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Hear me say this: Your homeschool will be different than my homeschool. What is best for my homeschool may not be best for your homeschool. (Now reread that 3x before continuing on, haha).

In all seriousness, it matters to me that the words I write are truly beneficial and encouraging to other homeschool families. I do not want to heap more demands, standards, and expectations on already over-worked parents trying their hardest to educate their children.

With that in mind, the products that I share below, I own and utilize in our homeschool. They really are helpful to me and it is why I am sharing them here. However, do you NEED these to homeschool your kids successfully?

No.

Could they help you, like they help me?

Maybe.

Now that I’ve talked you down, let me try to hype you up again, haha. Thus without further ado, (in no particular order) let me introduce them! Drum roll please….

Item 1: Visual Timer

I use this thing for both school and daily life, multiple times a day. I love the visual emphasis of this timer, especially for young children.

My bears carry this with them around the house to do their piano practice, set reading times and so much more.

Example from how I used this just this morning: “Stay outside and play 30 minutes….***Sets up timer outside so all three bears can see it***”

It’s a super simple tool but so efficient and frankly, makes life a little easier on mom. No more, “How much longer?!?!?!”

Item 2: Elementary Dictionary

Y’all. This dictionary is so good for kids. We’ve had ours for years, (ours is falling apart). The words, images, and formatting in this dictionary are clear, fun, and consice (perfect for kiddos). Dictionary skills are so effective in helping children as they develop their grammar skills! Adult dictionaries will do just fine, but if anything can be just a little easier in the learning process, I’m for it. This dictionary does just that!

Item 3: Interactive Globe

Another item we’ve had for years and my kids go back to all the time. Again, any globe will do, but I have see the benefits of an interactive globe. Middle bear used to take our interactive globe and dance to all of the countries national anthems. (Iran was his favorite). Having the globe talk back to them as they point to different places helps grow their geographical knowledge without them even realizing it! This is also a useful tool if you have an older kid you need to focus on for a time and a younger one that you’d like to keep busy for a bit without relying on the tv.

Item 4: Abacus

Frankly, I get overwhelmed with something that includes too many little pieces I have to keep up with. Math curriculums will try and sell you lots of little items for your kids to count. I’ve never found that I actually needed them. An abacus is something we’ve had on the shelf since big bear first started schoolling. It is a great way to add visualization to math without having a hundred little pieces of one thing or another scattered on your floor!

Item 5: All-in-One Printer

Yet again, another item we’ve had for years! This Canon all-in-one printer has been perfect for all of our homeschool needs. The whole family uses it daily. I’ve never had to take it in for repairs. It is simple to use but can handle printing out a full curriculm packet, scanning flash cards, etc. Ours sits on top of our homeschool bookself and functions like a dream. I rarely replace the toner. (I chose to just buy the monochrome printer – not the color version). I’ve got nothing bad to say here with this tool, only good things!

Item 6: White Board

I love our white board! I find myself taking pictures often of what information our white board has collected at the end of a school day. I’m a huge visual learner and a big advocate for presenting information in different forms. Having a white board in your school room (or wherever you’re educating) can be so handy! We will draw sea animals, write spelling words, unpack a science lesson, and so much more on our white board. Find what size works best for your space and get one. Ours is pretty large because we use it so often.

Item 7: The Action Bible

I have three boys, so I’m not sure if this will appeal to girls in the same way it does my boys. It is WAY more visual than your average kid bible, so I imagine it will appeal to all kids, not just boys. We read this daily in our homeschool. Reading this is a great and simple way to give your children an overview of the bible that is simple enough for them to understand paired with kid-appropriate images that help them understand all the more. One section/story only takes 5-10 minutes to read, (so it’s easy to be consistent also).

Item 8: Microscope

We’ve had SO much fun with our microscope! Find a pond, collect some water, put it on a slide, look through the microscope and be FASCINATED! Seriously, the microscopic world is fascinating (woah, nerdy). Legit though, it’s fun to watch your kids’ faces light up as they see a microscopic creature moving under the microscopic lens. Just trust me, it’s fun!

Item 9: World History Timeline

Again, visual learner here who loves visuals! World history can be challenging to grasp simply because there is SO much to learn! I love having a large world history timeline hanging in our homeschool room. Before every history lesson, my bears sit in front of the poster and I point to where on the timeline our lesson is coming from for that day. To me, this helps take abstract ideas and provide some “concreteness” to it!

Item 10: Typing Instructor Program

I cannot tell you how much easier this program has made my homeschool life. Big bear and middle bear are excellent typers (5th and 3rd grade) and I have not had to lift a finger! Let me repeat that, I HAVE NOT HAD TO LIFT A FINGER. I hope that sunk in. We specifically used typer island and my boys loved it. I required they do 10 minutes every day. That’s it.

Once they learned how to log on and get started, I never had to help them again. It is very child friendly and self-explanatory. Just 10 minutes a day and their progress continued to the point where they, at 8 and 11 years old, are excellent typers. It is set up a bit like a game which was the appealing part to my boys. This has been one of the easiest and most successful tools I have every used in our homeschool and I had to share!

Happy shopping! I’d love to hear what tools/products you most use in your homeschooling day in the comments below!