theres no need to change your color scheme you can make this a chic school room without having to use every color in the rainbow, for some wall decor, try hanging up these decorative letters in black or white, , you can get them at joanns fabric, or micheals. you can also but little tables for the kids and little childrens chairs.
like this room with the desks, and putting in little mini book shelves like in this room.
buying a little chalkboard would also give the little kiddies something to do like in here. and adding another shelf to put little toys in. and buy an area rug for a sof place for the kids to sit and addlittle been bag chairs for a quiet place to nap/read books.

You could paint an entire wall with magnetic paint and cover it with the color you already have - this magnetic wall would be a great place for magnetic letters, magnetic shapes , magnetic games , and also a magnetic board for art display or reminders. A big framed dry erase board could also be very helpful.
I would go for white furniture : white table with colorful chairs , White billy bookcase from Ikea or their Expedit shelving units could be great choices for organized storage. I bought for my kids white side tables http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40104270/#/60193736 and they hold very well considering everyday use, crafts and such for 2 years already. They work just right with these chairs http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20099496/
A cozy reading area with some pouf chairs or bean bags and your school room is not only going to be functional but clean, inviting and beautiful

Have seen chalkboard and magnetic paint combined...

What a great space. You cant go wrong eith IKEA modular furniture and fun seating.

For a chalkboard I'd strongly recommend a shelf /tray under it for the chalk dust...you could also check chalkboard options- easel, or tables or just paint yourself a table top

Any home schoolers to weigh in here? I'm still deciding if I'm doing individual desks for each, or try to pair some up. Each *do* need their own space, but, does that necessarily mean an entire desk? I'm still trying to figure that out. Then if I do individual desks, do I place them against walls? Facing wall, or facing center of room? I don't do a lot of 'whole group' teaching where I would need everyone facing the front of the room to pay attention to me. And I plan to have my desk large enough to accommodate one on one time with each as needed. (also we'd have another room with space for science labs)

Love IKEA :) I have two bookcases from there now (not Billy)..they are 'double wide' (I'll see if I can find them and come back to post) that have a pull out desk drawer that two are using presently for their workspace. I could continue to use those. But that does away with that white furniture theme ;) as these are dark brown. I also have 2 drawers on each for containing preschoolers stuff.

I definitely want some bean bags/puffy floor pillows! What about using some of those around a shorter 'group' table, as I mentioned for the littles? Is there a table y'all know of that would be of appropriate height for something like that? (and anything that can be found at IKEA is perfect! I like that style and that's where I had already planned/hoped to purchase all my needs ;) )

Thanks for the help thus far.

I do love the letters and had wondered about possibly doing that. We could make it an art project, each kid gets to paint a few letters. Win-win, right?

My advice would be to consider your family practical needs first of all.
For us desk against the wall would never work but this is a very personal choice.

Brown furniture can always be painted, you don't really have to buy new pieces.

For desks you could also check the fold in half tables that you could use just for the school/craft hours and then store them away and you get a play room/ reading room ...

Walmart has some and one of them has adjustable - Adjusts to 22'', 29'' and 36''
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lifetime-48-Adjustable-Fold-in-Half-Table-in-White-Granite/13449268

or individual ones which are not adjustable
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lifetime-Fold-In-Half-Table-34-x-34/17301218?findingMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems

Walmart also has some bean bags for a very good price
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Big-Joe-Bean-Bag-Chair-Multiple-Colors/20525956
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Big-Joe-Roma-Chair/20525984?findingMethod=rr
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Big-Joe-Kids-Lumin-Bean-Bag-Chair/22910588

I googled school furniture and found this link

http://www.hertzfurniture.com/Student-Desks--14--ca.html?pcid=cat_2&cn=Student Desks&cat=1014&r=1&history=lwkvy0b1||pcid~cat_24^cat~2^cn~School%20Desks^cn~School%20Desks^refine_options_to_show~*

Those bean bags are great! Thanks! I can totally see a few of those in the room.
That table doesn't look sturdy enough though.
I've seen that school furniture site. There's actually a 'group' table I'm interested in from there (or sites like it). I can't find anything truly comparable other than at school furniture sites. As for the personal desks..I have to check the pricing of something like the Inspiration against something I could throw together from Ikea.
Oh, the hub wouldn't like me painting these shelves. He's just not keen on that sort of thing. I mean, if it were quality wood furniture, that's one thing, but, these are Ikea shelves we're talking here. He'd just say, forget it, buy new and put these elsewhere if these don't work for this use anymore. ;)

I have one of those tables for camping and and I wouldn't say it's not sturdy but yes, it's ugly, it's nothing stylish or inspiring.... I posted it just so you know that it's out there. to have an idea of another possible approach :)

I found some photos for inspiration

You're going to need lots & lots of shelves. We made one whole wall into shelves with Elfa brackets & hardware (Container Store), and homemade wood shelves. They also have shelves in a few different colors/styles. I used baskets for the small stuff & school supplies, then used the rest for books.

For desks, I just had 2 kiddos, so I set them up at opposite sides of a table and set up little work stations for them where they each had a task light, pencil cup, etc. It looks like a big room so you have lots of options. Most important is that it works for you.

You can decorate with wall maps. National Geographic has nice ones in a few different color schemes. The attached pic is one I had laminated & mounted on gator board. It doesn't photograph well at night, but there it is. I've always had a map up for the kids & it has really helped them learn where all the different places are. This works as our homeschool room now that my kids are older (13 & 16), but it also doubles as a sitting room. Our homeschool room has changed as they have grown.

This is like what I have: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59888860/ (in brown, and two of them) I have a large door and a drawer on the bottom of one side with a desk pull out on the other (for each shelf system) That was able to house all our 'current use' books this year. But I will need more storage for science kits as well as craft stuff and games.
Suggestions for that? Maybe just another unit like the one linked, with more doors?

I love the look of the desk trio (last pic up there) I had thought some kind of combination between that and the 'high top' deal ... a long table top, separating workspaces with drawers/shelves underneath and maybe a small Expedit on the wall overhead? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20135300/

My other thing to contend with...computer space. I'm not worried about it fitting in here though. I think I'd stick with it going around the corner in another room. Another post for another day, perhaps. ;)

Ok, now I need to focus a little more on a mom desk. Something that will, of course, hold my laptop, that will allow space for kids to come up for one on one time. Something with room to hold the load of incoming daily work. A way to organize that so that I (and the kids) can easily see what has been checked and what hasn't. Whether that sits on the desk top or near, just reachable from the desk, doesn't matter. I just need something to fill that function.