Hi all Sorry to rack everyones brains again but, Dh is not happy with me spending soooo much money on books etc, i have said that once its bought once then i wont need to buy for the younger ones but he is still not happy, so does anyone out there do homeschool pn the cheap and can anyone advise on what is essential, what subjects are a must and how to get around these issues dd1 is 5.5yr, ds is 2.5yr and dd2 is 8 months so money is really tight, and i work from home!!!! thanks
The library is a great way to get ahold of a wide variety of things. I also find a lot of games, flashcards, and puzzles at garage sales. For holidays, I steer present givers to educational type stuff- art supplies, games, open-ended play items. There are also a ton of free websites out there that have great resources. A favorite of mine is Mother Hubbard. HTH!
I started out by asking all the public school teachers that I know if they had any old stuff they wanted to get rid of. I ended up with some great stuff. I got some brand new books from them that they had been given to review and their schools never bought that series so the teachers were told to keep the sample if they wanted to. I got a home ec book for high school and middle school that way plus lots of older spelling, math, and reading books. The library has so much good stuff. I learned which lady at the library was the most helpful and tried to ask her when I needed anything. She goes out of her way now to tell me about new items. She makes sure to let us know about special programs. The dollar tree store here had lots of workbooks that my youngest loved when she was younger. They were great for early on. Flash cards came in sets at the dollar store too. I bought several things on Ebay and from ladies here or at a homeschool group. Lots of the ladies in the homeschool group had things they just wanted to give away.
As said, make the librarian your best friend! The only textbook that is absolutely needed at this level is a math book. You might also want to invest in "Five in a Row". It's a popular one with young kids. I think there's also "Before Five in a Row", too. There's lots of free stuff you can get on-line, plus you can always buy stuff used. Remind your husband that the money you spend on books is a whole lot less than tuition at a private school!
yeah your right private school would cost a fortune! thanks for the tips we go to the library but its not got a lot! will have to try a bigger one!
Does your library allow you to request things from other libraries? I can request things online and they will deliver it to my library. I use that ALL the time!
You have a Kindergartener.. have you looked at www.letteroftheweek.com? Also, at that age, it's really easy to make up your own curriculum.. mostly with free resources off the internet. As a guide look [a href="http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum"]HERE[/a]. Then look online to find what you need to help her learn what you feel is necessary (my list and the worldbook list is slightly different, yours may be too ) For reading: www.starfall.com A printable book on numbers: http://www.beginningreading.com/Fun Book - Blackline.htm There are also tons of places to find free coloring sheets, and really anything else you can imagine. We homeschool very cheap.. we have to in order to keep me home. We buy books at yardsales (usually when they have a box of books for say 25 cents each, I will offer 5 bucks for the box and most often they take it, it gives us a large variety of book topics and levels), and also at thrift stores and on ebay, half and amazon used. We use television all the time.. history channel, animal planet, discovery channel, TLC and PBS are our favorites. We get Netflix.. and average 4 movies a week.. our early in the week movies are always school related, the ones for the weekend our our fun movies. I go to the teacher store on occasion and look at workbooks and things and decide what I want, come home and hit ebay, half and amazon and get the best deal. We search for educational videos online as well as lessons, units, free lapbooks.. there is soooo much you can do with a very limited budget. I think (not counting our netflix) I am homeschooling my 4th grader this year for less than 30 bucks.
yep ebay and being that young I agree with Jackie the only book you need is Math and there are so many free website out there to print everything you need. So much to offer you really don't need to spend dime for that age if you don't want too.
Okay, We started out homeschooling with not much, at your school aged child's level you should be able toget by with the Complete Book of ---- but if you want something you can go and reuse the teacher books-- we chose Alpha Omega for that purpose and the fact we could see what we would be doing when on thier scope and sequence and when we started not many had that. You can usually pick them up second hand now days. You can also go to sites like Scholastics and do online free classes, they have science and other lessons at a click! There are a few links to sites if your child is able to use the pc. IF you have a printer, printing and copying work is possible too, Abcteach, atoz and a few others that you should find a link to up at the top of this page someplace I think, have printables. Donnayoung.org? I think it is has lots of helps as well! AOp.com has the ones we started with. They may seem costly at first, but when you realise they are spread out and you CAN use a note book page for your child to answer questions and reuse the work books if need be. It is funny but I have never met someone who is homeschooling for the first time that said "Money is not object what can I get?" There are quite a few web sites that have second hand school books for homeschooling so I would also suggest googling your childs level and subjects I started first grade with five subjects , Math, Language arts, Science , History and geography, and Bible, but you could get buy at that age with the 3 main ones, Math, Language arts , and History and geography or Science. if you are not into Bible, if you do Bible you could combine science and history in one class with that even!
Kindergarten and preschool certainly can be done totally on the cheap! TOTALLY. There is so much FREE and inexpensive stuff on the internet, you just need to print it out. Someone gave you Starfall (all the downloads are free). Someone gave you Letter of the Week. Also, Five in a Row - if you want the book, it's like $20, but has great ideas and the books (well, MOST books) are available from the library. There's also www.edhelper.com, www.schoolexpress.com, www.abcteach.com, www.learningpage.com (GREAT RESOURCE), www.worksheetworks.com . There are more....I need to dig for you. I did preschool, kinder and 1st without curriculum. (well, I tried a few...but ended up selling and not using fully). Free is good....and is truly possible in the early years!
You could use this site instead of buying handwriting books. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/handwriting/index.aspx?id=4296 I plan on using it next year for my sons bible copywork in cursive. It saves me having to buy another writing workbook. They have Kindergarten level, you just type what you want, print it out, and have a free worksheet for handwriting.
My oldest son just finished kindergarten and we did it without buying very much. I started the year just using free online stuff and some cheap workbooks from Walmart or Costco. I think that works fine for the younger kids. I did end up buying Horizons math and Explode the Code for phonics after my son had mastered letter sounds. Those are the only programs I will be using for 1st grade too. For other subjects we use unit studies, I buy a few books when I can (I love Scholastic book clubs) and get tons from the library. I see that you have gotten lots of great links. My personal favorites are www.starfall.com, www.learningpage.com (you have to sign up, but it is free), and I am just getting into http://www.homeschoolshare.com/levels.php. We haven't done a lapbook yet, but I plan to try one soon and see how my boys like it. My boys are 7 (tomorrow) and 4.
Did anyone mention http://www.letteroftheweek.com? It is free and geared toward that age. Also I will pm you with some extra workbooks I have that are geared for that age if you are interested. (just help out with shipping is all I ask)
I am no help. My husband is feeling the same way because we are using Calvert, which requires one arm, one leg, and a toe just to purchase for one kid...much less two! Unfortunately, I also bought a bunch of other stuff over the summer when I was trying to do my younger ds on my own. Some of my favorties that we not expensive was his Horizons Math (at first...now it is going too fast and we have had to switch here at lesson 50 ish to Calvert), and I STILL use explode the code. What DO you have?? Maybe start there and see what you have that you can use, and when you may still need.
I use freecycle.org to get free used things. I've done quite a bit of donating, and then I've received things myself! Sometimes you can post what you need. Otherwise the library is a great idea!
I suggest going to the "Favorite Websites" section of this site. It is loaded with awesome free stuff in addition to what you've already been given here. Learning to keep your eyes peeled when you're out and about it helpful. I find things in the clearance section at Walmart that can be used for educational purposes. You might try lapbooking with your child. It is a fun and inexpensive way to learn new things and have something nice to show others when you're done. If you have a printer and paper, the options are limitless really. Is there any one subject you still need help with? Let us know and maybe we can help you out.
What about edhelper.com? they charge a small yearly fee and have alot for the younger age brackett. Also enchanted learning..some of there things you have to be a member to access but they have alot that you can just print off with out the membership. I used it all the time when I taught in the public school system
If you want to use literature based unit studies (produce rich learning experiences and kids who love to learn!), all you need is a library and www.homeschoolshare.com You can add in math and phonics and you're ready to go for a few years! If you have any questions about HSS, please ask! I am more than happy to help you along.
