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My Homeschool "Must Haves"Posted on Friday 22 June 2007 at 8:44 AM in Homeschooling - Post CommentKelly at Pass the Torch http://2passthetorch.com/ is gathering up everyone's tips for beginner homeschoolers. I wanted to re-post a couple that I felt would fit this. When I started homeschooling, I wanted to create the school environment here at home. I found a school desk at a yard sale, bought all kinds of school supplies. Now that I have a couple years of homeschooling under my belt (we are finishing second grade) I've found mosst of that stuff hardly got used. The desk is sitting in our storage unit waiting to be sold at our yard sale. There are many things we use each day for homeschooling...binders, pencils, big erasers and especially the Bible...but there are a few things I've found that really work for us:Dry Erase Board and Markers - We use this for everything. Our 2' x 3' dry erase board serves as our chalk board as we learn different subjects. Boo used to practice writing his letters on it and he uses it now to write out his math problems and spelling words. You don't even need a dry erase board...just a plastic page protector with a blank white paper in it...which is what we use when we travel. For younger kids you can put in alphabet/number/shape pages and have them trace them...and you don't have to keep making copies. Dice - Not just the standard 6-sided dice, but we have 4-, 8-, 10- and 20- sided dice also. Dominos can be used too...we have the ones that go up to 24. Instead of printing out math problems I give Boo the dice and he rolls them out, writes down the numbers on the two dice and adds them together or subtracts the greater number from the lesser. I also plan on doing the same thing when we really get into multiplication. Sometimes I'll give him 3 or 4 dice and have him add the numbers together. It's one of his favorite ways to do math. Index Cards - I use them as flashcards for everything...math problems, spelling words, vocabulary words, phonics rules, Bible verses etc. They are also portable. I had some extra shower curtain rings...you know the thin, cheap metal ones...and put the index cards on one of those rings after punching holes in the corners. They all stay together and Boo can take them anywhere. Library Card - It's amazing the wealth of resources the library has...even our tiny county library. It's also amazing the amount of money saved instead of renting DVD's or buying books. Laminator - Print it up once, laminate it and re-use it over and over again. Dry erase markers work on these too! I laminate maps, lists, forms, Bible verses, cursive alphabet for tracing etc. The Internet - Honestly...I can't imagine homeschooling without it. These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. If you homeschool, what are your "must haves?"
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