Now that you have dealt with the initial research and family meetings, it is time to get started with setting up your homeschool. The first step is setting up classroom at home. You are going to need a dedicated learning space in your home. This is essential to keep the children in an atmosphere of learning. Otherwise, they can be easily distracted by their toys, games etc.
Dedicated Room for Homeschooling classroom
- Enough space
- Desks
- Chairs
- Bookshelves
- And, of course, a door that closes (to keep noise and distractions out).
Friend’s story of establishing Homeschooling Classroom
It wasn’t a big home and he really needed a home-office and more importantly a homeschool classroom. He would pray at night for a good three bedroom apartment to be available for them soon. He would go out often looking for such an apartment. Two months before the end of the year, his next door neighbour moved out of the only three bedroom apartment on his floor. The landlord offered it to him, and he took it a sign that he should homeschool his children.
They literally moved next door, remaining in the same building, but now had a third room which he turned into a classroom/office. Since then, he has been working out of that office and his children have been using it as their classroom too.
I don’t think they would have been able to homeschool properly without such a room, as he had smaller children too who would have distracted the bigger ones while studying. Add to that the distractions of their toys, games, and the smell of good food cooking in the kitchen. Kids really need a dedicated learning space, just like we needed a dedicated work space.
Setting up the room
Despite the fact that my children have desks, I still find them studying and writing all over the room. I find them lying on the floor with a book in their hands, resting against the window and studying, or very often sitting on my lap at my work table.
I’m not very strict with the ‘sit quietly and work’ rule. I find it too constraining for children and so I leave them to study in whatever position they are comfortable in. The desks and chairs are there for their comfort, and I often find them using it more after schooling hours than during it.
You will also need bookshelves, as over the years you will collect a lot of books. Homeschooled kids tend to go through workbooks much faster than regular kids because they are not constrained by the pace of a class. Each child moves at their own pace, so sometimes your child might finish a week’s syllabus in a day, and year’s syllabus in a few months.
These books will pile up and you will want to keep them for revision, showing authorities, reference, and even just looking back at how far your child has come. For all this, you will definitely need good bookshelves. I made the mistake of purchasing some plastic shelves for them thinking it would be enough.
The shelves fell apart very quickly under the weight of their learning material and then I had to invest in a high quality wooden bookshelf. You will also need these bookshelves to store the variety or story and reading books that they will collect over the years, especially if you are trying to build a culture of reading in your home.
The bookshelves will also help you stay organized as you can keep all currently used books in one shelf, older books on another, and story books on another. Likewise, you could divide it according to each child’s books. This will make looking for the books at the beginning of each school day easier and faster.
Some homeschooling parents choose to invest in a whiteboard as well. This works quite well when you need to explain any concepts to them. However, I have never used a whiteboard and find that it is just as easy to explain concepts to them on a computer screen, tablet, or even with pen and paper. As each child is learning individually, there isn’t any real need for a board that many can see at the same time. Nonetheless, it would make a nice addition if you prefer using it. Depending on their age and subjects, you may need other things. My home has a lot of art supplies as my kids love to work on art projects first thing in the morning. Likewise, some homeschooling families set up their own science labs for older kids who love to experiment. Each home is unique, so set it up according to your children’s needs. Personally, I believe that you should have a computer in your homeschool. We live in the digital age and we need to teach our children how to use the computer responsibly. The computer always comes in handy for me, as besides learning basic computer skills, we use it to Google concepts that they want more explanation on, watch educational YouTube videos together, and type out examples and explanations for concepts that they are having difficulty understanding.
A computer is a wise investment if you are able to monitor their usage and keep them away from bad websites.2 Either way, they are eventually going to be exposed to the internet, so it is best that they learn about it under your supervision so you can teach them to use it for good, and to avoid the evils on it.
Buying Stationary
You will need to keep a budget for stationary as you will often find yourself running off to purchase more books, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, crayons, and whatever else your child needs. There is no school to supplement any of these, and there are no friends sharing with them. As soon as something is broken or lost, you will have to replace it. This is one area in which homeschooling isn’t cheap. It still works out far cheaper than paying expensive school fees, but don’t think there won’t be expenses. In fact, your setting up costs may be initially be very high, but those are things that you purchase once off and use for years. It is stationary that becomes the monthly, and sometimes weekly cost of homeschooling.
Organize a place for the children to keep their stationary safe, and teach them to be responsible with it. However, be prepared for things to get lost and misplaced. Its normal and it happens. I like to keep spare 2 I utilize Windows 10 and have set up a monitored children’s account for them. The way this works is that every week Microsoft sends me an emailed list of every website they visited. This way I am able to monitor that they are only using it for good. pencils, pens, erasers, and sharpeners in my desk drawer in case something gets lost. If you do not have things kept carefully and a lot of extra stationary, a lot of time will be wasted each day in just looking for a pencil. (Believe me, this can last an hour with kids.)
So getting your stationary in order is a must. Don’t leave it for too late and don’t expect it to be cheap. Keep a budget for it, keep spares, and stay organized. This will make things much easier for you.
Choosing a curriculum
Once you have a classroom set up, stationary, and a curriculum, you are now ready to begin homeschooling.
