It’s hard to believe it, but we are actually heralding the end of summer, and kids across the globe are going back to school! As a homeschool family we push the summer into September, but this is the time we start to make sure we have all the supplies we need for our upcoming year. The crayons and pencils, notebooks and books, these are all part of our back to school experience as well, in addition to a handful of other supplies that make homeschooling painless, fun and smooth. The following are those items I have identified as must have supplies for back to school shopping.
Table of Contents
For Mom’s
Insulated Bottle
Back to School requires caffeine! And, I have been living without a travel mug for about 3 months because I packed it when we moved. I finally broke down and bought another exactly like the one in storage, just a different color. This bottle is the bomb. It keeps coffee warm and prevents much of a mess if it gets knocked over. I love it, and it’s on sale. Get ya one!
Everything TruBrain
I’ve tried a lot of different supplements to help my crazy brain function like a normal human being’s and nothing has worked. Until I discovered TruBrain. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t focus, and had an insanely difficult time communicating thoughts. TruBrain is not Big Pharma, their products are nutrition based and provide a natural nudge to what we already have inside us. They increase verbal fluency, help with distractions, and boost your output, which as a mom is vital. TruBrain has a quiz that allows the powers that be narrow down products that would work best for you, it takes 5 minutes. If you are interested, I use the custom drinks in strong and x strong.
For the Kids
Make learning easy and simple for them with some of these gadgets …
Electric Pencil Sharpener
Back To School means filtering out all the junk you bought, and hung on to that no longer works. This sharpener works and it lasts, all you need to know!
School Book Organizer
A homeschool friend who is exceptionally organized turned me on to these cardboard book holders and I’ve been hooked ever since. They are simple, easy and a cheap way to keep all your kiddos books in order. But really, bins, baskets, bookshelves, anything would work, just have a designated space. Back to School means getting excited about organization!!
Math Books
Back to School used to be filled with so much stress when I first started homeschooling. Now, we have whizzed through so many different curricula that these days I mix and match what I like from various sources. Horizons math is what we use for ‘rithmetic as it’s simple, fast paced, has tons of variety, and it’s fantastic for kids who can work on their own and it offers a lot of review in each lesson.
Catholic Religion
I know a lot of you aren’t Catholic, but I also know a lot of you are, so enjoy. I have yet to find a religion course that is as comprehensive, as catechism based, as Seton. I tried the entire curriculum the first two years of homeschooling, and it was NOT for us, it was entirely too dry and it was like pulling teeth to engage my people. However, I can say without hesitation that Seton religion books are incomparable.
Back To School Ease
Time is one commodity you never have enough of, so while most of these items aren’t necessary, they sure do make life easier …
All in One Printer
Talk about making back to school prep as easy and streamlined as possible. There are literally thousands of free printable homeschool resources available online and having the ability to quickly print those off or make copies of a page is such a huge time saver. This printer is in the middle of the price range, easy and inexpensive to use and packed full of features.
Laminator
Back to school prep, get all those manipulatives ready! You know, all those free references that stand the test of time … like multiplication tables, maps, etc. Laminate them so your kids don’t destroy them!
Alphabet Line
At this point, all my kids know their ABC’s, but they still use these for alphabetizing and differentiating between lowercase b and d, lol. This is my favorite because it just sits on their desk and doesn’t have to be hung up on the walls!
Globe
As a traveling family, my kids are obsessed with globes and maps and atlases, etc. They play the old game of spinning the globe and pretending to travel wherever their hands fall. We make it educational by telling them to Google whatever locale they land on. I ask them the language spoken, the travel restrictions, what type of government, what are some of the main attrations, etc. It’s fun!
Basic School/Work Supplies
Stapler … I love that this one is red!
Ruler … in bulk, for multiple children!
Scissors … again, in bulk, because we lose scissors ALL the time!
Sticky Notes … I use these for learning foreign languages.
Bookmarks … for textbooks and pleasure reading.
Pencils … buy the most you can possibly store!
Colored Pencils … we buy many packs b/c we ALL use these!
Erasers … good ones that actually work.
Crayons … never RoseArt, always Crayola
Markers … I still love markers!!
Glue … And the stick kind …
Journals … priceless. At our home, we write, write, write. I buy one really nice one for daily journaling and then a ton of cheap .99 spirl notebooks for copy work, story writing, and much of their writing is done on a computer for the typing skills. 🙂
What am I missing? What are your absolute must-haves for your homeschool classroom? Leave them in the comments!