Back to Homeschool 2018- Our Homeschool Supplies Tour
If you guys follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I'm partaking in a Back to Homeschool Photo Challenge and today's topic is Supplies! ?✂️?✏️?? And I love this topic so much, I wanted to share a bit more about it on the blog! So let's dive in!First up, is our set of three drawer units, from Walmart. We keep the kids everything in here.
On top, you will find their individual wooden utensil caddy's (from superstore/ kitchen area) as well as their scrapbooks.
Right now, it looks like I will need to replenish the pencils because those things disappear like leprechauns around here.What we love about the caddy's, is that they are easy to move and set on the table when it's table time and store away nicely on top of their drawer unit.What we love about the drawer units, is that we can keep only what is really important to them and the main subjects. It's really language arts and math, with a bit of art and playing. The contents sort of change but I like to keep what they are doing in there. My middle son really likes his very simple and likes to be in control of what goes it at all times so I can't really spring anything new in there, which was what lead me to one of the next supplies on this list. Keep reading to find out that is! We also put in some snacks and treats, usually in the math drawer, so when they get to it they are rewarded for continuing on.
Let's look inside the drawers:
Let's start with Connors drawers:
On the top of his drawers he has his caddy, scrapbooks and his latest math link cube creation.
In drawer #1: His salt tray for writing practice and journal that they all have, for novel studies.
Drawer 2 is his own created school books, made by him and I. He has his Slime rancher counting & storybook that we do daily, as well as his poem of the song that plays at the end of the game, that he loves and he reads often. This is all his own interest and based on his favorite computer game Slime Rancher on steam. He absolutely loves this game and it's a great game I happy allow him playing it. It counts for counting, reading and so much more.
3rd drawer: is his math drawer. We keep counters and ten frames in the tin, and any other math project he is working on at the time. He was recently learning to count to 1000, with charts and chocolate chips, and that was so fun. You can read about that here.
4th drawer: this drawer seems to be more of a collection things he has made, plus his large bin of dinosaur counters.
5th drawer: he has his LEGO set he loves to build and play with after school time is over, as well as his art smock, and I see another large tinfoil ball that he made.
That's Connors set! Now for Logan's drawers:
On top we start with his caddy, that has his markers, scissors and usually pencils ✏️ Plus his alphabet flash cards, and chalkboard.
1st drawer has his journal and his salt container with a lid, for his writing practice.
2nd drawer: we have quite a few things in this drawer. Mainly his Alphabet books, and worksheets from Raz Kids plus a little chocolate egg he is saving for next time we get to his drawer.
3rd drawer: All of his math stuff. We have a tin of counters and dinosaurs with the fun counting page up to 20. His Minecraft counting book as well, which he loves and cannot live without. You can read more about what we do with my toddler in this post.
4th drawer: seems to have books and drawings he has done and some extra puzzles and activities he may want to get to when it's 4th drawer time.
5th drawer: Art smock, yarn to practice his cutting skills with, and his LEGO set that he loves to play with as well as Connor.
That's Logan's set! Now for Claire's drawers:
On top is her caddy for her markers, scissors and other things she needs. Again ✏️ I need to put on the list. Lol.
1st drawer: her journal and salt container with a lid.
2nd drawer: she has a second salt tray, that she has jammed with some of her LOL dolls, they were having a snow party in the salt. This was an end of school thing that is still in there. It will be a fun thing to bring out when school starts up again. She loves to play and learn so we include her LOL Dolls in her school day.
3rd drawer: it's math. She has a tin of counters as well, plus a few extras. We have the addition and subtraction wrap-ups, which I heard was good to use. We are hoping to use them more this year with all the kids. We have a 10-minute timer, to help keep our lessons at the table short and sweet. And her math books underneath.
4th drawer: this is her Language Arts drawer. We have the Minecraft Guided Reading books and vocabulary words, which I have created, plus her rainbow words/sight words program she is using and her Raz Kids readers she has been working on. She also has a binder where she likes to store a lot of other things in once accomplished.
5th drawer: Again, it's more little toys for after school time and she also puts things she has made. She does a lot of clay builds too which cannot be stored here. Maybe this year we will rethink this last drawer for something.And that's the kids' drawers!
Ok let's swing around the room and I'll show you a few other things.
The kids bulletin boards.
This was the brilliant idea that I came up with to solve the problem I was having with my middle son, where he wouldn't want anything new placed inside his drawers. But I needed to be able to present his new pages and whatnot, as well as show off the cool stuff he made. Enter in, the bulletin board. They work hand in hand with their drawers. In the end, all the kids wanted one. We keep our weekly worksheets or focus pages pinned up there. So now they can see what's new a lot easier and they can grab them right off of their own bulletin board. They also pin up any art project they have done or want to keep working on that week.
Next up is the Ikea Cart that I have have been hearing is a super popular homeschool room accessory. It works really great for us and can be moved around the table or even into the living room and kitchen.
On top, we have the Raz kids books and worksheets, in the levels they are working at right now. I just love Raz Kids, and so do they.
The next two drawers have some of their things for extra lessons like letters and sponges. It's more for extra storage. Since I moved the Homeschool space upstairs I really decreased what I keep here to only what we need. I have another storage room or closet or two for other things as well.
Next up is our tea time set. It makes all subjects just a bit more special. We don't use it every day but once in a while. We found this set at a thrift store, Value Village. I crocheted the teapot cozy and the placemat for it. You can read about that project here.
We have one shelf in the space opposite the table. It holds the extra supplies we need to get to, as well.
And simply, the two most popular supplies my sons cannot live without Math-link Cubes and molding clay.
They play and build with these two things more than I could have ever thought possible. They become different things and do different things constantly. You can read about my toddlers collection of math-link cube designs here.?And lastly, the supply we cannot live without the computers. Yes, we have a few computers. (My awesome Computer programming husband, finds broken ones and fixes them up for us to use). Computers have been a huge part of our Homeschool, from the very beginning when we used reading eggs and math seeds when the kids were in preschool and kindergarten. The computer helped my daughter, who struggled with upper and lower case letters with typing in Minecraft.
Computers and rob-lox also help us with times of sheer boredom during those winter months. (But Let's face it, they love rob-lox any time of year).
And my laptop, which has been a fixed up machine we keep tweaking. I have been using this to create the soon to Launch ? 10 week Art + Literature Curriculum Plan, a creative journey through Italy, France, England, Scotland and Ireland, called the Build Your Masterpiece Class.I will be sharing more about this class when it's all ready to go, or at least when I'm a bit closer! Stay tuned for more about it. I am so excited and so our kids too. They can't wait to start it this fall.And that wraps up our homeschool supplies, for our back to school 2018 photo challenge on instagram, plus it's so fun to talk about. I have been meaning to do a post like this so this is great. ?I hope your August Long Weekend is a great one!Till next time,Breathe deeply and enjoy building your masterpiece with scissors and glue,~Alexandra