what do you need to homeschool your child? Depending on who you ask, the list could be in my opinion, l little crazy, this article is the top clicked article on this subject and quite frankly, it isn’t great.
In my opinion homeschool necessities are not pencil and paper, I mean they are but everyone knows this, No, I think what A new homeschooler needs is some kind of direction, someone to say, start here and you can’t go wrong.
I think anyone can figure out to buy pencils and paints and erasers. and even If I told you not to (not that I would), you still would because you want to, I find an article detailing these things irrelevant.
Those things matter very little when it comes to starting homeschooling.
The Homeschool necessities are better answered in what to make important in your day to day lifestyle, how to create a learning environment without it becoming overbearing and how to make the most of and effectively use what you buy.
The physical aspects of homeschooling
Depending on your child’s age, whether you are starting from kindergarten or pulling older children from school, there are the basics, the building blocks to learning that you want to make sure you are focusing on every day.
Don’t get overwhelmed with thinking you have to choose a style, curriculum and how you will implement it, if you are just starting I encourage you to drop that pressure and just start with basics.
Don’t plan any more than a month ahead, instead put more effort into recording what your children learn.
Take the time to understand yourself and your children when it comes to homeschooling.
You will learn more about yourself, and how you like to teach, how your children like to learn, how your day naturally flows, and how much you want to take on if you allow yourself to relax and adapt to your own ideas about how you want YOUR homeschooling to be just Remember, sustainability is key!
DON’T START THE YEAR WITH A MASSIVE SHOPPING LIST!
READ THIS POST
I LINK EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO START YOUR HOMESCHOOL JOURNEY.
Curriculum
- Reading
- Writing
- language
- mathematics
these are the basics, and for when you are first starting out, just stick to these, you can get your other subjects once a week from interest-based lessons.
There are many curriculums out there, and while I suggest that you try to not watch and read the thousands of youtube and blog posts out there on how-to and reviews on all the choices out there as it’s overwhelming, and if you are just starting out, you truly have very little idea about what YOU want and need, you will make decisions based on something else’s opinion and lifestyle and then try to shape yours around it.
Seriously, a curriculum can do that, if you are going to take it on, then understand that you are free to tweak it and apply it according to your needs.
Homeschooling is based on your home and your schooling, you have only your children to educate and no one and you have only your life affected by your decisions.
I can tell you some things you should look for, and how to choose according to your child’s needs, try and keep it as basic as possible
I have a post on how long you should spend homeschooling each day that you should definitely read!
The neseccities you need to teach Reading
this post contains affiliate links. I make a small comission on some of the items listed, at no extra cost to you (items not affilate are marked)
If your child is a beginner, then you want it as simple and repetitive as possible, the readers I use are good for this, with a teachers manual and systems that work on vocabulary, grammar, spelling and enunciation these are good to own.
Here is a look into the process you can use, and all good reading curriculums use a process similar to this:
the process to start reading begins with the alphabet, using images like on these flashcards, to help them recognise and associate that letter with the sound of the word.
flashcards with colourful pictures for Pre K. read this post for EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT Pre K!
Teach the sound of the letter, just the short version, (o for octopus, not o for bone) and once they have memorized the 26 letters you can start with simple words, and another set of flashcards if you wish, which has them memorize again all the sounds of the letters (c for cat and c for city )
phonics made plain flashcard set ( the absolute best in my opinion!)
When you are teaching your child to read, you want to keep it simple and repetitive which is very effective as you gently teach them short words as they learn the sounds, such as dad, bat, cat and so on, it’s important to keep the rate of information for young children at a pace that doesn’t overwhelm them. some will move faster than others.
So, look for a system that has, phonics (saying a letter sound) that teaches the rules for the sounds, and how to use them,
learn to read in 100 easy lessons
WHAT YOU NEED TO TEACH WRITING SKILLS
Good penmanship (writing skills) is something that many do not possess, and while I do admit the world doesn’t need it so much anymore, the skill is one that you should teach, not only for the skills but for the short time every day that you can instil the idea of doing something to a standard.
good writing starts with good quality pencils!
for young children, you can start with these, they are thicker and triangular for little fingers to learn to grip a pencil correctly.
for older children, Grade, 1-2 you can switch to these pencils.
These Erasers stick onto your pencils, they work really well and they don’t leave messy streaks on your work.
To not be buying pencils and erasers, every month, start a game, based on rewards, have your children mark their pencils and then whoever still has their pencil and eraser at the end of the school year gets a surprise!
You want a book-lined for the process of teaching to write, keep these on hand for when your child needs to write something as well as curriculums if you choose to use them, like handwriting without tears, the good and beautiful and so many more, I like to buy mine online as ebooks and print them off, so I can reuse them for each of my children.
I only do a level or two, before I rely on the lined books, and always watch them write for the good formation of the letter, as well as inspecting their work and making them rewrite if they do a bad job.
for older children books like this, are a good recourse for cursive and creative writing in one.
the good and the beautiful handwriting – (not an affiliate link)
handwriting without tears kindergarten
handwriting without tears 1st grade
handwriting without tears 2nd grade
Spencerian penmanship (introduced to 3rd graders or young teens to enhance their writing skills)
handwriting practice lined book
Teaching Language and grammar
In young children language skills come from listening to you read aloud. You should source good quality books, with a broad range of language and grammar.
Language and grammar are taught mostly from reading when a child is young.
story of the world by Susan wise Bauer this book set is made up of four great historical read aloud’s, filled with stories and images that children love to listen to.
the little house on the prairie set
For young teens
the raiders of the sea collection
My story collection is a set of historically accurate fiction stories, for both boys and girls and are great reads for 12-16 years olds! I found a Wikipedia article on the complete list of these books which are becoming hard to find. there are lists for girls books and boys, but either can read both in my opinion. These were a favourite of mine as a young teen and I remember more about major historical events from these books than I can remember from my history textbooks!
teaching Mathematics
simple maths for young children is crucial and starts with anything basic, I use Math U See, as it starts basic for kindergarteners. You can buy blocks for the child to use as a visual aid which is very helpful, and it builds concepts one upon the other very well, it comes with teachers manuals, so you know how to teach each new concept.
If you looking for a maths curriculum, you want to find something similar with a manual, and a system for building upon concepts, some maths books don’t do this very well and can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to forming problem-solving processes in a child’s thinking skills.
math u see (Australian stockist)
MATHEMATICS MANIPULATIVES
The math U see workbooks, come with manipulatives, (at extra cost) and we love them. You can get blocks on Amazon as well, (much cheaper)
Other things you will want to have in your home for maths are.
an analog clock.
this is great for multiplication! which you should start teaching in grade 1.
Create a learning Environment
There are things you can do to make homeschooling natural in your home. I have seen other posts on this topic saying create reading nooks and what to buy at Ikea for a classroom.
Instead, focus on your children’s environment in general.
- Provide learning through imaginative play.
- Minimize screen time.
- Have books accessible to your children.
creating a learning environment isn’t about buying endless amounts of colourful charts and arts and crafts, it’s about inspiring critical thinking and imagination in your children, removing screens from their school days ( I know it’s a lot harder than it sounds).
Lego, block building, reading, puzzles and toys that require imagination rather than pressing a button for flashing lights and sounds are good ways to encourage a space of learning that never stops in your home.
Set a time to read to your children, choose books they enjoy but try to tailor their interest to more educational books, and ones a few years ahead or with rich language to promote growth in both their speech and their ability to listen and comprehend language and grammar.
In my house, we call books with no purpose and a silly storyline, twaddle books, and my children have no patience for them.
It’s not a requirement by any means, but your reading time can be as absorbing and as educational as you make it with a book rich in imaginative and creative storytelling and either science or history.
DITCH INFORMATION SATURATION
If you are googling, what do you really need to homeschool your child? Or homeschool necessities?
Don’t get stuck with taking on too much.
Seriously, it’s the pit of despair for many homeschoolers.
They do too much and it’s simply unsustainable, then they feel bad, a bad mother, a failure of a homeschooler, why can’t they do it? why can’t they enjoy it?
Read this post for everything from why children thrive with less and why you should take the minimalist approach to homeschooling
fun things to keep in the home for learning through play.
Veritech tiles for all-ages – fun puzzle with critical thinking! (not an affiliate link)
watercolour paint book for all ages
HOW TO – INTEREST BASED LESSONS
teaching according to a young child’s interest while can be seen as not as meaningful as curriculum-based learning, is actually a far more effective way to educate.
When you pique a child’s interest, they are keen to learn and a keen learner thinks about the topic, they ask more questions and will retain more information.
The more you do this, the better you will become as taking a single question from a conversation and creating a lesson, that takes little effort on your part, as you don’t need to get creative in order to be engaging, the child is already engaged.
For example.
you doing the dishes, it’s 7:30 pm, and your children ask where does the sun go?
Excite them by saying, tomorrow I will tell you all about it! for now, though, where do you think the sun goes? have a think about it and you can tell me tomorrow.
for the next day’s lesson, when the sun is up, ask the child/ren where it went and why is it back?
you can use a book if you have one, but most likely you want to use something physical, two balls for the sun and earth and a torch.
Explain how the moon is illuminated by the sun, and sometimes the earth gets in the way, called an eclipse.
have them play-act, have one child stand in the centre of the room (the sun) , and another spin around them (earth) and they rotate around to form day and night.
Why do we have seasons? how does the earth moving around the sun affect heat and the length of the days?
how many hours is the sun gone for? is that how long it takes the earth to move?
from that one question you have a lesson, that is fun and engaging and based entirely on the interest of the child.
what is a star? what they are, where they are, how big they are, what lights them up?
do all clouds make rain? types of clouds, signs of rain coming, how do animals know rain is coming? make a chart of the cloud types.
where do cats live? what is the difference between domestic and wild cats, what do they eat? where do they sleep? do they hunt at night or during the day?
How big is a lion? find an image of a lion to a man? why are they so big? where in Africa do they live? what do they eat? are they nocturnal? how long do they live?
where do we get pasta from? what is it made of? where does wheat grow? who grows it? what kind of climate can it grow in? what else can you make with wheat flour? what did wheat flour look like a thousand years ago?
Children will always ask questions, and you can always make time to answer them, as thoroughly as you like.
for more on planning strategies for homeschooling read this!
DOES THIS WORK WITH YOUR STATE OR COUNTRIES OUTCOMES FOR HOME EDUCATION
while I haven’t done exact research on every country, this style of homeschooling is not outside of the outcomes for homeschooling, here in NSW I very easily fit the list of required teaching outcomes for my children.
I rely on reading aloud to do this, for some of them we will take a little more time, perhaps use a map, paint a picture, and understand the setting of the story to better understand the history of the geographical elements. I take an interest-based lesson approach to most things, and allow the children to ask questions.
Don’t let outcomes or requirements box in your homeschooling, you don’t have to have outcome robots for children, you can use reading or simple lessons to teach most or all.
Record what your children learn, and you will be surprised at how much you do achieve without trying.
A key aspect of homeschooling is the community, join Facebook groups either nationwide or in your area, they are great for connection, learning and asking questions, as well as second-hand books and curriculum, there is always someone selling great books for an awesome price!
homeschooling littles Australia
OTHER POSTS TO READ AS YOU BEGIN YOUR HOMESCHOOL JOURNEY
how to be a minimalist homeschooler
how much time should you homeschool each day?
how to homeschool with young children
effective homeschool planning strategies
Minimalist homeschool pre k curriculum
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