Back To School Supplies List: What To Stock At Home
Each year the school gives you a detailed back to school supplies list for what your kids need to bring into school, but I've learned as my years as a Mom that's definitely not everything you need.
Instead, your kids take all those supplies to school and then come how to do their homework, or work on a school assigned project, and need many of the same items they took to school.
So while going back to school shopping for school supplies, and trying to take advantage of the sales, I always try to buy both the stuff on the school supply list, plus the stuff we'll need to use at home for their at home school activities.
Getting it all at once saves me both money, since I can take advantage of the same sales, but in addition it saves me time so I'm not running out to get something last minute for a project or homework assignment that inevitably my child doesn't tell me about until an extremely inconvenient time. {You know what I'm talking about!}
I find school supply shopping chaotic, especially now that I have three kids all trying to gather up their lists at once, so this year I jotted down my own at home back to school supplies list for when I was doing all that shopping, since I work better from a list. And then I thought you guys might appreciate it too, so here it is!
I've listed everything I typically try to have stocked in the house for homework and projects, and then provide a link to a free printable with the same list below that you can print out to take with you to the store! (Scroll down to get the free printable.)
Essential School Supplies To Stock At Home
Homework Supplies/Arts & Crafts
- Pencils (number 2), plus pencil sharpener
- Erasers - either or both pencil top erasers or pink erasers
- Crayons
- Colored pencils
- Markers - both thick and thin
- Pens (with either blue or black ink) (for older students)
- Glue sticks and/or white glue
- Tape dispenser, plus rolls of tape
- Stapler, plus staples
- Paper clips, binder clips and rubber bands
- Safety scissors
- Colored paper (or construction paper)
- Notebook paper (wide ruled or college ruled)
- Ruler (also if your child needs a protractor for school they’ll need another at home)
- Calculator (for middle school aged children need one with trig functions)
Additional Project Supplies
- Index cards (usually 3x5 works best) - for homemade flash cards and oral presentations
- 2-3 large pieces of poster board
- A few old magazines for making collages (optional, but sometimes quite helpful!)
Research & Written Reports Supplies & Equipment
- Computer or laptop with Internet access and word processing program
- Flash drive
- Printer
- Printer paper (white)
- Printer ink/toner/cartridges
You might notice that a lot of these supplies I've listed are also things you might have on hand for kids to do fun arts and crafts, or are things you might keep in your own home office supplies. To the extent that there is duplicate you obviously don't have to buy extras.
You can check out the full list of recommended home office supplies here and stock up on those as well, at the same time, to again take advantage of the back to school sales. I do!
In addition, I recommend that students in late elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond use some type of student planner, to help them keep track of their assignments and due dates.
There are lots of student planners available, and all have their pros and cons. My kids and I recommend the Full Focus Planner Kids or Student editions. You can read my review here.
Here's Your Free Printable
Click here to get your printable
(opens into new window, as PDF)
Once You've Got Your Supplies Here's How To Organize Them
As you can see, that's a lot of different school supplies you should have stocked and ready in your home. If you're not careful all of them can become a jumbled mess, but I've written an article with 3 ideas for how to organize school supplies to help you keep them ready for use!
More Articles & Printables You May Enjoy
Here are several additional articles and printables on the site that you may find helpful:
 Back To School Ideas For Organizing |
 Home Office Supplies List |
 First Aid Kit Contents List |
Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.
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