I have been homeschooling for about a year now, and have been loving it. Even from this short journey, I have discovered a few things that every homeschooler needs to have to make their homeschooling journey more enjoyable and productive.
Every homeschooler probably has their list of essentials for their classroom. But some homeschoolers like to school old fashion, while others like to homeschool with lots of technology. I like to have a perfect mix of everything when it comes to school.
Here is a list of all the items I’m going to talk about:
- Basic writing materials
- Kindle
- Calendar
- Forest access
- Storage boxes
- White board
- Craft materials
- Laptop
- Internet access
- Desk
- YouTube
- Homeschool “Room”
- Musical instruments
- Access to a homeschool community
- Printer
- Games
- Binders
In the era that we live in now, it can be tempting to just give your child a computer and have them learn everything from there, but what is the point of homeschooling then? You need to have interactive activities and make each day exciting. It can be a lot of work, but with the right gear you can have fun teaching just about anything.
Basic Writing Materials
Stock up on pencils, pens, lined paper, graph paper, and pencil sharpeners, before beginning a new school year. It is important to have these basic writing materials so that your children can learn to properly write, and this gives you a good opportunity to incorporate writing time into your daily homeschool schedule. another important things to keep in mind when buying pencils is that kids go through them very quickly, so make sure to buy your pencils in bulk! Don’t forget to buy pencil sharpeners too, because those go missing quite often for some reason, and they are very important.
Kindle or Library Card
I have to say from my homeschool experience, having a kindle was one of the most useful resources. A kindle, if you do not know, is a digital reading device/an e-reader. I have been able to read books, rent books and do many projects on them, after reading the books. A kindle allows you to do so much without having to go anywhere, which is good if you are already busy all the time. You can buy and rent books off of it, and take it anywhere because it is so small. Reading from a kindle is so great and easy on the eyes, and your children will probably enjoy it and be excited to read because it is an exciting piece of technology.
If you don’t want to spend the extra money on a kindle, having a library card should be just as useful! Books are a very important part of everyone’s lives and they are a great learning resource. You can find books on the topic of just about anything, which is something all homeschoolers should use to their advantage.
Storage Boxes
Having places to store all your children’s work, supplies, crafts, materials, and everything in between is something every homeschool parent needs to do. If you don’t organize everything, things will probably get lost, people might get upset, and things can become chaotic. When you sign up to be a homeschool parent, you need to keep in mind that the job will involve lots of organizing and planning, and this is just one of the organization essentials.
This is a four drawer black organizer cart that I really like for a pretty good price. Here is a little bit of a more expensive one, it is a black 10 drawer metal organizer cart, which is very sturdy. I like to have neutral colours for organizer so that they are not too distracting during lessons, and they look good no matter what colour the room is.
Forest
Yes, that’s right. A forest, park, or outdoor nature space is an essential for homeschoolers. It doesn’t need to be in your backyard, but an area where you can take your children for outings. You can use a forest to do many things. Maybe you can turn it into a lesson, you and your children can all go to a forest or nature space with a magnifying glass, and look at nature from a closer perspective. You can teach them about different types of plants, and what they do. You could even teach a bit of science on photosynthesis, how the plants grow, and what type of environment they need to survive.
Your children will probably enjoy being in nature, and it will give them more energy. You can also use the forest to exercise by going for hikes, or use it for forest bathing which is a really cool type of mental health where you lay down in nature. Remember, you don’t need to plan classes just in the classroom, your children will probably prefer having some time out of the house.
Calendar
Calendars will help you keep track of things to do, while also being a great learning source for younger children. Monthly calendars will show days of the week, and the month name, so this is a great way to teach your children simple things like that. Having a school calendar will also help you organize activities for the day, or month. Even if your calendar doesn’t give enough space to write down your daily schedule, you can use it in other ways. For example, monthly calendars allow you to look weeks in advance, so you will be prepared for activities in the future.
Using the calendar is a great way to start off the day with your children. You can tell them to set it up by writing the day of the week, day of the month and the month. Some calendar packages even have a section for you to put the weather, season, and a question of the day. It can be a daily calendar, weekly calendar, or monthly calendar, its completely up to your preference. This colourful planner calendar for kids has everything from days of the week and months to the daily weather to the time of day.
White Board
In my opinion, having a white board is definitely an essential for all homeschoolers to have. I use my white board every day for multiple things. One of the best things to use the white board for is to use it as an organizer. You and your kids can make a daily schedule with the whiteboard that has your tasks. I find that I am more productive when I plan out the tasks I am going to do every morning. By doing this, it gives everyone a lot more structure, it teaches your children discipline and organization, and just by having a visual schedule everyone tends to be more productive because they know what the plan is.
You can also use a white board to teach your kids, of course. It is good to have a variety of teaching methods, and this could be one of them. It might be handy to have multiple white boards for different uses, if you want to use a white board for a morning planner, and for teaching, it is probably best to buy multiple.
Craft Materials
Unless you are a very zero waste type of parent, you are probably going to be making a lot of crafts if you have youngsters, so having a big stash of art supplies is mandatory. Normally supplies like, chalk, glue, pencil crayons, washable markers, paints, scissors, construction paper, and a bin full of other accessories. One of my favourite art supply brands is Crayola. They have everything from pencil crayons, to washable markers, to chalk, to construction paper. The company has been around since 1903, and has grown its business to now be one of the worlds most popular children’s art supply company.
I highly recommend Crayola’s washable markers, the marker stains come out very easily. They also have really great pencil crayons, which I use on a daily basis.
Laptop
If you are planning to have your kids do any online courses, you will probably eventually need a laptop or a tablet. You don’t want to just hand them a computer, so that they can learn everything from it. If you do want them to do some courses online, maybe set a schedule for when they can use the computer, and if you have multiple children, set up times for each of their classes online. Your kids will probably want to have lots of time on screens, but it is good to limit their time.
If you want to buy a laptop, I would suggest to look into what companies do student discounts. I was able to get a really good student discount on my laptop, which is an apple product and I love it, but I am sure that other companies have discounts too.
Internet Access
In this age, everyone uses technology, for just about anything, maybe even too much. But, it does make sense though to use the internet to your advantage, and it can make your life much easier, and more productive. Everyone has internet access even in public and private schools, and it can help you in a lot of ways. There are so many things you can do if you have internet access, and it is the number one thing that I couldn’t go without when I am homeschooling, because it is so incredibly useful. You have the capability and access to do research projects, writing projects, PowerPoints and slide shows, online courses, and learn anything from the internet.
I can’t imagine homeschooling 40 years ago when not many people had internet access, it was a whole different world, better in some ways but worse in others.
YouTube account
YouTube is so helpful and is one of the, if not the biggest online video platforms in the world. You can find videos about any topic you look up. Certain YouTube channels have playlists with a whole series of videos about learning french for example, or understanding the science behind biology, or lessons of all the great wars in history. I highly recommend using YouTube to learn new languages, because there are a lot of channels where the YouTubers walk you right through each step of learning the new language, and it can be really useful. I also think learning history, science and grammar from YouTube is really good because YouTubers make fun videos or songs about the topic and it makes it easier to remember.
If you don’t have a gmail email or a google account, and you never sign into YouTube, you won’t have access to all the free videos on there. If you do have a google account then you simply need to sign into it on YouTube’s sign in page.
A Homeschool Designated Room or Area
This is not necessarily essential, but it is preferred to have a designated homeschool area or space. Because homeschoolers spend a lot more time at home than their conventional schooling peers, it can get a little bit tiring. But having a designated room for your schooling can make all the difference. Without having a designated homeschool space, school and home activities might seem as if they blend together. Within that room or space you can turn it into a full classroom and it can be where you store all the supplies, so you can keep school separate from home.
With the designated space though, you and your children only do lessons in there so when you go into that space, you children will give you their whole attention span because they know that this is the space for being taught and learning. It is good to have a separate head space for school from normal home things and when you are homeschooling this doesn’t always happen.
Desk
You should have a desk in your homeschool designated space to add some school vibes to it. You are going to need a desk either way, because…well you don’t want to make your kids do all their work on the floor. Having a desk will separate your home life from your school life, which can make your children work more productively because they know when they are at their desk that it is time to focus and do work. If your children do all of their work at the kitchen table, they might be more distracted because that is a space that is used for multiple things.
I have had a few desks over the time of my life, but one of my favourites which I still use now is the Home Depot Computer Desk because it is super sturdy, and gives a lot of space for work, and a lot of drawer space. You can also get a desk or even a work table that all of your kids can sit at when you are teaching lessons, instead of buying individual desks for each of them.
Musical Instrument
Music is such a big part of my school life as a homeschooler, and it really does a lot of good things for growing kids. Playing a musical instrument is good for a child’s developing brain, it gives them a higher ability to multitask, improves their attentiveness and memory, and so many more incredible things. It doesn’t matter whether your children are learning to play an instrument, or you are using instruments to help teach lessons, but either way adding music to your everyday schedule is going to make it a lot more fun. You could even just teach a song to your kids once in a while, or maybe you sing a song every morning with them.
Music is one of the biggest learning sources which not many people recognize. There are a lot of fun, cool and unique ways to incorporate music into many subjects. Curious about what subjects you can teach using music? Read my post about how music can teach all the core subjects.
Homeschool Community
Having a homeschool community in the area is so helpful. If you don’t have other people you know who are doing school like you it can be hard and sometimes a bit lonely. It is really nice to have other friends who are homeschoolers so you can get together during the day for playdates, or school outings. It is also nice to have other parents who are going through the same things as you having your kids home all the time and having to do lots of work for their curriculum, but also having the opportunity that not many parents have.
And maybe you could even work together, for example, you can print out lots of the same worksheets for your kids and their kids, and vice versa. This could make your time as a homeschooled parent a lot more enjoyable to have someone to relate to. Plus it is a great way to get the kids social during the day. Obviously your children won’t be able to hang out with their public schooled friends during the week days, so having people to hang out with during the day can be nice.
Printer
It is hard to imagine trying to do school without having a printer. Printers can be used to print out work sheets, and other necessary papers. Having a printer with you makes planning out work for your children so much easier because you can simply print something whenever you want, instead of go somewhere to get it printed, and often students print out papers weekly.
You might be wondering, why would I want to print out so much stuff when I can have my children do their work on the computer? Well, although there is so much that you can do with in the digital world, it is just not the same as having a simple work sheet with questions. Plus it is good to be able to write things down with a pencil instead of typing. Physical writing is such a good skill to have and it is not as easy to learn at a young age if everything is run by computers and typing.
Games
Games are perfect for a little bit of fun during the middle of the day. You can take an academic break for an hour and bring out a fun game that all your kids love. There are games about anything, and you can even use them to teach subjects but in a fun way. Whether you have regular for fun games or mental school games, every option is fun. You can even use video games to teach different subjects. Search academic games on a browser and a lot of activities will come up for a variety of subjects.
There are some fun games on the Nation Geographic Kids website. Their games are mostly about topics like animals, outer space and foods. There are also so many simple, verbal games you can play to teach grammar for example. You can play drawing games with the whiteboard, play with flashcards, or even make fun obstacle courses.
Binders
I love using binders to organise all of my work. There are so many different ways to organise each subject, it becomes like an exciting project, and it is very satisfying once everything is in its place. Binders for you and your children are a great idea because they are one of the most productive ways you can organise your work. You don’t want to have any lost papers or things scattered around the house, because that can get frustrating. Binders can help you gather work, organise it, and plan work sheets for your kids. Maybe you want to keep a binder for each child to keep all of the projects/work sheets your child has ever done as their transcript, which is something every homeschool parent should keep track of.
If you choose to get binders for your children, you can teach them organisation skills when they are gathering their worksheets and papers, which is a really good long term skill to have.
There are certain things that you don’t need and everyone is different, so make sure you don’t buy anything that you don’t want, even if other people say that you should have it. This is simply based on my experiences of homeschooling, and I hope you found this list of essential homeschool items helpful.