If the recent school uncertainty has had you questioning if you should consider homeschooling your children, you aren’t alone! Parents across the country have been unenrolling their children from public schools and turning to homeschooling them in order to keep themselves, their family, and their communities safe. The sudden increase in foot traffic can leave you questioning your home’s current flooring – “Should we use the extra bedroom that has carpet for the kids’ school space? Or should we keep them in the dining room where we have vinyl?” If homeschooling is going to be a long term solution for your family, consider a quick floor remodel to ensure your home is prepared for little feet running amuck constantly.
Before we discuss the best homeschool flooring options, it’s important to consider what type of usage your flooring will undergo, as well as a handful of other questions. What age are your children currently? Do you know what your budget is? Have you considered the rest of the space you will be using for homeschool? Have you picked out furniture (desks, chairs, bookcases, etc) yet? Make sure you have a thought out plan for your homeschool area before making any changes. Our team is here to help answer any questions about your flooring options!
Young Kids
When you have a little one, you often have to watch (and plan) for spills, drips, accidents, and the possible tantrum throwing everything on the floor. Paint can stain, sensory projects can leak, and slime – oh, the slime! Thankfully you have a number of options for flooring! Since most kids under 6 are still glued (ha, see what we did there?) to their parents’ hip, homeschool areas are usually in a dining room or family room. Since these rooms are multi-use, you’ll want to keep that in mind when deciding the best flooring.
School Aged
School aged kids have school projects. Volcanos, and catapults, explosions of foam and paper mache. Your flooring needs to withstand some heavy duty usage, and possibly some chemicals from said school projects. Most parents feel comfortable moving their children’s school area to an extra bedroom that has carpet at this age. Make sure you have a plan for your flooring in that space! Will you be putting down a rug to protect what’s already there? Place foam mats down? Or will you be replacing the flooring entirely?
Older Kids
As kids grow, they often gain more freedom. Parents don’t hover to ensure they are doing their school work, kids don’t need as much help with projects and their tasks, and other things start to fill their time. Friends, sports, and everything else teenagers do these days. You’ll want to make sure your flooring can withstand the daily foot traffic, as well as any sporting equipment usage as well. Cleats can damage flooring quickly. More complex science experiments can easily bubble over, leaving harsh chemicals on your floor. However older kids can be expected to clean up their own messes, help with chores (keeping those floors clean!), and not simply leaving dirt and debris on the floor the way younger kids do.
Floor World is a family business, and that means we also have experience in raising our own kids with different flooring, so take a quick look at some of the best homeschool flooring options, crafted from our very hands-on experience!
Laminate flooring provides a more affordable option when you have young children. You may be planning to do a full remodel once the kids are older, or you know this is not your forever home and thus don’t want to make a huge investment. Laminate flooring is easy to clean, can match most color palettes, and doesn’t require polishing like hardwoods do. Depending on the age of your children, laminate can provide a fantastic place for Hot Wheels to roll smoothly on, and nail polish can easily be cleaned off (even if your child doesn’t need to know that!)
The disadvantage to laminate flooring is the ability to get deeply scratched, and unlike actual hardwoods, cannot be sanded or refinished. This means you could have scratched floors for years if you aren’t able to replace each plank.
If you are opting for a permanent solution and want to replace the flooring with something that will last for years to come, consider hardwood floors. Hardwoods provide a long term investment in your home and hardwoods will always be in style, and offer one of the easiest flooring options to clean, which we all know is a plus when it comes to kids, no matter their age. Floor World is the premier hardwood floor installer in PA!
Luxury Vinyl is a happy medium between laminate flooring and hardwoods. Luxury vinyl can mimic the look of hardwoods, but at a much more affordable price. Luxury vinyl is also (usually) stain-resistant and waterproof which could save you hundreds of dollars down the road in cleaning and maintenance fees! This also means cleaning up literally anything is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
A main benefit to luxury vinyl is how easy it is to repair, should you need to. Since luxury vinyl is created using individual tiles (unlike other flooring options that require sheets), if a repair is needed – simply replace a single tile. It’s easy to keep a few spare tiles in the garage, just in case a school project goes awry and damages the floor!
Carpet is always an option as well! Most parents of homeschooled kids don’t pick carpet simply because it easily stains, gets dirty quickly with everyday use, and can be difficult in multi-use rooms such as dining rooms and family rooms. However, carpet will provide the most cushion for any tumbles your children make, and can prevent any slips after a spill. Carpet also comes in a variety of colors and textures, allowing you to truly customize to your need, space, and kids.
There are other flooring options as well, such as tile. Tile can be an amazing option if you are looking for a really “school” feel! We’ve seen parents create stunning designs with tile flooring that can even aid in their homeschool adventure!
No matter your kid’s age, or what kind of school projects they will be doing, homeschooling definitely puts pressure on our flooring to perform at its peak. Turning part of your home into a school space can present a number of challenges! Children will always create more messes than they clean, and your flooring shouldn’t prevent them from living their best life!
This should be a positive experience – not one of frustration, and realizing you chose the wrong flooring after it’s been installed is not where you want to start! If changing your flooring is part of your homeschool remodel, give us a call and let us help you create your dream school! Our team is trained in helping people find the perfect flooring solution for their home based on their needs. Jared and his family are even diving into homeschool themselves, so he knows first hand what challenges you are experiencing. Floor World is the premier flooring installation company in PA. We can even provide flooring samples for you to take home to make sure they work in your space!