What You Need to Homeschool: Tools for Homeschool Success

Homeschooling can seem really overwhelming, especially when starting out. For those of us who aren’t familiar with homeschooling (as in we weren’t raised as homeschoolers or really ever known anyone who homeschooled), it’s easy to feel like you have to recreate the traditional school environment at home. Trying to figure out what you need to homeschool and the tools needed for homeschool success can be daunting.

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For me, starting out I knew what things I didn’t want to mimic of the traditional school model (like the schedule) but there were other things I did try to do (like calendar) but I quickly found many of the tools for homeschool I invested in weren’t used as I expected or didn’t meet our homeschooling needs. So over the two years we’ve been homeschooling, I’ve pared down what I use to teach my girls and only keep around the basic necessities.

Here is what you need to homeschool and my recommended tools for homeschool success:

Also check out my Favorite Elementary Secular Curriculum

The basics of what you need to homeschool and the tools for creating a successful homeschool environment

A Plan


Before you begin your homeschooling journey, you need to have an idea of what you hope to accomplish. What learning and life goals do you have for your children? What do you expect your day to look like? How will you keep track of everything and everyone? There are many different ways to track homeschooling progress and schedules (I’ve used many including a daily planner and stickers; spreadsheets and more!) but starting out, a basic homeschooling planner may be the easiest way to go. For a simple life planner, check out my free Homeschooling Weekly Schedule printable.

Dry Erase Boards and Markers

My girls use their dry erase boards and markers daily. We use them most often for our spelling curriculum, but we also use them for math review, handwriting practice and more. I then take pictures of their work to record and keep for their portfolio should I ever need it and save on paper!

I recommend having multiple boards for kids to work on and because they do wear out and I love the dry erase pens with the small eraser on the cap (AL) because it’s easy to fix mistakes without getting fingers messy and they usually come in lots of bright colors which my girls love.

Teaching Board

Depending on your space a budget, a multi-purpose free-standing easel (AL) may suit your needs best or a smaller table-top  (AL) model, window cling, or poster might be better. I’ve used all of the different options over the years as our needs and learning environments have changed, but having some kind of reusable place where you can show your kids how to do things is really useful.

Display Board

There are going to be times where you want to hang up things for your homeschooled students to reference whether it’s the calendar, math facts, sight words or other important information. There are many options including cork boards, magnetic boards or even just taping things to the wall but definitely designate a space for posting things.

Organization

Keeping everything organized is so important when you’re trying to teach, parent and just live! When everything has a home, things are not only easier to find but also easier to clean up and keep tidy. There are so many different ways to keep things organized and it may take a few tries to find a system that works for you (I have adjusted, changed, added to and re-done our organization a billion times utilizing dishracks, lid holders, drawers, file boxes, shelves, and more!)

Blocks

Is your child dealing with a mid-year homeschool math slump? Here's a few ways to mix up your homeschool math instruction and get back on the right track.

You would be surprised by all the things you can do with plain old blocks, no fancy or expensive manipulatives required! We often use building bricks (AL) for math (you can see all the ways and download my  Block Building Math mats) as well as wooden letter blocks (AL) for counting, letter recognition, sight words and beginning reading/letter sounds.

Aside from these basics, what you need to homeschool successfully is up to your needs and the individual needs of your children and curriculum. Using a full, all-in-one curriculum may require more extras than piecing together your own work as I do. And the individual needs of your children will dictate what other supplies you need.

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The basics of what you need to homeschool and the tools for creating a successful homeschool environment