5 Home (School?) Essentials You Didn't Know You Needed

Did you shop Amazon Prime Day last year? Did you even know it existed? It's coming up again on Tuesday, July 12. That's tomorrow!!!

There were tons of ridiculous things they had deeply discounted last year, and some legitimately useful things as well! But I'll tell you right now, updating your browser every 5 minutes to try to find out what the new deals are is... Kind of a time suck.

So! My advice? First, sign up for a free 30-day Prime trial so that you're eligible for these special deals. Then, figure out what you're specifically looking for and add all those items to a wishlist now. Then on Prime Day, you can update your wishlist and it'll automatically tell you how much the price has dropped since you added it, so you can tell if you're getting a good deal or not!

Need ideas for what to shop for on Prime Day?


I know I say Home (School?) in the title - I feel like all of these items are perfect for any family, whether you homeschool or not! But there are definitely homeschool-specific benefits to all of them.

Links below are affiliate links - your purchases through my links are a huge help in purchasing homeschool materials throughout the year. Thank you so much for your support!

I got our bluetooth speaker on Prime Day last year and it's amazing. I never realized what a huge difference this would make - we can listen to downloadable or streaming audio books and music at a volume that's actually loud enough to hear, and if need be, I can control it from another room while the kids are in their rooms having "quiet" time. It's been dropped so many times and is still going strong with no issues, so it's definitely sturdy! There are tons of different models out there, and it's pretty likely that many of them will end up deeply discounted for Prime Day. And if you don't snag one, ours is only $15, which probably won't break the bank.

We got our portable DVD player (this one's similar) years ago for a trip without the kids, but it ended up in a closet for years before we moved and didn't have a TV anymore. I got it out in a fit of I-need-to-make-dinner-leave-me-alone desperation and we've found so many uses for it since then! It plays CDs for music study, audio books from the library, "fun" DVDs for those times when my mom's not around to help and I need to bribe them find a non-destructive way to occupy the kids, and now John Paul's watching his math lessons on DVD using this player. I love that I don't have to give them access to the computer or the television, and it has minimal features so it's perfect for our needs without making my tech-obsessed kid more obsessed than he already was!

Do you have a child (or children) who needs to move around in order to act, well, not quite so completely nuts indoors? I picked up a couple of scooters at a consignment sale last fall and those things are worth their weight in gold! Granted, we have a really excellent driveway for scooter riding, as I'm not sure we could have used these at our old house... But there's nothing like telling a squirmy 6-year-old to go outside and ride his scooter for 10 minutes before he comes in to focus on something actual - scooters are so easy to master, and they definitely fulfill the need to go fast! This one was only $18 on their early Prime Day sale, but if you check this page you can see all the different varieties that might be on sale right now. Heck, even my husband borrows the scooters to play with!

School supplies! I've got my eye on the Prismacolor Pencils that everybody loves so much - definitely just for me and maybe Cecilia, but maybe nice pencils will inspire my reluctant 2nd grade artist, too? Of course, there's always good old Crayola, too - if their products don't end up on sale now, they'll definitely be on sale when the back to school sales roll in (we love their Twistables especially). Also, an informal survey of homeschoolers tells me that Ticonderoga pencils are the only way to go, so I'm definitely grabbing some of those. Would you believe nearly every pencil and pen in our house has disappeared into a black hole?

Sprout Pencils may not be an essential but... Well, have you ever seen something so cute?? When the pencil gets too short to use, you plant it and it grows into whatever plant is designated on the label. How adorable is that? I might have to get some for my mom as a Christmas present.

What would you add to the list? Is there anything in particular you're hoping to score on Tuesday?