Save or Splurge Homeschool Essentials | When to Buy Brand Name and When to Save

Homeschooling can get pricey, so you might try to save some on supplies. In this video I chat about when it's okay to save and when you might want to splurge at first to save you more in the long run!
Epson EcoTank Printer: amzn.to/4foCSGu
Spiral Binding Machine: amzn.to/4bW6706
Colored Binding Coils: amzn.to/4f6Q1E1
Laminator: amzn.to/3WcRSOY
Electric Pencil Sharpener: amzn.to/3WdAdqm
Fixtion Pens: amzn.to/3zNz0ye
Frixtion Refills: amzn.to/3xWT9Sd
Ticonderoga Pencils: amzn.to/3Wzzq3h
PaperMate Pencils: amzn.to/3Lx2fbp
Crayola WASHABLE Markers: amzn.to/3zOOn9U
Expo Dry Erase: amzn.to/4fhkeQP
Expo Wet Erase: amzn.to/4ffjuf2
Elmers Glue Sticks: amzn.to/4f6YfvT
Avery 3 Ring Binders: amzn.to/3Wxlo38
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My name is Niki. I am a former high school chemistry & biology public school teacher turned homeschool mom of 4 kiddos. We are a secular homeschooling family, with a laid back schooling style. I'm a busy WAHM who just tries to stay afloat some days. But we would never change a thing!
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Thank you for listening to my honest opinions and using them to decide on your future purchases. The links above may be affiliate links. By using these links, you allow me to earn a small commission if you make a purchase. There will not be an additional charge to you. Thank you so much for your support!
Audio Used With Permission from KZbin

[@JulieandJulius]

What a great video idea! Loved this!

[@Homeschoolology]

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@CP-fo5sy]

My favorite glue sticks are Scotch permanent glue sticks. They stick well. I was excited to find out about Frixion pen refills. They are my kids favorite.

[@Homeschoolology]

I will have to try the Scotch glue! Thanks for the suggestion! Yes the refills are amazing!

[@HomeschoolPlanet]

I LOVE this! Agree on absolutely everything. My three additional splurges~ 1- The swingline electric hole punch. It just makes me happy to use it! 2- Reinforced filler paper for things that my kiddos will create and will stay in their binders all year. 3- I am totally addicted to all the discbound systems. Staples ARC is my fav, but I love them all!

[@Homeschoolology]

Never thought of getting an electric hole punch! I use to use the ARC discbinding system as well! Thanks for sharing!

[@ellagnoix2276]

I highly recommend splurging on getting a couple of 'Zebra DelGuard' mechanical pencils if your child presses down too hard and is always breaking the lead. I would suggest sticking to the Zebra Delguard lead for refill. I bought one of these pencil for my daughter late last year and I swear, she's gone through maybe 7-8 pieces of lead total.

[@Homeschoolology]

That is awesome! We will have to try them out. My kiddos tend to prefer the Frixton pens over pencils. I'm the pencil girl! LOL. But I will try it out because I love a good mechanical pencil.

[@AmberGates]

I ❤ our Epson ET-8550. I printed roughly 20,000 pages with the ink that came with it and one refill of each color. I printed ALL of our curriculum from Pre-K through 12th grade for 3 kiddos. We saved atleast $1,000 in curriculum. I love our 3 hole punch and 3 ring binders. Just use clips to keep organized until you switch out printed binder materials. I use 28# paper for curriculum, 60# for covers, and it is worth the extra bit of funds. Dry erase pockets will help reduce the number of pages printed (still had to print over 20k). Do the Expos stain? My dry erase pockets are a bit stained, still functional but dark.

[@Homeschoolology]

The EcoTanks really are worth the investment! I hate binders. LOL. But it is useful to be able to take things in and out. We do have them for some curriculum. Quality paper is a must for me! LOL I totally forgot to mention those pockets! We use them all the time, so we save paper. They are great. We like using wet erase instead of dry erase on them. The wet erase does not stain at all. Much better for laminated things as well.

[@AmberGates]

@@Homeschoolology Thank you! Investing in new wet erase Expo brand markers!

[@Homeschoolology]

@@AmberGates Hope you guys love them!

[@SydneyWooten]

Agree with the printer and binder! I tried the proclick and the pages stuck where the ring connected no matter what trick we tried and that drove me bananas. I think when it comes to markers, colored pencils, and crayons, you always splurge. I purchased Walmart brand 3-ring binders and they are awful. The rings don't line up and it's just a pain all around. Great video!

[@Homeschoolology]

Thanks for sharing your experience! This is all great to know.

[@RockSimmer-gal4God]

We’ve just moved to the sates so we’ve not got our homeschool room storted and with our life idk wat we will be doing as we live an adventurous life!!! We have got to get a printer and other supplies as we left them at our old house where my brother lives!!! We love PDF curriculum and buy quality curriculum!!! We sent the 2nd teenage athletes the HBL curriculum we used last year via email!!! My friend is looking for a book binder but he doesn’t know if me or his wife will use it!!! We are the main homeschoolers in the household!!! He thinks it look nice!!! I bough fun playing cards but I won’t spend too much on math things!!! We love our science supplies but I only buy what’s needed!!! We find we re read reference books and fun phonics readers mainly!!! Being on America now we probably have a better library but we travel feb till summer every year!!! We love spending money on notebooks and my daughter is obsessed with her school nest notebook for her social studies research project!!! I buy cheap notebooks as well!!! We love our battery pencil sharpeners so we can travel with them and they have lasted for us!!! We love 0.7 pencils so if the papermate ones have that size lead I would buy them!!! My teenagers have found the target on our island so I’ll have to look for those dry ease markers!!! My kids don’t get tape and post it notes!!!

[@Homeschoolology]

It seems like we have a lot in common! LOL. If you need a small binding system you could try the pro-click. But I'm happy I just went with the big one. But mine has a permanent place to live. LOL. Thanks for sharing!

[@JLJ2730]

Shopkins were our manipulatives. We have way too many. We used these for sorting and creating categories.

[@Homeschoolology]

My oldest loved those! We used them as well!

[@ginagiberti9283]

I had the cannon tank printer before the EcoTank and it was a total lemon. There's a reason the epson is so popular.

[@Homeschoolology]

Good to know!! Thanks for sharing that!

[@elisabeth...]

I've been trying to determine what binding machine to buy and had settled on the ProClick because so many people seem to love it and its small and easily put away. But now you have me questioning my choice😂 I've heard the bigger machines that are supposed to punch ~12 pages at once really only handle about 6 pages which is basically what the ProClick handles as well so that makes me think a big bulky machine isn't worth the hassle. I wish I could do a test run of both kinds to see which I prefer, why isn't that a thing?!

[@Homeschoolology]

I struggled for a long time too. But I'm really happy I went with the full machine. The binding coils are much cheaper and its pretty simple to rebind something if I need to add pages later on. I use thicker paper, so I do only do about 6 to 8 pages at a time. But I'm okay with that. It doesn't take me long at all to punch things. It is bulky, but I'm happy with my choice.

[@elisabeth...]

@@Homeschoolology because of lack of storage space in our tiny house I think I'll still go with ProClick, but I do plan on using mainly coils with them(so much cheaper!)and a handful of the proclick spines.

[@Homeschoolology]

@@elisabeth... You may want to check the whole ratio. I don't think the Pro click is the same as spirals.

[@elisabeth...]

@@Homeschoolology ProClick is 3:1 so I have 3:1 spines saved in my cart but I watched a few videos where people ordered 4:1 by accident and were still able to use them! Takes a little longer to put in because it needs to stretch a little farther but once it's in there's no issues!

[@Michelgia523]

I have the same binding machine as her and I love it! (The bar comes off for storage but it is heavy) I definitely only use about 6-8 pages at time in it, but the pro click is best at 2-4 pages. Don’t use 4:1 coils in the pro click it looks like it works, but the books will start to bend/warp 😊 get 3:1 if you go that route.

[@WednesdayMorgendorffer]

I'm always surprised so many people rave about Expo dry erase markers. I find them streaky and they seem to dry out faster than my go to brand Volcanics.

[@Homeschoolology]

Well I have not tried Volcanics before. I will have to give them a shot! Thanks for sharing!

[@AmberGates]

@Homeschoolology Should I wait to buy until a review is done? Lol.

[@Homeschoolology]

@@AmberGates I've added them to my Amazon cart! I will try them out soon and report back!

[@AmberGates]

@@Homeschoolology Much appreciated.

[@Homeschoolology]

@@AmberGates Anytime!

[@blessedhomeschoolmess]

Yassssss on the manipulatives and now there all going to be donated

[@Homeschoolology]

It's really is so true! Use what ya got! Less to store. LOL

[@blessedhomeschoolmess]

@@Homeschoolology for real