The Complete List of Homeschool Essentials

We are in an interesting time. There really aren’t just homeschool parents and kids who go to a traditional school. Right now, because of the situation at hand, we are all homeschooling parents. I have been sharing what I think will be helpful to those mamas thrown into this new adventure over on my Instagram. My hope has been that I can make life just a bit easier for them. One of the questions I got there was “what items can I buy to make things easier?” So this post was born. I compiled some of the items that I really think help me teach my kids at home. My complete list of Homeschool Essentials

I just want to preface that I slowly built up my school supply stash over the first 3 years of teaching. Don’t feel like you have to buy all of this to teach your kids. You can teach your kids with very little. These are just items I ahve purchased and find helpful in case you feel you might need them too.

Homeschool Essentials

• Laminator – I put this first on my list because I have not regretted this purchase at all. Well worth the money at the top of my list of homeschool essentials
• Laminating pouches – a must for your laminator.
• Printer – I use my printer every single day. having a good printer is a must for me and this one has been really good to us. I also subscribe to the HP instant ink program. It saves me so much money!
• Paper cutter – honestly, I thought I didn’t need this for so long and now that I have it I don’t know how I lived without it.
• Electric pencil sharpener – will save HOURS of your life.
• Scissors – goes without saying, I always get these child-safe ones.

• Chalkboard/whiteboard – this comes in handy when you are trying to explain a lesson. I ended up making my own extra-large one for cheap. You can find the tutorial in this post.
• Sentence Strips
• Cardstock
• Dry erase pockets
• Wet-Erase Markers – there is all this talk about dry erase markers but I find them incredibly difficult to whip off laminated sheets or pockets. I prefer wet-erase that way I can wipe them off with a damp cloth.
• personal whiteboard

• Workbooks
• Timer – Great for keeping everyone on track. I also use this to motivate them to finish a lesson or work for a shorter amount of time. Here’s the one, I am looking at purchasing. (I’ve heard good things about it.)
• Magnetic Alphabet Letters – we use these letters almost every day. There are so many unique ways you can use these and can work for many ages.
• Clipboard – we love to school outside of our school room and clipboards help us take our lessons on the go
• manipulatives – blocks, bears, anything really could work as a manipulative. I love this math set with tons of options for supporting our lessons.

• Construction paper/printer paper – with the amount of drawing, painting, and art that we do I would suggest buying in bulk
• paint 
• pipe cleaners 
• pompoms 
• popsicle sticks 
• glue
• coloring pencils 

Organizational Supplies

I share most of my homeschool organizational supplies in my homeschool room tour post but I thought I would give a few honorable mentions here.

• Book Shelves I use them for storing all kinds of things, not just books. See how we use them in our homeschool room.
• Art Cart we love our art cart! Another thing we use every single day.
• Pouches we use pouches to store lessons but you could use them to keep subjects together.
• Storage Cart I don’t know what I would do without our storage carts. They keep all my girl’s subjects together but you could use them for toys as well.

So, there you have it, my must-have homeschool essentials for planning and schooling your kiddos! Happy shopping!

If you are looking for ideas for learning games or workbooks we really love, check out my amazon shop. I am constantly adding items we have fallen in love with.

MY AMAZON SHOP

What are some of your favorite supplies for homeschooling? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Are you new to homeschooling?! Check out my new Ebook!

Find more of our homeschool tips on our Homeschool Page