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As more and more families are opting to homeschool children, I thought it may be a good time to share a few posts filled with some of my homeschool favorites. I’m not talking about curriculum; I’m talking about the basic necessities that make our days run smoother. Most of you know I am a seasoned homeschooling mama of five, the oldest of which are now freshmen in college. Over the years I have tried for myself and heard about plenty of ideas from our homeschooling community that can contribute to the success of any homeschool. Whether you are just starting out on your family’s homeschool adventure or whether you are in the midst of revamping it, I hope this mini series of Homeschool Favorites will help you save money by focusing on the essentials.
I’m going to start off with one of the most important attributes for any homeschool – a sense of organization. When you homeschool multiple ages, you tend to accumulate a bunch of curriculum and supplies. While you may or may not have a designated space in your home for learning, I can assure you that having a space for all the “stuff” can make a huge difference. Here are some of the the things my community and I have found to be organization must-haves.
Homeschool Organization Must-Haves
Rolling Cart
3 Tier Metal Rolling Utiltiy Cart – $29.97
Trying to organize workbooks and curricula for five children can get a bit chaotic. These tiered rolling carts were a game changer for us. Each kid has their own cart and can wheel it to their favorite study space in the home. Everything stays in one place; I am not carrying books from here to there; and I am no longer pulling my hair out trying to keep track of whose books go where. You can label each cart with the child’s name, or if you have a larger family, you can get a different color for each child. Rolling carts are also great for keeping arts & crafts supplies, science materials, and so much more. Michaels has a nice selection of carts with various colors on sale.
Storage Cabinet
Storage 2 Door Accent Cabinet – $57.47
also available in espresso at Amazon
A friend of mine prefers to keep her curriculum and workbooks hidden away behind closed doors. She purchased a bookcase with doors to store all the homeschool books that she felt were cluttering her home. This is especially nice if you always homeschool in the same area, plus you can give each child their own shelf space. You can also use the book bins below to organize each child’s books inside this cabinet.
Plastic Bins
Plastic Book Organizer Bin, 6-Pack – $14.86
available in multiple colors
These plastic bins are another great tool for organizing books. You can assign each child a bin or you can organize them by subject. These can be stored inside a cabinet, on a bookshelf, anywhere really.
Easy Artwork Display
Wall Hanging Photo Display – $13.98
If you have the wall space, I recommend you get a simple cable with clips to show off the kids’ artwork, crafts, first day of school pictures, etc. This allows kids to take pride in their work and encourages them to keep on learning and creating. This wall hanging cable is frugal and makes it super easy to change out items regularly.
Portable Art Supply Caddy
Large Plastic Portable Caddy with Handle – $18.99
If have children who enjoy coloring and art projects, it’s nice to have a caddy like this one with separate compartments and a handle so you can easily transport art supplies from room to room (or take it on the go). The separate compartments make it easy to organize crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, and more. You can also use this for storing math manipulatives!
Homeschool Planner
Annual Subscription to Homeschool Planet – $69.99
My final favorite tool is what I use for a homeschool calendar and planner. Homeschool Planet makes it super easy for me to keep everything in one place – work and family schedules, school records, lesson plans, to-do lists, and shopping lists. It is user friendly, easy to learn and easily adaptable for your needs. Homeschool Planet also integrates lesson plans from many popular homeschool curricula that you can easily add to your planner with one click. Rescheduling anything is also a breeze. No erasing and rewriting the rest of your plans. Best of all, they offer a free 30-day trial!
Stay tuned for my next Homeschool Favorites post when I share about Classroom Essentials!
