You may have noticed my brand name, “Edelweiss,” and thought of the movie The Sound of Music. I thought it only fitting to make a page of My Favorite Things, just like the song that Maria sings to the seven Von Trapp children!
Here are a few of my favorite things…for homeschooling!
Peace of mind
SafeShare: Peace of mind is a big deal to me, especially when it comes to children. SafeShare is probably my absolute favorite find in homeschooling! This is a free service that you use with YouTube links. Simply copy and paste the link into SafeShare website, and it plays the YouTube video for you without ads or popups. It’s incredible. If I am busy making dinner and the kids are at the kitchen table, wanting to do an art tutorial or watch a Bill Nye clip for science, I can play it for them on the tablet with zero worries of questionable ads. With the free option, you can upload up to 20 YouTube videos to your account to watch, completely ad-free. With a premium subscription ($5/month), you can keep an unlimited amount of ad-free videos, on your account.
Teaching time management
Visual Countdown Timers: For teaching time management, I got several of these visual countdown timers! I love them because once you set them, the color disappears as the time diminishes. Even if your kids cannot tell time yet, they aren’t asking you every 30 seconds, how much time is left. 😉 We use them for independent work, as well as quiet time.
Customized Daily/Weekly Checklists: I made a template for these to manage my own sanity! Each week, we try to keep somewhat of a schedule with school subjects done on specific days. (We also have specific days for specific chores). However, life happens, and, we have an 18 month old who keeps us on our toes!
Our schedule doesn’t always go as planned. Regardless, having this weekly checklist with the plan outlined for each day, keeps both me and my kids accountable. So far, only my oldest two use these (4th grade and 2nd grade). They can manage their independent work, chores, and see what we’ll plan to study together, each day.
{Adorable doodle border thanks to Creative Clips Clipart)
I don’t put everything on the checklist, just school and chore-related things. For example, we do daily quiet time and outside time, but those aren’t on the chart.
I created a template for these, so that you can type in your own title, and “to do” list for each day! You can type out a weekly list of tasks for each child, and tweak it up each week if you need to! You can view it on my TPT storefront.
Fun incentives
Punch cards: I use these cute punch cards as an incentive, for the kids to get their checklists done each day. When they fill up a punch card, they earn a mini-date with me or my husband! A mini-date usually includes a simple outing together for a snack food or beverage. My preschooler hilariously loves vending machines, and they’re a bit hard to find these days! So, we drive to a nearby nature center that happens to have one, and he picks a few favorite snacks. 🙂 It’s the little things!
My preschooler son loves to go to vending machines for his punch-card dates! 🙂 Brings me back!
Favorite practical tools
Epson Printer: Our local library system offers a certain amount of free printing each month, so I always utilize that first! But, sometimes you need things in a pinch, so last year we invested in this printer. I had heard rave reviews from multiple homeschooling moms I know, and it does not disappoint! I purchased the printer in November 2024, and only recently refilled one of the cartridges (it comes with the ink!) Color me impressed!
Scotch Laminator: I use this every week! I love to laminate things I know I’ll reuse with multiple kids, and I also teach at our co-op, so laminating things helps them stay nice. I usually get the Amazon-brand laminating sheets and they work just fine.
Electronic Pencil Sharpener: this is an obvious one–but having an electronic pencil sharpener just makes things more efficient! Plus, even the littles can use it safely!
I would love to hear your favorite homeschooling things! We can all learn from each other!
Con amor,
Cait