Before you jump into home schooling, you must think about where your home school supply items are going to come from. Are you going to purchase a complete curriculum that has everything your children need? Are you planning on stocking a library for your children to use when they want to read? What about art supplies – where will you purchase them? These are some of the questions that most home school parents think about when listing their home school supply needs. Having a well-stocked supply closet keeps you from making multiple emergency trips to the store to grab that item you need for your project.
The first item on your home school supply list will likely be your curriculum. Many home schooling families base their arts and crafts, unit studies, and field trips on the items covered in a ready-made curriculum. If you choose to use a standard curriculum, first decide whether or not you want a religious based curriculum. Since many home schooling families choose to home school so that they can instill their religious values on their children, there are many excellent religious home school curriculums out there. But if your reasons for home schooling are not religious in nature, and if you do not wish to find a religious curriculum, there are many secular options for you as well.
The key to finding a good curriculum is knowing your educational philosophy before you start. Do you want your children to learn through rote, hands-on instruction, or a combination of the two? Once you have defined your philosophy of education, finding the right curriculum to fill your home school supply library is easy. And an educational philosophy does not have to be complicated and full of educational jargon! You can easily define your philosophy simply by writing down your goals for your children’s education. Find a curriculum or program that meets those goals, and you are ready to begin home schooling!
Another item you will want to have in your home school supply closet is books. You will want to have reference books and enjoyable reading books your children can use whenever they want. Books can get very expensive to buy new, but if you use some creative thinking, you can find affordable used books. One place to look is eBay. Some booksellers on eBay will put children’s books in their online stores for a few cents apiece. When you buy several from the same seller, you can get a discount on shipping. Another place to buy books for your home schooling library is used bookstores and thrift stores. In the summer, hit garage sales as much as you can, because people sell children’s books for fifty cents or less most of the time. You can sometimes get an even better deal if you offer to buy an entire box of books. You can give away or sell the ones you do not want.
A well-stocked home school supply closet is going to be full of craft and art supplies. Stock up on glue, markers, crayons, paper, pens, pencils, and scissors at the beginning of the traditional school year when they are on sale for next to nothing. During the off-season these items are usually much more expensive. Have a place in your home set aside to store these items, so you will always have them when a project or craft calls for it!
Don’t forget to talk to other home schooling families about the home school supply needs they have. You will find that they are often full of information on where to save money shopping for supplies. Sometimes you can buy used books or curriculum from your friends in the home school community, and save quite a bit of money while taking something off their hands that they no longer need for their children’s education!
