|
|
|
| Home | Legal | About Us | Link To Us | Bookmark Us | Recommend Us | Suggest a Link | Search | Feedback | Contact | |
| |
|
|
|
Ask Lynn: How can parents afford homeschooling? by Lynn Hogan |
How can parents afford homeschooling? Materials can be quite expensive!! This is a question I have been asked a number of times. For me, it was a matter of priorities. If my children were attending a more traditional school, I would have to buy pencils and paper and items for the classroom, just like I had to do as a homeschooling parent. The “free” items were the textbooks. That was great, but I didn’t get to choose those materials. Homeschooling gives you that freedom of choice. To do most important jobs, you require appropriate tools. I look on homeschooling materials as tools. I drive a mini-van. I could (if I could afford it) drive a Cadillac but that is not a priority for me. My mini-van gets my family to where we desire to go without costing me what a Cadillac would cost (both in insurance and physical automobile costs). Now that doesn’t mean that someone that drives a more expensive car than mine is a bad person. It means that either they can afford to drive that vehicle without hurting other needs OR that their priorities are different. How does this long explanation relate to your question, you ask. It’s simple. Sometimes I had to make curriculum decisions based on my wallet as opposed to my desires. There were years that I could not afford EVERYTHING and had to make my own flash cards instead of buying them pre-made. There were years that I did virtually ALL my homeschool materials shopping at used or consignment websites and bookfairs. (Note: see some links below for some of my favorites!) There were other years that we put off taking a more expensive family vacation so that we could buy teacher’s manuals and solutions manuals instead of just the student books. Unfortunately, once you hit high school levels, the books are a little more expensive and, at least in my case, more teacher training/support is needed. When I began homeschooling, I was giving up a full time job as a small fast food restaurant manager. It didn’t pay a lot, but it sure paid more than being a full time homeschooling mom in financial reward. For that reason, we chose to do a unit study program. I could do that primarily with library books and fun materials from places like Wal-Mart and Target. There are LOTS of craft books available from the library, not to mention books on every level for studying any topic. I started homeschooling in 1991. During that time, there were not the HUNDREDS of curriculum choices there are today. Nowadays you can find free units on the internet. You can buy just one topic units or unit study curriculums that will last you two years or more. And these are just unit study curriculums. There are huge numbers of math curriculums, science curriculums, history curriculums and so on and so forth. If you go to your state convention, you will be overwhelmed in minutes with all the choices. Pricing for these times can vary from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Again, it goes back to choices. Do you NEED a teacher’s book for every subject you teach? Do you NEED the company’s manipulatives or can you use M&M’s for your math program? Do you NEED to buy every book recommended or can you get some of them from the library? Do you NEED to buy something that leads you step by step through your day, or can you use something with a little less direction? These are all decisions that you need to make before you invest too much in ANY curriculum. Each of us is different. Knowing what YOU need and what your students needs are will help you make those decisions in a frugal and reasonable way. Here’s a few of my favorite sites for consignment or used purchases: http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/ http://www.unitstudyhelps.com/consign.html http://search.ebay.com/homeschool_W0QQfromZR7 http://www.educationalbookbag.com/ http://www.fishing4books.com/ http://www.thebackpack.com/ http://bookmobileonline.com/bookmobile/ © 2004 Lynn Hogan. All rights reserved. |
||
 Lynn also publishes a free newsletter, The Homeschooler's Notebook - Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families. To subscribe, click here and then just send the blank message. You should get a welcome letter right away! By the way, I hate spam and figure you probably do as well. For this reason, I do NOT sell or give or rent my e-mail addresses to ANYONE! I respect YOUR privacy! | ||
| Site Terms of Use | Advertise | FAQ | Privacy |
