“Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.” -Charlotte Mason
“It is almost possible to say that there is a mathematical relationship between the beauty of his surroundings and the activity of the child; he will make discoveries rather more voluntarily in a gracious setting than in an ugly one.” – Maria Montessori
“The heart of the Waldorf method is that education is an art, it must speak to the child’s experience. To educate the whole child, his heart and his will must be reached, as well as the mind.” -Rudolph Steiner
I took these three quotes to heart when designing a homeschool room for our children. I wanted our children to be surrounded by beauty and a sense of calm. I wanted a well-prepared environment that encourages child-led learning. I wanted materials and a routine that spoke not only to my children’s minds, but to their hearts as well.
Today, I’m going to show you how these quotes have inspired me and give you a tour of our eclectic homeschool room, influenced by the Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and Waldorf methods.
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Homeschool Room Tour for 2020-2021
Watch the video below or continue reading for the picture and text version.
Let’s just dive right in.
On one side of the room, we have two Mainstays 3 shelf bookcases to hold all of our Montessori-inspired activities. Above those shelves, you’ll find a lovely Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit poster that the kids just absolutely adore. I placed the poster in a gold frame to give it even more of an elegant touch.
Beside the shelves, I have a Command Hook hanging to display various materials. Most of the time, we have a piece of art hanging in a protective sleeve that we found at the Dollar Tree. I’ve also used this hook to hang the kids’ anatomy apron and a string of Bible verses.
Below this hook, you’ll notice a basket that holds all of our books to go along with the current theme. This basket often travels throughout the house.
In the center of the room, we have our work table placed on a rug we found on Wayfair. We went with the AmazonBasics Indoor Kids Table and Bench Set and it’s been working out splendidly. It’s a beautiful table at a great price, and it gives the kids plenty of space to work. I think we’ll be able to continue to use this table at least a few more years.
Here’s a closer look at our shelfwork setup. This often gets switched out with different themes, but right now we have an ocean setup for the summer.
We also have a homeschool room plant that the kids help take care of.
On the other side of the room we have our nature corner, which consists of our nature shelf, a display shelf, and vintage educational posters.
I plan to switch out the posters every now and then, but for right now we have the Cavallini:
Over on the window sill, we have our weather gnomes that the children absolutely love using to record the daily weather, and then underneath the window we have our Backyard Birds of Iowa poster. And you can’t see it in this picture, but we do have a window bird feeder as well.
You’ll also notice I’ve got the kids artwork displayed in the windows, using a string of twine and some miniature clothespins.
Here’s a closer look at our nature shelf. I switch out this shelf seasonally, and this year we went with an ocean theme for the summer. I’ve got several wooden toys displayed along with some play silks, and the kids always have access to their magnifying glass.
For books, we have Nature Anatomy, Guide to Marine Mammals of the World, and a Manatee book I got in Florida.
Beside the nature shelf, on the floor, we have our toddler’s busy box, which he’s allowed to get into anytime we’re doing school. He’s got several interest-based activities in there for him to play with.
Above the nature shelf is our mounted display shelf, which currently holds several rocks and minerals, and then an acrylic butterfly life cycle set that I purchased off of Nature-Watch.
On the final side of the room, we have another Mainstays 3 shelf bookshelf, which holds general educational materials. Right now on the shelf, we have:
- Days of the week gnomes (a fun DIY project)
- Coloring books and crayons
- Wooden tracing boards – both letters and numbers
- Montessori & Waldorf inspired wooden math board
- Montessori sandpaper letters
- Educational board games
We also have another small shelf that gets rotated around with items such as the abacus, globe, butterfly net, etc.
Above the shelves, the kids have their Little Passport posters hanging up, and in the closet we have a rainbow cart, which currently holds workbooks, file folder games, felt maps, doodle boards, and more.
And then lastly, in the top of the closet, we have several art supplies that get placed up there out of ways reach of our little wall artist. We have markers, glue, scissors, Do-A-Dot markers, etc. All the basics.
An Atmosphere
I hope you’ve enjoyed our tour today and even gained some ideas on how to design your own homeschool room.
Remember, you don’t have to have a set homeschool room. It’s all about the atmosphere and bringing beauty to help develop a love of learning.
So whether you’re learning on the couch, at the dining room table, or outside in nature, just remember to motivate the mind and the heart.
What About You?
What are some must-haves for your homeschool room? Where do you do most of your learning? Share your favorite homeschool room ideas in the comments below and be sure to share this post with other homeschool moms and dads.
Hello! I love the days of the week gnomes! Can you share the diy project details? I’ve seen them on etsy, but would love to know how to make them instead. Thanks!
Hi Allison! The week gnomes are so much fun! Unfortunately, the exact YouTube tutorial we followed to make them is not up anymore. 🙁 But basically we got some 2-3/8″ male peg dolls, painted the body portion with quality watercolor paint, and then sealed that portion with beeswax after it dried. We used wool felt for the hats. I cut out a triangle piece and rolled that to form the hat, and I used a hot glue gun to keep the hat together and glue it onto the peg doll’s head. I’ve also found the hats have a nicer form if you stuff the inside with cotton before glueing on to the peg doll. I hope that helps! I’m sure there’s other YouTube tutorials you could follow/get some ideas from, but again, the one we used is not up anymore.