One of the questions I get the most from new homeschool moms is what are my favorite supplies for homeschooling. In the beginning I had SO many things because I thought I needed all the things. But after two years of homeschooling I’ve narrowed down the list quite a bit. There are so many beautiful supplies out there. It’s hard to decide which ones to use. It took us a bit of trial and error to find our favorites.
Good Pencils and Pencil Sharpener
When we started homeschool in Kindergarten I thought it would be fun for my girls to pick out cute pencils with designs on them. I thought it would make everything more fun. Yes they were cute. But they got annoying very quickly because every time they would be sharpened the design coating would peel off leaving a jagged edge and making it uncomfortable to write with. So I quickly got rid of those and bought just regular #2 pencils. I love the USA Gold brand. They sharpen nicely and don’t break easily.
For a pencil sharpener I used just a hand one at first. That didn’t last long. It took forever to sharpen the amount of pencils and colored pencils we use daily. I purchased an X-ACTO brand sharpener from Amazon. I love this sharpener because it automatically stops when the pencil is finished being sharpened. So you don’t have to worry about your young child over sharpening.
Crayons
I have always used and loved Crayola brand crayons. I buy the 96 count so there are a lot of color choices.
Colored Pencils
We have a combination of colored pencil brands, Crayola and Faber Castell. I find that some of the more expensive brands’ lead tend to break easily when sharpened.
Markers
We love and use Crayola brand markers. I buy the 40 count fine line and broad line markers.
Paint Sticks
My girls love to paint, but I don’t love the mess I have to clean up afterwards. I was thrilled when I found these paint sticks! They go on smooth and dry quickly.
Scissors, Glue, Tape, Stapler, and Ruler
We have a few pair of scissors in our homeschool room that I’ve bought over the years. But the one the girls fight over is a pointed Fiskars brand.
We have always used Elmer’s white glue and glue sticks. We have two tubes of white glue and probably a dozen glue sticks.
We use tape for a lot of things. I use Scotch tape and this tape dispenser.
In Kindergarten Emma made a lot of tiny books. So a stapler was an easy choice to bind them together. We use this stapler.
I love this wooden ruler to keep in our desk drawer. We actually used this quite a bit when learning about measurements.
Polymer Clay
We love, love, LOVE polymer clay! It’s a great alternative to playdough. And it doesn’t dry out until you bake it! We’ve used it for creating letters, structures with toothpicks, animal life cycles, color mixing, and so many other things. We love Sculpey brand.
Construction Paper
We use this every single day. I like to buy this big set of colored paper and a big set of white paper.
Dry Erase Boards and Markers
I absolutely love these magnetic dry erase boards from Lakeshore Learning. We use the blank side for math and drawing and the lined side for writing and spelling. I love this set of dry erase markers.
Chalkboards and Chalk
This is just another alternative to the dry erase boards. We use them for writing, spelling, math, and drawing. We primarily use Crayola chalk and these slate chalk pencils. I also love these colored chalk pencils and this chalk marker.
These are just the basic supplies we use everyday. Obviously we use our curriculum and anything that it requires. And lots and lots of books. Chapter books, picture books, guide books, and reference books. There are also some other resources we use for math, science, art, and language arts listed in this blog post. Hopefully this list wasn’t too basic! But sometimes that’s all you need! Let me know if you have any questions. And share some of your favorite supplies you use everyday!
