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The other day one of my boys said to me “Mom, it must have been SO BORING to watch tv when it was only black and white! How did you stand it?”
Good grief, I’m not that old – not even close. Although I do remember having to get up to actually change the channel. Oh the horror.
We’ve come a long way in the technology department. A long way. As much as technology gives us new issues to work through, I’m thankful for it most of the time and I’m so glad I’m not taking the laundry out to the river to pound with rocks or having to spend hours churning butter!
Speaking of great inventions in technology enter the internet. I do love the internet and think God must have had us little old moms in mind when he gave Al Gore (Ha! ;)) the idea for the internet.
I do not know how a homeschool mom, any mom really, survived before Amazon.
Truly.
How did a mom Christmas shop, birthday shop, back-to-school shop, grocery shop by having to leave the house for every single item??? Can you imagine?
I wanted to pull together a list of some of my favorite essentials for our homeschool that I purchase from Amazon. Â Note: these are not curriculum choices, only the other extras and fun accessories that make homeschooling a decoración y diseño de interiores curso online. Although we do purchase many curriculum items from Amazon as well.
You can equip your entire homeschool without leaving the couch!
Favorite Homeschooling Essentials
Paper – now this is very basic, and I don’t want to insult your intelligence by reminding you to buy paper! What I’m talking about specifically is graph paper. We use graph paper during math and it’s a tremendous help in keeping math work lined up. Here is an example of how we use graph paper for math in our homeschool
Binders – We use many binders and page protectors for a variety of things. We keep our Paths of Progress work in binders, writing binders and Five in a Row binders. Binders can also be excellent for pulling together those end of the year portfolios. I use binders for record keeping, household items and more. It’s worth it to buy a quality binder as they get a lot of use throughout the year. Store your extra page protectors in an extra binder!
Office Supplies – This, perhaps, is my most favorite category. Oh, how I love office supplies.
Pencils – these are the best. period.
Pencil Sharpener – more than worth it to get the heavy duty sharpener, it will get used – a lot!
Pens – I like all different kinds of pens, too many to list here. These are a bit of a splurge, but they last forever and I like them for my planner.
Binder Clips – these are for a variety of uses, marking pages in a book, holding items together for storage, they are so pretty!
3 Hole Punch – a necessity for all of those binders
Easel Pad/Flip Chart – this may seem like an odd item to have on the list, but we use this all the time! I leave notes, chore assignments, vocabulary words, and spelling words on the pages. Sometimes a quote or bible verse too. It is also good writing practice for the younger kids.
Sharpies – again, we use these for a variety of activities – mainly though for my flip chart. The kids use them for drawing.
Art Supplies – You know this category is very minimal in my house, but we do have a few staples.
Colored Pencils – we mostly just use colored pencils. I’m over picking up broken crayons.
Chalk Pastels – these are great for doing the chalk pastel tutorials from Hodgepodge Mom
Crafts for the Non-Crafty Mom – a few tricks I have for letting the kids get their crafty on.
Organization – Obviously I like blogging about this topic.
15 Organizational Tools for the Homeschool Mom – one of my favorite posts
How to Stay Organized in a Big Family
Must Have Homeschool Items for the Large Family
What would other Homeschool Moms purchase from Amazon?
Mary @ Homegrown Learners
Tricia @ Hodgepodge Mom
Colleen @ Raising Life Long Learners
Wouldn’t it be awesome to get some of these items for FREE? You can if you win the $100 gift card from Amazon. Be sure to enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Just yesterday I was appreciating the power of my hole punch. Grace’s 9th grade binder is huge and because I keep all her work in it. When she finishes a workbook for Key To Algebra, I hole punch it and add it to the math section. You really do need a heavy duty hole punch, not just one that punches a few sheets.
Great list!
Jessica recently posted…Conchology
I’ve been thinking about making the plunge to the really heavy duty one. We are only going to use it more as the little kids get older!
I’m taking the plunge this fall – pulling my three youngest out of public school and homeschooling them. I’ve been pouring over your site for weeks taking notes and creating plans. Thank you for all the REALLY helpful information and the chance for a little help with all the supplies we’ll need.
Annie – Thank you for your kind words and many blessings to you on your journey!!
I would buy “accesories” for our history and geography work. Things like maps and historical fiction.
Books! And probably some school supplies.
I’d probably update our family board games with mine. Great article, Jennifer!! You’re amazing!!!
Then again, I need a new paper shredder….hmm :-)!
A paper shredder is a great idea!!
I could do so much with this!!
Thank you so much for great info and a chance to win!!!!
I would buy the pencil sharpener and pencils. I am forever trying to find a pencil sharpener that doesn’t destroy pencils and pencils that don’t break when sharpened. It’s such a simple thing to just want a sharpened pencil. If I added up the hours I’ve spent sharpening and resharpening and finding a sharpener, it would be ridiculous.
We’ve had great success with this School Smart pencil sharpener from https://www.ClassroomDirect.com: https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10046&item=468273
Amazon wish list? Where do I begin?? I have about 78 pages of saved items on mine. If I had to make a purchase right now it would be a paper shredder for sure! I have been cleaning out and find that paper is the bulk of my mess!
I would buy more CLEP study resources for my teen!
Heidi recently posted…Finishing Strong ~ Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years #49
Great post! I agree with your list totally and I pretty much do ALL my school shopping on Amazon!
I would buy supplemental books and manipulatives for our next homeschool year!
I would buy some Montessori supplies, and math games/activities for my kids. Currently I have almost $200 of items on my wishlist for Homeschooling and always adding more!
I would get a few books for the next school year and treat myself to some books I’ve had on my wishlist for a while.
Cassie recently posted…Weekend Ramblings
This would be a huge blessing! I will have 4 official students in the fall and 2 little ones. Amazon will be bringing so many things to my door for next year… Lots of paper, pencils and most of my curriculum.
I would get a ProClick. I have been looking at these for a couple of years now, and a gift card would be the perfect excuse to finally treat myself to one 🙂
I purchase alot of our living books used off of Amazon. Also, math manipulatives and office supplies as well! 😉
I buy a lot of homeschool office supplies at Costco: a very heavy-duty hole punch, stapler, the thicker than ordinary copy paper, pens & pencils. What I buy from Amazon are the books to supplement textbooks, like the Narnia books & a lovely book about the origins of Chinese characters & things like that. I love books!
I’m a huge fan of Amazon. I’ve been a Prime member for several years now. I found Amazon to be essential in my homeschoool journey. You really have a wondeful list in your blog post. (I pinned it :D)
I’m a mom of 5, but only have one left that homeschools. SNIFF….SNIFF… My daughter is in 9th grade. If I had an extra $100 I would put it toward a purchase of a Kindle Reader. My daughter takes Apologian Physical Science and an advanced writing class outside of our home, but at home we follow a Charlotte Mason style curriculum. Lots and Lots of reading. Also, my daughter is a competative Irish dancer, so we travel around the Southern region for competitions, having a Kindle for her would prevent having to travel with all the extra books. So thanks for being part of the giveaway. Wishingyou and your family a very Happy Easter.
Kimmie H.
I am really liking your math curriculum for your older kids and I am considering switching myself for next school year. I bought Speed for my kids for Christmas and it IS really fun and my 2nd grader is picking up multiplication before we have gotten to it in our math book–very cool. And Amazon, yes ever so magical to be able to order what you need from home and then it arrives on your doorstep a few days later! I probably love it a little too much!
On my “to buy” list would be books, books and probably some nifty graph paper notebooks.
I’m glad you are having fun with Speed!
Homeschool books! 😉
I LOVE AMAZON! Half my curriculum and all my supplies come off here. Great suggestions!
I would buy books, books and more books!!! And probably some games. But well, mostly books!
LOVE your site, and love your organizing posts!
Today, I would buy those fancy pens for myself and upgrade my kids books (classic literature) instead of taking out and renewing from library over and over and over again 🙂
Oh my gosh, this is perfect timing! We are starting kinder a little early this year (May instead of August) and I have been looking specifically for recommendations on what to get from Amazon! I would totally buy a laminator and some nifty art supplies for the kiddos. 🙂
I too would buy the fancy pens! I’d also buy audio books and regular books! One thing that our home school couldn’t live without is Trofast storage towers from IKEA. I really enjoy your blog!
Angela
I would love to buy a laminator if I won the gift card!
As a mom to four, I buy so much on Amazon! so I would probably buy groceries and homeschooling materials!
If I were to win, I would buy our next set of history books.
Eva Varga recently posted…Earth Day Giveaway
Love Amazon! Probably buy homeschool books and supplies! Looking for good pencils and a sharpener, as ours eats the pencils or the pencils are the problem!
We’d definitely buy more sets of cards for our new favorite games, Timeline and Fluxx!
Joan recently posted…Unschooling: Our March 2015 adventures