When a family decides to home school, it usually involves one of the parents staying home to teach the children. In these economic times, it is hard to maintain this status due to the fact that not only are you living on only one spouse's income, but you are also responsible for purchasing all that your child will need for their education.
Like all things these days, home schooling materials do not come cheap. Depending on the age of your child(ren) you may need to purchase more than you had planned. The most inexpensive time to home school is when your child is in the lower elementary grades. You can easily use workbooks from the dollar store or even go to web sites such as Edhelper.com and print off free work sheets. But what if your child is older? How can you afford the cost of home schooling while still giving your child a great education?
First, utilize the internet as much as possible as well as the public library. These are free resources right at your fingertips! Don't be intimidated or ashamed that you don't have fancy curriculum or brand new textbooks like your friends do, anything that you can find in a store bought textbook, you can find on-line. Your local libraries also offer programs that teach people how to use the library. The days of the card catalog are long gone and everything you need can be found at the click of a mouse.
You can swap and share curriculum with friends so that you are maybe only buying books every other year. Form a co-op with friends so that you are not having to teach all of the subjects to your children and therefore will require less materials to purchase.
When you are living on one income even the smallest of purchases can seem daunting but take heart that you can still home school your child effectively. Another great resource for actually finding free resources is "Homeschool Your Child for Free". The book has a companion website that gives you weekly e-mails so that all of your information is kept up to date.
Don't let finances get you down where your child's education is concerned. You can do this even on a limited income and you can do it well.
Comments
Thanks, Stacey! I just also tweeted and posted it on my Facebook fan page "The Frugal Kennedys."
did not know about the Edhelper or FREE homeschool book- great new info - thanks!
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