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The Homeschool Equipment You Require to be Successful
For most families, the best schooling setting is the one that they create themselves. Creating the best studying environment, whether it is a homeschool classroom or a traditional classroom, is critical to your success. As such, it is important to have the appropriate equipment to assist you in creating an effective area of study. In this article, we explore some of the homeschooling equipment that you require to be successful.
Note-Taking and Writing Materials
From paper, pens, erasers, and pencils to apps, laptops, and iPads, the materials that you require for writing endlessly. Be sure to keep lined paper and scrap paper on hand, as well as a good supply of post-it notes. Colored pencils, permanent markers, highlighters, and pens are often useful, particularly when working on editing drafts of research papers or just to use for a creative project.
Homeschooling families looking to go digital should keep the plain paper on hand to print; even if your goal is to go paperless, you do not require to be caught in a pinch. Google Docs offers a great cloud-based composition software that allows for real-time collaboration, among other resources.
Also, you might want to look into iPad apps that allow learners to compose notes and papers in their own handwriting digitally; some apps will even turn a handwritten note into a typed note. Notably, this permits for a digital practice of penmanship, and you will be able to save drafts in order to compare with the progress of learners over time. Additionally, digital notes can be searched easily searched in order to locate keywords and crucial terms in a snap. Having the right materials will enable you to enjoy homeschooling benefits.
A Scanner and a Camera
If you are short on space, saving years of projects and papers can be tricky, so a scanner can assist you in digitizing anything that was not earlier created on the laptop or computer, which makes it easy for you to store and access in the future. Also, you may need to invest in a shredder for sensitive material that you are not keeping.
Nevertheless, as easy as that sounds, not everything you and your learner produce can be easily scanned. For those items, such as art projects and odd-sized posters, invest in a decent digital camera to photograph the projects and artwork, and then save the files to your laptop. Additionally, you can organize by year, semester, and subject to make finding things in the future easy.
Software and Technology
Writing applications are not just the start. Based on the requirements of your state, you might require to log into a dashboard in order to submit grades, reports, and other materials, but irrespective, chances are much of your organizing and tutoring would be done virtually.
Here, you require a reliable internet source, a fast and updated desktop computer or laptop, as well as software. There are many options for software that range from schedulers, learning management systems, online learning resources, and planners to homework trackers. For families that use mobile devices, the applications for instructors and learners are worth and incredible. Also, do not forget to purchase a printer as well.
Storage Containers
As a homeschooler, you require an area to store all your equipment, paper, finished projects, supplies, and more. You should invest in hanging file folders, stackable bins, rolling storage carts, and a storage unit or nice credenza for archiving learning materials in a way that makes it easy to locate what you require and when you require it. Nice wall shelving drawers, cabinets, or boxes can be a great way of organizing your archives and materials.
Backup Digital Storage
If you are storing all your learning materials digitally, you may want to ensure that you have a backup plan. Hence, you must have a place to backup all your resources and files. Most services provide automatic cloud storage and backup, but having your own external hard drive implies that you have peace of mind knowing that everything is archived and saved locally. Also, storing all your files correctly will assist you in tracking important documents.
Basic Office Supplies
Do not overlook the importance of the tried-and-true basics. Paper, pencils, and pens are obvious, but you will also require a stapler and staples, scissors, glue, tape, binders, notebooks, folders, crayons, markers, dry erase boards and markers, binder clips, paper clips, push pins, and storage containers.
Most of these items can be purchased in large quantities in order to cut costs and store them till you require them. Make sure that you get bins and cups to hold everything. Also, you can get some nice and less costly desk carousels which hold everything that you require in one convenient area.
Miscellaneous Equipment
As a homeschooler, some items might not seem as obvious right away, but you would be doing yourself a favor if you invest in a large paper cutter (you can buy one that can handle one that handles many sheets of paper), a projector with a screen, a whiteboard, an electric pencil sharpener, a laminator, a three-hole punch, and a long-arm stapler for making booklets. If the room you are using to teach is exceptionally bright, you may require to invest in room darkening shades; hence you can easily see the projected images.
Composition Books or Journal
Every homeschooler should keep a journal in which to record his or her thoughts and experiences on a daily basis. This can be as little or as much work as you want it to be—it can even include math practice work! Keep in mind that some states require certain information to be written each week so they can inspect the progress of your teen’s education; others simply advise parents to keep these records for their own purposes.
Spiral Notebooks
Having a separate notebook to take notes in during lectures, videos or lessons is a good idea—but only if it’s helpful to your student! Buy used or inexpensively; they can be replaced every year. Otherwise, just buy the composition book above and use it for both purposes.
Pocket Folders
These are basically folders with prongs that fold over instead of getting pushed down into the paper. They can be helpful for keeping work organized by subject or class period.
Binders
Binders, or “three-ring binders” as they are sometimes called, come in handy for many reasons. You can use them to hold your child’s class materials such as worksheets, graded papers, and the like. They can keep art projects organized (like this one). They can store special projects like scrapbooks, musical scores, etc. A homeschooler needs at least two per subject; three or more would be even better so that it’s easy to get one out when needed without having to dig through a backpack full of loose items.
Calculator/Graphing Calculators and Folders with Fasteners
These can come in handy for various math classes as well as science classes if it is permitted by the teacher.
Absolutely essential! These are folders with prongs that fold over instead of getting pushed down into the paper. They can be helpful for keeping work organized by subject or class period.
Highlighters
These come in handy for all kinds of reviews. They are great for marking paragraphs that I want to discuss with my student later, or pages that contain good examples of learning styles being used (I’m an auditory-visual learner). You can use them to mark the questions at the end of a chapter as well. They are helpful if your child has forgotten his/her reading assignment, but then again so is a notebook where he/she writes down what was read since you will need to know what missed assignments he/she needs to complete.
Ring Binders
It’s best to have at least one per subject, but if you’re homeschooling more than one student it might be a good idea to get an additional one for each student so they can keep their own work separated. They are especially helpful in the higher grades where students get more and more assignments each year and you want to make sure there is room for everything! Be careful not to buy ring binders that are too big, as the prongs will have a difficult time coming out of smaller holes (we’ve made this mistake many times).
Filler Paper and Rulers
This is a great way to keep your child writing, even when they’ve finished assignments for the day. There are many types of notebooks and filler paper you can choose from, but whatever type you go with, make sure it’s something that will encourage creativity and not just be lined/graph paper for them to do worksheets in!
You will need several of these throughout the year, but try to stay away from rulers made with anything other than clear plastic (for example you want a ruler that has red lines on it rather than a red ruler). Students who use colored pencils tend to get confused because they think the line should be their pencil color and not white! If you’re only buying one or two then just make sure they are at least 18 inches long so your student can start off using it for activities in first grade before graduating up to maps in fourth grade! You can find them at any office supply store or here.
A Daily Planner with a Blank Calendar (one per student, preferably)
It’s important for students to start learning how to schedule their own time each day, which means getting used to writing in a planner. While many different planners are available you could also try making your own daily planner using this blank calendar printable (just keep it simple so the younger kids don’t get overwhelmed)! The important thing is that you need something your child can write each day so he/she learns to not just remember what has to be done but when as well.
A Dry Erase Calendar (one per student, preferably)
It is the responsibility of students to write down their assignments in the planner and to put the date on that entry. Then, once a week they have to transfer that information onto this calendar using dry erase markers so we can see what’s coming up in the month! This is one of those things you would never think of doing on your own. You can actually make your own with this printable if you want; just be sure to use a large enough font so teenagers can still read it when it’s smeared over all the squares!
Conclusion
There are many homeschooling supplies that have been left out. But overall, this list is general irrespective of the age of your learner or the style of your homeschool. Most relaxed homeschooling learners might not require a good planning system, but a good system that can record the accomplishments of your learners can lie under this heading. Thus, before you start to homeschool your learner, you should make sure that you have all these supplies in place.