Homeschool help! 10 great gadgets to inspire creative homeschooling

As a homeschool parent, you might feel like you have to reinvent the wheel every time you step into the classroom. Fortunately, a few brilliant tools can make it easy to be the teacher of the year. One of the great benefits of homeschooling is the time you get to spend with your kids, and with these creative gadgets, you can make that time more creative and fun. Enrich study time, enhance your lesson plan and create a memorable learning experience for your homeschoolers.

• The Scrambled States of America: Think fast! What states share a border with California? And which one ends with the letter G? Based on the book by Laurie Keller, this game is designed for players ages 8 and over and features language riddles and visual teasers designed to boost U.S. geography knowledge. Each game takes only 20 minutes to complete, which means your homeschooler can fit it in as a fun study break.

• Chalkboard Contact Paper: Turn anything into a writing surface with this brilliant contact paper, featuring an easy-peel liner and a stain-repelling surface. Make hand-held boards for each of your students, or cover an entire wall for big ideas. This unique product can turn any smooth surface into a reusable chalkboard, making it perfect for your DIY schoolhouse. Reviewers note that smoother surfaces work better; avoid installing your paper on textured walls if you can.

• Homeschool Biology Prepared Microscopes: Inspire your student scientist with slides of bee wings, fish blood, human hair and frog livers. The kit features one hundred clean, glass prepared slides in a hardwood slide case. Use your own microscope to check out cell structures, determine the difference between plant and animal specimens, and watch your science textbook come to life. Creative homeschool teachers can apply these versatile slides to both younger and older student study.

• The Settlers of Catan: In this epic board game, you're a recent immigrant to the island of Catan. Harvest commodities from the land around you and build up roads, villages, settlements and advanced buildings. A web-based game is available for online education students, and everyone learns about the complexities of nation-building while playing. The game is designed for players ages 10 and over.

• AntWorks: The inspiration for this great gadget comes from NASA, who performed an experiment to study ants in space by placing the creatures in a nutrient-rich gel. The ants dig dynamic tunnels in this rebooted version of the ant farm. Study how a civilization works on a small level with a magnifying glass, zoom lens, and LED night time illumination. The ant farm even doubles as a nightlight for younger kids. The ant habitat is a low-maintenance way to observe life in the classroom.

• Classroom Jeopardy!: What is…a classic TV trivia game reimagined for students? It's Classroom Jeopardy! Turn your home school into an interactive game show with the game, which connects to any TV, digital projector or interactive whiteboard. You can download free games online or create your own customized games, bringing the lesson plan to life with exciting audio clues and video clips.

• Expo Learning Boards: Turn any room into a classroom with Expo's line of learning boards. Students can let their imaginations guide them with easel boards, practice handwriting on erasable learning boards with lines, or brainstorm great ideas with the classic dry erase board. Washable markers mean there's no chalk dust, and the boards are at home on tabletops, in playrooms and in the classroom.

• Manual Comb Binding Machine: No schoolroom is complete without a textbook, and this great gadget makes it simple. Students at online schools can turn printed paper into easy bound materials, or you can make your own textbook with easy copies for everyone in the room. Gone are the days of hunting through looseleaf papers to find the day's lesson -- it's all in front of you.

• Replogle Globes Traveler Globe: Spark an international education with a classroom globe that makes for hands-on geography lessons. Discover how languages migrate across countries, or follow Columbus' path to the New World. Curious students can pick countries at random and learn more about them, adding a visual element to any world cultures lesson.

• Olympus VN-702PC Digital Recorder: This multifaceted recorder works overtime in the classroom. Inspire budding journalists to interview friends and family members, or record public lectures for class time later. This digital device features 823 hours of recording time and 2GB of memory, making it a powerful tool for the home school.

Deliver the world to your homeschool students with cool devices and great gadgets. From learning games designed to take the fuss out of study time to basic materials that can be used again and again, the list above can bring a new level of fun and learning to the school day.