Tips for Homeschooling Inexpensively

Packaged homeschooling curriculum is expensive and out of the reach of many single income families. Thankfully, with a little creativity and elbow grease, homeschooling can be done at a very low cost. Here are some ways to homeschool without breaking the bank.

1. Create an outline of what you'd like your children to learn at each grade level. You can either Google "scope and sequence," or use books such as "What Your First Grader Needs to Know" to come up with an appropriate course of study for each year. Please note that one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is flexibility, so don't feel you have to cover everything suggested. If you have more than one child, for the sake of simplicity, you may want to cover the same subjects (e.g. inventors in science, the civil war in American history, etc.) with all your children rather than worrying about what you're "supposed" to cover each grade level. To make this easy, you might want to use the scope and sequence that is appropriate for your oldest child and cover the same topics on a more basic level for your younger children.

2. Head to the library for books, DVDs and computer software related to the subjects you want to cover this month. Pick up more materials than you think you'll need, as you never know which books and DVDs will be the most interesting and which ones will be duds. You can always return the less interesting books and other materials sooner rather than later. Let the librarian know what you're interested in studying this month; she's likely to know of great books and other materials you may not find on your own.

3. Spend some time reading aloud each day from the selected library books. You can easily involve your children who are different ages in the same read aloud time. Even older children enjoy being read aloud to, especially if you've read aloud to them from the time they were young. Younger children, including those who are not yet school age, will pick up on a good amount of information during the read aloud time even if some of the material is over their heads.

4. Use educational DVDs picked up from the library for a nice change of pace. DVDs are also an excellent choice when you, as a homeschooling parent, are sick or need a little break for some other reason.

5. Use the notebook method of homeschooling. All you need are three-ring binders, notebook paper, and pens, pencils, crayons, etc. You may also want to have scissors and glue sticks on hand if you have artistic children who enjoy making collages.

Have your children create notebook pages in response to what they read, watch, and discuss. For instance, your child might write a report about each inventor studied, create a list of "wacky facts" about each inventor, draw detailed diagrams of various inventions, create a glossary, and so on.

The sky is the limit in terms of what can go into a notebook. The idea is that the child creates his own "book" on the subjects he studies. Many different skills are used in creating notebooks, including research, writing, art, and so on. Notebooks are very inexpensive to create, but they are excellent learning tools and also very clearly show what your child has learned each year.

6. Purchase family memberships to zoos and museums in your city. Generally speaking, you'll save money with a membership if you visit the museum even twice in a year. But with a membership, you'll likely find yourself taking your children to the museum multiple times per year. Many museums bring in new exhibits several times per year which keeps the museum visits new and exciting.

7. Take advantage of resources on the Internet. You can find loads of information including lesson plans and worksheets for all subjects on the Internet. Older children can use the Internet to research just about anything. For safety purposes, you may want to use child safe search engines such as can be found at http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html

8. Although actual curriculum is not needed for most subjects, especially on an elementary level, math textbooks are very helpful. Look for used math textbooks online on places such as eBay and Amazon. Purchase math textbooks that are non-consumable so you can pass the textbook down the line to each child in the family. When you're finished with a textbook, turn around and sell it to recoup at least some of the cost.