We are halfway through our first year of homeschooling. These are my homeschool must haves! I have had so much fun teaching my daughter and working with her on school every day. I have loved getting to witness her learning and growing. It has truly been such a special time. But in that same breath it has been a learning curve to make sure that learning is fun, and different, and things didn’t get stagnant here. Homeschooling is also just different. These kids are literally living their best life, and these parents are a different breed. So I have also discovered some things that have really helped just making sure that we can keep up with these veteran moms!
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Fun Learning Games
We love a good learning game. Anything that will make learning more fun and engaging will help my kids focus. It will also help with making learning fun, and having my kids learn skills without even realizing that it’s happening. I love these games because they teach some concepts listed in our curriculum in a better way than our curriculum suggests. Here are a few of out favorites:
- Kanoodle is one of my favorite games. My oldest thinks it is so cool, she’s really good at it, and after she goes to bed her dad and I fight over who gets to play with it first. I love how it teaches her to think spatially and how to make 3-D shapes!
- This Pixel game is really awesome and its a great game for independent play. I love that it doesn’t show you the image before hand, so its a surprise every time. It also has their mind working in a dozen different directions, which is great.
- Spot it is also a family favorite. It is a fast paced game and it has them working fast on their feet. Constantly thinking and changing. It’s an easy game that we can play quickly!
These are just a few games that we love. There are so many more that I could tell you about. Finding a good game is sooooo good when it comes to homeschooling. When you can go to your games and play them over and over again, that is the key to a good collection of games.
Weather Gear
Listen, Homeschool moms DO. NOT. CARE. about weather. It’s a tornado outside? “Bring your rain boots! We will shelter if the winds get over 100mph.” Okay! That’s a bit extreme, but honestly not to far off. We have met so many really cool people who are willing to head outside in any weather. We even attend a nature club, and we love that it’s an all weather club. When it comes to homeschooling I highly recommend some really good weather gear. Homeschool moms rarely cancel for anything, and are always down for a messy adventure. We want to get these kids out of this house, so we come prepared. Being able to dress your kids appropriately is a HUGE roll in that.
I’m sure this sounds like a broken record, but I promise this is my biggest parenting tip. Even if you aren’t a homeschooling parent. Having the weather gear to be outside in any weather will greatly improve your parenting journey. There isn’t bad weather, only poorly dressed people.
A Good Book Collection
We read all day every day. I love a good book sale, and I never pass up a goodwill book haul. I have collected so many books over the years and I love being able to share so many good stories with my kids. Of course you don’t have to own a library of books, but it is helpful! I love being able to pull book after book off the shelf. But you can also get them from your library. If you tell your library you are a homeschooler they may allow you to check out more books and keep them for longer. But kids books have come a long way, and there are so many stories now. You can literally find a kids book about any topic. Keep a running list of books you are looking for and keep your eyes on thrift stores, and yard sales to find them for super cheap! I also recommend finding some good authors that you love and can confidently pick up books of theirs because you know they are all great!
Arts and Crafts Supplies
Having art supplies should be a staple in any household. Kids love to do arts and crafts, and its always a solid activity to pull out when you need some time to get a few things done. But with homeschool it’s important that you have a well rounded set of art supplies. In a public school their art teachers will let them have access to different mediums and it will allow them explore lots of different types of art. In this area I think its important that we try to mimic that and give our kids a well rounded exposure to art. Here are some of our favorites:
- We love any opportunity to play with paint. We love traditional paint, but have recently branched out to water colors, oil pastels, and paint sticks! They have all been really fun, and we will use them all together and it has made some really cool pictures!
- My girls also love some of the really cool art kits! We love this deco cream for fun 3D art projects! We also love these cutting activities! My girls love a color by sticker sheet too! They really sit down and focus on them! These shrinky dinks get my kids every time! They love them!
- Last one worth mentioning (although they are all great!) A How to draw book is worth its weight in gold! This has been a great tool for my kids to get them to learn how to draw things. They will even pull it out to reference when they are trying to create something.
Administrative/Safety Tools
I know! I know! This isn’t as fun as the other stuff, but listen its important to set your kids up for success. Without that your kids are going to struggle, you are going to struggle, and your experience is going to struggle. Also something to note, teachers in public school are really good at sending home keepsake crafts. You are now in charge of that, so making sure that you have the means to make those for yourself is important and something you will want! Here are my big hitters:
- A laminator. This this is soooo good! I will collect things over time and then spend an afternoon laminating them and storing them. With homeschooling you are required to store work examples, and this is a great way to preserve them. I’ve had several laminators and this one has lasted me the longest!
- You need something to keep your records in. My plan is to use one of these storage totes, to keep examples and work books, and attendance records. These are also great keep sake totes to use for anything else you want to keep.
- This kitchen stool is also really great! My kids love to help me in the kitchen and sometimes its really helpful to do our projects in there and this allows all my kids to be able to see whats on the counter.
- For your own sanity make sure you get some art smocks. These are great for a lot of uses, but mainly it will protect their clothes, because let me tell you, I’m really bad a laundry and after a few times ruining clothes this was the best investment!
- This is probably the most used tool that we have. I can’t recommend it enough. Honestly one of my favorite resources we have, and a great birthday gift to other families! This pencil sharpener. Seriously, just order it.
If you are preparing for your homeschool journey, or maybe just facing some struggles check some of these out and see if it can help you get your footing! These have all helped me immensely, and they are things I think would benefit any family, homeschool or not.
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