Homeschool Preschool Essentials

Now that we are almost 6 months into homeschooling, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things that have been helpful to have for those who may be considering homeschooling! You certainly don't *have* to have each one of these things to be successful, but they are nice.

1. The Basics
Crayons, markers, glue, scissors, construction paper. All that good stuff. :)

2. Laminator
I bought this one on sale from Amazon for about $17. I also bought a pack of the laminating pouches. They are fairly cheap and I still have a ton left. This is handy for making flashcards and homemade games more durable. 

3. 3 Hole Punch
I like to tear pages out of whatever workbook we are doing so I need a way to put them all back together to save. I label a binder with that year and hole punch the pages to put in the binder.

4. Calendar
We have this one from Amazon and use it every day in our circle time. There are lots of calendar/weather options out there or you could even make your own. 

5. Posters
This will depend on how much free wall space you have, but we have a US map, numbers, letters, days, and months posters in our school room. 

6. Comfy Chair
Reading is so important at the preschool age (and any age!). We love to cuddle up and read our books that we picked out from the library. 

7. Bulletin Board
Again, this will depend on your space, but we have a large bulletin board where I display all of our work from that week. I think it is important for children to feel proud of their work and have it displayed in a special place. It's also a great place for Daddy to see what we've been busy doing! 

8. Color Printer
There are so many great free printables online and I love to add these to our school day.

9. Fun Curriculum
You could very well piece together your own preschool "curriculum" from things you find online, but I personally like to have some sort of guide to go by. I supplement with fun things I find on Pinterest, but the curriculum I purchased is our go-to. We used Horizons Preschool For Three's and completed it in about 4 months. Now we use Horizons Preschool. I'm currently looking for kindergarten curriculum (crazy!). 

10. A Supportive Spouse/Family
We are so fortunate that our families are supportive of our decision to homeschool. Lots of families successfully homeschool even when met with resistance from their family, but I would imagine it would make things a little more stressful. 

Again, you don't NEED every one of these things to be able to successfully homeschool your child, but I just wanted to give other families some ideas. Happy Homeschooling!