Homeschooling Essentials

Given the current coronavirus situation, “homeschooling is essential.” As being quarantined and isolated has become necessary, all the schools across the country have shut down.

Therefore, stocking up on home School essentials is an excellent way to maintain a sense of routine in your child’s life. By homeschooling, your child will keep learning and stay and engage even during the lockdown.

The question is, what do you need for homeschooling?

The necessities vary from family to family, and the number of children they are homeschooling, their curriculum, and lifestyle. You don’t need as much as you think you need.

It is advisable to start with the basics and then buy more things later once you get into a routine and feel confident that you will continue homeschooling.

In this guide, we will talk about top homeschooling essentials that you might find handy. These are the basic essentials that you would probably already have or can easily set up or buy online

Dedicated School area

Most children are used to having a dedicated classroom for their learning. Therefore a dedicated space at home can make homeschooling a lot easier.

You can turn your dining room into a schoolroom or if you have small space, you can even organize a small area of your room by putting a chair and desk in one corner.

Homeschooling involves lots of books so a bookshelf and storage are a must-have.

Organize everything correctly to ensure that all your material has designated space so that you can be easily found and used whenever needed.

Whiteboard and dry erase marker

Whiteboard is another vital homeschool essential. Most children will respond to you when you are in your teacher mode and are standing in front of them rather than sitting down.

You can use the whiteboard to write the daily agenda so that your children can see what they are working on and have a clear visual list to keep them on track and complete the task.

You can use a whiteboard for science lessons, history, and maths.

If possible go for magnetic whiteboard if you have a preschooler so that you can use it for spelling the alphabet titles

Art supplies

Having a huge stash of art supplies is important as children have many creative art projects.

The basic art supplies include watercolor paints, brushes, crayons, marker, color pencil, scissor, glue, papers, play-dough, and much more.

It’s advisable to invest in high-quality pencil colors and markers that will last longer than any inexpensive brands.

Library card

Having an access library is crucial for homeschoolers as it is the number one source for learning materials and a place for the best free resources.

Along with purchasing curriculum materials, it is important to read different types of books that you can easily find in the library.

It doesn’t matter if your books are from the library or the Kindle version, but access to great books is essential for homeschoolers.

You can even turn the library session into a fun field trip. This way, your child can explore many different types of books and discovers what appeals to him/her the most. Allow children to choose books from the library that they find interesting as this will motivate and encourage them to become lifelong readers.

Quiet reading space

Having a dedicated and cozy space for reading is an important part of the home school environment. You can add a bean bag in your child’s room for that cozy space. Your child can even use a couch for sitting comfortably and reading books.

Notebooks and binders

Children require notebooks and binders to note down the stuff they find interesting and important.

Also as a parent, you can maintain a binder for each child and put the best work in there

SketchBook

If your child is very creative, giving a sketchbook will be very helpful. Your child can sketch out something related to a book you are reading, a topic you are studying, or if they want to draw anything.

Pencil, eraser, and sharpener

Children love pencils. This might sound silly but buying a big box of pencil, a box of eraser, and an excellent electric pencil sharpener is essential for homeschooling.

CD and MP3 player

Most of the curriculum comes with CD, MP3 player.

You will require a DVD player if –

• You practice foreign languages from the curriculum CD
• Sing along and learn facts about the states and capitals, multiplication, etc.
• Listen to music from different countries while studying their flags and other information

A good planning system

Being a parent is not an easy task, and it is easy to forget things sometimes.

If you are forgetful it is advisable to invest in a good planner. It doesn’t matter if you buy a basic spiral notebook or a detailed planner, use whatever works for you. You can even use online planners or make a to-do list.

A laptop or computer with Internet access

For learning from online courses, you will definitely need a laptop with Internet access.

You might need a laptop or a tablet for –

• Watching YouTube videos related to to the topics to study
• Use Google for research on the school-related topic
• Looking up definitions
• Watching CNN student news
• Entertainment

Storage solution

Homeschooling involves lots of stuff from art supplies, books, things for science labs, etc. There is a lot of paperwork involved. There are a lot of notebooks, binders, projects, etc.

To organize and keep all the paperwork in place without spreading the clutter it is important to have dedicated storage space for it.

Printer

The printer is very important for homeschooling as you will need a printer for kids assignment sheets, printing for digital curriculum, printing the assignments that your kids typed on the laptops, much more.

You can either go for a basic black and white printer or inkjet printer.

The most important thing that you will need while homeschooling is patience and flexibility. Every day will be a new challenge, the agenda will change, the priorities will get swapped, and unexpected things might come up; that is why flexibility is crucial while homeschooling.

Homeschooling does not require much other than a few essentials like organized space, school and art supplies, books, and loving parents to guide them along the way.