I think my husband may strangle me soon. He agreed to try out homeschooling although he was a bit hesitant about the curriculum I chose for a couple reasons. One of the biggest reasons was the rather large price tag. Eeyore could go to public school for a quarter of what it was going to cost us to buy a full curriculum. I convinced him that the curriculum I chose had EVERYTHING we would possibly need for an entire year and I promised him that I would only use this curriculum for the first year because I was to scared to plan my own and would need a structured plan for the first year only.
Well. I keep changing it up. I am adding to our curriculum. We are doing unit studies on something of Eeyore’s choosing PLUS his regular curriculum. Which means that I am buying more and more and more things. Our first unit is on dinosaurs and I went out and bought a few books (plus the twenty or so that I checked out from the library), a couple of toy dinosaurs, a dinosaur puzzle, and a fossil excavation site in a box. Mm hmm. That added up real quick. My husband didn’t say anything about it, but I could see him wondering what the heck I was thinking and if I had lied to him about everything being in the box curriculum!
And now? Now I’ve decided to add lapbooking to our studies. For those of you who don’t know what lapbooking is, its basically a scrapbook of what you are learning. And anyone who scrapbooks knows how very very expensive it is. But, I really feel that lapbooking is going to be a GREAT learning tool for my son. He will learn by researching what he wants to put in his lapbook. He will reinforce what he learned by adding it to his lapbook. And then he will review what he learned every time he takes the lapbook out to look at it or show it off to someone. I really believe that this will be an exciting way for him to learn.
Now, how do I convince my husband that you can’t put a price on a good education? Or should I just sneak off to the art supply store without tellin’ him?
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[tags]kids, parents, children, home schooling, cost, price, education, value, budget[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by velo_city, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
4 responses so far ↓
Hunter Johnson // Jul 27, 2007 at 10:24 am
“Now, how do I convince my husband that you can’t put a price on a good education? Or should I just sneak off to the art supply store without tellin’ him?” Um, neither? You can “lapbook” without buying the brand-name scrapbook supplies — people were scrapbooking long before Creative Memories made an industry out of it. For the dinosaur unit, a museum visit (while not free) might have been a less expensive supplement to the free library materials than the books, toys, puzzles, and excavation site in a box (another toy). If Eeyore is getting an allowance, he can buy (or contribute to) a toy from the museum store or the dollar store too. New units don’t have to mean new expenses.
Carol // Jul 28, 2007 at 9:29 am
I was lucky. We ended up starting to homeschool mid-year and didn’t start out with packaged curriculum because it was only a few months. Like you, I quickly found that we didn’t need the packaged curriculum anyhow.
We use the unit study approach as well and I know the temptation to buy all the ’stuff’ that looks fun, interesting, useful and important. But I’ve found that most of the time we can find free or cheap alternatives.
For our dino unit I found plastic dino skeletons at Target for $1 each. I buried them in play sand we already had at home and presto - our own dino kit. Dollar stores are another great place to find deals on little things like this. But don’t bring the kids
We don’t purchase ANY books. I found we can get everything we need from the library. Check to see if your library has a online catalogue so you can choose what you need from your computer at home. I find it helpful to get the books in advance and plan the unit study based on the books we’ve got. There’s plenty of info, just focus on what the library materials cover. Suppliment with free internet materials if necessary.
We also make our own puzzles, games and scrapbooks. Good investments include a regular three ring notebook, some sheet protectors (these work with dry erase markers!), a hole punch and some cardstock. The kids don’t need all the bells and whistles. Mailing labels are another versitile investment - you can use your computer to print your own ’stickers’. My general rule is if the item isn’t versitile (used for multiple unit studies and projects) we don’t invest in it.
Finally, don’t forget to remind your husband all the $ you’re saving not buying school wardrobes, lunch boxes, back packs and a whole list of silly, obscure school supplies
mcmilker // Jul 29, 2007 at 6:51 am
too true,
All of the curriculum materials are so expensive…but, it’s the extras that our high pressure consumer society combined with our parental guilt makes us buy this stuff!
Leslie // Aug 27, 2007 at 5:29 pm
You know, instead of lap-booking, you could blog. Check out Fotki for instance, or if you want to actually have a remembrance, Shutterfly. This way you’re not buying all those supplies that you’ll use once, and then store away never to be heard from again.
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