For better or worse, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that it’s back to school time in the retail world, and now is the most cost-effective time to purchase all your school supplies for the upcoming year.  While you’re out with your lists for school, you might want to keep Family Formation in mind also.

New supplies give a fresh start to the year. It’s just nicer to open a box of sharp, unbroken crayons and a glue bottle that’s not mostly empty with the lid stuck on.  It fuels enthusiasm and creativity.  It marks something special and new.  This time of year you can get everything you need for just a few dollars, so stock up!

We recommend the following essentials:

• A pair of scissors for each student.  Get the best ones you can for your child’s skill level.  There’s no joy in trying to cut out a detailed paper doll with a pair of 25-cent plastic scissors.  Get something that actually cuts well and is sized for your child’s hand.  Pre-schoolers perhaps want blunt tipped safety scissors, but anyone old enough to be trusted not to give themselves a haircut could likely be given the real deal.
• The coloring tools of your choice.  Crayons, colored pencils, watercolor pencils or paints, glitter paint …  It’s almost always optional, but there are lots of opportunities to make your projects more beautiful by adding color.
• Glue bottles or sticks.  Again, having one available per child makes everything move along just a little faster.
• Sharp pencils and working erasers.  Pens are also useful.
• Folders.  Each Family Formation project your child completes becomes a little window into a moment in their faith life.  Have your kids sign and date their favorites and tuck them away.  You’ll want to look back at them someday, so keep them organized.
• Finally, you’ll want a supply box.  What good is having all these wonderful supplies if you can’t find them?  I recommend getting some kind of plastic container (like a shoe box or sweater box) to keep everything in.  The size you need will vary, depending on the number of children you’re supplying and (obviously) the amount of stuff you want to keep in it, so buy this after you’ve decided between the 8 count or 120 count box of crayons.

After you have everything together, tuck it away and just bring it out at Home Lesson time.  This has a couple advantages:  (1) you know the stuff will be there when you want to use it and (2) it sets these things apart for this sacred purpose.

This is the perfect time to get organized (or reorganized) to make your Home Lesson time run smoother this year.