Our Favorite Learning Tools

We are entering our 17th year of homeschooling. During this time, as I’m sure you can imagine, I have learned SO many things. We have graduated 3 kiddos using a more eclectic style. I have been able to pick the best curriculum or programs for each child. I can teach children of just about any age. I’m also the one that gets to decide what learning tools come into our home each year.

Disclosure: the links in this post are affiliate links to products that we have purchased, use regularly, and LOVE!!

Every year we set aside a certain budget for our curriculum, books, supplies, and anything else we will need for the year. When we make that budget I make sure to add in different hands-on learning tools that we think will be good for the kids. When the kids were in younger grades more of our budget went towards hands-on learning as they have gotten more towards the older grades we have purchased many of our hands-on learning tools and they don’t use them quite as much anymore.

Today I am making a list of our all-time favorite learning tools. This will include things that we used a ton with both younger kids as well as older ones. I will work on getting together a list of great learning tools for the younger kids next. If you would like to view our FULL LIST of everything we recommend for homeschooling, head over to my Amazon Storefront. I’m constantly updating this list so be sure to check back often. The list will only include our all-time favorite items. Anything we used for a year or a couple of months and never used again will not be included on this list.

Our Favorite Learning Tools

Dry Erase Pockets

These not only were used a TON, but they are also one of my favorite investments. They are especially helpful for the younger years. Just print a page out once, slide it into the page protector and you can reuse the worksheets. We used them for individual calendar time pages too. Each kiddo had their own morning work pages when they were younger. We would slip each of the pages into these and put them in a basket on the shelf with an eraser and dry erase marker. Then the kids would do their morning work, show it to me, then erase it.

Dry Erase Markers

To this day I use the name brand dry-erase markers. When I purchase off-brand markers they run out of ink pretty quickly. We keep a pack of big tips and smaller tips on hand at all times. Then store the smaller tipped ones in the photo containers listed below.

• Fine point markers. These are the best for kids tracing on the page protectors or laminated pages, or filling in a dry erase board or calendar.
• Chisel big tip markers
• Dry erase/magnetic marker board

Card Stock

When printing out printables for younger kids, lapbooks, and many other things you definitely need to use card stock. This is the best quality and cheapest I could find and what I always keep on hand. I am sharing a list of the different colors. I always have a bunch of these on hand to use as well. Then when I need to print something off on colored cardstock I have it ready to go.

• white cardstock
• Lots of colors of cardstock

Laminating Machine

I reluctantly purchased one of the cheaper laminating machines. I did this and hoped that it would be good. Well 12 years later it is still working perfectly. So this is the one I will recommend to others. I am listing the 2 different types of laminating pouches we have ever used. We have the card laminators which are good for misc things and nice to have but we rarely use I purchased the variety pack below once, many years ago, and still have them. I mostly use 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages, the ones listed below I can laminate multiple items in the same pouch and cut them out.

• card laminating pouches variety pack
• regular page size pouches
• our laminator still going strong after 12 years of use

Paper Cutter

This handy tool has been such a life saver or hand saver really lol. It cuts through card stock, paper, and even laminated pages. I have had to replace the blades on it multiple times as they get dull with repeated use.

• paper cutter
• cutter replacement blades

Magazine Bins

One of the investments we make every single school year is magazines. It has been a super fun way for the kids to learn all kinds of things. When they were younger it was magazines like national geographic little kids or Thomas The Tank magazine. Now it is the big National Geographic magazines and God’s World. Some of my kiddos will sit for hours reading the stories in the magazines.

Later on the magazines will get used by other kids too. Well they will if they are out and accessible for them to be found by the kids. This is where the magazine bins are great. I just store each of the different magazines we get int he mail or used to get into one of these bins. I set them on a shelf and kids can go through them whenever they want to.

They are also good for storing folders, school books, and all kinds of other things. I originally purchased the cardboard Ikea magazine bins, which were good for a short time. They really fell apart too quickly and I made the investment the next year for these ones that are much sturdier.

Photo Storage Boxes

These photo storage boxes are amazing. We use them to store all kinds of little things. That was they are easy to find and not floating around a drawer or desk. You can read exactly how we used them and used to store many of our homeschool books and misc items in one of our previous posts. Some ideas to get you started on how you can use them in your homeschool:

• paper clips
• crayons
• scissors
• small papers to keep together
• markers
• label maker refills
• calendar cards
• small sensory items
• dry erase markers
• pens or pencils
• erasers
• small post-it notes
• rubber bands

Book Binding Machine

I LOVE our book binding machine. When I first debated purchasing it, I wondered if I would actually get enough use out of it to warrant buying one. Well let me tell you it has saved me a ton of money so far and is still going strong. When we purchase curriculum for the year if possible I purchase the PDF files instead of ordering books. Then I just print the pages out and bind them into books myself. Super simple!! I have used memberships that give you free books and made actual books with our binding machine. This has been an absolute must have in our homeschool.

Don’t forget to get the plastic pages that go on the front and back of the books too. This helps protect them from getting dirty and I’m glad I purchased them. Belwo are the 3 different size combs we have purchased. Honestly, they are the only sizes we have ever needed. We have the following

• Book Binding Machine – This is the newest model of the one we purchased. Since we bought ours over 10 years ago, that model is no longer available.
• Plastic covers for the front and back of books
• 1/4 inch combs good for small books about 20-25 pages.
• 3/8 inch combs good for medium books about 55 pages.
• 3/4 inch combs good for bigger books and workbooks about 150 pages. this is the one I use most often for homeschool workbooks.

Scissors

This is a simple thing, or at least it sounds that way. Well why is it that my good scissors are always missing. Or rather, were. Now I need a couple pairs in a spot the kids don’t look often. Having a nice pair of scissors when I need them is the best. These are my favorite scissors that last a long time and stay super sharp!

File Bin

I have found a perfect file bin that doenst’ look like a file bin. I store the month’s worth of Mother Good Time curriculum in there. That way I don’t have a box laying around and it looks like a nice storage tote. Below you can see it in use with the first month’s curriculum.

Book Baskets

After 17 years of homeschooling the one thing I have accumulated a TON of is books. I think that a good book can teach children just about anything. So we have tons of chapter books, picture books, science books, and just about any type of books you can imagine. The chapter books fit nicely on a book shelf but the picture books are a more difficult thing to organize. This is where book baskets come in.

You get 1 basket for a subject and then fill the basket with the books from that subject. So for example we have a basket for each of the seasons, the leveled easy readers gets a basket, animals, different science topics I have enough books for. Then I do like to organize the chapter book series into a basket as well. That way when a kiddo is looking for a particular book series they only have to look for the basket. Below is our bookshelf storage before moving to our new house. I will have to get an updated photo for you. The organization is still similar.

When the topic we are learning about with our younger kids changes, I pull out those themed books and put them onto an Ikea photo ledge so the kids can read them whenever they would like to. I have linked to a similar product on Amazon, I’m not sure the quality, but it the exact same thing that we use for the books. I will eventually get a book cart, THIS ONE in particular . But for now

More Favorite Purchases

I have been working on putting together a bigger list of things we use on a regular basis in am Amazon storefront. You can find the store HERE which includes more of our favorite homeschool purchases and a bunch more ideas. As I stated above, I am regularly updating it, so check back occasionally for more great recommendations.

Final Thoughts

So there you have my very long winded list of the top items I would purchase over and over again for my homeschool. Even after 17 years of teaching my kiddos these are the all time favorites. I will be working on putting together a post of all the Pre-k – K purchases that are well worth the investment as I think that is a post all in and of itself.

What are your favorite items you would add to my list? Leave a comment below letting me know, I would love to hear from you.