Money Saving Tips For Home Schooling

Many home schooling families have a single incomeshared. Buy one science book for three children,
as one parent is now home with the kids. On topgeared toward the oldest. When you only use
of that, we pay taxes to support schools that wescience curriculum as a springboard to exploration,
do not use. Curriculum is expensive, and money isthe older children can go as deep as they want
tight. How can we make our dollars stretch andby supplementing the topic with library books, and
still give our children a quality education?the younger children can glean what they are
Use the library to peruse books before purchasingready to understand.
them.In the same way, art is fun for all ages. I have
When we started home schooling, I had no cluethree children spaced two years apart, ages two,
how to teach a child how to read. I personally dofour, and six. They can all play with play dough,
not remember learning, nor have I ever tutored aand they can all use scissors, glue, and crayons to
new reader. However, I saw a few books at thevarying degrees of success. This is also a way of
book store and online, but before purchasingkeeping younger children occupied while older
them, I requested them from the library. Itchildren are studying.
turned out the book I liked in the store did notHistory is the story of people's lives throughout
work for me, and I would have wasted quite a bitthe years. Your second grader and your fourth
of money on that book. Instead, I settled ongrader can both learn American history together
another reading curriculum that suited our needsone year, and world history together the next.
better, and after it returned to the library, IThere is no reason to be age specific when in
purchased the book to add to our curriculum.actuality it is review every year after third grade.
In fact, many times borrowing library books canGive school supplies as gifts for birthdays and
replace purchasing books altogether. The children'sChristmas.
department in the library is full of books with artSounds really cheesy? However, I am not talking
and science activities, but once you have done aabout a science curriculum as a gift, but rather a
few of those activities, the book is no longerscience lab. I mean art supplies and computer
useful. There is no reason to store these booksmath games, learning toys and hobby kits. The
on your own shelves when you can always findtruth is that my kids get so many toys from
them in the library again if you find that you reallyfriends and family that they really do not need
do need it.any more for us.
Purchase a few workbooks from a teacher store.When they were little, we bought crayons,
Our first year, we visited a local teacher storemarkers, child-safe scissors, glittery glue, and
where we paid about $10 for a first gradeconstruction paper for Christmas. It was
science book, about $5 for a math workbook,wonderful because it filled up hours upon hours of
and about $5 for a spelling workbook. Wetime. The next year, we gave them wooden
covered history and geography with library books,model kits, sewing kits, paint, and a magnet
and for reading, literature, and writing, we built ourscience lab. For their birthdays, they get things like
own curriculum using our own ingenuity. The wholebutterfly houses, a butterfly net, and building
year cost a total of $20.blocks. For Easter, a packet of seeds and
The science book contained twenty-threechild-sized garden tools can easily replace another
worksheets, covering various science topicstoy bunny.
including introductions to biology, botany, physics,Finally, use your imagination.
geology, and health. However, each of theseThroughout our first years, I frequently found
lessons became a month long unit study whereways to add to what our cheap curriculum
we supplemented the curriculum with more libraryoffered. We did special science projects so that
books and hands-on science activities. Ourour learning was not only from books. We did art
first-grade science book was just a springboardprojects, math games, and writing stories, extra
to deeper learning. It took us two years to getthings that I assigned or did with the kids that
through the book, extending the value of our $10made learning fun and adventurous. Some of
purchase.these things, I found in library books, and some I
Share subjects between different aged children.made up as I went along. What is important is
Art, science, and history are subjects that can bethat they learn, not the money you put into it.