Can we talk about something that I think stops a lot of parents from even considering home education?
The idea that you need a dedicated room for it. A playroom. A spare room. A beautiful purpose-built space with colour-coded shelves and a Pinterest-worthy setup. A summerhouse at the bottom of the garden.
You don't. I promise you, you really don't.
Our Living Room Is Our Classroom
We don't have a spare room. We don't have a playroom. What we have is our living room and that became our classroom. And honestly? It works perfectly.
It took me a while to figure out how to make it work. To find a layout that felt right, that didn't make the living room feel like it had been taken over, that still felt like a home rather than a school. But I got there. And if I can get there in a small 3 bed home with five children, trust me you can too.
The back of our living room is their home ed area. Whiteboard and all. The rest of the room is still very much our living room, the place where we watch films together, eat together, make memories together. It just has a little home ed stamp on it. And I love that.
The Kallax Situation
For a while I was using Kallax units, you know the ones. And I really tried to make them work. But the dust that collected in those cube boxes drove me absolutely mad. Things just built up in them, it always looked untidy no matter what I did, and honestly it overwhelmed me every time I looked at it.
So I made a change. I got two bookshelves with doors from IKEA and a side unit with drawers. And they are honestly amazing. Everything has a home. Everything is hidden behind a door or in a drawer. The resources are all there, all organised, all accessible, but when the doors are closed the room just looks like a living room again. Calm. Tidy. Ours.
Space saving is everything in a smaller home and those units have been a total game changer for us.
The Summerhouse Dream
Do I dream of a summerhouse at the bottom of the garden one day? Absolutely. A dedicated little home ed space that the children can walk out to every morning, yes please. But right now, at nearly £2,000, it's not something we can just go and buy.
And that's OK. It's on the list. We're saving. Baby steps.
We're also currently turning the back of the garden into a forest school for the children, so when the summerhouse eventually arrives it's going to be the most incredible little setup. But for now, the living room is doing a brilliant job and I have zero complaints.
Don't Let Your Home Stop You
I want to say this clearly and kindly, because I know how easy it is to scroll through social media and see these stunning home ed setups in big houses with dedicated rooms and think, I could never do that. My house is too small. I don't have the space.
But I'm not writing this to make anyone feel jealous of larger homes, that's genuinely not me. I'm writing this for the parent in the smaller house who is watching from the sidelines thinking their home isn't good enough to home educate in.
It is. It absolutely is.
We all make it work somehow. In living rooms, in kitchen corners, at dining tables, in bedrooms. Home education happens in the home, whatever that home looks like. Don't let the size of your house be the reason you don't start the journey. 💚
Where do you home educate in your house? I'd love to know in the comments!
Sarah, Home Ed Mum Diary
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