Our Homeschool / Distance Learning Space + Shopping List
When we got the news a month ago that our school (and most California schools) would be moving to distance learning this fall, I honestly felt relieved. We see my parents and 101 year old grandma almost every day and going back to school would have meant staying away from them to keep them safe. Of course, it doesn’t mean that I’m not completely overwhelmed and disappointed to not have in-person school for our kids who need socialization. BUT given the shitty circumstances of everything, when we weighed all of our options, this is what works best for us for now. And since my head is spinning with figuring out how to work and manage two kids and distance learning all at once, the way I manage my stress is to figure out how to organize chaos. Whenever I feel like my life is out of my control, I organize stuff. I thought it would make things a little more fun for all of us if we could re-do our office space in our house to create a better, more organized spot for learning. This room has essentially been the kids’ art room for a couple of years but now I am transitioning it to be a mini classroom.
Here’s the shopping list I’ve been working on for things we are using this year for a 6.5 year old in first grade and a 3.5 year old who would've been going into her first year of preschool (😭). I did my best to source things from small businesses and makers and not from Amazon whenever possible. I still totally bought some stuff from Amazon so I’m not judging you if you do shopping there! I just wanted to do my best to support smaller businesses where I could!
First Grade:
Mini Chalkboards (we did the BYO travel pack)
A Cute/Modern World Map
Gathre USA Map (for learning but also art projects)
Montessori Wooden Toy Clock (to learn to tell time)
Acrylic/Dry Erase Weekly Calendar (to help keep us on track)
Preschool:
People Colors Crayons so she can draw her friends in all of their skin-tones
We already have a ton of Montessori/Waldorf style toys at home so she’ll do a lot of play with those. My favorite toy shop for kids is Merci Milo and they carry a ton of these toys and are a small, family-owned shop.
The other things I added to the room were this washable rug since our other one was trashed. Hoping that since its washable, we’ll get a longer life out of it. My kids are really great at trashing things so we’ll see! We already had that magnetic board that was painted with chalkboard paint. I’m sure you could whip up something similar with supplies from Lowe’s. I also got these labels custom-made for the stacking bins I got from Container Store. I like keeping most of the supplies higher up or else my 3 year old will just dump everything on the floor. I think that’s most of it but if there’s anything you see in photos you want to know about, let me know. And if there’s anything you want to add to the lists, also let me know!
