One of the biggest joys in my life was homeschooling my children. It was a very tough decision because we didn’t start at the beginning for all of them. Our journey started when we attended the Wesleyan Church regularly. I saw many families who homeschooled their children. I saw how close they were as a family unit.
Although our family was very close, I wanted it to be even more so. I began to talk with my husband about homeschooling our children. We looked into curricula and activities that our children would participate in while being homeschooled. It was a very difficult decision because we didn’t make much money at the time. I was a work at home mom and my husband was a sales associate. We struggled from paycheck to paycheck.
Share Curricula and Supplies with Other Families
Thankfully I had friends who homeschooled as well. They were able to share their curriculum. I even found some school books on Ebay with the teacher’s manuals. This was a plus because it helped me to know exactly what to teach and when to teach it. Some things we couldn’t find at all. I began to search the internet for ways to get curriculum cheap or for free.
Ask for Donated Homeschool Supplies
I found a wonderful non-profit organization called The Book Samaritan. They specialize in finding the curriculum you need through donations. A needy family sends a letter to The Book Samaritan with a list of items that they need for that school year. The volunteers for the company gather what items are needed and ship them to the family without cost. Sometimes it is a small order. However, sometimes a family is in dire need of almost everything that is used for homeschooling.
It is better for the volunteers to receive letters that are just looking for certain subjects. It is more difficult when a family is specific in what they need for homeschool books and other items. They try their hardest to get what you need. Sometimes it isn’t the right thing but it works out for the better anyway. They also send a list of websites with free academic activities for kids.
Visit Homeschooling Websites
There are many online sites that help with teaching children at home as well. There are a few curriculums that are free of charge online. These aren’t the standard curriculums. One particular curriculum is the Charlotte Mason Approach. Through books and literature as well as art, music, and outside exploration, children learn the world of a simple education. Most of the books that are used in this approach are found online.
Charlotte Mason Approach
If a person is interested in the Charlotte Mason Approach, they can go to Amblesideonline. Each year of education is mapped out with the assignments as well as another link for the books. Books that are not found online can be found at Amazon, Ebay, your local library, or your local bookstore. We have used this approach before.
I love that my children were able to just read the book online and write about it. I also love the scientific approach of Charlotte Mason. She believes in Nature Studies. Nature studies encourage children to explore the depths of the out of doors. This helps them to become familiar with nature. When we used this part of the curriculum, I would send the kids outside with a small notebook, a pencil, and their imagination. I told them to walk into the woods in our backyard and find something they had never seen before.
Our children spent many days in the woods behind our home. It became their playground. The notebooks were filled quickly and turned in. Even the youngest filled her Nature Study book with beautiful pictures of the wonderful things she observed outside. Upon using this curriculum, my children were able to express who they were. We teamed this with The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.
The Story of the World History Curriculum
The Story of the World is a four volume history curriculum. It teaches the history of our world through storytelling and simple activities that children can enjoy. In volume one, the beginning of the world is discussed from the earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Empire. After the story is read, there are certain activities that follow. For instance there are games to play, recipes to make, and crafts to build that are similar to those that were experienced in those era’s.
It is a great learning tool and an easy way to teach history to young children. My children looked forward each day to listening to the story of the day. They also looked forward to the activities that followed. Most of the activities that were involved were things my children had never experienced before. This made it more exciting.
Free Educational Websites
I found many websites that offered certain subjects in fun ways for free. Spelling city was a great place for my children to learn how to spell and have fun doing it. The teacher could either plug in spelling words that are part of another curriculum or choose from a list of spelling words that were offered on the site. After each day that the child practices their words, they are able to play a game. This helps to encourage each child to do their best and enjoy learning to spell.
When we were homeschooling, our children were just learning their math facts through multiplication, addition, and division. Because of this, I looked for a fun site where they could learn these and feel accomplished doing it. There were a few places that I liked. One of those places was Math Fact Cafe. This helped the kids to learn their math facts. There were tests as well.
One game that I had downloaded for free was Timez Attack. This helped teach the multiplication tables while playing a game. The kids really enjoyed this. There is now a division game similar to the multiplication one that was just released by the same company. Also in November and December of this year they are to release the addition and subtraction games.
Free Public Library Resources
We used our local library to find reading books. I searched online for book lists for each of our children’s age levels. If it was too easy for them, I would look at the age levels above them. This helped to keep their minds fresh with reading. We also used the recommended reading books for Ambleside. The children would read a book and then tell us or write a report on what the book was about and why they liked it.
Buy Used Curriculum Packages
Because we had friends who homeschooled as well and I had a child who was behind a grade from another friend in school, we were able to get some curriculum free. The Abeka Curriculum is a wonderful, educational, advanced, curriculum that provides every aspect of schooling for a child. The only issue I have had with this curriculum is the cost.
I thoroughly enjoyed using this curriculum with my children because they were able to understand it. The oldest was able to move to another room and carefully work on her assignments while I worked with the other two. I was able to find a lot of the books, workbooks, teacher keys, and lesson plans on Ebay, and Amazon. Buying these books on those websites rather than the Abeka website helped me save a little money. We usually bought these books used which made them quite cheap, even with shipping.
We also used Saxon math. I really enjoyed this math curriculum because it was easy to understand the lesson. It mapped out the lesson at the beginning of each section. If a child had difficulty understanding the lesson, we could go back and do the practice problems at the beginning until they understood it better. If they still had difficulty, there were online activities on the Saxon website that helped them to understand the lesson better. The tests were well written. The Teacher book was easy to understand also.
There is so much more information out there that helps anyone who is financially struggling to homeschool. I hope this helps some families to be able to teach their children without breaking their wallet. Homeschooling was the best decision I ever made for my children so far. It helped them to become who they are socially, emotionally, and physically. Without the help of our local homeschool group, my friends who also homeschool and our church, I probably would’ve given up very quickly. They helped me to understand that everyone can homeschool even if you can’t afford it.
Homeschooling for cheap or free can be the best experience you can give your children. Good Luck!
Brandy Lindsey - Welcome to This, That, and A Little Bit More. Sit back and enjoy the ride as you read through my experiences in life...
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