When I wrote the Cultivating Curiosity Series, one of you asked me if I could concoct a list of must have homeschool supplies for delight directed homeschooling. This has been rattling around in my brain ever since. {rattle, rattle!}
At first I thought compiling a list would be impossible because my kids' delights are probably not the same as your kids' delights. But the more I thought and rattled, the more I realized my basic premise: My kids have a natural hunger to explore and discover. I feed that. And they stay curious.
My premise has determined what items I've purchased and what items I've kept over the years. I want to give my children ample exploration opportunities and rich research resources. So I asked myself, "What items in our home promote exploration and research?" I answered my question, formulated a list, and realized these tools have helped us on our way; I wouldn't be willing to part with them:
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Magnifying Glass
This was the first observation tool I gave my boys when they were just little guys, and I was teaching them to stop and look. Great for preschoolers and older kids and grownups, too.
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Binoculars
My boys have been scouting birds and other creatures for years with these. The coolest thing is that they still ask for their binoculars.
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Microscope
My boys love to scoop up treasures while they are on a nature walk, at a local park, or even just wandering around our backyard. They know they can slide their finds under the microscope for an up close and personal view. Our microscope constantly creates a sense of wonder!
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Telescope
A telescope offers front row seats to spectacular sky shows. Elijah especially loves our telescope as one of his consistent interests over the years has been stars, moons, planets, comets, asteroids, and everything else space related.
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Aquarium (with lid)
We've hosted a lot of critters in our glass cage: Slimy and Pinky (Simon's beloved snails), a flock of frogs, crawdads, a praying mantis, spiders, and a zoo of other insect friends. An aquarium can also be filled with dirt and you can plant seeds and watch the shoots and roots grow.
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Globe
When Elijah was gifted this for Christmas several years ago, I didn't know if it would be a dust collector or something better. It has turned out to be the best geography teacher I could ask for. The boys go running to the globe to travel to the places they read about.
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Museum Pass
Each year we buy a family membership to one place. Museums have proven to be great gateways for historical exploration. My boys don't tire of returning to the same place over and over again. They've developed interests in
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Audio Books
I am generous with the amount of audio books I buy for my boys, and I am always looking for great historical fiction books and stories to drop in their laps. Great books read by great readers always (yes, always) grab my boys' attention and frequently spur them on to learning more about a person, time period, or historical event.
I will try to dedicate a future post to this topic and share my specific resources (great books as well as great storytellers).
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A Library
The best way I can encourage and enable my children to dig deep into their interests is to have an amazing home library or to give them frequent access to a fantastic local library. The nonfiction books I see pulled off our shelves over and over again include:The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia
Let's Read and Find Out Science books
Steven Carney's Ultimate Building Book
Childhood of Famous Americans Series
Our Must Haves for Homeschool is a blog hop brought to you by iHomeschool Network.
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