Preparing to Homeschool

We are still waiting to hear the final plans for our local school district (whether that’s in-person learning only, remote learning only, or a choice/combination between the two) - but whatever our school district decides, we’ve already made our decision. Because of the unknowns regarding COVID and how things will play out this fall and winter, we have decided to keep our kids home either way. | This post contains affiliate links |

We are waiting to hear what our district offers before we purchase a curriculum… if they offer remote learning then we will likely do that and supplement on our own with what we feel our kids need more help with or are interested in learning more about. But if they don’t offer remote learning then we will choose a curriculum and officially homeschool.

I recommend looking into what your state requires regarding homeschooling as every state is different. In New Hampshire we have a lot of flexibility and pretty basic requirements… I find this to be a blessing and curse - it’s great because it’s very open-ended… but it also makes it very difficult to choose what to do because, well - it’s very open-ended. Right now I’m in the process of looking into different curriculums (in fact I’m attending an “e-open house” online tomorrow for our 1st grader). A family member also offered to loan us some of their homeschool books from a few years ago which is very helpful. But since our kids are only going to be entering 1st grade and preschool I’m not too stressed about choosing the right curriculum for them… what they need to learn is very basic and could be taught on our own if needed without following a specific curriculum (which could be okay in our situation). Regardless, I have more homework to do in the coming weeks to decide how we’re going to handle everything.

In the meantime though, I thought it would be a good idea to start setting up our homeschool area in our home. Ideally I would love to get our 1st grader her own desk and designated school space but we just don’t have the room. Instead we worked with what we had and decided to dedicate one corner of our dining room to be our homeschool area.

We already had a chalkboard easel (similar one linked here), and decided to repurpose a small metal utility cart we already had as a shelving unit for our homeschool supplies. You could also use a 3-tier rolling cart for the same purpose.

The cart will hold most of our supplies for homeschooling. On the top shelf we have play money, sight word cards, and some basic art supplies.
On the middle shelf we have a collection of workbooks for both kids as well as their Kids Kindle Fires. We love the Kindles for playing age-appropriate educational games for each kid, and reading books for our first grader.
On the bottom shelf we have a small collection of reference books for kids, some early reader books, and a small globe. I lined the bottom of this shelf with a wooden board so the books would stand up easier.

Shop Remote Learning + Homeschool Finds on Amazon

We absolutely love the "First Big Book of.." series from National Geographic (Space is linked here). They have many in the series and our kids could spend all day looking through them.

FIRST GRADER | Again, we still haven't picked a curriculum yet - but here are some supplemental workbooks we've gotten for our 1st grader so far: Cursive Handwriting (this isn't something that is typcially taught in first grade here but our daughter has expressed an interest in learning, so this is more of a fun bonus activity we plan on working on if she feels like it), Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 1 (we love this series of workbooks for fun, educational worksheets that cover a variety of subjects), Logic Puzzles for Clever Kids (age-appropriate logic puzzles are great for everyone to practice thinking and problem solving skills), and Human Body Activity Book for Kids (we chose this to cover some science and health basics).

For our First Grader we also ordered this set of play money. Getting kids familiar with money is so important on many levels - not only will they need to learn our currency and what everything is called and what it's worth, money is also great for teaching math concepts of addition, subtraction, and equivalences.

PRESCHOOL | For our preschooler, we're keeping it VERY basic. At this age I think it's best to mostly learn through playing, but we're going to work on reinforcing and learning some very basic things like letters, numbers, colors, and how to write her name. For her I purchased "My First School Book" from Learning Without Tears, which came very highly recommended to me. I also got a Melissa & Doug Water Wow ABC Book as a fun reusable resource to reinforce her ABCs.

A computer is also SUPER important in most remote learning/homeschooling situations these days... I upgraded my Macbook last year so our daughter has been using my old Macbook for school but a basic Chromebook is a great option for most. It's also a very good idea to have a printer available to print out worksheets and activities that can't be done online.

You also may want to consider some "school decor" to help set the stage for them to help it feel more like school. A calendar center might be a good idea for younger grades, or some laminated maps. I picked up some maps for us that I will hang up soon - our daughter has been really interested in maps and learning about the world and I personally think it's important to teach them about the bigger world out there, especially since we're so closed off at home these coming months.

Not pictured is our Art Cart which we keep in our pantry - it's well stocked with art supplies, pencils, crayons, glue, rulers, coloring books, paper, and just about anything they might need for hands-on activities or creativity.

We still have a lot to figure out but now that we have our classroom space starting to shape up I feel like we're heading in the right direction. Whatever you decide for the coming school year, know you’re not alone - it’s definitely a difficult and stressful decision no matter what you choose. Best of luck and stay healthy!

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Cloth Face Mask Organization and Storage

We’re definitely living in different times right now… and it’s becoming clearer that it looks as though we will have to co-exist with the COVID-19 virus for the foreseeable future. Because of that anything we can do that might mitigate the risk of virus transmission, like always wearing face masks or face coverings when outside our homes, have become a part of our “new normal.” Since mask-wearing should be part of your new routine whenever you leave your house, it’s a good idea to have a system in place to make sure you always have clean masks at the ready and you never leave home without one. | This post contains affiliate links |

Disclaimer: I am not giving medical advice. Make sure to always consult the CDC and local health officials for up-to-date recommendations on mask wearing, storage, and care. Cloth masks are not considered medical grade and should be washed in between each use… check with individual mask makers/companies on the best way to store/wash/care for your masks.

Mask Storage at Home

It’s a good idea to keep your clean masks in a designated area of your home, preferably in a place where you’ll be sure to grab one on your way out the door to do errands, go to work, etc. At first glance it might look like we have a lot of masks, but we really don't considering we're a household of four and it's essential to have enough masks to get through between laundry loads. We're still staying home and social-distancing very seriously, but whenever we have to do an essential errand/appointment or just go for a drive to get out of the house, we always make sure to have a clean mask for everyone that’s leaving the house.

In our home, we've designated a special basket that sits up high on our mudroom shelf, full of clean masks. We put the adult masks towards the back, and then kids masks in the front. I was unable to find a basket the same size on Amazon to link to, but I did find this sleek bamboo box that looks to be the perfect size. If you don't have shelf space for a basket, you could alternatively use wall-mounted baskets for storage.
Our masks are a mix of ones made with love for us by family members, as well as ones purchased from Old Navy and Miss Harlow VT (one of the local makers I featured in my "Masks by New England Makers" blog post).

If you don't like the idea of using a basket like we do and would rather hang your masks by the door, another option would be using a small set of hooks such as a set of compact coat hooks or key rack - or even just simple Command Hooks.

Mask Storage On-The-Go

We have found a slim wipes container is the perfect size for holding several face masks on-the-go! In fact, we always make sure to leave our case packed with an extra mask for each family member in the car. That way we're always covered if we forget one or need to change masks while we're out of the house.
I think this would be a great way to carry extra face masks in your bag for work, or your child's backpack whenever they return to school. It would probably be a good idea to also keep a ziplock bag or separate sealed container in your bag in case you have a dirty/used mask that needs to be brought home to wash.

And if you wanted to take it a step further and have an organzied mask system on-the-go to put in your work bag or child's backpack, you might want to consider having two cases - one for clean masks and one for dirty masks. I ordered these clear mask cases from Amazon and cut labels for them on my Cricut. We'll be packing one with extra clean masks, and the other will be empty for dirty masks to come home in. Since we recently invested in some better quality masks I wanted to make sure they stay in cases when not in use to keep them in good shape.

Alternatively, if you don't have any slim wipes containers hanging around you could also use Small Craft Storage Cases , which come in clear and a variety of colors. This might be more cost effective too if you needed multiple cases - especially if you needed one or more cases for each family member, or if you were a teacher and wanted to make a case for each student in your class.

You can also easily label any of these cases with a label maker.

We always make sure to keep the car stocked with our plastic case of extra face masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes to help protect ourselves when we’re out doing errands.

Mask Care

Always refer to individual mask makers/companies on the best way to care for each of your masks (hand wash only vs machine wash, line-dry vs dryer, etc.) But in general, all masks should be washed and allowed to thoroughly dry in between each use.

Since all of our masks are machine washable, we've found using a mesh lingerie laundry bag is perfect for keeping the masks from getting lost in the wash or caught on other items.

Quick Adjustment Tips

If you feel like your face mask is a little large or isn’t fitting as closely to your face as you would like, you can typically adjust it very easily by making a small knot in the ear loop elastics (as shown above) to make it smaller.

There are also lots of options for "ear saver" or "mask adjustment" straps available out there, though we have not personally tried any ourselves yet.

Cloth Face Mask Organization and Storage: Mask Lanyard

One mask accessory that we've found super helpful lately are Mask Lanyards. We personally use them most often when we're out hiking or going for a long walk, that way the time we're out alone we can keep our masks down, however in the event we see someone coming up we can easily put them on if we need to pass others on the trail. We made a point to choose lanyards that have a breakaway safety feature, but use at your own discretion/risk.

Vaccination Card Protector

Vaccinated? You may want to consider getting a Vaccination Card Protector for your vaccine card to help keep them protected and clean at home or while you're traveling. These are nice because you can remove your vaccine card to record updates/boosters if needed.

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