Who loves back to school commercials? Even though our children don’t go back to school in the traditional sense, I love seeing the commercials advertising notebooks, pens, pencils, and more! Walking through the back to school aisles in the store can be so much fun. Brand new boxes of crayons, stacks of construction paper, fancy notebooks, and a plethora of folders are waiting to jump in my shopping cart. In fact, my husband went shopping today and I asked him to pick up some surprise homeschool supplies for me.
For homeschoolers, maybe your back to school shopping includes catalogs to curriculum companies arriving on your doorstep or even boxes of new materials as you supplement a favorite online curriculum. Perhaps your children even get involved in the process and circle items they want to include for gameschooling or for their electives.
We have been very fortunate that we do not need to make many homeschooling shopping purchases each year. Even when our oldest was going to public school, we were blessed with his grandparents taking him back to school shopping for supplies and new clothes as part of the new school year traditions. This has continued even with his being homeschooled and includes his younger siblings, too.
Even in the current climate of concern regarding opening of schools and more families choosing homeschooling, shopping for school supplies can provide a distraction and a chance to bond with fellow parents. Whether our children are going to public school, an online school, being homeschooled, or a combination of all three, we can share in the excitement of restocking our shelves for a new year of learning and adventures together.
Are you wondering what surprise homeschool supplies my husband picked up? He purchased the binders, notebooks, and tape that were on the list as well as new whiteboard markers and a whiteboard eraser. We use our large whiteboard to keep track of important information and our two smaller ones for our younger two homeschooled children so having new markers and an eraser is fantastic. What homeschool supplies will you pick up this year?
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Thank you to Kristen at A Mom’s Quest to Teach for writing this article. Kristen is a housewife and mother to a teenage stepson and two younger children. She is a certified social studies teacher and has worked as a volunteer at a National Park site, in the education department of a metropolitan zoo, and as a high school history teacher.
