Us homeschoolers, we’re renegades, right? Let’s ditch the primary colored wall posters and seasonal cork boards to create our at-home “schoolrooms”. Instead of making our homes look like classrooms, let’s make learning look good. In our home, we happen to have a dedicated school room, but our learning certainly doesn’t keep to only that room and neither do our educational decorations. I’ve decorated our home with educational items by keeping two main things in mind: 1. how our family lives and learns plus 2. the overall decor style of our home. Since we moved a little less than a year ago, our home is still a bit of a work in progress, but I hope to give y’all a tour soon. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite educational decorative objects:
1. Wooden ABC wall art – The simplicity and quality of this one makes me think heirloom piece. I’m saving pennies for the giant one, but there is a less expensive smaller one too. What do you think? Would it replace a colorful poster for you?
2. Nature Posters – These vintage looking nature posters are actually wrapping paper printed on archival paper stock. The drawings are detailed and beautiful. The prints are large at 20×28 inches. They’re so great, it’s hard to believe they’re only about $5 each. I think my favorite is the butterflies print pictured above, but the plumes and fruit/vegetables are close seconds. I think they’d be perfect in poster frames or hung with wood and rope to look even more vintage cool. I want to add some to my boys’ room. They love all things outdoorsy, so I think they would love to study these.
3. DIY Wall Abacus – Functional, educational, and art that my tiny ones can play with? I love it! Wouldn’t this be great hung low for babies in the school room? Or for preschoolers learning to count? Maybe even great for visualizing and practicing skip counting? I’ll add it to my very long, wishful thinking DIY list. If I ever get to it, I’ll post the results.
4. Large Wall Maps – World and U.S. . These particular maps are my favorite because the colors are neutral, but still distinguishable for easy map reading. They’re also large! They’re the same ones friends picked up for us at Costco. (If you have a Costco, check there first. They were $15.99 for the pair!) Whatever maps you pick, I highly recommend buying the laminated version, the largest size you can fit, and hanging them relatively low for child friendly viewing. Ours are only low-ish, because we have a mobile baby who would love to accidentally rip them off the wall.
Speaking of on the wall, let me give you a quick tip on hanging large wall maps, because we’ve tried a few ways over the years that haven’t worked so well. Sticky poster tack isn’t strong enough. Holes from push pins eventually get larger and rip as they work to hold the weight of the map. 3m Command Strips attached to the perimeter and scattered throughout the middle have been holding great! They made it easy to hang the map and we’ve had no sagging or wiggling. The trick is to use the strips that are sticky on both sides, (poster or refill strips) not the velcro picture hanging strips.
5. ABC Scripture Wall Cards – Folks, these are art. Truth shared in a beautiful way. Personally I think they’d look beautiful even on the mantle. They’ve been on my wish list for far too long. I’m going to order them right now. No, really, I just ordered them.
And you know what? I really believe homeschool decor should be pretty, because we all know homechool is not always pretty. And in case you’re worried about this, children like these things too. Really! Ask your littles and tell me what they say! Oh and hey, no hurt feelings if you’re a primary color type person. I know some of y’all do it real well, like this fabulous lady. This is just my take. Tell me yours in the comments!
Our homeschool is in a corner of our open plan living area and it’s sooooo important to me that it looks attractive and in harmony with the rest of the house. Everything that stays out needs to fit in! Thanks so much for these links – several of them have been very helpful as I tweak the set up.
I’m so glad, Julie!