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This post is all about homeschool tablescapes!

A lovely, compelling homeschool space doesn’t have to be complicated. We don’t *need* to redesign a whole room.

Let’s think smaller—on the scale of a young child—and focus on setting a lovely homeschool table for learning.

Equally importantly, let the spirit of Tolkien’s Shire motivate your table setting—small, warm, inviting, beautiful and approachable.

The best part is that this is the simplest, easiest way I know to use the environment to draw your child into learning without you saying a word.

Remember: the first two minutes of any task are the most important! If your children start the first two minutes of their homeschool activities, their chances of completing or substantially completing it go way up.

So how do we make those first moments draw the child in?

Here is what has worked for my 5 year old, Andrew. He is very proud of his homeschool place setting, to the point that he doesn’t like anyone to share anything from his space. He takes great pride in it!





Andrew’s homeschool table setting.

Here are the 9 steps I use. I also decided early on to use the highest quality materials I could afford, because this is a small design splurge, but it makes such a difference in how the space feels when things are well made, heavy, durable, and made to last.

1. First, I laid down a quality, thick craft mat. This defines the space, protects the table from scratches, and is durable enough to withstand a craft knife. These things come in every color, including clear, but for multiple settings I would recommend choosing the same color for them all, which will give the homeschool table a sense of cohesiveness and connectedness, even though other color customizations may be unique to each child (such as pens or pencil holders).
2. Second, splurge on a quality writing tool. For Andrew we chose a fountain pen that’s made for children—the Lamy ABC Beginner Nib Fountain Pen. It’s fabulous. It improves handwriting right away, feels special when held, and comes in a little box with its own ink cartridge (replaceable), which you teach your child to load himself. It also comes with labels to write your child’s name on the pen. And it has a no-roll cube at the end, so it stays put.
3. Third, chose a special item for your child’s eye to rest on and contemplate—something that promotes deep thought or motivation. For Andrew I chose a small but heavy pewter statue of St. Andrew. It’s just 3.5” tall, so it’s perfect for this small homeschool tablescape. It helps me to teach my son to ask think about this great saint, to ask him for help, and to offer up his own work as a prayer when he doesn’t want to do it. The company makes similar statues of many of the Saints.
4. Now it’s time to add some variety! Contrast is interesting to the eye, so you want something with a form to it. I found a vintage tiny music stand on Etsy for just $10. It’s heavy and the top of it is about the size of a 3×5 card. It’s perfect for those small treasures devotional books. In this case, I placed the The Following of Christ open on the stand. The artwork is appropriate for today, since it’s Friday, the day we traditionally meditate on the Lord’s passion, and of course this is one of the Classic texts to read within the Christian home. But you don’t have to use a book/music stand. You can incorporate a picture stand with artwork, a recipe box filled instead with habit tracking cards, or anything that adds variety and interest.
5. Fifth, add life—something living: usually a small vase with a flower or some small greenery, but in Andrew’s case I chose a candle. This candle is perfect for him since it adds life to his space but the top is tapered more closed than the base of the jar, making it much harder to have any accidents. I picked this one up at TJ Maxx from the candle aisle.
6. Add something personalized and leather: I chose a handmade leather rosary pouch with Andrew’s initials. It smells great and feels fabulous and holds Andrew’s Rosary. Of course, it could be used for other things—pencil sharpeners, book mark tabs, etc. The point is the luxurious smell and feel and the care of craftsmanship.
7. Now add something fun! Next to the fountain pen you’ll notice a piece of bubble gum. We don’t always use this, but especially for younger ages when they need something to fidget with, or taste, or something tiny to motivate them (especially the sanguine temperament), this does the trick.
8. Consider adding contrast of style: in Andrew’s case, the pen/pencil holder is a piece of modern art, also heavy duty and quality. It contrasts in an interesting but not distracting way from the traditional elements on the table. It was a gift to me from my brother, and it works perfectly for making Andrew’s space special. It holds his highlighter and his child-sized (larger grip) Ticonderoga pencil.
9. Finally, arrange neatly the education materials: in Andrew’s case at the dining table we pray the morning prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours, read an entry from the Baltimore Catechism, study phonics and writing from the Little Angel Readers, introduce Latin by the Natural method, and use Beast Academy for math.

That’s it! 9 simple steps, which you can easily customize for each child! The spirit in which you lovingly and thoughtfully arrange these things will be more important than what you choose.

Happy homeschooling,

Mary Carmichael

PS—Are you on the waitlist for the Homeschool Declutter Challenge? The Challenge approaches decluttering in a totally unique way: unlike decluttering based on minimalism (which is really just merely being against stuff), this is decluttering for the sake of realizing a thriving homeschool family culture! If you’ve tried to start something important like liturgical living or home cooking and it hasn’t stuck, it’s probably not you, it’s probably the clutter. Join us here.