Top 5 Homeschooling Products
I have been homeschooling for a few years now and have tried many different storage items, schedule organizers, timers and a few other supplies. I am a very frugal home teacher so I try not to spend too much on items but these are my top 5 items that I am so happy to have purchased.
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ITEM 1: My trusty visual timer.
This timer has been a life saver. My kids really struggled to understand the basics of how long 5 or 10 minutes actually was so timers like my phone or our microwave were not really helpful. They could have cared less about what numbers they saw. They were always convinced that I was cheating their time. This little alarm clock has been so helpful on so many levels. First of the visual side of it is so neat. When you turn the dial it shows a colored disk and as time counts down the disk starts to disappear. It lights up on the face and also has three different settings for the alarm. One setting is just the lights blinking, second one is a beeping noise, and the third one is a really, really, really loud beeping noise, and no I am not exaggerating. I could be anywhere in my house and hear it. My boys use this timer for reading, music lessons, cooking, chores. Practically everything. It is a game changer especially if you have a child that is on the spectrum and struggles with transitions from one activity to the next. The link below is for many different options. The one I have is this fantastic blue one. https://amzn.to/3KqZtnx
https://amzn.to/4c8S0p3– other timer options.
ITEM 2: My rolling storage cart.
I love, love, love my rolling cart! We use it for everything. It holds my art supplies, books, my ice cream container of crayons, bucket of chargers and my boys tablets. We lived so long without this, that I feel so dumb for not getting it sooner. I love having it, especially since it has wheels, because my boys are able to roll it to the area of the house that we are working in. I allow my kids to do their school work wherever they pleased and for the longest time it was such a pain have to load all of the markers, crayons or other items to one are of the house for them to work on their tasks. And every mom knows that most children do not clean up after themselves (we are still working on it) so I would always have to load everything up like a pack mule back to the items homes. Now I don’t have to do that anymore and my kids get to play race car around the house (just kidding). The item has allowed my kids to be responsible for their own items because everything has a spot. We call it our trolley.
Here is a link to lots of cute trolley options for just about any style.
ITEM 3: My handy whiteboards.
If you homeschool you have to have a white board. If you are like me you have like 5 different white boards of all different sizes. I love my whiteboards so much. We use them for absolutely everything. Just recently I used them for a packing list for each of my kiddos for our family camping trip. There are so many uses for them. I have small hand held ones that my boys use for spelling and quick math problems. We have a medium sized one that we have been using for writing out recipes so we do not have to constantly look at a phone or tablet while tryout to make dinner. At least for my nine year old and I my tablet becomes more of a distraction than a recipe book. So being able to write out the recipes and erase them as we go is so much easier. We also have a large family one that is on the wall of our kitchen. Here is the link to that. https://amzn.to/4aHs4zC I love this one because it helps us with our daily schedule and to do’s. We use it for writing lists down or reminders. Heck sometimes my youngest just likes to draw on it for fun. But in my mind you can never have too many whiteboards.
Here are some other options to choose from as well. https://amzn.to/3yTZv4A
ITEM 4: LCD writing tablets.
My boys love their writing tablets. Like the white boards they use their tablets so much for so many different things. The best part about these is that they are portable. They go on road trips with us, they go to church and they have even gone to museums with us. My oldest uses his mostly for spelling words and long math problems. My youngest uses his for drawing pictures mostly. Sometimes when he’s in a mood it is the thing that he will use to communicate with me (eye roll). I feel like he is six going on sixteen most days. But then he has cute days like this one and writes and draws me a whole note on his tablet. There are lots of really cool options on Amazon and I highly recommend them.https://amzn.to/4aP7eym
Link of the one we have. https://amzn.to/4c8ymtf
ITEMS 5: The activity collection.
This section is not really a specific item but more of a few items that I have purchased over the last few years that have gone through immense use. We use them regularly since my oldest was three, and still use them five years later.
First one is water beads. I don’t care if you are five or ninety-five, these little beads are so fun to play with. I usually use a clear storage bin put in a good tablespoon or two and my kiddos (and I) will play with them for a few weeks. The only time I really through them away is when they all start getting smooshed. My kids play with trucks, dinosaurs, action figures and even my cooking utensils. My oldest sometimes just tells me that he is going to the spa and then sticks his feet in them. I don’t blame him though, they are amazing. We usually just get the rainbow packs but there are so many options.
Next is magnet letters. These are so old school but I love them so much. We use them for notes, spelling words and when my boys were younger practicing their names and birthdays. I have loved the Melissa & Doug ones but you can use any of them you so desire. https://amzn.to/4bK1pTU
I purchased another set of magnet letters and they are fantastic because we could take them with us places. We try to get out a lot so anything that we can take with use that we don’t have to use technology for so worth it. The set I bought is currently out of stock but you can check out their store because they are a fantastic hands on learning company with great products. https://amzn.to/3wRmbCd
Last of all is my favorite. Our beloved Picasso Tiles. These have been used, abused and they are still going strong. My boys love them so much that I had to buy a whole second set as well as the cool race care track, and even then they don’t think they have enough to build with. When we first got ducklings my boys used the magnets to build little houses and obstacle courses for them. It was so fun to watch. They have been used to build everything. They even use them on our fridge as well. So worth every penny that we spent on them. Here are the ones that we purchased for our first set. https://amzn.to/3x1wYtr
Lots of other options here as well. https://amzn.to/3VqEkjp
These are just a few items that I have around our house on hand that have really helped our homeschooling life. Like I said before, I am a very frugal person but these items have really made our experience with homeschool easier and in certain cases more fun.