Homeschooling from the Heart

For most of us, we like to home school on a budget. This means scouring second hand stores for treasured books, popping into Dollar Stores for construction paper and pencils and finding a multitude of uses for everyday items - Who knew a cookie sheet was really a magnet board, a foundation for a rock and water world and a musical instrument???

Recently, I purchased a couple of inexpensive schooling supplies that have me and my kids a little bit giddy.

The first item is a clipboard. We love the clipboard for taking our work on the road i.e. field trips, car rides, and nature walks. We tie a pencil through the clip at the top and the kids are good to go.

The second item is a magnifying glass. With a magnifying glass my kids are able to get "close-up" to bugs under a rock, the veins in a leaf or the 6 points of a snowflake that has fallen on their mitten.

Below is a photo of my daughter exploring the needles from a pine tree. With her magnifying glass she was able to better see the shape and texture of the needles. We cut a needle open and she was able to see the texture inside the needle as well. Oh look - she's using her clipboard too! :)


I have a couple of homeschooling friends who shared with me some of their favourite schooling supplies. (Feel free to share your favourite supplies in the comment area at the bottom of this post).

~ Magnetic white board
~ Thermometers
~ Liquid graphite pencils (don't need sharpening)
~ Plexiglas (get a piece cut from Home Depot and use as a white board or as an overlay on a map or other activity that you don't want to permanently write on).
~ File folder box (to store memorization flashcards - rotate through cards occasionally for review).