{Day 4} Where Do Homeschool Families Get Supplies?
{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}
To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.
Homeschooling is about much more than just books. Homeschool families use many different kinds of resources for learning and practicing the things they do. Audio and visual tools, puzzles and games, components and kits, computers and tablets, software and apps, workbooks and sketch pads are just some of the resources found in a typical homeschooler’s toolkit.
Where do homeschool families find all of these resources? Is there a central distribution center for homeschool materials, or may families locate and select what they like entirely on their own?
There is no single place to obtain homeschool products. Not every homeschool is the same, so this method wouldn’t make sense anyway. Because homeschooling is flexible and unique, families may source materials any way they like, according to their individual needs and budget.
There are many places for families to find books and other materials for homeschools. Some families get into a pattern of purchasing the same kinds of resources from the same company year after year. Other families prefer to mix and match items from many different sources over the years as needed.
A list of just some of the places that homeschoolers obtain materials can be found, below. The list represents only a small subset of the many sources of valuable homeschool products (*):
- Homeschool curriculum web sites, like R.O.C.K. Solid and Rainbow Resource Center
- Online teacher stores, like Discount School Supply and American Classroom Supply
- Homeschool co-op purchasing programs, like Homeschool Buyers Co-op
- Homeschool conventions and events, like those listed on Homeschool Conventions and Great Homeschool Conventions
- Brick-and-mortar book stores, retail stores and niche retailers, like Barnes & Noble, Target and Hobby Lobby
- Specialty stores, like Carolina Biological Supply and ETA Cuisenaire Homeschool
- Office supply stores, like Staples and Office Depot
- Dollar stores
- Lending libraries
- Relatives, friends and neighbors
- Thrift stores
- Yard sales
- Swap groups, like those found on Facebook and Yahoo!
- Classifieds and message boards found in most communities
- Used book stores
- Library book sales
- Homeschooler book swaps by local homeschool groups
- Borrowing from other families
- Warehouse sales and local district book sales, like Scholastic Book Fairs and Scholastic Warehouse Sales
- Web sites offering free materials, like Freecycle
In additional to resources ordinarily considered “educational”, anything at all can be used to meet educational goals. Just because one family does not view something as educational, another might find exceptional value in a particular resource when viewing it through the lens of their own homeschool. Thus, the previous list represents only a small subset of the many sources of valuable homeschool products. Thousands of useful items exist for homeschooling, from measuring cups to rubber bands!
Keep in mind, too, that many families enjoy making their own homeschool materials from scratch, either entirely, or by selecting bits and pieces of other items and combining them together to form a larger unit. Combinations are endless.
I have devoted an entire chapter in my book, Suddenly Homeschooling, to sourcing homeschool materials for a full year of school. You’ll find that book HERE.
(*) Inclusion does not imply endorsement. Click HERE for details.
You might also like:
Organizing a homeschool library
Holding a successful curriculum swap
