I’m a forced home-schooler. Can you relate? It’s been a crash course with all 4 of my boys (ages 1, 3, 6, & 7) at home to say the least! But I learned a lot talking to other moms, teachers, friends and family that already home-school. So here are the 6 home-school necessities that make our homeschooling run smoothly!
01 HEADPHONES
These are an absolute necessity! A lot of the kid’s new schooling is online with recorded videos from teachers, games, Youtube videos, not to mention little siblings in the background. The first week the sound was defining.
I couldn’t have them in there own room or space because I was constantly helping them and also needing to care for the younger siblings so they all need to stay in the main living area.
The kids were constantly looking at each other’s laptop or their siblings totally losing focus. They just couldn’t concentrate!
I can tell you the difference between before and after I got them headphones was incredible. They can block out what was going on around them and focus. What was taking hours to do, they now got done in 45 minutes.
I did a lot of research and I love these headphones. They have been battle tested trust me. They are sturdy, can been linked together so more then one kid can be listening to the same device (totally using these for our flights this summer) and come in a range of different colors.
The total list of why I love these and why you will to:
- Cool colors so everyone gets their own (no fighting)
- Audio sharing port
- Volume limiting to protect kids ears
- Adjustable size to grow with your child
- Sturdy and comfortable
- BEST bang for your buck!
02 HOME-SCHOOL STORAGE CART ORGANIZER
What I’m learning and what every home-school mom and teacher are telling me is that organization is key! So I got a plastic storage cart with drawers for each kid!
I like this one! The rolling part is key! I quickly learned that the best place to do home-school was in the main living area. I couldn’t have the small kids away from me and I still needed to help the older kids.
So having the storage cart with all the home-school stuff on wheels means I can wheel it out when we need it and wheel it away into a closet when we are done. Keeping the little kids away from it and my house clean-er.
I store all their note books, worksheets, before mentioned headphones, pencils, crayons, sharpeners, erasers, and textbooks in each of their individual drawers!
I want to label the drawers with their names in the future. I always make them put their things away after each lesson so nothing gets lost.
This simple hack seriously makes a huge difference for me and mine!
03 TIMER
Keeping kids on track is rough. They fight you when you say it’s time for this or that. But if you have a timer be the bad guy suddenly the argueing goes away.
I really like this Visual Timer for my kids! These were the reasons I decided on this one:
- Visual timer so young kids can still read it
- Silicone body for durability
- Comes in a couple colors
- Can turn the alarm sound on or off
- Makes no ticking sounds so kids can concentrate
A key point here is I don’t tell them they have only 20 minutes to do their math then put the timer down and walk away. That’s just undue pressure and stress on my kids!
I use the timer mostly to control how much time they get to play on a certain game or app they are using for school.
I also use the timer to count down to home-school time.
This timer goes hand in hand with my home-school schedule!
04 HOME-SCHOOL SCHEDULE
Okay I can’t stress the importance of a schedule for kids enough. But I doubt you don’t already know the importance.
It amazed me when I printed and posted our home-school schedule how suddenly the arguing stopped.
I simply refer them to the schedule and they can’t dispute the schedule. They could fight me, but not the “all powerful” schedule for some crazy reason that I’m not going to jinx!
Check out my two schedules and print them FREE from here! The first has school work broken up into morning and afternoon sessions and the other has all school work done in the morning.
I found that my kids did their best learning all in the morning.
05 ALARM CLOCK
Part of keeping my kids on a schedule is starting off on the right foot at the same time every day. I love this alarm clock because I can also use it to teach time. We have had ours for years and I love it.
- Has a time teaching function
- Speaks the time
- Is also a Nightlight
- Easy to operate with large buttons
- Can change out the colors
- Can operate on a battery or be charged
- Durable so lasts years!
I also like how it helps the kids become more responsible for getting themselves up and ready for the day.
06 HANGING DAILY OUTFIT ORGANIZER
To continue teaching my kids to get themselves ready in the morning and I started using this collapsing hanging closet organizer.
Each little cubby has the day of the week labeled on it, which has actually helped my 6 year old learn how to read the days of the week. Bonus!
Each Sunday I help the boys pick their outfits for the week including socks and underwear. A quick look at the forecast helps us decided what they need.
I think these collapsing hanging closet organizers are originally for daily activities (which is a great idea too) but I love using them to plan the boys outfits. It saves me so much time and keeps us with our routine.
HOME SCHOOL NECESSITIES SUMMARY
I’ve found that these 6 things are total necessities for making our home-school run smoothly. Seriously we went from ciaos and stress to ease!
- Headphones
- Storage Cart Organizer on Wheels
- Timer
- Home-school Schedule
- Alarm Clock
- Daily Outfit Organizer
I really hope you found this helpful! Check out this amazing behavior changing tool to help your homeschooling go smoothly! Please share your suggestions and additional resources that make your new home-school run smoothly!