Grace Christian Homeschool: 5 Days of Homeschooling Essential

Thursday, January 23, 2014

5 Days of Homeschooling Essential - Supplies

This week I will be sharing with you our 5 days of Homeschooling Essentials.

In case you missed it, here are Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

Our fourth Homeschooling Essential is Supplies. There are endless number of supplies that can be called my essentials because I admittedly state that I am a homeschool supply addict! I have always loved school supplies since I was a little girl!

I'm just going to limit my supply list to my top 10.

Bible - I like for each child to have their own Bible so they can follow along while I really the daily scripture passage to them.
Laptop/Computer - I prefer a laptop just for school use. If we could have 2 or one for each child that would be even better but at least 1 laptop is an essential for us. Our Math and Foreign Language curriculum are done by DVD and my children type out their writing stories as well. It is also how the majority of our research is done.
Printer - A great printer is definitely an essential for us. It also needs to include a copier and scanner. I would suggest researching before hand the cost of the ink to supply your printer because ink for us can be a real budget buster!
Lots of pens and pencils - My children prefer lead pencils and I do too because then I don't have to worry about the sharpener drowning me out while I'm trying to teach. :) My favorite all time pens are the Pilot Frixion pens which I first saw used by Sam over at Sam's Noggin. I love that they are erasable. I use the red one for checking papers and checking things off my checklist. I use the black or blue one to fill in our weekly planning sheets.
Laminator - I laminate everything. I find that I don't use it quite as much now as I did when my children were smaller but I still love having it here when I need it.
Label Maker - I love to use my label maker for labeling binders tabs, supply drawers, book shelves, books that I loan out, binders, and anything else that I think needs a label.
Composition Notebooks - I usually try to stock up on these when they go on sale before school starts. Wal-mart has often had them for 8 cents each. My children use these daily and I cannot believe it but I let my stock pile run out and we currently have no extras!!!!!
Dividers and Tabs - I am a binder gal so I go through a lot of these. Each of my children also have their own binders with dividers and tabs as well. I use tabs to separate the weeks in my teacher's manuals as well.
Books - I love having series of books on our shelves for my children to just pick out and start reading if they wish. I also like to stock our shelves with great books for read alouds. Our curriculum gives read aloud book suggestions and they are always great! I always have to have tissues close by too so that's needs to be an essential included in this group!

Some of our family favorites are:

The Bronze Bow, any book by Patricia St. John, The Witch At Blackbird Pond, The Magic Tree House Series, Ms. Piggle Wiggle, and Charlotte's Web.

You can find a list of great read aloud books here as well.
Lastly, a great place to find these books is the library but I also like to have my fair share (or more :) on hand at home.

Bookshelves - With all the curriculum and books on hand, you need a place to store them. We store ours on 2 bookshelves and in the attic for those not needed at the time.

Of course "my brain" is also a supply essential that I need as well as all the other necessities such as paper (notebook, printer, construction, card stock, etc), tape, rulers, scissors, stapler, etc. All the essentials you would normally need in a school environment.

As I said before, this list could go on and on but I tried to include items here that we use daily or close to it!

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crew members' Homeschooling Essentials are too! Here are just a few to get you started. Click on the banner below to see them all!