RAW NECESSITIES TO START YOUR HOME SCHOOL
By Daneille Gray Snowden
For anyone who has been in the public school arena or has had a child in school; you are well acquainted with the little supply sheet of paper that teachers put out in the late summer, listing the supplies needing to purchased for their future student.
As a veteran home school teacher of 18 years now; I can tell you of the supplies that have been attained in time have proven quite beneficial. Other supplies were well, let me say it as gently as I can...foolish! But, you live and you learn.
I just picked up and used a little tool just now for one of my students lesson planner. This was a 3-hole puncher. Your child will have folders galore as well as make little note book lessons. This is what inspired me to just type out a little list for my new teacher sisters!
My objective is to help out the beginning home school teacher, supplying her with a little list to prepare her school for the coming year.
ITEMS
Bible
Libary Card [Use your library! Likely the top 3 resources for home schooling. Your kiddos will be so tickled to have their very own card too.]
3-hole puncher
Scotch tape [Don't leave the store without it.]
Rulers [Those cheap wood one's are good enough. Just have a lot.]
Supply Boxes [For crayons, pencils, markers...]
Scissors [This is another item that tends to turn up missing. Having a few never hurts. + don't forget you will definitely need a good pair as well.]
Stapler [A good sturdy one and a couple cheap one's is plenty.]
Find a Wall Hand Crank Pencil Sharpener [We went through 2 electric, pencils are not what they use to be and a lot of sharpening will be happening. The electric one's burn up quickly. At least they did for us. ]
Obvious: Crayons, Markers, Coloring Pencils, Pencils (don't buy cheap--off brands do not last or portray good quality work. Pencils work better, the off brand tend to break constantly.
GLUE [Elmer's is your best! Regular glue, and buy lots of stick glue: stick glue is excellent for your 'laptop books'.]
PAPER [Wide rem for younger students.]
Bundle Paper [If you are able to go to your local newspaper; they usually give away small (to us big) rolls of newspaper paper. For years we have used these for large time lines, crafts, and even wrapped presents.]
Construction Paper
Cardboard Paper [Start off with a few, as the year goes along different lessons will call for more.]
Small White or Chalk Board [Mostly for the younger years.]
White Out [I want to laugh at this one, just because of the countless times I have had to use this for all kinds of reasons. I would purchase used curriculum that would have the answer in it. Low in funds...I just whited out the answers. Having 3 students and each have used their siblings books...white out came in handy there as well too.]
Pens [As the teacher you will need them, your child will eventually be picking them up as well and using them. Younger years, I never allowed this--with a pencil you can erase your mistakes!]
Eraser's [Buy the little ones to go on the pencils, the pencil erasers break. 1 large one per student will last possibly a couple years.]
FOR ART
This is something that you may have to purchase on and off through out the year. I listed enough essentials to begin art with but here a few to keep in your art cubby.
Popsicle sticks [Find them in a nice size box of 100 to 500.]
Pipe Cleaners
Glitter
Paints [Tempera paints are you best all around for children. They are quite reasonable. If you go to a craft, art or school supply you can find the bottles that are powder. They do last a long time. The larger discount stores mainly supple the tempera paints already liquefied. That is fine. The best bang for your buck is the powder.]
Paint Brushes [For children, at least in the younger years the little packages with different sizes is just fine. But, as they get older...better quality and finer/thinner brushes are needed. Yet, this is also when you step into acrylic paints.]
Art Aprons [Use an old shirt...really- buying silly stuff like that is a waste of $$.]
Googly Eyes, Stickers, Beads, ....etc.
Clay & Play Dough [We did come to the place we made our own home made play dough. Home made was better for us.]
I want to encourage you to attend a home school convention. Not just for the important seminars that will knock your socks off! But, the vendor hall is LOADED with so much. You will also discover neat ideas to accentuate your home school. You know your child best, thus when you walk around look, touch and even 'try-out' some items; I do guarantee you that your child's school will then be supplied with fun & unique items.
Great ideas! Every year I stock up on folders and notebooks. When they are really, really cheap. Then the kids can just go get one and use them for "whatever" and I don't monitor them. Abby glues little pieces of paper in one and Bear draws in another.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carie for sharing---smart shopper that you are. I love the back to school time and then the no tax weekend. So much cheaper than buying through out the year.
DeleteAppreciate your input!
My boys like to draw a lot. I have discovered that if I buy the sketch pads that are typically used for this type of drawing that we would be bankrupt quickly. So we buy as many notebooks as we can store while school supplies are on sale and then use them for just about everything. We have saved tons of $$$ by using these as opposed to sketch pads. So our boys know Notebooks for everyday use and sketch pads for special projects.
ReplyDeleteThen just being creative with what you have. My sons are saving their pistachio shells. when we have enough we are planning to use popsicle sticks to make a model of the settlement DeSmet in Dakota Territory that we have been reading about in the Little House series. The Pistachio shells are going to be used on the roofs of the buildings. My oldest son came up with this idea. That leads me to one last thing that is absolutely a key necessity to have when home schooling-- an open mind. Be open to new and creative ideas-- especially from your children. This will keep homeschooling fresh. Your homeschool and my homeschool will look entirely different and that is a good thing.