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Homework station setup for elementary kids
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items Homework at our house happens at the kitchen table, not at some cute desk in a bedroom, so this is a station that packs itself up before dinner. Two elementary kids, one who cannot sit still and one who loses every pencil, and this is what finally ma...
This is the whole trick. All the homework stuff lives on the cart, the cart rolls to the table at four o'clock and back to the wall before dinner, so we never lose the kitchen table. Assembly took me about twenty minutes with no tools I had to hunt f...
Cowin 3-Tier Metal Rolling Storage Cart Shelves Rolling Utility Cart Organizer Cart Movable Storage Organizer Bathroom Kitchen Office Workshop White
Our kitchen has one overhead light and it throws a shadow right onto whatever my son is writing. This clamps to the table edge so it takes up zero surface, and the long bar spreads light across both kids instead of one hot spot. The dimming is steple...
Airlonv 17" LED Desk Lamp with Clamp
Twenty minutes means nothing to a second grader, but watching the red disk shrink means everything. This is what ended the nightly negotiating over how much reading was left. It does tick faintly while it runs, and my older one says that drives her c...
Secura Visual Timer for Kids, 60 Min, Blue
Five slots: one per kid, one for things I have to sign, one for permission slips, one for whatever I cannot deal with yet. The counter pile finally stopped. It is light, though, so a backpack swinging past knocks it over, and I ended up pushing it ag...
Simple Trending 5-Section Vertical File Organizer
Wired on purpose. Nothing to charge, nothing to pair, nothing to lose, and the volume is capped so I am not standing over her guessing how loud it is. My daughter wears these for reading apps and the ear pads made it through a whole school year. The ...
iClever HS19S Kids Over-Ear Headphones
I bought this after the third little handheld sharpener ate a pencil down to the metal band. It stops on its own once the tip is sharp, which matters when you have a kid who would happily grind a pencil to a stub for ten minutes to avoid math. It is ...
Bostitch Electric Pencil Sharpener, Blue
My son cannot sit still and I finally stopped fighting it. He wobbles, he stays at the table, the worksheet gets finished. It adjusts from twelve to eighteen inches so it grew with him instead of getting outgrown in a year. It does slide on hardwood,...
Storex Wiggle Stool, Adjustable 12-18 Inch, Black
One outlet in our kitchen was running a lamp, a school tablet, and my phone, and somebody was always unplugged. Three USB ports means the kids charge without stealing my brick. Six feet of cord sounds like plenty until you try to route it along a bas...
Yintar 6Ft Surge Protector Power Strip 6 Outlets 3 USB
Eight and a half by eleven, magnetic, and it lives on the fridge with the week's spelling words on it. Small on purpose. We tried a big board first and it just became doodle space. The marker that comes with it dried out inside a month, so budget for...
U Brands Contempo 8.5 x 11 Magnetic Dry Erase Whiteboard with Durable White Frame
Forty eight, already sharpened, and yes the yellow ones really are different. The cheap variety packs we bought one year snapped every third word and my daughter would just quit. These do not. The erasers still smear a little, so we keep a separate w...
Ticonderoga Wood Pencils, Presharpened, #2 HB .3 mm Lead, Yellow, 48 Count
Two in a pack and both get used, because half of homework in this house happens on the couch or in the car outside soccer practice. Hardboard, so it does not bend when a kid presses hard. The clip is stiff enough that my youngest still asks me to ope...
Saunders Hardboard Clipboard - Letter Size with Low Profile Clip and Built-in Hanging Hole, 2 per pack
Ultra Clean is not just marketing. It came off my kitchen table and mostly off a sleeve, which is more than I can say for the off brand set we tried. Ten colors is enough for a poster project without the box exploding across the room. They still dry ...
Crayola Ultra-Clean Washable Broad Line Markers, 10 Ct, Back to School Supplies, Classroom Essentials for Teachers, Gift, 3+
Library books have exactly one home now and it is this basket, which ended the Wednesday morning tear through the house. Canvas with handles, so a kid can carry the whole thing out to the car herself. It slouches when it is not full, so it honestly l...
Mainstays Gray Herringbone Canvas Fabric Decorative Storage Basket with Handles, 15 in x 8 in x 11 in
Store brand scissors that cut cleaner than the pair I paid three times as much for. They go through cardstock and cereal box cardboard for projects without chewing the edge. These are not safety scissors, though, so they live on the cart and my first...
8" Home and Office Scissors - up&up™: Stainless Steel, Black, Adult School Scissors, Non-Powered Desk Tool
Fourth grade suddenly meant study guides, and study guides meant highlighting. These do not bleed through the thin worksheet paper the school sends home, which genuinely surprised me for the price. The yellow one runs dry long before the other four, ...
BIC 5pk Highlighter Brite Liner Assorted: Back to School Supplies for Color-Coded Notes