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I can’t believe we are starting our 8th year of homeschooling! It just doesn’t seem possible!

Over the years, you might say I have tried a few things here and there. 🙂 you might say I’m a bit of a book junkie. Book nerd? Curriculum junkie?

Whatever you want to call it, I’ve tried it. Ha! And, here are the items that have become favorites. Can you homeschool without these items? For sure! Every family is different! But these are things that get regular use in our home!

The other thing that I want to note about this list is that it isn’t necessarily a bunch of “schooly” items! This just goes to show that you really can homeschool without the perfect set-up. You can homeschool in lots of situations. The following just happen to be the things that have helped me the most.

1. Couch – yes, really! I’ve read to my children for years from our couch. I wouldn’t have it any other way! 🙂 You can see our school room here.

2. White board, markers, eraser

• Our dry erase board  – we have this large one on a wooden easel in our school room. Use it daily.
• Our easel – (or one very, very like it) we were out of wall space in our school room, so I got this for our white board. so worth it!
• Expo Dry Erase Markers, 12 Colored Markers(80699) – in doing this post I realized that Amazon has cheaper dry erase markers than walmart! yay!

3. Book shelves – lots and lots of shelves for lots and lots of books. 🙂

4. Computer, and/or iPad, etc. – Believe it or not, we use all our techy devices for educational purposes AS WELL AS for fun! 🙂

• Apple iPad 2  – we LOVE our ipad and ipods!! SO many wonderful educational apps out there, we also use it to read on with the Kindle app
• Apple iPad Mini

5. An Amazon Prime account. Seriously. 🙂 try it free for 30 days, you probably will discover its usefulness. I love being able to plan a unit study at the last minute for next week and being able to order a book or two that will arrive in time! (Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies )

6. Art supplies. My kids draw, create, color, glue A LOT. But I’m so thankful. I love their creativity. Here are the things my kids can use pretty much anytime they want to:

• Reeves Assorted 12-Milliliter Watercolor Paint, 18-Pack
• Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, 24 Assorted Color Pencils – you won’t want to go back to Crayola after you try these
• Pentel Arts Oil Pastels, 50 Color Set (PHN-50)
• Sargent Art 22-4148 Colored Square Chalk Pastels, 48 Count
• Blick Student Grade Tempera, Basic 6-Color Pump Kit, Gallons – do NOT get WASHABLE tempera paint. 🙂 don’t do that to your kids!!
• Norcom Drawing Pad, 18 x 12 Inches, 40 Sheets, White (78932-9)
• Sculpey III Polymer Clay Color Sampler, Multicolor
• Crayola 10ct Classic Broad Line Markers

7. The Bible. My Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible. (If you don’t have the Jesus Storybook Bible, buy it NOW and begin reading it, cover to cover with your children. You will all be changed. We’ve read it through 3 times now and I’m tempted to do so again I love it so much!!)

8. A backyard. Yep. Send those kids outside! Everyday! It doesn’t have to be an elaborate planned out & perfect nature study, but they are great if you have the energy to do so! Just get them out there!

9. Pets. I know, not everyone loves animals. But our animals have not only brought us lots of joy, but they have given us so many learning opportunities!! Check out our chicken unit study!! One of our favorites of all time!!

10. Chore Charts. We are in our home everyday all day. We live here. It gets messy. Every single day. I cannot keep it clean and straight on my own. Call me needy or lazy, but my kids must help or my sanity would be on the line. My kids do a lot of chores. Again, it’s my sanity at stake here.  (I have several chore charts linked on my Home Organization pinterest board, we’ve used several of these!)

BONUS ITEMS

If there is any way possible for you to head to a homeschool conference, GO. You will be refreshed, encouraged and motivated by listening to awesome speakers and being with like-minded friends! You can read posts about my trips to Teach Them Diligently in the past, including my session notes from the fabulous speakers!

In addition to a homeschool conference, if you can’t leave home this year, check out one of my favorite homeschooling books for moms.

• Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling
• Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home
• Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners
• Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning : A Story for Mother Culture ®

Ok, YOUR TURN!! What are YOUR must-have homeschooling items??