What We Really Needed Our First Year of Homeschool

Markers. Pencils. Paper. Check. When it came to getting the basics stocked for our first year of homeschool I had checked all the boxes. We had all of the basic supplies that we could snag at Target all organized neatly. And honestly, that would have been more than sufficient for supplies needed for the year without a bunch of fancy things.

But as our year kept progressing and we started to find our homeschooling style and rythm, there were quite a few items that I added to my "must have" supply list.

First of all, once we hit the end of our Christmas break, I could barely find any magic markers that worked and all of the crayons had also been broken by bearing down too hard. This spring and summer I have been more diligent about keeping the supplies up and out of the way of the baby and setting clear boundaries with the boys. It also really helps that these things have a dedicated space to be put away. Long story short, buy more than you think you will need when it comes to the basic school supplies!

Now I know to make sure to get plenty of those basic supplies in the beginning because as homeschoolers we do go through a lot! But there were also some random items that I would never have thought about that I ended up adding to my list. I'll go through a few of them below and share the homeschool supply list that I compiled myself.

Laminator and Laminating Sheets

Truth be told, I used my laminator a lot more when I had all preschoolers/toddlers but this thing is really just a workhorse for me around the house. Reusable checklists, budget sheets, Christmas gift tags and even costume parts for Halloween! For homeschool use, I really just used the laminator to to create our own cards for our Classical Conversation memory work and utilizing extra units that complimented our science and history. *If a laminator is not in the budget, you can find laminated pockets at the Target Dollar section during back to school sale and sometimes at the Dollar Tree.

Binder Rings and Fasteners

Perhaps if you were a teacher previously, you know how handy these things are to have around but I learned the hard way when some of our activities were halted because we did not have either of these. Our curriculum, The Good and The Beautiful, had 1-2 lessons that needed fasteners and honesly I haven't thought about those since I was in elementary so I did not think to buy them at first. Binder rings were suggested by several homeschool bloggers to keep some printed CC memory work together and flash cards etc. These are inexpensive and just a good thing to keep on hand just in case.

Binding Machine

We are living in an incredible time for homeschool families! There is a pleathora of curriculum, unit studies and supplemental materials to choose from that is often free or very low cost! Gone are the days of having to choose your curriculum from a mail order catalog and spending a fortune to make sure you were compliant (like the few years that I was homeschooled). But if you are like me, I have file after file of unit studies and curriculum that I need to print out but need somewhere to put it. Binders are bulky and portfolio pockets can get super expensive. Enter the binding machine! Print your own curriculum as a budget friendly option and bind it yourself at home to keep it neat. This might be a luxury item after all the necessities are taken care of but definitely one to consider along with a great quality high capacity printer!

Watercolors

When we first started our homeschool year I thought that the small Crayola watercolor tray from Target would be fine for the whole year but little did I know that watercolor would become a huge part of our homeschool journey. At least 2 times per week on the back half of the year we would experiment with watercolors and watch different tutorials on Youtube. Those dinky little Crayola trays were fine when it was every now and then but once it became a weekly part of our homeschool it was time to upgrade. There were some great options on Amazon and they even had bulk watercolor paper in various sizes. My kids love using the 5x7 watercolor paper to create paintings to send to family!

A lot of these items that I have added to our homeschool journey have come in great handy! I'm sure as my oldest continues in his studies we will add more and more but for now this is our list for this 2025-2026 school year. Let me know what you would add to this list in the comments below!

Basic School Supplies:

Assorted tip markers

Colored pencils

Sharpened #2 pencils

Pencil sharpener

Crayons

Notebooks

Handwriting paper

Blunt scissors

Ruler

Loose leaf paper

Personal whiteboard

Expo markers

Expo eraser

Office Supplies:

Stapler and Staples

3 Hole Punch

Binders

Staple Remover

Pens

Highlighters

Laminator

Laminate sheets

Paper cutter (with slides for houses with young children)

Adult scissors

Single hole punch

Binder rings of various sizes

Fasteners in fun colors

Hot glue gun

Craft Supplies:

Washable paint

Watercolors

Oil pastels

Chalk

Glue sticks

Paint brushes

Craft paper

Watercolor paper

Art portfolio book

Air dry clay

Other Supplies to Make Things Easy:

Binding machine

High capacity printer

Tablet

Yoto Player

Microscope

Telescope

Binoculars

Printed world map

Globe

Corner round puncher

Chalk board or whiteboard on wall

Audiobook subscription (Audible, Librofm, Hoopla)