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The new school year is right around the corner! Whether you’re a traditional homeschooling parent or diving into remote instruction for the first time this fall, creating an inviting and inspiring learning space at home is essential.
With important decisions to make about curriculum, homeschool schedules (scroll down to download our FREE printable Homeschool Planning Templates), and yearly calendars, the importance of setting up a dedicated learning environment can sometimes be overlooked.
For more tips on setting up your space and planning your homeschool year, visit our page and listen to our podcast episode, “Planning Your Homeschool Year.”
The good news is, you don’t need an entire room or even a large space to create an effective learning environment. If you have a spare room, fantastic! If not, that’s completely fine too. Consider making a room multi-purpose. A playroom can double as a homeschool space, or a rarely used formal dining area can be transformed into the perfect learning hub.
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Through our informative podcasts, blog posts, daily inspiration, and a wide range of free printable tools, we aim to empower you on your homeschooling journey.
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Create an Inviting Space
Feel free to transform the area where your learn-at-home adventures take place into an organized and beautiful space. While not essential, many homeschoolers find it both important and fun to create a color scheme. Take your kids to the paint store and explore color ideas together. Involve them in the process! If they’re anything like Our kids, they’ll definitely have some color preferences. Plus, the act of redoing a room can be a learning experience in itself!
Peek into Nicole and Maria’s Homeschool Spaces Over the Years:
Your homeschool room is your education hub, which means you can keep all books, supplies, arts, crafts, and other activities organized in one place. Be sure to teach your children to clean up after themselves. When they finish a project or activity, be sure it is clear to them where everything goes to make cleaning up easier for them and help you keep your sanity!
Top 25 Homeschool Essentials
With over 30 years of homeschooling experience, we’ve definitely made some bloopers when it comes to building the ideal learning environment for our families. We’ve bought things that were a waste of money (and space). There are also a lot of things we wish we incorporated early on which would have made our lives so much easier.
View Our complete wish list:
TOP 25 Homeschool Essentials for you to kick off your school year that you may want to incorporate or keep on hand or in your homeschool space:
1. Desk/Table
Desk/Table: Some kids very much need a workspace to function- so consider if you need a dedicated space for a desk or table that you can spread out on for bigger activities. For many, that may also be your kitchen or dining room table. If your table is doing double function, I recommend having a space nearby for stashing stuff so that your homeschool supplies don’t take over your space.
2. Maps & Posters
Include a world map, a variety of historical maps, specific country, state, or city map – depending on what you’re studying this year. Framing your map will make it look more attractive on your walls and we’ve also used a wet erase marker on our glass framed maps as reference points.
This is one of our favorite Maps to see all the details:
Laminated Giant Map of the World (46 x 80)
Scrunch Maps are also really popular with homeschoolers:
Waypoint Geographic World Scrunch is easy to store with storage bag (24″ H x 36″ W)
3. Globe
A globe is an indispensable homeschool essential that you will use more often than you think. So many subjects have ties into geography and you will find yourself reaching for it several times a day. Since I’ve graduated high school, we’ve lost a planet and gained an ocean so be sure to find an up to date globe!
13″ World Globe with Stand, 720° Swivels in All Directions with Stainless Steel Stand
4. Bookshelves
Every homeschool space must have bookshelves. Whether they are used to store art supplies, books, games or other learning materials, shelves are essential to homeschooling organization.
Take a peek at our favorite low-cost Bookshelves. These are an important part of your homeschool space. Organize everything here. Everything should have a home.
5. Storage
Classroom space of any size needs plenty of storage. Rolling carts for supplies, workboxes, built-in cabinets and drawers, or cubby spaces with removable drawers. Baskets and buckets are great for being able to tote your work to other rooms.
6. Math Manipulatives
Linking cubes, counting bears, games, dice, rulers, compasses, locks, bears, anything really could work as a manipulative. I love this math set with tons of options for supporting our lessons.
Base Ten Blocks for Math – Place Value Blocks, Base 10 Math Manipulatives
Also, consider have math games on hand when you need a break from your curriculum:
7. Magnetic White Board and Calendar
The calendar board is perfect for everyone to see what’s going on at a glance. Thie large board comes in handy when you are trying to explain a lesson, or your kid want to make silly drawings for you to find!
Dry Erase Calendar Whiteboard Set of 3 Magnetic Calendars for Fridge: Monthly, Weekly Organizer & Daily
Magnetic Dry Erase White Board, 36 x 24-Inch: The magnetic feature is a great bonus, allowing me to attach notes and memos directly to the board. However, the included marker and eraser are not up to par and we recommend purchasing higher-quality WET Erase Markers.
8. Timeline
There are so many benefits of using a timeline in your homeschool. It is a powerful tool that can make our lives a lot easier and make history more fun for our kids. If you don’t have the space for an entire timeline wall, many homeschoolers opt to use a Book of Centuries which is a portable timeline you can store on your bookshelf. It can help them visualize how history connects together. Learn more about Timelines and Book of Centuries
Maria’s Homemade Timeline:
9. School Supplies
We always like to keep these necessary supplies accessible. Pencils, tape, sharpie, highlighters, scissors, clipboard, and paper (printer/construction/cardstock/photo)
10. Library Card
Whether it’s getting new books to read, resources for a research paper, or literature for read aloud time – the library is the place to be! You can even get free books, media, and resources right to your Kindle for FREE!
Kindle Fire is a favorite and cost-effective way for downloading free books from the library.
> View our Top 50 Books for New Readers
> Favorite Middle School Books
> Top 10 Books Every Homeschooler Should Read
11. Printer
I use my printer every single day, so having a good one is a must. I even print photos, like our first day of school pictures, right after I take them!
We highly recommend this Canon Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer. It’s cost-effective and perfect for mobile and tablet printing—something we’ve used and been very happy with.
If you print a lot and are tired of high ink costs, check out the Epson EcoTank. This printer is incredibly reliable and one of the best value options on the market. Plus, printing directly from your phone is super handy!
12. Laptop / Computer / Tablet
Even if you are not doing school online, we live in a technology age and having access to it is essential. You can research a topic, put books on hold at the library, download resources, supplement your instruction with a video, teach software and computer skills, and typing. Technology is an essential part of our world.
The HP Stream 11 is a solid cost-effective laptop running Window 11
13. Laminator
Although not essential for some, we use our laminator all the time! For student and teach IDs, special documents, reusable worksheets (use with a wet erase marker!), weekly meal plan, and more! One year, my kids made an elaborate boardgame and laminated all the pieces and it has stood the test of time. The Scotch Thermal Laminator, 2 Roller System is a great cost-effective choice for everyday or occasional use.
14. Wet Erase Markers
Despite all the talk about dry erase markers, I find them incredibly difficult to wipe off laminated sheets or pockets. I prefer wet-erase markers; with a damp cloth, I can wipe them off completely clean.
There is all this talk about dry erase markers, but I find them incredibly difficult to wipe off laminated sheets or pockets. I prefer WET ERASE MARKERS that way, I can wipe them off completely clean with a damp cloth.
15. Electric Pencil Sharpener
You won’t regret getting one of these. From regular #2 pencils to colored map pencils, a Bostitch electric pencil sharpener will save hours of your life (and sanity!)
16. Art Supplies
We always like to have accessible items to inspire art projects and creativity. Art supplies like different mediums, beads, playdough, colored pens and pencils, markers, crayons, paints, collage supplies, glue, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, tape, or any other supplies for specific projects complement your studies.
17. Art Cart
We love our Rolling Utility Cart with Hanging Cups & Hooks! Another thing we use every single day. You can use it as a portable art creation station or fill it with your kid’s favorite art and craft supplies or use it as a morning cart with your start of the day activities read-alouds and more. I like to rotate things in and out of the cart regularly and the kids are always excited to see what’s in the cart every morning.
18. School Activity / Art Display
Both you and your child will want to see their work recognized and cherished, making the Kids Artwork Picture Frame with Hinge a must-have. We love this frame and the ease of changing out their creations. As you dive into your homeschool year, you’ll quickly find that assignments and projects can take over your house. Display the current creations and replace them when new ones are made. (Psst… keep a bin in a closet or the garage to store them after display, and go through the bin at the end of the year).
19. Science Tools / Activities
Science tools like saved nature items, resources guides, and items for experiments and STEM learning like this Microscope Kit and Binoculars made for kids. Spark your children’s curiosity and imagination by creating an environment filled with hands-on exploration. How do you ignite a love and wonder for STEM in your homeschool? What are our favorite experiments? How do you create young critical thinkers? There are a lot of ideas and supply suggestions in our Hands-On Science Ideas Page. Plus, get 3 FREE Science Freebies!
20. School Supply Organizer
As you start to gather all of your school supplies, you are going to need a functional place to store and use them. This Desktop Storage Caddy is our favorite.
21. Bluetooth Speaker
Whether it’s playing music, listening to an audio lesson, or listening to your literature book while you multi-task and tend to the baby or prep dinner, having a speaker to play from your phone is very handy. This Anker Bluetooth Speaker is a favorite that packs a lot of punch without the high price tag!
22. Headphones
Sometimes, while you’re working with one child, another might be working independently on an online math or foreign language lesson or listening to music. This can sometimes disrupt other activities in the same space. Interestingly, some children focus better with music, even when it’s loud! I’m always surprised by how my kids can listen to loud music and still concentrate better.
These Sony Headphones come highly recommended by my daughter’s music appreciation professor. They offer excellent sound quality at a fraction of the cost of similar headphones! Under $20 – on sale now!
23. Accessible Outlets and Chargers
Make sure you have plenty of places to plug things in, maybe a charging station set up so that if you are using a device, it is not dead on arrival. Nothing is worse than sitting down for an online resource and find out the battery is out. This 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub, IVETTO Data USB Hub Splitter has allowed us to charge everyone’s device at the same time at our designated “charging station”.
24. Comfy Seating
Whether or not you have room space, consider a cozy corner for reading. Maybe some fun/comfy seating, or a large fluffy rug. Our Gaiam Classic Balance Ball Chair was a favorite with not only my kids but all their friends when they came over too! Bean Bag Chairs are always a cozy reading spot for kids.
25. Curriculum that fits your family
For most homeschool families, solid curriculum is one of most important homeschool essentials. It’s important to remember that there is no “one size fits all” for every homeschool and I would caution you if someone is promising the “perfect” curriculum. You have to consider your children – how do they learn best? What is your homeschool Philosophy? What about your own personality/teaching style? Learn more about choosing the right fit: 7 STEPS TO CHOOSING CURRICULUM:
