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Now that summer has officially begun, I like to take this time to begin preparing for next school year. I have already ordered and received our curriculum for next year, as well as ordered our school supplies. If you want to see the unboxing videos of our curriculum, visit my YouTube channel here: Brandi L Brown Blog . This year I have children in 8th grade, 6th grade, and 2nd grade. I also have a few videos uploaded of previous years’ unboxings if you are looking for a lower grade.
School Supplies
With the curriculum we use, Seton Home Study, we are fully enrolled, which means that I receive lesson plans and tests as well as the books needed for the grades we are enrolled in. After 5 years of teaching with this curriculum, I have found the system that works best for organizing all of the parts of the curriculum.
First of all, each child has chosen a color. It’s usually their favorite color, or at least in their top three (sometimes school supplies aren’t available in their favorite color). Once chosen, each child gets a pencil bag, a 3 prong folder, a ruler, and 2 binders in that same color. This allows me to know who the item is for easily. These are the ones we use, which are still holding up well after multiple years:
- Pencil Bags (Each kid has a set of Ticonderoga pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a click eraser)
- 2 inch binder with clear cover ( I switched the lesson plans to a 2 inch binder in 7th grade)
- 1.5 inch binder with clear cover (I use this for lesson plans from grades K to 6th, then I use it for the test binder in 7th grade)
- 1 inch binder with clear cover (I use this for tests from grades K to 6th, then switch to the 1.5 inch binder in 7th grade)
- Ruler (I like the bendable kind so that they won’t end up broken)
- 3 Prong Folder (Mead Five Star is my favorite kind because they seem to last so much longer than other brands.) I use this folder for the month’s answer keys.
- Timers (we use these for breaks and for experiments)
Other supplies I use or keep on hand:
- Sheet Protectors
- Post It Tabs
- Cardstock
- Click Eraser Refills
- Glue Sticks
- Blue Pens
- Black Pens
- Flair Pens (I use these to check their work)
- Electric Pencil Sharpener
- Looseleaf Paper
- Sketch Book for each kid (for art)
Want to see how I use the binders and 3 prong folders to organize each kid’s lesson plans, answer keys, and tests? Check out the videos here:
*How I organize my homeschool lesson plans
*How I organize our homeschool tests and records
*How I prepare lesson plans for my children (coming soon)
Supplements
Here are other supplements that we’ve purchased over the years for homeschooling:
- Dictionary
- Thesaurus
- Fraction Blocks
- Base Ten Blocks
- Play Money
- Hooked on Phonics Set
- Scrunch Map – World
- Scrunch Map – USA
- Book Cart
- Larger Book Cart
Read Aloud Books
Each year I choose a book series to read aloud to my children. This year, we will be reading the Anne of Green Gables series. Find out what series we’ve read in previous years here.
I hope that these lists help you get an idea of what you may need to get started with homeschooling. Remember that you don’t need all of these in your first year. You can start simply and then add a supplemental item or two each year. What would you add to the lists?