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The Ultimate Consumable Idea List for Charter School Funding

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              This is the first year officially homeschooling our daughter, she is 4-years- old in TK, and enrolled with Inspire Charter School in California (see my list comparing Charter Schools in Southern California).

              This list is for homeschooling parents of charter school students, that receive funding. Many charter schools give your child/ student funds to be spent on classes, services, and educational items. With items, it’s broken down into two categories, consumables and non-consumables. Consumables are products or items that the student will use up completely and therefore the item cannot be used by another student. Examples include; Classes, Field trips, memberships, subscriptions, and educational items.

               Non-Consumables are educational items that can be used again by another student. The items go to a lending library after they are returned to the school (you do not have to return them until your last child is Un-Enrolled out of the school or graduates. But can return the items to your HST at any time you are finished with them.  Inspire Mobile Lending libraries are where you can go and “rent or check out” educational items like a regular library. You can borrow educational materials so you don’t have to use your funds. Examples include; books, computers, instruments, telescopes, and microscopes.) (Click here to see my list of Non-Consumables).

              This list of consumables is comprised of my own ideas, online research, and personally speaking with teachers and other home school parents… The consumables that are bold are ones we have personally purchased with funds. Please bookmark this page and check back as I will update this list regularly…  Another great thing about Inspire is: if you don’t use all your child’s funds the unused funds are rolled over to the following year… Every charter has different rules, what one school considers consumable another may not. If you have any question you can always contact your teacher before placing an order. Keep in mind that some things get marked wrong on accident. If that happens, you can always contact your HST (teacher) and ask them about it. It can be fixed in their system. Sometimes the enrichment team ordering aren’t positive what is in the subscription or what exactly what the item is and don’t want to mark it wrong, inadvertently it still happens…. From my understanding everything is automatically marked a non-consumable by default, they have to change it in the system when it is not. Also, our HST said if you do order non-consumables and in her words “they break, just snap a photo or keep in a bag and return it so they see it was well used etc. accidents do happen. They take that into account.” Also, you can order from any website you want to, if it’s not on the list just click the “Other Vendor” option. You can order any curriculum (if it’s not religious). Be aware some curriculum contain both consumable and non-consumable items.

              If you are with Inspire and interested in a certain type of class, utilize the Inspire Enrichment Order & Vendor Lobby online, you may find a local vendor for the class your child is interested in. If you are interested in a local class that is not with Inspire or (another charter), try speaking with them you may be able to convince them to become a vendor for charter schools.

 

NOTES:

  • Some Subscription boxes and science kits may be marked non-consumable, there may be items the school will want back.
  • Anything that is “build your own” is most likely consumable because it couldn’t be built again.
  • Consider a family museum membership. The natural history museum in Los Angeles offers one that covers many museums… There are free days and home school days, but they can get super crowded. Memberships allows you to go when you want and there are often special previews and membership events.
  • Some people use funds to purchase tickets to places like the zoo and aquarium you can then use your own money to upgrade to a pass for minimal money.
  • With field trips some can be purchased directly through Inspire, others you will need to purchase through a field trip vendor.
  • We have a huge collection of educational materials that I have purchased before joining Inspire. My favorite places to find treasures (many you can find new & new in box) are thrift stores, estate & yard sales, OfferUp App, Dollar Tree, 99 Cent Only Stores, online (Amazon, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace). 
  • Please check back regularly, as  I will update this post, as I come across Consumable ideas.

Classes (Outside location, Online & In-home teacher/ tutor)

  • Acting
  • Art
  • Camp
  • Climbing Gym (Like Hanger 18)
  • Dance: Ballet, Hip Hop, Hula, Jazz, Polynesian Dance, Tap
  • Dog Training Class (hands-on where the student learns how to train, their dog)
  • Etiquette Classes 
  • Fencing
  • Flying Lessons
  • Gymnastics & Tumbling
  • Home Economics
  • Horseback Riding
  • Ice Skating
  • Indoor Playground (Like Luv 2 Play in Riverside)
  • Language: ASL (American Sign), French, Spanish
  • Martial Arts (Krav Maga, Tae Kwon Do)
  • Music
    • Instruments: Keyboard, Guitar, Piano Ukulele, Violin
    • Singing: Choir, Lessons 
  • Painting Studios (Like Color Me Mine & Purple Easel)
  • Parkour        
  • Sewing Lessons
  • Skateboarding Lessons
  • Sports: Baseball, Basketball, Golf, Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball
  • Swimming
  • Tinkergarten
  • Trampoline Park Indoor
  • Tutoring
  • YMCA

Field Trips

  • Aquarium & Zoo: Aquarium of the Pacific, Seaworld, LA Zoo, San Diego Zoo
  • Ballet Performance 
  • Camps
  • CA Science Center
  • Discovery Cube
  • Disney on Ice
  • Home School Conventions
  • Medieval Times
  • Museum: Air and Space Museum, Natural History
  • Renaissance Faire
  • Tours
    • Warner Bros Studio Tour
    • Whale Watching
  • Zoo: (LA Zoo, San Diego Zoo)

Memberships & Subscriptions

  • Audible Membership (Audio Books)
  • Apps (Educational): ABC mouse, Abcya.com, Curious World, Leapfrog Academy, Math Eggs, Patience Lavender, Reading Eggs, Rosetta Stone
  • Magazines: High Five, Highlights, Honest History, Ranger Rick Jr 
  • Membership: Aquariums, Crossfit Gyms (teens), Indoor Playgrounds (elementary students), Museums, Rock Climbing Gym, Trampoline Park, YMCA/ YWCA, Zoos
  • Newspaper Subscriptions
  • Studies Weekly – for social studies & Science (has a mini-newspaper for each week and lesson plans)
  • Subscription Boxes (Educational): (some may be non-consumable): Atlas Crate, B.E.E. Kids Boxx, Bitsbox, Club SciKidz Labs,  Creation Kit, Dream Delivered, Forensi Kit, Genius Box, Girl’s Can!, Green Kids Crafts, Groovy Lab in a Box, History Unboxed, Ivy Kids, Kid Wonder Box, Kiwi Crate, Learning Crates, Little Dreamers Club, Little Global Citizens, Little Justice Leaders, Little Passports, Magic School Bus, Mel Kids & Mel Science, Murder Mystery Box, MyEduCrate, My Garden Box, Outside The Box Creation, Tiny Docs Initiative Box,  Owl Crate, Oyster Kit, Raddish, Spangler Science Club, Stem Science Boxes, Succulent Club, Surprise Ride, Tikes Garden, The Plant Club,  Tinkercrates, Top Secret Adventures Club, Toucan Box,  Womple, Wonder Crate, Young Science Club

Craft & Science Kits (Single kits - purchased online) (Note: Check out adult & kid kits)

Educational Materials (Single Product & Items)

Popular online vendors to order Educational Materials with funds (Note: You can order from anywhere)

  • Amazon
  • Etsy
  • Fat Brain Toys
  • Hobby Lobby
  • Lakeshore Learning
  • Mercurius
  • Rainbow Resources
  • Teachers Pay Teachers
  • Thames kosmo
  • Usborne
  • YOOBI (everything you buy not only gets sent to you, but also to a class in need)

Purchase field trips through

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XOXO, Cameo

*LIST UPDATED 2/10/21*

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This Post Has 31 Comments

  1. Cassie 26 May 2020 Reply

    These are some great lists. What age groups does Inspire accept currently? We want to homeschool my oldest daughter who is 14. How often do you have to go to the school? Thanks.

  2. Joy Fletcher 30 May 2020 Reply

    This is an impressive list and especially for a preschooler too! Def. more than I got out of preschool, lol. My daughter loves Disney on Ice 😀

    1. Creative Home Life 31 May 2020 Reply

      Charter schools are the best! I love that we are able to tailor and be extra creative with our children’s education.

  3. Brittni 2 Jun 2020 Reply

    The Subscription boxes are awesome! My son would love this. Never woulda considered that in there but I guess it is consumable haha so it should be on the consumable list.

    1. Creative Home Life 5 Jun 2020 Reply

      My daughter loves getting her subscription boxes in the mail! So exciting to see what fun educational science or craft kits arrives every month 🙂

  4. Tanya 2 Jun 2020 Reply

    We have a membership to the Natural History Museum and we love it! Totally agree with you – so worth it to get the membership.

  5. Gia Carapelli 3 Jun 2020 Reply

    I am loving the idea of using a charter school program for homeschooling even more now – wow, I didn’t even know it included this stuff. Thanks for the clarification on what a consumable is vs non consumable. I feel like we are going to be ahead of the game when we meet with potential charter schools.

  6. Sarah 3 Jun 2020 Reply

    Awesome! I didn’t know they had programs for TK for homeschool charter programs! My kids were a little older when we got them enrolled.

  7. Danica 3 Jun 2020 Reply

    We just briefly chatted with a rep from one of the schools near us that offers the homeschool program (it’s a charter), they made this very confusing, but the way you explained the consumable and non consumable supplies made more sense, you are helping out a lot of people, so thank you!!

    1. Creative Home Life 6 Jun 2020 Reply

      You’re welcome! I am happy to know this cleared up any confusion… Thank you for commenting, I love my readers!

  8. Robert Dycle 22 Aug 2020 Reply

    We were having trouble coming up with educational products to order. This list is hands down perfection, it has helped us immensely.

    1. Creative Home Life 25 Sep 2020 Reply

      I am so happy to hear this! I worked hard on putting it together, I love to help!

  9. Edgar 14 Sep 2020 Reply

    So happy I found this on Facebook, it was posted in a homeschool group.

  10. Arlen 15 Sep 2020 Reply

    Finally! I have been searching for this forever!!

  11. Catie 24 Sep 2020 Reply

    Love this list amazing!!! I am ordering things with funds right now!

  12. krem 27 Sep 2020 Reply

    Thanks for the list!

  13. Blake 11 Feb 2021 Reply

    Hi, I found this post so helpful!!! Thank you!!!

  14. Kate 14 Jun 2021 Reply

    This post is fantastic! My kiddos will start their first year with Mission Vista this year. They are going into 3rd and 1st grade. We are so excited to get to use educational funds to pay for some of the things my babies have wanted to try but have not been able to afford.

  15. Candace Hieronymus 11 Jul 2021 Reply

    So happy I stumbled on your list it was recommended in a forum!

  16. Ellen Abernathy 6 Sep 2021 Reply

    Normally I don’t read article on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to take a look at and do it! Thanks, very great post.

  17. Patti 16 Sep 2021 Reply

    I check your list every time I place an order!

  18. Dami 10 Nov 2022 Reply

    Thanks so much! This was so helpful

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