How to Set Up a Distance Learning Space in Your Home
Can we all just acknowledge how hard parenting in 2020 is? Now that the school year is approaching many parents are feeling the overwhelm of having to juggle their kids learning from home, well into the fall. We wanted to share our favorite tips for setting up an organized area to make distance learning easier on you, and your home.
Choose your space
For younger kids, we recommend creating a hub near where you will be working. This will allow them to ask for help when they need it.
For older kids, this space could be in another area of the house, like their room. Keep in mind your child’s temperament and preferred work environment. Some kids work best when there are no distractions, so a quiet room may work best.
2. Choose how you will store supplies
Drawers can be great to house school supplies. However drawers can easily become disorganized if not used appropriately. To mitigate this, create a home in your drawers for everything by using drawer inserts/dividers and label each area. When things have a home they tend to end up back there!
Vertical storage is one of our favorite ways to organize a home learning area. Using pegboards and shelving can create a fun and special area for your kids to house their daily supplies. We also love using vertical storage is that is harder to hide clutter, thus making everyone more accountable for keeping things tidy.
If you have younger kiddos you may want to limit access to certain items (paint, glue…..etc). Pick an area where these items are harder to access and are out of sight (closets are great), and use labeled bins to house the different items.
3. Create a place for a schedule
Use a dry-erase board or laminated paper to be able to write out the schedule for the day.
Having the schedule visible to everyone helps keep things on track and limit surprises/being unprepared.
4. Create Habits Around School Time
With everyone being home , it can be hard to separate all of the different activities we still need to accomplish. Creating habits at the start and end of school will help create boundaries around time in your home so everyone will know when its time to buckle down, but also when they are free to relax and have fun
An example habit to signify school starting would be that everyone cleans up their toys (maybe accompanied by a cleanup song), then pulls out their school supplies (laptop, notebook…etc) then clicks on their desk lamp. Doing the same practices every time will help everyone refocus energy and signify the end of playtime and start of work time.
5. Tip for co-parenting households
Create a backpack checklist where you can write the items that need to be transferred between houses. Ours is laminated and about the size of an index card. We like to attach this checklist directly to the backpack strap so it does not get lost and is easy to see.
This helps both parents ensure their kids have everything they need to learn at the other parent’s house.
6. Consider How/ If you need to limit access
How are you going to limit your kids access to different sites? How about passwords? Wifi? Do they always have access to the laptop or Ipad?
Thinking ahead will help protect your kids online and ensure access to devices only during times when you grant it.
7. Get some Plants!
We never miss an excuse to create space for plants.
Bringing plant life inside, will refresh your space and improve the air quality in your home.
Kait Hilton is a Home and Business Organizer located in the Washington, DC Area. HARMONie helps takes the stress out of life through organization. Are you feeling overwhelmed? Click on our contact page to schedule your free consultation!
