How much do you actually reuse for your kids?

[carina]

I'm planning first grade and it seems a bit spendy to me but I'm telling myself that TOG and LOE will be reused by our younger two so it's really not that expensive in the long run. But then I think, what if I change my mind? So, were any of you able to pick some core curricula and stick with it for several kids?

 

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[prairiewindmomma]

I would hold off on TOG for first grade. Use SOTW since your oldest is only in 1st. TOG is wonderful with rhetoric level kids but is overkill, imo, for a first grader.

[AmyinMD]

I wouldn't buy TOG either.  Aside from MUS I find I wind up using different things with my younger kids than I did with my older kids.  There is always new curriculum coming out or being updated.  Sometimes I don't want to go through the exact same program again or what worked well for one child doesn't work as well for another.  

[texasmama]

I know nothing of TOG.

 

I have reused liberally with kids.  I am pretty good at tweaking to reuse items.  My Singapore math texts have gone through three kids.  That is some bang for your buck right there.

[luuknam]

I misread that as "How much do you actually reuse your kids?". Not sure how one would reuse their kids. Curriculum... too early to tell, since my oldest is 7.

[RootAnn]

My copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (purchased in May 2006 for $14.30) is in two pieces & has already been taped together once. Kid #5 is currently on Lesson 16.

 

Spell to Write & Read (purchased core kit for $98 in May 2007) was used for dd#1, is currently in use for dd#2, dd#3, and ds#1. I'm hoping it holds together for many more years to last through ds#2.

 

While it isn't the only math I own and I strayed from it one year with dd#1, we continue to use Abeka Arithmetic 1-6 over & over again. Oldest has also used Pre-A & is finishing up Algebra.

 

I'm on my second time through SOTW 1-3. You can see our progression through the series by looking at my Amazon Orders page .... We're going to try SOTW 4 next year. I hope to go through the whole series a third time with my boys before passing the books on.

 

I've only once reused a science text so far. The occasional book is on the shelf & hasn't ever been used. Other things were started & abandoned for being a bad fit (Megawords & Life of Fred Fractions being the two I can remember right now).

 

I bought LOE's game book for use with ds#1. It was worth the $ for that & two sets of cards because I am already starting to use them with ds#2. And then I can pass them along...

 

Some of the least expensive purchases have gotten the most use.

[Syllieann]

I am reusing the things I bought that I really wanted and liked. The stuff I bought for my older that was a less expensive alternative to what I really wanted ended up getting replaced by the more expensive option that I had wanted in the first place. So, in my case "saving" money cost me more.

 

I am using connecting with history (sort of like a Catholic tog) for an elementary student. I like it because of the teacher supports and the fact that I am being educated along with my student. I considered starting with something simpler/less involved, but then I would be buying both in the long run instead of just cwh, again costing more money and losing the aspect of Faith integration.

[Guest]

I had to sell my top of the line latest and greatest uber-spendy elementary curricula to buy "it will just have to do" high school curricula for my now adult kids.

 

After chasing off after 2013 and 2014's latest and greatest, I wound up fishing duplicate copies of many of the same classics out of the dollar bin and my friends' recycling bins.

 

It's kind of amusing that people can't give away what used to be one of my biggest expenses. Books are a horrible investment if you plan on turning them back into money but the best investment there is if you plan on turning them into knowledge and a love of learning.

 

My first grader had some new, shiny things last Autumn, but they didn't last and he's currently using Saxon and a then-popular now-flameworthy phonics program from the '90s and 00's just like his siblings did and the 1987 edition of Konos that I couldn't afford for them but couldn't resist for him with a $5 price tag.

 

Second grade plans look similar, but I'm going to laugh at myself if I put the droolworthy Shurley English I wanted to spend the rent money on in '00 and got for $5 in '14 back on the shelf after a week and reuse his siblings' battered copy of Easy Grammar, which may very well come to pass.

[redsquirrel]

I have 2 kids and I reuse almost everything. But, I am lucky in that they are of similar learning styles and abilities. I have had good friends with four kids who reused very little due to learning issues and temperament. But, generally is something didn't go over well with my elder, it doesn't go over with the younger. However, sometimes something plain old better does come along for the younger boy and I don't hesitate to try something different, especially if what I used with the older boy was merely acceptable.

 

And while I never reused math workbooks or FLL I did go to a bit of trouble to reuse some workbooks, making copies of pages etc. Mostly that depends on if I feel like it was 'overpriced'.

 

I do save things carefully. I have four large tupperware bins, one for each year of the history cycle. I keep all the extra reading books, games, posters, etc. I also have several well organized bins with science materials. I think I have saved quite a lot of money over the years.

[boscopup]

I can't think of anything my oldest used in 1st grade that my youngers have used. :tongue_smilie:

 

The biggest thing is that when my oldest was in 1st grade, *I* was learning how I like to homeschool. What I thought I would like did not necessarily match reality when I actually started using it. I waffled between TOG and Biblioplan that year, ended up going with Biblioplan, then figured out that even that was overkill for 1st grade (and it's lighter than TOG!). So I went to straight SOTW and we were both happier. I used TOG later when he was in 4th grade and loved it. Was going to use it this year for 5th, but had a surprise pregnancy and decided to go with something simpler - MOH. We'll do that again next year (actually, might be doing the same book as this year, as I think we've only completed 9 weeks :lol:), since we'll have mobile baby next year. :willy_nilly:

 

Another thing about reusing stuff is that I get bored and don't really want to go through the same curriculum with each kid. I like to try something different. And then you also have kids that are in different spots. My DS2 has needed completely different things from DS1 and DS3 because reading didn't come easy to him, whereas the other two picked up reading on their own with no real instruction from me. DS3 is able to do different things with writing than DS1 and 2 because he LIKES to write and has crazy good fine motor skills, whereas the other two weren't ready to write a lot at an early age. I am reusing CLE Math from DS2 (DS1 didn't use it except as extra review while doing prealgebra). That's the first curriculum I've reused, but it's fairly independent, so I'm not involved enough to get bored with it. :)

[idnib]

I'm reusing everything for DD's first grade that I used for DS's except OPGTR, which was effective but a bit dull so replacing it was mostly about me not wanting to go through it again. I think it would have worked fine and I could have reused 100% of my materials. I didn't own any large expensive programs though.

[Element]

Successfully? Nothing, ever! I have been doing this for years and have never successfully reused curriculum. It does not seem possible that two children with the same parents could be SO completely different. Everything I originally purchased for ds ended up flopping for dd.