Our Home School Essentials
By Alison Stoner
When I first started diving into homeschool curricula and making lists of all the supplies we would need I was overwhelmed to say the least. There are tons of different learning styles and unit studies to sift through. There’s the period of testing your child to see where they fit grade level wise. And then of course there’s the long drawn out period of second-guessing all your choices and wondering if you’re going to end up failing your child.
After months of flopping back and forth between options, I told myself to make a decision and just commit! I gave myself freedom to scratch anything that wasn’t working, but I knew I could get trapped in this researching and decision making loop forever if I didn’t just choose something.
During my researching period I reached out to a lot of my homeschooling friends for their wealth of knowledge and their recommendations. If I’m honest, hearing all their suggestions overwhelmed me even more. I learned quickly that every family is unique, and therefore their schooling style is unique too. What one homeschooling mom swore by for her children, I could so clearly see would not be beneficial for my crew. I am quickly learning that this is the beauty of homeschooling; the options are endless and sails can so easily be adjusted to best suit each individual student.
There was one particular question that I asked just before cracking open the coursebooks I finally decided on that did really set me up for success. The pointed question I asked homeschooling families was (aside from curriculum):
“What supplies do you find essential to your child’s home education?”
I got a plethora of answers, the most frequent being an eco-jet printer, a laminator, and snacks. Because I found this question to be so helpful as I did my shopping and set up for our start to homeschooling, I thought I’d share with you the top five things that have been the most helpful for us during our first year homeschooling.
The Stoner Family’s Top Five Homeschool Supplies
1) A quality printer. Does one truly exist? I’m not sure. There are most definitely days I want to pull all my hair out because the printer got (another) paper jam, but even on those days I am so grateful to have a printer in our home. We did a couple of unit studies through Gather Round, and because I have two kids close in age, it was most cost effective for me to purchase the digital version and make copies. I also had a lot of fun creating my own curriculum of sorts for our U.S. Geography lesson (the 50 states) and was grateful I didn’t have to run elsewhere to print a new version each time I tweaked something just a smidge. And nothing kept my three year old happier (and quieter) while we did lessons than coloring! I probably printed at least 200 coloring pages this year! With all that printing, I haven’t had to purchase more ink yet!
2) Three Ring Binders & a Three Hole Punch. All those papers we printed off had to go somewhere and three ring binders were definitely the answer! I found this bulk pack on Amazon and it has been more than enough for us this year. The kids have made them their own with stickers and coloring pages slipped through the plastic covering. Check out what I purchased HERE
3) Dry Erase Boards. Dry erase boards are something we use every day for multiple reasons! I have one larger (24x18) board that I use to post our morning’s chores each day, and I also use it frequently when walking through math examples with the kids. Each one of the kids has their own smaller dry erase board that is double sided - one side is blank and the other side has handwriting lines on it. These have been so handy with the little girls who are learning to write letters and practicing spelling and blending of words. The older two often use their mini dry erase boards to work out math problems instead of reaching for a piece of scratch paper.
4) Library Cards. Books are a vital part of our learning style and I often search for picture books that tie into themes that the kids are learning about in their various subjects. We have always been library-goers (we are so blessed to live within walking distance to our local branch), but this year we’ve really made it a habit of going almost weekly, and utilizing our library’s app to reserve particular books that could add to our lessons. We have also tried to take advantage of many of the free events our library hosts including messy art workshops, nature exploratory events, and indoor game fun.
5) Art Supplies. Pro tip: buy the big box of markers. But for real, we use a variety of art supplies daily. While crayons and markers are essential, don’t stop there. We have a variety of color pencil packs, watercolor trays for each kid, acrylic paint on hand (don’t fear the mess!), oil pastels to play with, and a variety of sponges, brushes, cotton swabs, etc. to experiment and blend with. I have stickers and stamps galore, random cardboard boxes and egg cartons, and pipe cleaners and googly eyes - anything and everything I could think of that the kids might have fun creating with. Both of my older children have art projects included in their Language Arts curriculum, but also, much of our down time is spent being crafty. One thing I didn’t expect to happen is that the scissors would end up misplaced sometimes (I know this sounds scary) so next year I think I’ll purchase a bulk pack of scissors so that we’re not wasting time searching for scissors or waiting for a turn with the one pair we could find.
If you’re where I was a year ago and feeling the overwhelm of all the decisions, I hope you find this list to be helpful in narrowing down what is essential outside of the curriculum you choose.
One last piece of advice I want to leave with any potential or new homeschooling moms (and even those who have been at it for awhile and need a reminder): don’t be afraid. You can do this. You are equipped and qualified. You’re wise enough to make decisions for your children; you are the one who knows them the best. You can do this!