our learning outside. Homeschooling isn’t confined to a space for us. We had to think up ways of getting active in our homeschool because we all needed some fresh air from our tiny space.

Homeschooling without a designated homeschool room has really helped us stay more organized with our homeschool. I don’t hoard anything that I don’t need. My kids need some help in this area, so we get rid of stuff after every semester. We purge and get organized. We give away or sell the books we don’t need, or they go on the bookshelf, but something else has to come off.

Here is the secret I wanted to tell you; I almost forgot. In reading A LOT about the different homeschool spaces people have or what they do with their homeschool rooms, I learned this: Many, many, many families who have a designated homeschool room do NOT end up using that room to homeschool. Kids prefer to study in other areas of the house and gravitate there. I do NOT know why, but it just ends up happening.

For instance, my friend has an impressive home in the U.S. that had a designated homeschool room. It is a spare bedroom now. She homeschools out of the dining area now and it works so much better for their family. She doesn’t have to stop her day to work or cook because her child is in a common area where they can easily communicate.

We can more easily answer our children’s questions, we can more easily carry on with our homemaking or working from home when we are comfortable in common areas. Whether you are a designated homeschool room family or a tiny space homeschool family, one thing holds true – you ROCK for making a choice to educate your child in your own terms. 

It is not easy either way, yet you make do with what you have and graduate some pretty awesome kids in the journey.

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Jeannette Tuionetoa

Jeannette is a wife, mother and homeschooling mom. She has been mightily, saved by grace and is grateful for God’s sovereignty throughout her life’s journey. She has a Bachelor in English Education and her MBA. Jeannette is bi-lingual and currently lives in the Tongan Islands of the South Pacific. She posts daily freebies for homeschoolers!