Home Schooling on a Budget

In 2004 my husband and I made the decision to home school our son. After many hours of research we found that we could home school our son with very little money without sacrificing his education. By taking advantage of local community activities, other home school families, and the internet we have been able to home school our son for under $100 a school year.

Community Activities
Your local museum, zoo, and libraries may have free or inexpensive educational activities. Visit the web site of your communities local attractions and sign up for their mailing lists so that you won't miss any of their special events.

In our community the zoo has animal and insect classes that are just $2.00 per student. The classes include free parking and zoo admission so after class we can continue our son's education by visiting and reading about each of the animals exhibited.

Our local museum has a special home school day that is just fifteen dollars. For fifteen dollars our son can take four different science classes and explore the museum. Another local museum gives free admission to all county residents on Mondays throughout the year.

Libraries are more than just books. Many libraries have reading clubs, classes, not to mention videos, software, and microfiche. Take advantage of your libraries yearly book sale and start building your families own library.

Other Families
Many communities have established home school support groups. These groups may have classes, field trips, sharing libraries and more. Find your local group or groups and join in the activities.

Since we live in a large community we have the privilege of having many home school groups available to our family. We are actively involved with two of these groups. One of the support groups has enrichment classes, these are free or inexpensive classes that are taught by the moms and dads of the group. The other group has junior varsity and varisity teams in many sports. The teams have weekly practices and weekly games against local private schools.

Both of these groups have been invaluable resources for our family. These groups are not just for home schooling support, they are a great place to build friendships, share resources, and increase social skills.

The All-Knowing Internet
Whoever invented the internet is a genius! The internet is an invaluable resource for everyone not just home school families. You can find web sites with hundreds of lesson plans, educational games, printable worksheets, and tons more. I have downloaded complete curriculums for math, science, and Bible. Remember to book mark any web sites the you find valuable.

Some of my favorite resource web sites:
Wikipedia Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia where the information is submitted and edited by everyone.
Dictionary.com A complete reference site. Dictionary.com is a thesaurus, encyclopedia, and dictionary. This site also has a word of the day and Spanish word of the day which makes it a great stop for a quick language arts lesson.

Not sure where to start online? Read Free Home Schooling Supplies.