As we are entering the season of Lent, I'm thinking about ways to make more space for presence in our weekly routine, and paying attention to the things that drain us.
In the Restoration Home Community (opens in April) we spent 15 minutes a day in February working on decluttering, and this practice highlighted to me the importance of organizing our homes for learning.
This is a frequent topic of conversation at the Peaceful Press, because when the atmosphere is right, learning often occurs very naturally, but when our living space is cluttered and disorganized it can lead to too many choices and little depth of learning.
Here are a few principles for setting up a child friendly learning environment.
Accommodate the Littles
In our homeschool curriculum we focus on teaching motor skills through practical life exercises, which also leads to independence in learning. To facilitate this, we need to take a look around and see how we can accomodate little learners.
- Place hooks at a low height so they can hang up their coats, play clothes, and bags.
- Create a child height work station with table and chairs they can easily reach.
- Place cups, plates, and silverware at a height that young children can access for meals.
- Store and rotate. Children can only manage a small amount of belongings so keep extras out of their reach to facilitate them caring for their own clothes and toys.
- Categorize belongings in small sets. Instead of giving them access to massive amounts of art supplies, puzzles, toys, etc, keep them in smaller amounts in child sized baskets and bins so they can take out and put away their own activities.
- Sustain a rhythm. Young children will learn more peacefully when the day is predictable with plenty of time for their own play.
Incorporate Beauty
In the homeschool atmosphere, highlight beauty so that your children are developing a culture that can discern the beautiful from the profane.
- Keep house plants and empower your children to care for them.
- Have some wild outdoor space, even a corner of your yard that is their domain to be creative and make Roxaboxen type worlds.
- Hand beautiful art prints on the wall. I use ones from prior years of Peaceful Press Curriculum hung in simple wood frames to grace my walls.
- Include beautiful art materials such as watercolor paints and prints, wool roving for felting, beeswax for dipping or rolling, and simple homemade playdough for creating.
- Keep baskets of beloved books available. You can leave books on coffee tables or side tables, keep a book basket by a comfy chair, and have small bookshelves in living areas to encourage reading.
Minimize Belongings
As we make space in our homes for beauty and truth this also calls for ridding our homes of things that clutter up the atmosphere. This will differ from family to family, but some ideas would be-
- eliminate excessive screen time
- discard junk mail
- remove too many options (even too many books to read can be over stimulating)
- streamline an overfull schedule
If you need ongoing help with developing better rhythms for your homeschool, look for our Restoration Home Community opening in April.
If you are ready for a homeschool curriculum that highlights beauty and leaves margin for interest led studies, download our free sample weeks here
Or grab your next homeschool curriculum at the link below