The Ultimate Homeschool Supply List
Whether your child is distance learning or homeschooling full time for consistency this year, there will be a need to set up your home / homeschool room with all the supplies you will need. Here is The Ultimate Homeschool Supply List including everything needed to set up a learning space, school supplies, learning materials, as well as technology and electronics if not supplied by the school district.
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When I made the decision to home educate my daughter and pull her out of private school in grade 1, I simply sat at a small table with her that we already had in our home. It was just her and I completing lessons each morning sitting at this child’s table. It worked well for that one semester of homeschooling her and ultimately was the BEST decision I made in her education path. I wish I had done it sooner!!
The following school year, my youngest daughter was going to attend kindergarten full time at a private school, but the school made the decision to close one week prior to school beginning. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. However, she was OVERJOYED! She was so excited to homeschool with her sister.
My son had also made the decision to home educate and I wasn’t sure of my own abilities to home educate three children, but I dove right in. I had a kindergartener, a 2nd grader, and a 4th grader.
The Ultimate Homeschool Supply List
Do not be intimidated by this list and remember you do not have to purchase any of it to homeschool at home. A kitchen or dining room table will work. Even a kitchen counter will work! Just think of it like if you were to take the school supply list that schools hand out each year for you to purchase. This is the same concept — except all the supplies will be for your own classroom and your own child.
This Ultimate Homeschool Supply List focuses on setting up a classroom from the beginning, assuming you are home educating your children from the beginning (IE: lower level grades). However, most of the supplies and necessities listed can and will be used by all grade levels. Once you get in deeper, you will quickly be able to discern what works for your family and what doesn’t.
SETTING UP A LEARNING SPACE / ROOM
I headed to IKEA to purchase desks and chairs. I already had bookcases from IKEA we had purchased prior to even having children, so the desks were just an addition to our sunroom, that we turned into a homeschool classroom.
STUDENT DESKS:
3 ► ALEX Drawer Unit from IKEA
3 ► IKEA BESTA Units (these are no longer available)
1 ► MICKE Desk (we have this desk as well)
THE BASICS
LAPTOP ► Whatever you have at home already will work. However, if you don’t have a laptop or computer, I do recommend getting one. We are partial to either HP or a MAC book.
PRINTER ► You will NEED a printer for sure. I have one that prints, scans, copies, and faxes and have had it for over 8 years. I recommend HP.
LAMINATOR ► This is a must need as well and we still use ours. You will need Laminating Pouches as well.
3 HOLE PUNCH ► Get a good one, if you don’t, it will just break.
WHITEBOARD
My first whiteboard I purchased at Walmart and it was reversible… cork on one side and whiteboard on the other. It worked in the beginning with 1 child homeschooling, but I moved to a larger whiteboard when all three of my kiddos came home to school. We simply headed to our local supply store and purchased a sheet of whiteboard and plywood and cut to size and screwed into the wall. This whiteboard was literally a savior for SO MANY YEARS! We have since removed it from the classroom since my kiddos are in high school and college, but it was one item I highly recommend!
1 ► Whiteboard
WORKBOXES / ROLLING CARTS
I ordered 3 Rolling Carts with Drawers (IE: workbox station) from JoAnn Fabrics when they were 50% off. These rolling carts come in many different sizes and different materials and are available in so many locations now though and weren’t when I ordered them 10 years ago. I will say that we only used the workbox rolling cart stations for about 4 years before they were no longer useful. We then moved on to putting daily school books and notebooks into a rolling crate, which we are still using and seems to work better for my kids AND takes up way less space.
STORAGE CADDIES ► This is a MUST have and we still use these today! There were always two on each desk and a few others for holding markers, colored pencils, and other supplies.
MISCELLANEOUS
TENSION WIRE ► to hang poster boards across the room. I used two tension wires for years and hung poster boards, the alphabet, math facts, maps etc. I switched out poster seasonally or as needed.
WEEK BY WEEK CALENDAR ► I purchased ours from Lakeshore Learning (the one linked is the exact one for half the price I paid) and we used it faithfully for about 5 years. It was great!! This calendar was a great way to start the day, the weekly calendar provided a basic introduction to calendar concepts—and helped my kids track the weather day by day! It had a nylon pocket chart with cards to display each date of the month, plus 42 weather cards. Every day my kids traded who updated the calendar.
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH SCHOOL SUPPLIES
I also headed to Lakeshore Learning for some basic education necessities. If your area doesn’t have a Lakeshore Learning, Amazon has so many of the same items! Amazon did not sell these basic education necessities when I first began home educating my children so many years ago — everyone is benefitting from Amazon today! Lastly, I hit up Target Dollar Spot (when items were actually $1.00) and was able to load up on a TON of necessities that we utilized for years.
STUDENT SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Most of these are obvious. They are the basic school supplies you would need to purchase anyway when you send your child off to a public school.
Pencils ► All of my kiddos like different pencils, go figure at this point. But they all started out with the TICONDEROGA My First Pencils. Hands down, they are the best!
Lined Paper ► You will need lined paper when teaching your kinder children who to write and learn letters.
PENCILS ► My oldest daughter only likes wooden pencils, and these are her favorite, the Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils, - when you sharpen them, the lead does not break off and the wood in the pencil is actually wood. My son and my youngest daughter like mechanical pencils. I do not like these, but they love them. I think they waste lead especially if you have a child who presses hard when writing.
Lined Paper / loose leaf - I have left-handed children and wire notebooks don’t work well for them► I usually get a few packs per child each year. I also purchase grid paper for math - it makes learning math so much easier and neater! When all the school supplies are out at the end of the summer, simply stock up for the year!
Glue ► I purchase glue sticks in bulk and glue bottles as well. My kiddos use glue for everything. Again, stock up when all the school supplies are out.
Paint & Brushes ► I get acrylic paint and cheap paint brushes from Michael’s in so many different colors. Use the coupons! We use paint all the time.
Large Sheets of Paper for painting ► So I get a variety of paper, in booklets, loose, in sheets, and even purchase canvases. Get what works for you and your kids.
Colored Construction Paper ► For all the art projects!! Walmart sells in 8x11 and 9x12, I buy both.
Crayons ► Crayola really is the best. Buy the big box! And many small boxes for later in the year.
Markers ► any brand will do, if they are washable - all the better!
Colored Pencils ► anything brand will do
Scissors ► Each child has their own pair, and a spare on my desk, because someone always misplaces theirs!
Wooden Craft Sticks ► These are great for history projects, art projects, and general play.
Pipe Cleaners, PomPoms and anything else you need for crafts.
Do-A-Dot Marker Set ►I used these when my kids were younger. They work best for little hands.
TEACHER SCHOOL SUPPLIES
ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER ► Once again, purchase a good one or it will break.
LAMINATOR ► This is a must need as well and we still use ours. You will need Laminating Pouches as well.
3 HOLE PUNCH ► Get a good one, if you don’t, it will just break.
STAPLER & STAPLES ► You won’t need anything fancy, but don’t get it at the dollar store!
CALENDAR & WEATHER POCKET CHART ► My children had so much fun with this weather and calendar chart for years. I assigned one child per day to update and they loved it!
DRY ERASE POCKETS ► These are pretty much a MUST have as well when your children are learning to write letters and practicing mathematics. Unless you want to keep printing the same worksheets over and over for copying, these are awesome.
Dry Erase Markers ► I have a set for the large whiteboard and my kiddos each have their own set of fine point dry erase markers for the desk work. I purchase the large pack of dry erase markers for the large whiteboard because my kiddos loved to use the large whiteboard during art. Also, math drills. Completely math on the whiteboard was essential for my middle child!!
Hands-On Tools
Flash Cards ►
Year Around Calendar Bulletin Board Set ►
SIGHT WORDS ► Kindergarten to 2nd Grade
SIGHT WORDS ► 1st Grade to 5th Grade
MATH ► Math Flash Cards - you don’t need anything fancy - this is just drill and go
ABACUS - Believe me - your kids WILL use an abacus!
EDUCATIONAL POSTERS ►
Do you really need posters? No, you don’t, but they help - A LOT! My kids used the numbers 1-100 almost daily for years. When they were younger we would chant or sing the days of the week and the months of the year every day. We used the USA map to learn all the states and the world map to learn all the continents and countries. My kiddos referred to the alphabet charts for years as well, especially when learning cursive writing. The Prime Numbers poster was also pretty essential.
MANIPULATIVES
► Unifix Cubes ***
► Letter Tiles *** (these ARE the absolute BEST for teaching children to read and phonics!!)
► Magnetic Alphabet Letters (had these on my fridge for years)
► Time Activity Set teaching time
►Matching Letter Game (we had several different versions of this game of the years)
► Pattern Blocks Set/Tangrams ***
► Math Addition Key ***
► Math Multiplication Key ***
►Math Manipulative Homeschool Kit (this is the specific kit I ordered years ago)
SCIENCE
Once your children get into Middle School, you will need more items for your homeschool classroom. When my kids were younger, we received a monthly science kit that I would highly recommend. My kids lived for these science experiments. My kids are total science geeks though and loved to create all sorts of science experiments. There are TONS of different sets available today. Just read the reviews to ensure you are ordering newer kits because sometimes the kits sit around forever and they sell you old kits and then the experiments fail.
I have to be honest and tell you that we have purchased every science experiment offered at Hobby Lobby, those worked really well. My son pretty much received every science experiment or kit available during his middle school days and used every science experiment kit offered. We’ve done it ALL!
.► Microscope - you might as well purchase a good one because you will need one for high school!
► Slides
Steve Spangler has really great science experiments.
We used the Apologia curriculum and I ordered the science experiments kits for each year of the curriculum we used.
We also used all The Young Scientist Club science experiments kits as well. They were old, and pretty much failed because the sets were old. I don’t know if that has changed. I think they are probably updated as the packaging is completely different now.
