Homeschooling on a budget-- great ideas that are cheap to free?

Question

Since careful budgeting is part of our lives, we're always looking for great resources and ideas that are inexpensive. Anyone wanna throw anything out there?

One thing we do is collect old school text books. We have gotten them from our district for free (every so often, they throw a bunch out, so it pays to keep in touch, especially if you have a homeschooling-friendly community). We also ask around, most people who have older children have some lurking in the garage or attic somewhere, or sometimes you'll find them at yard sales. While we don't often use them straight through, they do come in handy, and you can always search on the internet for additional enrichment materials like worksheets or project ideas if you wanted to do an entire chapter or unit.

MSB

Edit: wow, so many great ideas so fast! We do a lot of the same thing you all do, and I'm going to look into some of the other suggestions.

Oh, here's one I haven't seen mentioned-- we use freecycle.org. where people list things they are trying to get rid of, or things they need. We've used it for project supplies mostly, and almost always get just what we need and better-- for free. Plus it has been a great way to get rid of things we no longer need, I'm more willing to part with clutter when I think someone else will benefit from something I'm not using. One time someone offered an old laptop that we got-- it couldn't handle the internet, but it was nice to have an extra pc for writing. I saw a piano offered once, oh, had we only the space for it in our small apartment!

Mr Z: That's actually the WORST idea for us. I've done that, it didn't work, academically or socially. And the schools were always hitting the parents up for money, plus there were so many required things to buy. Throw the daily cost of tranportation (had to pay for the bus) and lunch (my kid wouldn't touch the free cafeteria food, I had to always prepare homemade to go) and I was spending more on school than I thought it was worth for us. Homeschooling is a much more sensible way for us to spend our $$$ and makes us happy.

Besides, if my kids went back to school, two of them would have trouble placing because two of them are so far ahead of their grade in various subjects than their public schooled peers, and my little one who has a learning disability wouldn't get the individual attention or the non-distracting environment he needs, and they'd miss all the activities they do daily with our big homeschool co-op and all their friends.

Answer 1

I've been loving PaperbackSwap. There are TONS of HS'ing materials posted there. I've rec'd at least $200 worth of curriculum items there in the last two months. All it costs for "credits" is mailing books to others, which is usually $1.50-2.50.

http://www.paperbackswap.com

While not exactly *cheap*, I've found a wonderful resource for our family - Cosmeo by The Discovery Channel. It's video-on-demand and so much more! It's a bargain to me at $100/year and I only HS one child. One account can have four children's accounts, plus the parent's account. You could always split the cost with another HS'er. There are so many great resources there like the Standard Deviant videos (our library has a very poor selection and they cost $$), many programs from Discovery like Bill Nye, Mythbusters, on and on. We don't subscribe to cable or satellite TV (rarely even watch broadcast TV), so this is my way of getting great educational programs. Cosmeo also includes Nutshell Math, which is wonderful also. If you did Academy123 (which provides it) alone, it would cost a LOT!

http://www.cosmeo.com

I also love using PBS's site to tie into their programs. They typically have teacher's guides for many shows.

We have reciprocal memberships with AZA, ACM, and ASTC for museum passes and we use them a LOT when traveling.

http://aza.org/
http://www.childrensmuseums.org/index.htm
http://www.astc.org/

We also visit many National Park Service sites and participate in their Junior Ranger Programs, which are usually free, or a few dollars. Many of the parks have awesome educational materials also. I think my favorite was Carlsbad Caverns'. I printed out a ton of stuff to do in the car on the way to our visit there.

http://www.nps.gov

Enchanted Learning is a great site:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

I also love Maths Is Fun for math:

http://www.mathsisfun.com/

If you know any college professors, they can probably give you a TON of free sample textbooks. They get bombarded by the publishers to try out texts and choose them. I don't know if they have rules about distribution, though.

For free HS helps, I love Donna Young's site:

http://donnayoung.org/

** ADDED **

United Streaming, mentioned by another responder, is basically the same as Cosmeo - it's just geared for a teacher, not a student. It is *only* free in some states/localities. It is not available for free in my current, or former state.

A great place to get cheap, educational CD-roms (great shipping rates, too - $3 flat rate), is:

http://www.5dollarsoftware.com

Answer 2

You do the EXACT same thing I do! I found an oceanography college text and environmental science text and modified them for my upcoming 6th grader. EVERYTHING can be modified. A college writing text includes grammar lessons. I found the state requirements for social studies so I am just mirroring that using the library and internet as resources. Really need to find a math book though.

But glad I am not alone in seeking budget friendly homeschool materials. Budget isnt the only reason I use creativity in my homeschooling "curriculum." I refuse to purchase a curriculum so that someone else can tell me what to teach my child. So many texts include political and religious views that I dont agree with too! Freecycle is one of my best friends. Give some, get some!!! Take care!

Answer 3

I love to collect Old School Books too and since I do reenacting some of them work great.
For those on a budget (yeah I'm in that catagory too) try these sites--they range from full programs to basics---www.oldfashionededucation.com(full program and a support group) ; www.obdk.com(science); www.krampf.com(free science experiments for all ages ); www.spellingtime.com (is down for the summer, back up in Aug);www.purplemath.com; www.gamesforlearning.com; www.4america.com; www.wackyuses.com; www.extremescience.com.

While ebay is okay for some things, I do not recommend buying teaching materials from them as they can not legally sell the Teacher Editions of the school books ( I did get a whole set of McGuffey Readers for under $20 and Old Fashion Ed has a link where you can download the entire set for free).
Also sign up with your local library as they have some great FREE summer programs for the kids and some movie theatres offer FREE children's movies over the summer once a week ( my 9 yr old daughter and her little friend just hammered out the summer sched. with me and other than gas money I think I'll be spending about 30 bucks for what they are doing this summer).
As you don't give the age of your child(ren) what I have listed is non-age specific.
Hope this helps in some small way.

Answer 4

Try postage stamp collecting. It works as an extracurricular activity, and a great hobby! My siblings and I were always homeschooled, and found this very satisfying. Get a photo album with the handi-wrap-like sheets to cover the pages, and start your own collection! To get stamps off an envelope, cut around the stamp, and put the paper w/ the stamp on it in a bowl of lukewarm water. Wait about 15 minutes or so, and the stamp will slide right off. Let it dry on a paper towel, and you have an addition ready for your album! I'm sure you can find more info online. Good luck!

Answer 5

In college I used to get really creative with ramen noodles. Using such a cheap base, I'd dress it up and give them some nutritional value. Some of my favorite additions were broccoli, steamed chicken, and chopped garlic. Another of my favorites was (and still is) rice and beans. Buy a huge bag of white or brown rice, and canned beans (in bulk if you can find it; I like kidney beans the best for Mexican-style rice & beans). Chili powder, cumin, coriander, and chopped onion make it taste delicious. A somewhat Italian variation on that is to use canned cannelli beans (look similar to kidney beans, but are white and not as dense), and cook them with olive oil, chopped tomatoes, and garlic for a few minutes. With rice or some kind of Italian-style bread, it makes a really tasty meal. Generally, I think it's a good idea to start with really inexpensive staples, and change it up a bit on a daily basis with some additional, slightly more expensive additions. If you try to eat the same boring thing every day, it will be harder to keep to a budget in the long run. Variation is the key.

Answer 6

Yes and there is the Internet, lots of research information there.

There is the Library, free books to keep for 2-4 weeks.

There are thrift stores and library sales where you can get books cheap. I got an old Physicians Desk Reference (New one is I think $250) for $2

I once PASSED UP the 1980 Edition of Encylopedia Britanica at a thrift store. COMPLETE, $40

NEW Britanica costs close to $2,000

I've seen the entire Harvard Classics at thrift stores for $50

That includes Homer, Darwin, Aristotle, Socrates

How cheap are you.

I mean once every few months can you afford soemthing neat for UNSCHOOLING.

Say, for example, an eletronics kit from Edumunds Scientific for $100 that lets you make 50 projects incuding a radio

Or the $110 Celestron telescope they have

Wal Mart sells a much cheaper unit for $60

That and a star chart will take you to College Observational astronomy level

Museums. Any mueums near you. Science, art, aquariums, plantariums.

Field trips.

Unschooling VIA life is a great eduction.

Next year let your KIDS do your TAXES instead of H&R Block. It's an experience in MATH and READING COMPREHNSION

A camera. Wal MArt sells them new for $20, thrift stores have better ones as do pawn shops.

Get a roll of REAL black and white film.

Get a tank at a camera store ($15 maybe $20), get a TRI CHEM pack ($5) get some contact printing papeR $7 and another Tri Chem pack and some trays

Learn how to process and print black and white film

That's Photography 1 in High School

BACK to Edmunds

An Optical Bench with LENSES for $30

Two Cheap Laser pointers

Point them into the lenses and find an neibhor who smokes a pipe and have them blow smoke over it all and watch the light beams bend through the lenses.

NOW make an ENLARGER with that optical bench and lenses for your photogrpahy 2 course.

Find a cheap guitar and learn how to play. Music 1

Go to E-bay and buy Visual BASIC 6.0 PRofessional used for $30 and Corel Photo Paint or Adobe Photo Shop OLD editions used for $30

Then learn how to program and edit pictures.

Go to the ART store and get some black Charcole and learn how to draw

Get a brush and some black paaint and learn how to do Japaenze brush painting.

Get a $30 set from some TV learn how to draw artist, comes with all of that.

That's youre ART course.

Edmunds offers bags of lenses for $5, learn optics.

Get some MARBLES and a ruler with a GROOVED TOP that will hold them and then do NEWTONIAN BODIES IN MOTION EXPERIMENTS

Get some light guage hookup wire ($3 at Radio Shack), wrap it around a paper towel tube. Put a strong bar magnet inside the tube. Plug up the ends with cork or wood and tape to secure them. Tie each end of leader wire to a flash light bulb and then SHAKE THE TUBE so the magenet moves back and forth and generate electrictity to light the bulb.

Get a flashlight D cell or a 9Volt radio batter and some wire, a small length say two feet, tied the ends to each pole to generate heat and then place a magent near the wire and watch the needle move.

Get some Copper Sulfate at a hobbie shop (chemistry set refill, $3) some NICKEL strip (Chemistry set refill $3), a 9 volt batter and some wire. Cut the strip into two pieces. Attach one wire to each. Mix the Copper Sulfate in a glass of water. Dip half of each strip into opposites sides of the solution and wait two or three minutes then look at the strips.

Answer 7

The SolutionsForHomeschool site, http://www.solutionsforhomeschool.com, is a great source for excellent supplemental educational stuff. They clearly have a committment to provide only websites of high quality and with very few or zero ads, unlike other "link" resource sites I've come across. And they add new links at least once a month, with "featured" topics on the home page. My kids love these!

Answer 8

What I would recommend as the previous poster has mentioned is web sites like http://www.freeworksheets.com/
As another choice both Enchanted learning, and abc teach are complete curriculum web sites, they costs $20.00 per year for a membership.
http://enchantedlearning.com/
http://abcteach.com/
They have a daily calendar that links you to all sorts of social studies, and other daily topic's.
You can print of worksheets, or complete workbooks, whatever you may need.
You can school your child for pennies, and a library card.

Here are some good free educational web sites to play around with:

Weather/Meteorology (the weather dude).
http://www.wxdude.com
Astronomy
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/star...

Mr. Donn's history sire - unit studies.
http://www.members.aol.com/don............

Free weekly tips, worksheets,lesson plans, resources , and curriculum.
http://www.homeschoolfreestuff...
http://about.com/education/
http://www.freeworksheets.com/
http://teacher.scholastic.com/

Math:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathworksheets.h...
http://www.mathsisfun.com/worksheets/ind...
http://www.algebra.com
http://www.coolmath.com/
http://www.coolmathalgebra.com/.........
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/


Geography
http://www.dltk-kids.com/world
other:
http://www.dltk-kids.com
http://www.dltk-kids.com/color............

Typing-keyboarding
http://www.auntlee.com/easytyp............
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/...

http://www.funbrain.com/
http://www.brainpopjr.com/
http://www.iknowthat.com/
http://www.kidzone.ws/
http://kidsites.com/
http://www.spellingtime.com/

Edit;
Mr Z, so when did the school system stop costing the taxpayer money?
The taxpayers, you, me, and everyone else in this country pays for the school system.
The government can not re-distribute our tax dollars without collecting them from us first: so trust me the school system is far from "free".
Home schooling therefore saves the average American tax payer a lot of money, since the schools compensation (tax dollars) depends on the number of students enrolled in a school.
Good for saving tax dollars, not so good for those who depend on that money for their paycheck.
Free schools that is a misnomer.

Answer 9

Your Bible and the public library ( lots of people I know use the Sonlight readers as a list)

http://www.amblesideonline.com is a free curriculum based on Charlotte Masons's ideas.

Swap with other homeschoolers who have kids of different ages.

Answer 10

I'm having to do homeschool 'cheap' too. I can't afford to buy already planned out curiculum (Abeka, Saxon, etc) so I do things like searching on Ebay, and sign up for groups, message boards, etc where parents sell their used homeschool stuff VERY cheap! I recently got $85.00 worth of stuff for $10.00 !!

And, there are LOADS of websites that let you download and print worksheets, books, quizzes, etc for FREE!

And, there are LOTS of educational games on the internet for kids to play. My dd LOVES them!

YOu can also buy software for games and even whole subjects to use the whole year for teaching!! I get them on Ebay or either parents who sell them cheap on message boards.

At first I thought it would cost a lot to do homeschool, but it's not that bad!

I thought about when my child was in school, they want money every time you turn around for classroom supplies, buying pictures 3 times a year, yearbooks, field trips, PTA donations, buying magazines, buying books from scholastic just about every week, maybe buy uniforms, and on and on.

So yea, you can make homeschool a LOT cheaper than regular school!!

I haven't had to spend much money at all for homeschool. I have had to buy specialized programs for her learning problems. But if child doesnt' have any learning problems it will be much cheaper to do homeschool.

Visit the library a lot. It surprised me at all the books and movies they have that can be used to teach ANYTHING!!

And join local homeschool groups for free and inexpensive educational field trips. We go to some very great places!!

And the BEST thing to me is www.unitedstreaming.com
It is sponsored by local public TV stations. YOu can sign up for free but you have to send them a fax of your 'intent to homeschool' form and they will send to your email an ID name and password for the site.

This site has about 27,000 movies, audio, reports, studies on ALL subjects for ALL grades! It is wonderful and my child LOVES the movies!!