Looking to cut homeschooling costs next year

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

07 Mar 2009 04:05 AM

Probably more then most other families, homeschoolers are feeling the pinch, since most are already one income homes. This means you will need to make some decisions on how to cut your homeschooling costs for next year. Here are some things to consider.

Trade curriculums: Produce a "have" list of homeschool curriculums you have and no longer need and a "need" list of items that you want. Send it to all of the homeschooling families you know to arrange a trade, or even a sale, it that will get you closer to buying something else you need.

Homeschool swap: Host a homeschool swap where you get together with other homeschoolers in your area and have an old fashioned swap-meet but with homeschooling materials.

Free curriculums: There are more and more free curriculums on the internet. They require a little more ground work for parents, but it is FREE. You can find free online college courses that can be used to teach high school students (and then they can take CLEP exams or AP exams to test out of college classes, saving you more money later)

You can write your own curriculum following a typical course of study which was compiled on families.com next year. Using these guides, a computer, and the library will get you very far.

Library: The library has great resources whether you participate in homeschool programs, use the library at home, or check out every book in sight.

Low cost curriculums: Time4learning, for example, has managed to maintain very low costs for homeschoolers for several years. It is also my favorite curriculum for lower grades.

Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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