These 10 must-haves for homescooling that go beyond curriculum range from simple items to more expensive but after years of homeschooling I feel these are some of my basic tools.
I've written many posts about my favorite curriculums. But I thought I'd change it up this time and write about the non-curriculum goodies that make homeschooling at our house run more smoothly.
I also want to add that although I consider myself a frugal person, I've learned that sometimes I just can't scrimp on quality. So without further ado, here's my top 10 list of must-haves for homeschooling.
1. Post-it® Flags
I abhor bookmarks. They constantly fall out and get lost, and you can never save where on a particular page you stopped reading. That's why I'm entirely in love with Post-it® Flags. We have used these for years to mark workbooks, reading books, teachers' manuals, and any other book we're using. Not only does the flag not fall off, but we can mark a specific place on a page so we can pick right back up where we left off.
I tried using generic flags a few times, but I was always bitterly disappointed at their longevity (or lack thereof). So even though the 3M brand is spendy, they are well worth the money. A single 3M Post-it® flag often makes it through the entire year.
2. Homeschool Tracker Online
For a couple of years, early in our homeschooling journey, I used the Homeschool Tracker computer software. But after our PC died, I couldn't use it any longer; I had to resort to planning out curriculum on a spreadsheet or by hand.
Last year I tried using Planbook for Mac, but while it worked out okay for the first few month, it's not written to be used by homeschoolers, so I ran in to a lot of limitations with the program.
Thankfully this year Homeschool Tracker released their online software, and it's been such a blessing. Although an annual subscription costs $60, it's a worthwhile expenditure for our family. I can sit down at the beginning of the year and spend a few days planning out all our curriculum for the entire school year. Then it only takes a few minutes each Sunday to adjust schedules if needed and print out checklists for each child for the following week.
Homeschool Tracker isn't perfect, but it has met our needs much better than any other curriculum planning software we've ever used.
3. Clipboards
Each Sunday I print out a checklist of all the upcoming week's assignments. Unfortunately, that printout is easy to misplace, so I've found that the easiest way to keep track of the checklist is to clip it to a clipboard. The kids have a much harder time losing a clipboard than losing a single piece of paper!
4. Boxes for current curriculum
We are book lovers, so that means we own quite a few bookcases (15 the last time I counted). But leaving the kids' school books on the shelves just doesn't work for our family. Inevitably books get misplaced or just left scattered throughout the house.
Being able to put each child's curriculum in a portable box makes life so much easier for us. We used to use milk crates, but they were just too big and curriculum tended to get crushed and bent up. This summer I picked up some 9.5"x11" boxes on clearance at Lowes for less than $2 a piece, and they are the perfect size.
5. High-quality pencils and sharpeners
Homeschoolers can never have too many pencils. Last year we experimented with using erasable pens, but we ended up being pretty disappointed. Erasable pens just don't write very well (that is, unless you spend an arm and a leg on the pens in the first place!); instead of decreasing frustration, they increased it ten-fold.
So we're back to pencils again. And, boy, do I have an opinion on those! Pencils are definitely not all created equal. At the risk of being considered a pencil-snob, I'll admit that I absolutely refuse to purchase cheap-o, off-brand pencils because the lead and erasers just don't work. We use either Ticonderoga pencils (especially the black ones) or mechanical pencils.
Of course, if we use pencils, that means we need a pencil sharpener as well. We've been through several electric sharpeners, and none have lasted very long at all. We finally gave up on the electric versions and bought a manual sharpener like I grew up using in public school, and it's worked perfectly. To keep it accessible, we installed the sharpener on the wall at the end of our bar in the kitchen.
6. A good laser copier/printer/scanner (and lots of paper)
Many eons ago we owned a black and white laser printer (and we loved it!). But alas, once we started homeschooling, we realized we needed a copier too, so we said good-bye to the laser printer and purchased an all-in-one ink jet.
A couple years later—and what seemed like thousands of dollars in ink later—we realized that ink jets aren't the cheap printers they're purported to be. We got fed up with having to buy new ink cartridges every. single. month and started to research an all-in-one laser printer.
We ended up getting an HP all-in-one laser printer at Office Max for only $150 on sale. Thankfully, although we didn't like the idea of spending so much on a printer, we've actually spent much less already since we don't have to spend $20 a month on ink any longer.
7. Colored pencils for correcting work.
When I correct math work, I love to use colored pencils, so I always try to have plenty on hand. I prefer colored pencils over pens since they seem to be so much more reliable and leave a bolder mark.
8. Lap-sized dry erase boards
Many years ago we made our own lap-size dry erase boards, and they've been used and abused ever since. They come in extremely handy for just about any subject.
9. Spiral notebooks
We use single-subject spiral notebooks to keep school work all in one place. Loose-leaf sheets of notebook paper tend to get lost around our house, so instead each child has a spiral notebook for each subject. They are also handy because we can choose different colors for each child to use.
10. Online graphing calculator
While we own a graphing calculator (it was a lost & found item we got for free several years ago), it tends to get misplaced quite often. Additionally, the screen on a graphing calculator is so small it's difficult to use. Lately we've opted to use this online graphing calculator instead. Not only is it much easier to use, the graph is also much larger. Not only that, but we can't misplace a website so it's always accessible.
These are my 10 must-haves for homeschooling but I bet you have some others you consider a necessity for your homeschooling experience.
I love my heavy duty three hole punch and my binding machine. Oh, and bookcases….lots and lots of bookcases!
@Julie R, Why types of things do you use your binding machine for?
I photocopy all the math tests at the beginning of the year and bind them into 1 booklet. Our Bible curriculum this year consists of a drawing page for each book of the Bible, so I put a booklet together for each child. I've also used it to make timeline books for my co-op class.
@Julie R, Cool! What kind of a binding machine do you have?
Love those Post-It Flags! I can't handle using anything else 🙂 And, Amen to the good laser all-in-one. I make as many copies as I do printing, it seems!
It is an old office depot personal binder. Not the one I really wanted, but I got it cheap on Ebay. I would love to have a bigger one….someday!
How long, or for how many pages, does the toner cartridge last? I've been debating the issue of laser vs. inkjet for some time now.
I'm not sure exactly how many pages a toner cartridge does, but I'd venture to say that 1 toner cartridge (costs about $60) lasts at least 8-10 times longer than a single ink jet cartridge. We weren't printing very much when we had an ink jet (since I knew ink was spendy), and we sometimes went through a single cartridge of the black ink in 3-4 weeks. Since purchasing our laser printer, we've only purchased 1 replacement toner so far, and that was back in May. We've also printed substantially more (maybe 4x more) than we did with ink jet and the toner still doesn't need to be replaced 4+ months into this toner. There's no doubt in my mind that a laser printer is MUCH cheaper to operate than an ink jet. I'd definitely recommend getting a laser!
@Terri, We made the switch to laser a few years back and LOVE it. No way would we go back to an inkjet. We print a ton of coupons and then worksheets for school too so it's much more cost-effective to have a laser.
Plus, when the printer says that it has run out of toner, you can cover up the little hole on the side of the toner cartridge with tape and we have gotten several more months out of the toner cartridge by doing this. I'd also highly recommend getting a laser printer!
LOVE this list, Joy!!
Joy, I LOVE this list!! Many of your items are on my "must have" list, as well. One question; have you ever used the CD version of the Homeschool Tracker? If so, how was it compared to the online version?
Thanks a bunch!!
Hello. My name is Deliese, and I'm a pencil snob.
Really, the Ticonderoga are the best out there, and nothing beats the old manual grinder sharpeners. My kids like mechanical pencils, too, but the lead breaks too easily for those just learning to write. The point (if you'll pardon the pun) is to find a tool that makes the job of writing easier. You know you've found the right (write? Ha ha!) tool when you can focus on what you're writing, not what you're writing with.
And next time, I'll try the 3M stickies. Thanks!
Blank index cards! I use 3×5" cards to make our visual schedule, 4×6 cards for the word-family wall, 5×8 cards for my weekly To Do lists… so much sturdier than regular paper.
Hello Joy,
This is an awesome post, so much so that I'm getting ready to share it with friends.
I love, especially, the clipboard idea. We've used the container type clipboards for several years and each child has his or her own colored clip board. They can keep loose paper in them and MOST especially their current memory work. I keep them by the couch for the youngest children so that we always have them handy for a cozy review. No matter how well we use our notebooks we frequently have loose papers that store in the clipboards very well till we have a chance to put them in binders.
Have a great school year!
Did you compare Continuous Ink Systems to the Laser Printer, too? I'm trying to decide between these two options.
I've actually never heard of continuous ink systems. I just looked them up and they look very interesting.
I have found the continuous ink systems are iffy–sometimes they work great and sometimes they don't. When they do work, they are wonderful! Another thing to consider is the compatible refills for the laser printers from a website like Ink Owl. @Sherri,
I love to read other people's homeschool "must have" lists! We've been homeschooling for 15 years and pretty much know what works for us and what we'll use from year to year. For some reason, though, I still enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
page protectors! they are the poor man's lamination 😉
Definitely post-it notes and Homeschool Tracker (although I'm still using the old stand-alone version, not the online one).
The other two absolute loves are a huge wall-mounted whiteboard – perfect for teaching maths/English and holding maps and diagrams of things; and a click-bind machine so we can make our own books of work and add to it easily.
I've recently invested my energy in creating online flash cards – there are loads of useful sites, eg. quizlet.com, http://www.studyblue.com/, although it takes time to create your own sets. I've also been using https://www.mem-note.com to convert my pre-existing digital notes (or notes from a website) into flash cards.