While I am fairly minimal when it comes to curriculum, materials, and supplies for our homeschool, I do have some favorites to share! If you are new to homeschooling, don’t let this list overwhelm you. Start with the basics and add to your collection over time. Homeschooling can be done well with a library card and a few essentials.

If you are looking to add to your supply cabinet, this list will point you in the right direction of what you may need to get started, as well as brands, types, and sizes that have worked well for us. This blog post is a round-up of my very top essentials and favorites in multiple categories and academic subjects.

For a full list of recommendations, visit my Amazon storefront.

If you are curious about how I store and organize our homeschool supplies, check out this YouTube video where I share a full tour of our homeschool space.

Office supplies and lesson preparation

These are the office supplies I use for organizing and preparing our homeschool lessons. Most of these stay in my home office area.

Ink-jet printer and printer paper
Laminator and laminating sheets
3 hole punch
Stapler
Paper cutter (If your paper cutter is dull or out of alignment, ask about having it sharpened at your local hardware store!)
3-ring binders: 1-inch and 3-inch– I like to use these to store and organize curriculum, as well as my children’s work.
Clear envelope dividers – These are great for organizing sheets that you don’t want hole-puched, but still stored in a binder.
3-ring binder dividers
Binding machine – You can turn any digital curriculum or guide into a bound book with this.

School room organization and decor

Homeschool area ideas

These resources keep our school area looking pretty and organized at the same time! My favorite ones on this list are the posters and garden caddy I use to hold jars of pencils, markers, etc!

Paper organizer – We store cardstock, tracing paper, printer paper, and watercolor paper in this in our school area.
Label maker – I use this to label things in the school area to help keep them organized!
Craft storage boxes – These are great for small loose parts and math manipulatives.
Baskets – I keep books, art supplies, and pretty much anything in pretty baskets all around the school area.
Garden caddy (similar) – I put supplies like colored pencils and markers in mason jars inside this caddy. It goes in the middle of our school table for everyone to reach.
Wide-mouth mason jars
Picture ledge – We put our week’s books on the ledge for easy reach and wall decor!
Poster hangers
Cavalini posters
Candle holders and beeswax candles – We light a candle for Morning Time to set the tone. The kids can roll these beeswax ones themselves.

General school use

These are the tools we reach for every day. The most unpredictable on this list? The cookbook holder! We use it to hold books open while we are researching or replicating drawings and art.

Pencils
Pencil sharpener
Copy paper
Cardstock
Clipboards
Small whiteboards – We keep these handy for solving math problems or writing out a sentence for copywork. So many uses!
Whiteboard markers
Bluetooth speaker – We stream music and audiobooks on our speaker almost daily!
Restaurant menu covers – These are perfect for preserving and displaying sheets like traceable calendar, hymns, folk songs, poetry, and more.
Daily Rhythm Cards – These are a game changer for keeping peace in our school day and making transitions easier.
Velcro strips – I use these to hang the Daily Rhythm Cards.
Cookbook holder – We use this to hold open books for display, observation, and research.
Timers – We use timers to help keep lessons short or for timed math and independent reading time.
Mixed media sketchbooks – We love these for notebooking and art!

Arts and craft supplies

Best homeschool art supply list

I use these items for art classes, art replications, notebooking pages, and general drawing, painting, and coloring during school.

Handcrafts

These are my favorite handcrafts to do during read alouds or in the afternoons.

Language, phonics, and handwriting

Alphabet cards learning to read

These materials are key during learning to read in a multi-sensory way.

Sandpaper letters
Mini chalkboards
Alphabet stamps
Handwriting books – These are our favorite for print and cursive handwriting.
Phonics books – These are our favorite for phonics.
Handwriting paper
Moveable alphabet
Wonder of Nature Alphabet Cards
Wonder of Nature Alphabet Sheets

Math

These are fun additions to our math lessons, especially when we need something hands-on to help make connections or just to mix things up!

Nature study

Homeschool Nature Study Ideas

Here are some resources we use as we study nature through the seasons.

Download a FREE week of Treehouse Nature Study

Geography, history, and science

I’ve used these materials year after year as we study geography, history, and science.

I hope this list will help you select items that will enhance your homeschool experience and prepare you for year of fun and learning! Let us know your must-have items in the comments below!