Episode 87: Homeschool Tools
Just like any creative adventure, in homeschooling, you need a toolbox to make building your dream homeschool life the way you want it! We discuss ten tools with links to make it easy for you to get to work with ease and awe. We also answer the question, “What do you do first thing in the morning during the school year?”
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Scoop on the Coop
We have a back to school sale on our shop! Homeschooled themed tote bags, stickers, tank tops, baseball tees, crew cut tees, pajamas, and some of the tools we are going to talk about next!
Homeschool Tools
George Herbert, 17th century poet, said, “Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” The tools we list here are mostly at your fingertips and are not hard to find. Start here!
1) Libraries on the App and In-Person
On the App:
This one is our favorite simple tool that makes learning and enjoying literature so easy! We are consistently meeting people who do not know anything about their local or county library app which provides a huge variety of free audio books. Perfect for developing our own minds as busy homeschool moms. Children who do not love reading might love listening to books, so try it for them too. Connect it in your car while driving and have a book club discussion together as a family when you finish!
In-Person:
A bookstore where all the books are free!?! Yes please! Library exploration exposes our children and ourselves to books we hadn’t thought of and would not find on Amazon. Being immersed with beautiful books can be such an inspiring experience - and it’s free.
2) Homeschool Starter Pack - Volume 1
This downloadable short activity book for homeschool parents, new and seasoned, helps you define your homeschool mission, plan your year, set up your space, find curriculum that fits you and your child, and promotes ways for your child to learn independently. These first five steps are a great way to reset the year to make your homeschool life - yours. The curriculum step is a questionnaire of just five questions that helps you consider your philosophy and path. Questions include multiple choice answers for ideas like what role you play in your child’s education and what subjects are of highest priority to you.
Download the Homeschool Starter Pack - Volume 1 (by purchasing it) here.
3) Homeschool Starter Pack - Volume 2
This downloadable pack is also a short activity book for the next 5 steps after completing Volume 1. The steps take you on a journey of setting up your educational day with essentials of a homeschool day. Since homeschooling with friends is so much fun and enriches the homeschool life tremendously, we provide a questionnaire to help you figure out what kind of co-op you might be looking for. The questionnaire includes questions like foundational beliefs or values of the members, frequency of meet-ups, age range perferred, committment level, and more - some are more casual and some are more formal - and we help you figure out what kind works best for you.
Download the Homeschool Starter Pack - Volume 2 (by purchasing it) here.
4) Co-Op Pack
A homeschool group truly adds so much life and love to our homeschool lifestyle. There are already co-ops set up for academic interests like Classical Conversations. But many of us do not want an academic co-op; we want a social, connecting co-op. That is what this pack can help you establish! You do not have to reinvent the wheel - we have figured it out for you! This downloadable pack helps your dreams of a homeschool group come to life! We consistently get questions about how to run a more casual co-op and how to still grow long-lasting, deep friendships. We have done that for about five years and put our best practices into this pack with the co-op questionnaire, a sample handbook, a questionnaire that helps you determine if membership dues would be beneficial to the group and a sample policy and procedure for handling dues, and even co-op theme ideas. We definitely want to help you design the group you want - and make it a lot easier with this pack.
Download the Cooperative Pack (by purchasing it) here.
5) Child’s Interest Questionnaire
How can you help your child explore his interests, if you don’t ask or observe what they are? We wrote this questionnaire to use for our own children - and it works great! They can complete it themselves, or you can interview your child and ask them. What I love about it is that it helps my children meditate on the topics they want to study, places they want to explore, how they want to grow, and ideas they have to add to our homeschool life. There may be topics no one has considered yet, but when they see the questionnaire, they are able to then say, “Oh! That sounds really neat! I want to learn about that.” Check!
Download the Child Interest Questionnaire (free with our Starter Pack Volume 1) here.
6) About Me Activity Book
Don’t know what to do during your first week of school? This eight page downloadable book can be used every single year for the first week of school activities. It’s truly one of my children’s most favorite things we do in our entire year. Who doesn’t love writing about themselves? And then looking back on their previous year’s books? This is a time of giggles and fun as my children love to report all the quirky, silly, and interesting facts that they shared throughout the years about themselves. It’s always a highlight at the end of our first week of school when they get to see and share how they’ve changed throughout the years. We include a place to draw a portrait of themselves (which shows their growing artistic skills and creativity), we have lists for their personal facts, their favorite things, their educational facts, their beliefs about life and their faith, and a motto page for them to choose a motto that fits their mantra for their effort this year.
Download the About Me Book (by purchasing it) here.
7) Binding Machines - Spiral or Comb bound
A lot of the curriculum we buy are digital downloads for unit studies, morning time, and holiday fun. If it’s more than five sheets of paper, it needs to be bound. Three-ring-binders work - but are bulky and can get really expensive over time. We love having these binding machines instead:
Comb-binding
This allows you to keep adding pages to the back as you grow your book as needed - although a rare occasion. The comb is cheap and easy to use. Make sure you get larger combs (holding more sheets than you expect) so that the pages can easily flip back and forth. (My binding machine is no longer cost efficient, but this one shown below would be our next choice. I also prefer white combs, but all colors are available. The plastic sheet covers are necessary if you want to keep your bounded materials in good condition throughout the year.)
Spiral-binding
While this one makes it more difficult to add pages, this type of binding is a superior option. Pages turn much more easily, it’s prettier, softer, and hold the pages better. If could choose between the two binding methods, this is the one I’d go with for my downloadable curriculum. (You also will want the PVC Binding Covers, unpunched - see above.) Binding accessories come in all colors as well, but black ones are listed below. (For more about spiral binding options, this website is helpful.)
8) The Art Cart
This cart can be used for really anything. I have two carts - one as an art cart and the other for their daily academic work, books, and extra paper. It’s cute, doesn’t take up much space, rolls around as needed, and keeps everything at hand. If you can see it, you remember it! (They come in a variety of colors and tiers. We prefer the three-tiered, but on occasion, the taller four-tiered would be helpful. I like the handles being curved so I can fit a cute basket to hang on the ends or our homeschool tote bags.)
9) Facebook Groups
Every county has a Facebook Group. We have North County San Diego Homeschools for our area, plus more for all of San Diego. That’s a great tool for finding deals - offered by vendors or offered if you join a homeschool field trip. It’s a great tool for getting free stuff (or at a low cost). It’s a great tool for meeting up and finding other homeschoolers who fit what you are looking for age range, homeschool philosophy, preferred curriculum, and more. If you already use a specific curriculum, there’s probably a group for that to! Those groups offer tips and additional enrichment, you can ask questions, and connect with like-minded families throughout the country.
10) Other Homeschool Moms
We can’t imagine a better help than other homeschool moms. Their insight, their unique stories, their experience with various curriculum, their encouragement, their sisterhood, and their fun! These people are our “co-workers” and have so much to offer in wisdom and perspective. Make it a priority to connect with homeschool moms at church, at the playground, a friend-of-a-friend, at music lessons, wherever. Reach out and try. Sometimes I have one playdate with someone and know I've found a life-long friend. Other times we both know that one playdate was probably enough. But you won’t know unless you test the waters and invest in friendship. Go to that mom’s night out with your co-op. It’s worth it.
Food for Thought
Comedian (and medical doctor) Ken Jeong said, “You can have all the tools in the world but if you don't genuinely believe in yourself, it's useless.” I think trusting your instinct and your calling to parent and raise your children is the foundation of being equipped as a homeschooling parent. These 10 tools are definitely going to help you homeschool and enrich your life, but belief in the process, trusting in your convictions - that’s really going to help you use these tools. That belief is made pure and firm by reading your Bible or devotional each day. That’s something I’m going to work on in this new school year…setting my mind, heart, and spirit right with God, seeking His Glory first.
Coop Q & A
Question: What do you do first thing in the morning?
Answer: We sleep in! We read the room and get started with table time at 9:30 or 10:00 AM. We would like to get started earlier though and read our devotion or Bible and get our hearts and souls fed before feeding our children. Some fun options you can try fro a mom devotional shown below.
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