Are you homeschooling on a budget? Perhaps it’s a very tight budget. I’ve got good news! It CAN be done…and with great results.
Today, I want to share 10 {well, I added one more} tips for homeschooling on a budget. These are things we have used over my 12+ years of homeschooling, and they really do help the pocketpook!
11 Tips for Homeschooling on a Budget
Tip #1: Look at your state’s standards.
If you’re unsure of what you should cover in each grade level, but don’t necessarily want to purchase an entire curriculum, one free way to find out is to look at your state’s standards. Where I live, we have Academic Standards for each grade level and subject. While I do not follow this list religiously, I do glance at it from time-to-time to give me a starting point.
Tip #2: Use FREE printables.
There are many AWESOME sites with loads of free printables you can use when homeschooling. Here are a few for you to explore:
- 1 Plus 1 Plus 1 Equals 1 – No, it’s not a math problem gone wrong. 🙂 Carisa has some FANTASTIC printables for the younger years. We used many of them before I began creating my own.
- Homeschool Creations – Jolanthe is a lovely person inside and out and has some great freebies for younger kiddos.
- This Reading Mama – My first site, has GOBS and GOBS of freebies. Oh my!
- Alive and Growing at Home – This new blog is one that I’m hoping will become a site where you can find Biblical resources for your homeschooling. I have several that are already free!
- Florida Center for Reading Research – This site has some fantastic literacy freebies for PreK through fifth grade.
- Math Geek Mama – Bethany has some great freebies for math, especially in the older grades…beyond elementary school.
- 123 Homeschool 4 Me – Beth has loads of activities and freebies for all subject areas.
Tip #3 Start or be a part of a homeschool co-op.
Established co-ops can cost quite a bit of money. But what if you start your own? It really doesn’t have to be complicated or hard. The best thing is you can make the rules! We’ve done several different co-ops over the years. While I share more about this idea in this post, teaming up with others can look like:
- Homeschool share group – This is a fantastic way for your kiddos to get practice speaking in front of others! Get together a few moms/kids 1-2x a month for the kids to share anything. Think show and tell, but for “big kids.” Really, the sky is the limit here. And the age-range is very flexible. When we did a homeschool share group, we just met at someone’s house, had the kids share, then ate lunch together afterwards.
- Share teaching subjects – Don’t feel you can teach science? Find a friend who is willing to teach it. Then, you can offer to teach a subject. Or co-teach subjects together. This works particularly well when you have a subject {like art or science} that lend themselves a little better to a group setting.
- Poetry tea time – We only did this for a year, but my kids all loved it! We met once a month with another family in our area. Beforehand, I would pick a poem I wanted all my kids to work on {either just read it or even memorize it}. During poetry tea time, the kids would have snacks, and read or recite the poetry to each other.
- Homeschool fieldtrip group –Â Gather a couple of other friends to go on an adventure. You can go once a week, once a month, or whenever you want! Where we live, some places we’ve visited have been free while others offer homeschool discounted prices.
- Plan special days – When the kids were very young and I was just starting this homeschooling journey, we got together with about five other families to do special days mostly around holidays. We did a Colonial Day and a Christmas Around the World Day. Again, it’s all up to how you want to do it, but this was an easy one when the kids were young and provided great fellowship for me and the kids.
Tip #4 Rethink your teaching supplies.
I have an entire post over at This Reading Mama all about Teaching Supplies on a Tight Budget. Instead of thinking you need to buy everything new, you can repurpose and reuse things, which saves you money. This post can give you ideas that may spur new ones…at least I hope so!
Tip #5 Use your local library.
Take advantage of your local library! When my kids were super young, this was a great trip to get out of the house. Plus, I could go online and put certain books on hold before leaving the house instead of trying to tow several toddlers around looking for just the right book.
The only thing to remember with the library is library fees. Keep up with your due dates! I once racked up a bigger library fee than I wish to admit.
Tip #6 Take advantage of free webinars, podcasts, and video channels.
When it was time for me to start thinking about homeschooling in high school, I kind of freaked out…until I found a free webinar about homeschooling in high school. That seriously did it for me. I felt I was empowered to do it! And it was free. {I use a free webinar from The HomeScholar.}
If you’re a podcast kind of person, Learning Mama has compiled a huge list of homeschool podcasts. Disclaimer: I have not listened to them, so use your own discretion when deciding which ones you’ll listen to.Â
A couple of years ago, I gathered together and created an entire post with free educational videos for kids just on YouTube. I hope that will be of help to you!
Tip #7 Buy or borrow used books/curriculum.
It’s no joke. Homeschool curriculum can be EXPENSIVE!
But, there’s good news! You don’t have to buy it new. Even if you don’t have a used homeschool bookstore near you, check with others who have older homeschooled kids and see if you could buy or even borrow curriculum from them instead of forking out the money for new materials.
Tip #8 Use the same curriculum with multiple kids when possible.
One way you can do this is to teach a subject with multiple kids. For example, we’ve taught history, Bible, and science in this way. My younger three have almost always done these subjects together with me. This way, I’m just buying ONE instead of three separate curricula.
Another way to try this is to pass the used curriculum down from one child to another. I’ve seen homeschool families buy spiral notebooks and have their kiddos write and solve the math problems in the notebook instead of the workbook itself. This way, another sibling can use a “clean” copy of the workbook.
Tip #9 Modify your curriculum.
Do you research before buying a curriculum. I have written a post more about Choosing the “Right” Homeschool Curriculum based on your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Some curricula companies even have free placement tests, like this one, you can give your child to help you choose the best fit possible. Take full advantage of them if you’re not sure.
But even if you’ve done your due diligence to research the curriculum, every child is different. You may find a month or so into the schoolyear that the curriculum just isn’t working.
This is when you can chose to look for something else {more money}, or possibly modify the curriculum.
Here are a few ideas on how to modify curriculum:
- Slow the lessons down if your child isn’t understanding the concepts. Of course, this may mean you don’t finish the entire book, which is more common than you might think! If it bothers you that bad, continue doing a little work through the summer or carry it over until the next school year.
- Find free online videos to help explain the concepts. I’ve hopped onto YouTube plenty of times to find a video that could explain a concept more fully if I felt the curriculum didn’t.
- Find free printables to reinforce concepts before moving on.
- Buy a cheap workbook to supplement. If you need even more supplemental work, you can grab a cheap workbook online or sometimes even at the dollar store {depending on the subject} to supplement the concepts your child isn’t getting.
- Speed things up because your child has already mastered the skills. You can combine two lessons together or even skip lessons. Just be sure your child has actually mastered the concepts. Don’t assume and then regret it later.
- Only do the odd {or even} problems in the book. Let’s face it. No one in their right might wants to do 30 long division problems. If your child has done ten long division problems, for example, and shows he/she has mastered it, let it go. The other 20 may not be needed today.
Tip #10 Stock up on supplies when they’re on sale.
Curricula creators often have sales. Maybe it’s in July or around Thanksgiving. It can helpful to reach out to the company and ask them when they typically have a sale. And instead of buying it full-price, wait for the sale price. This, of course, may mean you need to plan ahead a bit for the school year {or even the next school year}, but it’s a great way to homeschool on a tight budget.
If you need to buy school supplies like notebooks, paper, and pencils, I’ve found the best time to stock up on those is right before school starts in August. This is when I have found the prices to be the lowest all year. Instead of just buying one or two packs, I might buy five or six so I have enough for all year.
Tip #11 Buy a planner once and use it every year.
Okay, so I had to add one extra tip for homeschooling on a budget to the list! I used to buy a homeschool planner every single year until I started creating my own. Instead of asking you to buy one every year, both the homeschool planner {for homeschooling parents} and student planner {for middle/high school students} are editable and digital.
This way, you can add your own dates, subjects, every year and reuse it. Yep. Buy them once and use them every year.
Do you have any money-saving tips you can share that would encourage homeschooling families? Please feel free to leave your ideas in the comments!
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Enjoy homeschooling!
~Becky
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