Small Space Homeschool: How to Thrive with Multiple Kids in a Little Home

Can you really homeschool with a bunch of little kids in 650 square feet? Absolutely! Our family of six has managed to create a functional small space homeschool setup in our cozy, little home.

We currently lives in a little rented cottage. I am homeschooling our two oldest (ages 7 and 5). While the younger two (ages 3 and 1) hang out and alternate between joining us and self entertaining.

Our family thrives on living a life of simplicity, intentionality, and flexible creativity. As a result, I believe our small space homeschool situation has supported our lifestyle

Our driving reasons for homeschooling are to facilitate a close-knit family culture. We also want to transmit our core values. And to maximize the time we have to teach and enjoy our kids while they are living here in our home.

In this post, I’ll share about:

• what our homeschool setup looks like
• real-life tips that have helped us stay organized and function in our small space
• what we have learned with a small space homeschool setup
• advice for how curate your own small space homeschool lifestyle

If you’re interested in homeschooling content, you may enjoy my other homeschooling posts, including:

• Top 12 Simple Homeschool Supplies and Tools for Kindergarten & Elementary
• Our Simple Daily Homeschool Routine for a 2nd Grader and Kindergartener
• Slow Homeschool: Why it’s OK and How to Make It Work for Your Family
• How to Avoid Homeschool Overwhelm Homeschooling with Babies and Toddlers
• How to Start Homeschooling Little Kids: 3 Essential Steps
• First Year of Homeschool: Term 1 Daily Plan + Easy Weekly Routine

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Small Space Homeschool: Why We Chose to Do It

Homeschooling was always the tentative plan for my husband and I when it came to educating our kids.

I am a homeschool graduate, homeschooling all the way through my schooling years (until I attended university). And for me, small space homeschool configurations are the norm. My childhood home wasn’t large, and my mother homeschooled all four of my siblings and myself.

My experience homeschooling was a positive experience. And I am so thankful that I had the luxury of learning at home at my own pace. I chased my curiosity and spent time with my siblings. And I got to have years of extra self-directed, free-play hours compared to my conventional schooling peers.

Our value for giving our children what we perceive as the blessings of homeschooling have been far more of a focus than the space (or lack thereof) for executing our homeschooling goals.

Pros and Cons of a Small Space Homeschool Set Up:

I firmly believe there are pros and cons to all educational choices. Having a small space homeschool can have drawbacks. The cons I have found of homeschooling in a small space include:

• Limitations of space to spread out for projects and activities (particularly out of reach of younger siblings)
• Distraction of siblings while one child is trying to focus
• Needing to be aware of noise, particularly while a baby naps
• Challenges with the overlap of home administration life and educational exploration and creativity

On the other hand, I would say the pros are actually some of those very things (from a different angle) AND more, including:

• Learning to share space and get creative with setting up projects and activities
• Cultivating an understanding of how our noise and actions affect the people around us
• Working together as a team a LOT to transition our small space homeschool set up from one phase of the day to another
• A mindset of learning happening during all aspects of life and in all locations
• Transmitting the organizational value of everything needing to have a home
• Curating our possessions to support an environment where our family thrives, rather than managing inventory

Honestly, my mindset is one of the most defining elements of our homeschool set up for a small space. As the educator and gatekeeper of my home, my thoughts about my space significantly impact the experience of living and homeschooling in the space.

If you find a small space to be a limiting factor for homeschooling, then I believe it will be. But if you can embrace the opportunities for creativity and accountability to live in alignment with your values, your small space homeschool set up never needs to be a barrier to a rich educational experience.

Our Small Space Homeschool Set Up: How to Homeschool in a Small Space Without A Dedicated Homeschool Room

In a typical week, we will spend 90% of our homeschool time in our family’s common space. We start with some readings, then shift to workbooks, and then conclude with more reading.

Of course, there are also breaks to get the baby down or up from naps, and for the kids to go play outside. And a few days a week, we do a hands-on activity wherever is most suitable (sometimes on the floor, sometimes outside, etc).

Our small space homeschool set up tends to involve migrating between several locations in our home, depending on what best suit the needs of the activity we are doing.

Multipurpose Spaces in our Daily Flow: Counter, Couch, and Creativity

Our small homeschool set up ideas include typically starting the homeschool day at the kitchen bar. I do our morning reading while everyone’s hands and mouths are busy eating.

Once we finish, we pause briefly and work together to clean up the kitchen and get the younger two kids directed toward something that will engage them. Then we resume with the next phase of our homeschool day, which is our workbook time.

The kids use workbooks for math, language arts, and handwriting. Each child has their own workbook for each of those subjects.

Workbook time happens either at the kitchen counter or at the dining room table. If I am working on cooking something (ie: chopping veggies for a crock pot dinner), then we will often continue at the kitchen counter so I can chop and read directions or oversee activities in close proximity to where the schoolwork is happening.

If I don’t have any cooking or prep work to do, we’ll usually transition to the dining room table where we have a bit more space to spread out our books.

I usually sit between the girls, so I can easily go back and forth helping them through the instructional part of their workbooks.

Once workbooks are finished for the day, we usually do some additional reading on the couch for science or history. If the girls are practicing any fine art skills (crocheting, cross stitch, etc), that may happen on the couch, on the hammock swing, or outside on the deck, depending on their mood and what the other kids are doing.

Essentially, our entire common area is our small space homeschool room, complete with multiple surfaces to do work on, and multiple options for reading and instruction time.

Small Space Homeschool Organization Tips: How We Keep Our Homeschool Supplies Organized

After several years of working on our homeschool set up for a small space, I have found a few things to be extremely helpful for executing a small space homeschool set up.

Tip #1: Have a Homeschool Command Center Where Your Homeschool Supplies Live (Our favorite Small Space Homeschool Organization Hack)

We have a large cube shelf on an interior wall on the edge of our kitchen, which happens to be right by the kitchen counter where we start our homeschool day.

I went hunting for a cube shelf that would fit the dimensions of this wall specifically to use (in part) as a homeschool command station.

Utilizing the cube shelf allows us to maximize our storage opportunities by going vertical right next to where our homeschooling typically begins. And the cube shelf is where our homeschool supplies always return to when they are not in use.

Everything we use in our small space homeschool set up can fit on the cube shelf. And each item has a specific location where it lives.

I’ve taught the kids to pull out what they need when they need it, and when they are finished using it, to put it away. (They successfully implement this lesson about 80% of the time!)

Of course, sometimes they’ll use scissors for a math activity, put the scissors away, and then realize they need them again for a language arts activity a few moments later! But when it goes straight back to its home after its use, then it is easy to know exactly where it is to use it the next time.

I believe this practice also helps us minimize how many duplicates of things we need. Or course, we do have multiple pencils, multiple erasers, and multiple scissors. But having this practice helps us keep our small homeschool space organized by not needing multiple glue sticks, multiple rolls of scotch tape, or multiple white boards and erasers.

Tip #2: Keep Your Small Space Homeschool Storage Closest to Your Homeschool Location for Everyday Supplies

Everything we store on our cube shelf for our small space homeschool set up is used on a daily or weekly basis.

One cubby keeps all of the kids’ workbooks. Another cubby has each child’s colored pencils and a magazine holder dedicated to each child. A third cubby has desk organizer drawers with our high use school supplies, such as scissors, pencils and erasers, glue sticks, etc.

A fourth cubby has our science curriculum and a history curriculum we reach for frequently. And a fifth cubby has my trusty and detailed homeschool and life admin planner, along with stationary resources like extra paper, sticky notes, flash cards, etc.

And since everything is literally two steps away from where we start our homeschool day, about 5 steps from our secondary work station, and 10 steps from the couch, we essentially have all we need in very close proximity to where we do our small space homeschool work.

I have a bookshelf out in our sleep out outbuilding where I keep curriculum we aren’t currently using. Reference resources that aren’t needed weekly, and less frequently used art supplies. Since they aren’t used as often, they don’t need to be kept in our prime storage real estate.

Tip #3: Prioritize Function of Small Space Homeschool Storage, but Keep the Aesthetic in Mind, Too

If you have a small home, you likely already know that it can quickly begin to feel visually cluttered. When you have a small space homeschool set up, I think that visual clutter can compound even more quickly!

Our cube shelf is extremely functional for our home. It doesn’t have cupboard doors to take up space in our walkway when accessing the homeschooling supplies.

But that also means everything in the cube shelf is visible. And since it is in the middle of our common space, items on the cube shelf are visible from almost everywhere our family hangs out and spends time.

So, although the cube shelf holds a lot of things, I have also tried to keep it as minimally visually overwhelming as possible!

We’ve utilized some bamboo desk organizer items to place into several different cubbies to bring a unified theme to the cube shelf.

I also try to keep some opaque bins for storage on the cube shelf, to provide visual calm in a couple cubbies.

And I try to avoid cramming too many cubbies next to each other full of books. I like to break up the book-heavy cubbies throughout the cube shelf grid to keep it a bit more visually balanced.

When you are homeschooling in a small space, prioritize the function of your storage, and then identify what ways you can make that storage space more aesthetic, since you likely will look at it a lot!

Tip #4: Dedicate a Physical Space for “In Progress” Work, and Ruthlessly Eliminate Clutter that Doesn’t Fit Within That Space

Our kids love to color and draw, they love to do mazes and color by numbers, and they love to start on work and then set it aside for later!

So, I developed a system for how to keep our kitchen counter and dining room table free from constant in-progress artwork:

I gave each child a magazine holder for their work that is in progress. And when the counter top or the table top need to be cleared, I collect their papers and drop them into their magazine holder.

This system works extremely well for us. My kids know to look in their box if they cannot find something where they expected to find it. And I know that I don’t necessarily need to call the kids in from playing outside to come and decide what to do with their projects.

Once the magazine holder box is full, it is a clear indication to all of us that we need to go through the box and get rid of anything that has moved down the priority list. And there are always things the kids are willing to let go, since they know that they usually have several months of stockpiling between purge sessions!

Since we implemented the magazine box system several years ago, I have been able to be ruthless about eliminating clutter off the flat surfaces in our home. This helps us truly thrive in our small space homeschool set up!

Tip #5: Implement Ways to Visually Identify Each Child’s Supplies and Tools

Since our small space homeschool storage system includes keeping workbooks in a cubby on our cube shelf, that means the front covers of our school books are not easily seen when everything is in its “home.”

I noticed that the kids and I were regularly reaching for a workbook and pulling it out, only to realize it wasn’t the right subject or the right child’s workbook.

So I decided to make an easy-to-identify system for our workbooks by using our own color system to make “gilt edges.”

Using markers, I colored a few inches of the edges of the pages on each workbook with a child specific color. My kindergartener’s books have red marks on them. My 2nd grader’s have yellow marks on them.

I did the color marking on all three, unbound sides of the workbook, and then since several of our workbooks are spiral bound, I colored a section on the bound side as well, which is visible through the spiral binding.

This makes it super easy to grab the correct child’s books without unloading all of the workbooks.

We similarly have different colored pencil holder boxes for each child (my kindergartener’s magazine holder box and colored pencil box match, as does the 2nd graders).

And although our normal, school pencil box is shared, each child has their own color of pencil for easy identification. Each child has their own erasers, too.

I like having each child’s supplies easily identified because it makes getting things out of the storage space smoother. It also provides some homeschool set up for small spaces accountability to the kids in terms of providing identification as to whether everyone has put away their supplies when they are finished using them or not!

What We’ve Learned through our Small Space Homeschool Set Up

I’ve been surprised by three things living with our small space homeschool set up:

Surprise #1: Just HOW resourceful and creative our kids are!

Playing, doing schoolwork, seeking “introverted time” building forts, etc. I truly think living in a small space, learning in a small space, and being a family in a small space have build a lot of resourcefulness into our children.

It is amazing to me how many different ways cookie sheets, cutting boards, and wash clothes can be used for various homeschool activities!

Surprise #2: How skilled our kids are a negotiating and finding satisfactory solutions

Of course, my kids aren’t perfect and there are still a fair amount of squabbles some days, but overall, they are good at telling each other, “I need a little space, can you move your school books over?” or “Could you please be quiet so that I can concentrate on my math? Your singing is really loud.”

Since everyone is in the same boat of needing to share our relatively small space for schoolwork and play, they are relatively tolerant with each other and respect each other’s needs and desires.

Surprise #3: How peacefully the younger kids play in the same space as their siblings doing schoolwork

Initially, when I started formally homeschooling my older kids, my toddler at the time was actually the hardest part of the scenario! He was NOT used to self entertaining while his older sisters did homeschool. But we worked on setting up some self-directed activities and over the next few months, he began to develop the skill of playing peacefully near us.

Now, more than a year later, both he and our one-year-old enjoy the closeness AND freedom of having their older sisters working on schoolwork in our common space. The girls and I are close enough to show a cool magnatile creation to, or receive affirmation for taking a couple toddling steps, but the boys are also free to create, explore, and use all the toys on their own!

Small Space Homeschool Challenges:

There are also three things that I have found challenging about homeschooling in a small space:

1. The house gets MESSY in a hurry. We use flat surfaces for schoolwork, the little boys play on the floor, and someone is usually cooking or baking in the kitchen. So our house quickly turns into a maze of obstacles. This feels overstimulating sometimes!
   
2. The noise can be a lot. Some days, both girls are practicing their phonics words outloud at the same time, often while hopping or clapping as part of their lesson’s kinesthetic learning directions. And my 3-year-old is singing to himself loudly. And the 1-year-old is practicing his drumming skills with spoons and bowls he snagged out of the dishwasher.
   
   Learning AND play can both be noisy at times, and I want our kids to be able to engage in all manner of sensory activities. But it can be hard when they are all doing it at once!
   
3. Sometimes we need to close down a valuable learning experience to take care of someone else’s needs. Occasionally, the girls and I find ourselves deeply immersed in a learning activity that could easily go on for awhile. My 3-year-old is happy playing. But the 1-year-old wakes up from his morning nap and needs his diaper changed and lunch.
   
   In those moments, I feel like I’m shortchanging the learning opportunity because of our home’s child care needs. Still, I remind myself that every educational setting has its own boundaries and limits. Ours may not include bells or bus schedules, but we still face real restrictions.

Advice for Families Considering a Small Space Homeschool Set Up:

With intentionality and creativity, you can absolutely provide a fun, engaging, quality education for your little ones, even in a small home. Please don’t let a small space limit any goals of homeschooling!

After all, there are families that homeschool in RV’s, travel trailers, tiny homes, and various other kinds of situations.

I think living in a small space with kids as a homeschooling family is a prime opportunity to practice valuable “soft skills” as a family. We regularly use skills like communication, adaptability, interpersonal awareness, and problem-solving to peacefully coexist and learn with others in a small space.

So my advice would be to very intentionally pursue modeling, teaching, encouraging, and practicing those soft skills with your kids.

Respect usually doesn’t just happen, and especially not in a small space. It takes intentionality and purposeful practice to treat each other respectfully. But if your kids respect each other and treat each other with kindness, a small space homeschool set up can be a real joy.

Additionally, I would highly recommend building skills at editing your possessions and minimizing whatever you can, whenever and wherever you can.

Since homeschooling is essentially a job that you, as the parent, do at home every day, you will make life easier on yourself if you can minimize the mental load of extra, unnecessary stuff in your workspace.

And lastly, keep your flexibility on hand, and plan for “creative” days! When it is raining for the sixth day in a row and everyone has too much energy and is feeling stir-crazy, it may be time to set aside the normal routine and head to the mall to do some laps or put on rain gear and go puddle stomping!

I’d Love to Hear From You!

What does your small space homeschool set up look like? Do you have a dedicated homeschool room, or do you homeschool in your dining room and living room? Are you interested in homeschooling but concerned that space limitations might be a problem?

Let me know in the comments! And if you found this post helpful or encouraging, would you please share it on Pinterest or via your social media platforms? That helps my blog grow, and it increases the chances of someone who can benefit from this content finding it!

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