If you’re going to homeschool this summer, you may find yourself feeling like you need an adjustment in your schoolroom. After all, you’ve been staring at the same tired decorations for a full year now and you may need something a bit more inspirational. Sometimes, it’s just a change in atmosphere that makes a difference but other times you may need to redecorate. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, we have some organizational tips for you!
- Let the room reflect your family. If you have youngsters, your schoolroom should indicate that. Just the same, if you have teens you probably want to keep something special for them as well. You don’t want to go overboard in either direction if you have both ages to teach.
- Provide seasonal decor. It’s not quite time for “back to school” stuff to emerge, yet it’s a little late for spring decorations. Summer themes include things related to swimming, the beach, pools, watermelon, etc. Try to let your chosen room decorations reflect summer themes. Doing so will help your family members get into the spirit of a new season of school instead of dreading it.
- Keep an area of indoor active play. We’ve seen some amazing schoolrooms, some of which included a stationary trampoline for little ones who get bursts of energy. When you need to keep kids contained in the schoolroom for hours on end, it’s a good idea to provide something physical for the younger ones.
- Display student art! Along with any decor you decide to use especially for summer, be sure to display the art that your students produce. Kids love seeing their work displayed and others admiring it. Furthermore, they’re more likely to be careful about not accidentally ruining your decorations if they had an active role in creating them2.
- Separate older learners from younger learners. While your schoolroom should definitely reflect the learners you have, you also don’t want everything your youngest learners are studying to be mixed in with what your older learners do. Also, the kids will appreciate having things separated and having their “own” spaces. This requires a little more foresight and planning but will be worth it to have a more functional learning space.
Gearing up to homeschool in the summer takes some advanced preparation but doesn’t require much more than tidying up and rearranging some things. If you do it, though, you’ll feel more organized and ready to take on summer learning!
