{Top Tools We Use In Our Homeschool Room}

Well, like any job. You've got to have the right tools to make it go smoothly.  For me, I need tools and organization.  My life always feels more chaotic when life around me is not organized.  Here's a list of some tools we use to help keep our home school running smoothly.  

This is our "command center" I'll go into more detail at a later date on how we use this space but for right now I want to focus on the most used tools.  

1) Our caddy-I picked this up at TJ Maxx and I love it!  It's worked great for keeping their pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks and markers organized. If they are working on a big project and don't want to use the crayons at their desks, then we simply move this over and put it in the center of the table so everything they need is within reach. 

2) Electric pencil sharpener-possibly the most used tool in our classroom, lol.  Apparently, we all like a nice, sharp pencil.  It's a special treat when the kids get the job of "sharpening pencils" they love it.  I grabbed this one at Target but any office supply store should have a great selection.

3) A laminating machine. Love, love, love this thing!  This is a purple cow laminator.  It's a hot/cold machine so you can choose either.  It's compact, I store it on our schoolroom closet shelves and it doesn't take up too much space.  I purchased this one at Costco for $19.99 and it came with several laminating pockets.  The pockets can be ordered from Amazon.com also.  I've heard the Scotch Thermal Laminator is great too-I know that one is available at Target {you can also buy the laminating pockets at Target}.  

 

4) Binders.  Oh, binders, binders and more binders.  For me, these are what help keep me the most organized.  We use them for weekly binders {my take on the work box system-but with binders}, we use them to store our resources, I use one as my home school planner {filled with schedules, projects to complete, some lesson plans, I store the kids progress reports, reading logs, p.e. logs amongst other things in my planner}.  My children do have a designated color dot {not because I have so many children to keep track of but because it's their color I use in our family calendar so I just carried it over to the school room}. 

 This is my third grader's work binder.  Everything is divided by subject and her weekly work is placed in it. I fill their weekly work binders every Sunday so come Monday morning, they are set and ready to get started.  Monday's are tough for us so this is a HUGE help.  And, honestly, having everything in one place for them helps with staying on track with our day.  It also helps them to see how much work they have left for the week and work accordingly.  I can do a more in depth post on our weekly work binders as well.

Here's a peek at my kindergartner's work binder.  He always starts the morning with his gratitude journal writing and calendar work.  This is a sheet I found off Pinterest but I'm certain you can find one from Teachers Pay Teachers or Homeschool Creations. I put his calendar page in a sheet protector and he uses a dry erase marker for writing.

Here's my home school planning binder. This is always a work in progress and could honestly use a post all to itself :)  I truly love planners and have had a difficult time finding one that works for us. This binder system works just to keep all my logs and records in one place.  I have some projects that are home school related that are in the works so I keep all that info in there as well.  

This is our schedule-I don't tend to stick to a rigid schedule.  It's mainly a guide to make sure I'm able to get everything done with them I need to.  Honestly though, our family needs flexibility.  If the kids are feeling burnt out on math, we'll skip it for the day and play a math game instead.  If they're feeling like they'd rather curl up on the couch with a book than sit through a grammar lesson, we'll do it.  I've learned to just go with the flow.  Flexibility and grace is what our home school runs on.  

Next tool...

5) Cricut machine.  Or, any other die cutter.  This is obviously well-loved.  I've had this machine for a number of years. I use it for all kinds or arts and crafts, for making manipulative's, for decorating our school room, you name it.  In terms of pricing these can be expensive so if you're looking to buy one make sure you use a coupon {for Jo-Ann's or Michael's} or buy used from Craigslist {that's where I got this one}.  

6) Paper trimmers.  These are part of my scrapbook stash but I use them all the time in the school room-mostly for mini books and to cut down the things I've laminated.  These are available at craft stores or on Amazon.

7) A computer. A given :)  I have my laptop set up in the school room so I can easily access the kids lesson plans, any online games, movies, resources or programs that we may need during our day.  

8) A good printer.  We use a Canon MG5420. It's an all in one photo printer.  So, I can make copies, scan and print nice quality photos and such when I need to.  It's also wireless which is helpful when I'm working at night in front of the t.v.-love that.  

8)  A decent size chalkboard or whiteboard.  I bought this one from Amazon.com.  Our school room is relatively small in size and this is a great fit for us right now.  I was working with a smaller easel before and I just never had enough room to leave things written while working on another lesson.  The kids love drawing on the board too. 

There ya go!  Some of our most used tools in our home school room.  What are your most used tools?

{The Start Of It All}

Since this is the beginning of my blog, I'll start at the beginning of our journey.  Our choice to home school-did we feel "called" to it or was it something we always knew was "right" for our family?  Well, really it was neither.  At least in the beginning. When our oldest daughter started school, we were fully prepared to send her to traditional public school.  After all, I had my own long term plans to consider too-teaching at my kids school so we could be close {always a dream of mine}. After a year in a private Christian preschool, an amazing experience, we enrolled her in kindergarten at the public school down the street from our home.  We were excited about this school, a great school in a great district-highly sought after. 

School started and for us, that's when our idealistic bubble was popped!  Every morning, we fought with her to get dressed and head to school. I mean this poor babe was kicking and screaming.  Daddy literally brought her to school once with no shoes on because she flat out refused to put them on {she's sharp as a tack-she knew no shoes, no school} but her teacher said carry her in and she'll sit until she puts those shoes on.  Battle after battle ensued. Finally-worn down Dave and I sat her down to figure out what was going on.  I set up times to observe in the classroom.  I wanted to see how the teacher was working with the students-was it organized chaos or just chaos?  What I found was just sad.  My sweet little shy five year old was figuratively being "left behind".  She was being called names-when I addressed it with the teacher she did nothing. She was not able to hear the teacher because the classroom was so chaotic.  In my honest opinion, the teacher was unqualified for the gig of teaching 28 five year olds.  Children were leaving class in tear on a daily basis-it was awful. 

Now, keep in mind I'm not out to "get" public school teachers.  All my in-laws are teachers, there are some amazing teachers who dedicate time, effort and their lives to this profession but it was just THIS teacher.  She was not cut out to teach these tender hearted sweeties.  She was essentially destroying their first school experience.  Kindergarten's supposed to be fun!  Kiddos are supposed to come home with smiles on their faces and fingerpainted pictures in their hands.  Not the case in this class.  Once we realized what was going on, we were already halfway through the school year and didn't want to cause any more upheaval to our daughter so  instead of transferring her to another class, we left her there.  We knew this was not right for her.  We want our children to LOVE education and with such a long road ahead it was important that we take the reins and re-instill that love for her.  We prayed about the road we needed to take with her. Her being such a introverted, right-brained child we were concerned that she may continue to be "left behind."  The topic of homeschooling came up.  The first thing that struck us about homeschooling was having the control over what our children were going to learn.  That's one thing that bothered us about the public school we had her enrolled at-we felt helpless.  She was being called names and no one did anything about it. She was asking to move her seat so she could hear the lesson and no one did anything about it.  No matter how many times I reached out to the teacher {even the principal} nobody did anything about anything! 

If we made the choice to home school-we could teach them about values, we could take trips and teach them about life, we could teach them about nature and how God designed everything in His image.  Oh, this felt good.  Everything about it felt right.  We continued to pray about it and took the remainder of the school year to research, reach out to cousins who home schooled, research local Charter schools just get grounded in it all.  I was truly overwhelmed and concerned that I was doing her a disservice by even considering being her teacher.  There's NO WAY I would ever be cut out for homeschooling.  God didn't bless me with the patience of a saint, I am REALLY bad at math and I enjoyed my semi-alone time A LOT.  Oh, and going along with the stereotype, I have never made my own clothes, my hair is not down to my booty and I have tattoos.  I'm like the direct opposite of the stereotypical homeschooler {by the way, I have NOT met anyone like that since we started homeschooling three years ago-worst stereotype ever}.  But, it was pretty clear.  One of those moments that God had to slap me across the face and shout "WAKE-UP!"  I wasn't ready for it.  But He had other plans :)  So...this is the time that we truly felt "called." 

We found a Charter school that had everything we were looking for-classes twice a week so the kiddos could make some friends, have some social time {important for our uber shy daughter}, have another teacher who might approach subjects in a different light.  Basically, a good transitional fit for us.  We attended an open house and were informed that there was a long wait list-we could sign her up but the prospect of her getting in for the upcoming school year was pretty slim.  We signed her up anyway and went home and prayed "God, if this is your will please open doors for our daughter."  A few days later, I dropped off the remainder of the registration paperwork.  The school secretary grabbed me "you wanted your daughter on B-track right?" {that's a two day a week on-campus schedule} I replied "yes!"  "One spot just opened up."  My heart started beating faster and faster...how in the world did we by-pass that wait list?  I still have no idea.  Maybe she was higher up than we thought.  Or, maybe it's just God's hand all over it-a blessing, a perfect and true blessing.  Needless to say, we took that spot.  We were overjoyed on so many levels-a new start for her, no curriculum planning for me {the school provides the curriculum for you}, smaller more intimate class sizes and just the close knit school community we were looking for. 

So...this is our journy began.  This is how I learned to trust God and know that His plan is always the right plan, this is how I came to truly know my daughter, this is how I came to know how she learns, this is how I became her teacher.