Back to School: Setting Up Your Child's Homework Space

It's back to school time!

​If you’re a parent like me, it can be a stressful time. There’s so much to do, that it’s really demanding for me to try and get everything ready, but I’m excited to get my kids back into school, and they’re excited to see their friends and learn new things. If nothing else, this past year has shown us how important it can be to have a dedicated homework/school zone set up in our house, but even outside of a pandemic, this zone is really important. 

I thrive when my home feels organized, which means I like to set up zones so everything has its place. This doesn’t mean my house looks beautiful and clean all the time. Believe me, these zones can be a mess at times, but instead of textbooks all throughout the house, they’re at least all in one spot. 

​A perfect scenario is being able to carve out a small space for a desk. This can be an open spot in your kitchen or dining area, your living room, or even your bedroom.

​I personally like to keep work areas out of the bedroom as much as possible so I can keep the bedroom a relaxing space, but sometimes we have to do what we have to do. No matter where this desk goes, I try to include a lot of organization tools and storage areas so that the potential desk clutter has a place to go that’s out of sight. A few of my favourites are:

Ikea Elloven Monitor Stand

Ikea Alex Drawer Unit

Ikea Pleja Letter Tray

​Now maybe you’re like me and you don’t have a good spot. My kids have a small desk in each of their rooms, but they like to do art projects and such there, not homework. For schoolwork they really like to be in the middle of the action so that they can ask me questions or tell me the cool new thing they read. So our school zone is the dining table. ​In order to keep this organized, I bought a simple rolling cart where each kid has a spot to put their schoolwork. So when it’s time to use the dining table for eating, they pick up their stuff, put it on the cart, and tuck the cart away in a corner where it’s out of the way. This is a simple and easy solution to help with the clutter.  Another good option would be a spot in a sideboard or storage cabinet to store these items, or some baskets on open shelving. Anything that allows you to tuck the mess away. Here’s a few good options:

Ikea Raskog Cart

Ikea Kuggis Storage Box

Ikea Kvissle Letter Tray

​Do you have kids that have returned to school? What are they doing for a homework zone? Have any questions or comments, or some awesome homework zone ideas? Just drop them below; we’d love to hear from you.