What Is A Calm Down Corner (+ 3 Ways It Can Really Help With Homeschooling)

Like adults, kids have natural mood swings and will experience a range of emotions throughout each day. Homeschooling your children will mean that you experience the full spectrum of these emotions, which can sometimes be overwhelming for both you and your kids.

Experiencing highs and lows in mood and energy is completely natural for children and teens, but it is also important to help kids understand and cope with the emotions they feel.

And one of the best ways to do this? A calm down corner.

What is a calm down corner?

A calm down corner is an area of your home that your child can escape to when they’re struggling to control their emotions. This should be a designated space, only used for this purpose.

A calm down corner should be comforting, relaxing, and soothing for your kids; an area of the house that they can retreat to when things just get a bit too much. It should also be a place that is specifically for them — no adults allowed!

The things in your calm down corner will be individual to your child and what works for them, but a comfortable seat, fidget toys, bubbles, breathing exercises, and picture books focused on emotions are a great place to start.

What are the benefits of a calm down corner?

Using a calm down corner will positively impact your family life, and both you and your child will experience many benefits from having one in your home.

Most importantly, a calm down corner is their domain. Children, like us, need time and space to themselves when they are angry, irritated, or tired. Kids sometimes have fewer options for ‘alone time’ in the home — maybe they share a bedroom with a sibling, and/or aren’t allowed to close their bedroom door. A calm down corner is a place in the house that is specifically theirs; somewhere where they can learn to manage their emotions on their own.

Additionally, this little cubby-hole can be invaluable for teaching your kids the art of mindfulness. Whatever you want to call it — a time out, a quick breather, a chill zone — these spaces teach the importance of resetting and recalibrating when the pressure mounts.

And if you fill your calm down corner with the right things — books, sensory cues, etc. — your child will quickly turn to this place as a safe, relaxing, and positive space in their home.

3 ways that a calm down corner can help in homeschool specifically

So we’ve seen how a calm down corner can benefit everyday life, but where does it fit in the homeschool set up?

A calm down corner of any size can make homeschooling a happier, more relaxed, more beneficial, and more positive experience. Here’s how:

1.   A calm down corner separates school work from home life

Picture the scene: your child’s had a tantrum about what they were given for lunch, or they got frustrated when they were asked to tidy their room — we’ve all been there, right? These heightened emotions are a result of normal home-life with kids, but if your child is still upset when it’s time to do their schoolwork, your lesson plans could suffer.

A calm down corner is the perfect place for your child to take a breather; to understand their emotions and what caused them, so that they are able to completely separate this from their homeschooling day.

Once a child understands that an argument about tidying their room has nothing to do with their schoolwork, they will find it easier to get back into the learning mindset — becoming increasingly focused and more confident in their abilities when you are teaching them.

2.   A calm down corner supports social and emotional learning

For all its wonderful benefits, homeschool is unavoidably less social than the traditional school system. And as a result, homeschooled children can sometimes be slower to develop social and emotional skills.

In these instances, a calm down corner can provide an excellent opportunity to advance your child’s social and emotional development.

How? Teaching your kids to recognize their emotions — and not to blame other people when they are feeling tired or overwhelmed! — is absolutely crucial. Using a calm down corner empowers them to take their emotional wellbeing and reactions in their own hands. So when they do go out and socialize, they’ll cope more effectively in the company of others.

3.   A calm down corner helps train the brain for life

A soothing, safe environment helps in the short-term, by making home-schooling less stressful and more effective. But it also sets your child up for the rest of their life — developing the part of their brain that supports them in managing and coping with emotions as they age.

As funny as it sounds now, providing a calm down corner for your 5-year-old today, may help them respond better to stressful situations in the future — to walk away from heated moments as a teen, or be a more empathetic boss, for example.

And that’s a great lesson to deliver in your homeschool curriculum!

Make space for a calm down corner in your home

There are many ways that a calm down corner will benefit you and your kids, while homeschooling and in day-to-day family life.

To see even more positive results, get creative, and design your calm down corner to your individual child and what they will respond to. What was their favorite book as a young child? Grab a copy and leave it in there. Did they have a comforter or blanket as an infant? Make that available, too. If they need something to shift their focus to something else, how about a glitter bottle?

Give it time, and your child’s emotional intelligence will grow, causing both school-life and home-life to become easier, less stressful, and more effective.