How to Build a Homeschool Math Basket
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My family doesn’t have a dedicated homeschool room. Instead, we homeschool in just about every room of the house. A few years ago I put together a homeschool math basket that is easy to move around. It has absolutely everything we need to teach math.
Lately, we have been doing math lessons at the table in our loft, but the homeschool math basket makes it quick and easy to change locations if we need a change of scenery. Sometimes the loft is too noisy and we need to relocate to a quieter part of the house. On other days the weather is so nice that we want to do math lessons outside.
Having everything we need for a math lesson handy helps ensure that we are not wasting time looking for books, manipulatives, or school supplies.
How to Build a Homeschool Math Basket
Curriculum
We couldn’t do our math lessons without the curriculum so I keep each student’s math book and the teacher guides in our homeschool math basket.
My kids are in geometry and pre-calculus this year and I definitely refer to the teacher guides often!
Math Manipulatives
When my kids were younger we used a wide variety of math manipulatives, depending on the lesson.
Some of our favorite math manipulatives were:
- Chocolate chips
- Unifix cubes
- Base 10 blocks
- Mini erasers
- Math U See blocks
I still use math manipulatives whenever necessary, even in high school.
Currently, we keep a little Lego person in our homeschool math basket. It really helps us keep track of angles for sine, cosine, and tangent during pre-calculus lessons.
School Supplies
The math supplies you will need vary by grade level and subject. We always keep a calculator handy now that my kids are working on upper-level math.
Actually, I allowed them to use a calculator once they hit middle school. At that point, they knew their basic math facts and the calculator just let them work equations a little faster.
This year we also keep a protractor and compass in the homeschool math basket. My son’s geometry curriculum doesn’t require these supplies for every lesson, but when it does, it is nice to have them handy.
I always keep a pack of post-it notes to act as bookmarks in the math basket. A mason jar with pencils sits on the table next to the basket.
When my kids were younger we always kept a pack of crayons or colored pencils in the math basket too.
Dry-Erase Board
We use these double-sided dry-erase boards almost every single day. I like these because one side is a coordinate graph and the other side is plain. I always keep a few in the math basket because sometimes we need to use the graph side and the plain side at the same time.
- DEVELOP numeracy and relational concepts
- HELP make graphing is easy with these dry-erase mats
- Features a 1 cm grid with bolded x, y axis for easy graphing
Last update on 2026-09-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The dry-erase markers are in a mason jar next to the basket, but I do keep a cloth in the basket to make erasing easy.
Informational Papers
Some years we have been able to skip this addition to our homeschool math basket, it just depends on the lessons. When my kids were younger we kept either a 100s chart or multiplication table close by.
This year my daughter is keeping a trig ratio chart in the basket. Her math book had a chart for students to use, but it was a hassle flipping back and forth all the time. We made a copy and popped it in the basket.
Extra Paper
We work most math problems on the dry-erase boards, but having a few extra sheets of paper nearby is handy.
I hope seeing what is in my homeschool math basket helps you put together a math basket for your family.
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