Back to Homeschool Shopping

Back to school shopping is it’s own season, and for some a favorite time of year. The promise of new clothes, shoes and backpacks is exciting for children, and sales on goodies like pens, notebooks, binders and other beautifully curated items displayed in all of the big box stores, is a fun time for educators.

If you are just starting your homeschool journey, or well into it, below are 10 fun items that are sure to equip you for your homeschooling 2020/2021 journey. Happy shopping!

1. Kitchen Timer. You will use a timer in your homeschool for everything. You can use it to call your kids to the table for breakfast, to end lunchtime, to keep up with timed music lessons, monitor speed math worksheets etc… Sure you could use your phone, but a timer is so much more fun.
2. Notebooks. This is the time to stock up on notebooks. Pick the wide ruled notebooks for smaller children and the college ruled for older children. The notebooks are usually discounted, some as low as 10 cents each. Buy many and stash them away. You’ll find a use for every one of them. Pick a color for each child as well as a color for yourself. What an easy way for everyone to keep up with their work!
3. Three Ring Binders. Same as above, except you will not need many. One binder for each child as well as yourself should do the trick. If you need more, pick them up now, they are probably on sale.
4. Writing Instruments. Pens, pencils, markers, dry erase markers, and crayons are usually on sale at this time. Stock up. Put them in a shoe box. When your children inevitable says “I can’t find my pencil”, just whip one out of the box. Just like that you are relieved from wasting precious time looking for something to write with.
5. Healthy Snacks. Try purchasing a tote box and fill it with healthy snacks like nuts, seeds, granola, raisins, and other not highly perishable items. I know that not highly perishable and healthy seem oxymoronic, but you know what I mean. Gather together good easy food items that you can quickly reach for when your child is having a brain fog moment.
6. Office Items. Rulers, measuring tape, glue, tape, pencil sharpener, hole puncher, and a step stool is a curious list of miscellaneous items. You will almost without a doubt need all of these items at least once. Trust me, you will be happy to have them on the rainy, windy, cold day that you need one of them, thereby avoiding packing everyone up for a trip to the store.
7. Headphones. If you are teaching more than one child, having a set of headphones is a convenient necessity. Your children will bug each other. This is a way of separating your children while teaching them, without having to place them on opposite ends of the house. Placing them on opposite ends of the house might be good for your pedometer, but not for teaching.
8. Clothes. If you are using uniforms in your homeschool, purchase those. If you are not, make sure that you have a few new handy tops for your young children to wear. A common complaint in homeschooling is children not wanting, or having anything to wear. A few handy tops (t-shirts) at the ready will ensure that your children will always have something to wear.
9. Lighting. Do a quick walk through of your home and make sure that you have adequate lighting in all of the areas that you envision your children working. Check the quiet reading spot, as well as the dinning room table and the living room couch. Purchase a lamp if you need to. You’ll be prepared when the winter months roll around, and the mornings and early evening are dim, and school days in your home are not as bright and cheery as they were in the beginning of the school year.
10. Back packs and Lunch bags. Children are always excited to get new backpacks and lunch bags. Make sure you have them handy for impromptu visits to museums, parks, fieldtrips and the occasional school at grandmas house. Mobility is one of the gems of homeschooling.

Homeschool veterans, what are some of your favorite tips for back to homeschool shopping? Teach with Love!