One of the perks to homeschooling your children is the ability to allow a more flexible, convenient, and fun learning environment. We recently asked a group of homeschooling parents: where are some unique places your child has done their homework? They replied with some silly, clever, and conventional places:

15 Unique Places to Do Homework

“Our kids also grab a chicken to hold and use for listening while they did their reading. Here is in the living room, but usually they are outside on a swing with a chicken, rabbit, cat, or dog.” – Brenda

“Under his bed.” – Janna

“My daughter went to the laundry room today! Her siblings had taken over her usual spots…lol.” – Camille

“My son loved studying in a dogwood tree!” – Grace

“When we first got our China hutch and it was still empty my son chose the bottom shelf of it to lay down and do his work!” – Michelle

“Under a pool table.” – Amy

“Our oldest would take her books out to the horse pasture, climb on her pony, turn around backwards, and put her book on Holly’s butt to do her schoolwork.” – Brenda

“At the park, in the car, library, indoor soccer facility.” – Rosemary

“On a farm while sister had horse riding lessons.. He loves Math-U-See so much he wanted to bring it along!” – Angie

“On the foredeck of a boat.” – Monika

“An airplane over international waters.” – Kristina

“In the bathroom. When the kids were potty learning I’d use the mirror as a white board to answer their questions.” – Sheli

“Hanging upside down on the couch.” – Crista

“Sitting outside with the dog, in the car/road trips, doctor’s offices, hospital, in the bed, anywhere!” – Anna

“Upside down in a handstand up against the wall, while reading off the laptop.” – Rebekah

3 Tips For Creating Learning Environments

Whether children find their own special study spot, or a day of errands turns the laundromat into a classroom, a certain luxury comes with the mobility of homeschooling. However, it is important that your student be engaged in their studies. Here are a few helpful tips to creating an effective learning environment anywhere:

Keep It In Arms Reach

At home or other locations, it is important to be prepared with the learning material your child needs to complete their assignments. If your child is working on math problems, you may want to make sure their manipulatives, pencils, worksheets, etc. are in arms reach. By doing this, you are eliminating the disruption of getting up to go get an item, which in turn causes them to lose their train of thought.

Minimize Distractions

Smartphones, loud noises, and other children are a few common distractions that can occur while homeschooling. Specifically for older students, the habits of checking their smartphones for texts or social media updates can be a constant distraction. I recommend getting your child in the habit of turning their phone off until they are finished with their homework.

Noise is easily the most frustrating distraction when trying to learn; however, there are a few options to help control the uncontrollable. Headphones! If you are fortunate enough to have noise-cancelling headphones, that’ll do the trick. However, if you’re like me, you may only have a standard set of earbuds – this will do just as well. These are great because you can literally fit them in your pocket and take them anywhere. I recommend having your child listen to an instrumental playlist because students are less focused on the lyrics.

If you have more than one child at home who cannot seem to work together without distracting one another, headphones can help here, too. Another recommendation could be providing enough physical distance between them. If you are stuck in a crammed location, you can try sitting in between them to act as the barrier of distraction.

Have Fun With It

Completing homework on the back of a horse might sound odd and a little unconventional, but if your student is doing their work, let them work. Kids will be kids, and kids like to be silly and have fun. I promise you: it is more important that they do their schoolwork, are engaged in learning, and think for themselves than where they are doing their schoolwork.

Wherever your homeschool day may take you, it is comforting to know as a parent that when life gets life-like there are ways to adapt nearly any environment into a space for learning. I am hopeful that these animated examples and helpful tips come in handy during your homeschooling experiences.

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