ChristyH Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 It's that time for my home again....tax time. Homeschool curriculum is bought with income tax refund and we have our taxes done in early Feb. I can't spend what I need according to hubby, but I still feel it is too much money. I added it all up and it comes to almost $1000 for three children. Most of it is book money, books the library doesn't carry. :glare: That money could be use for other things and I want it to be for other things. Math I don't mind spending more for because I don't want to teach it, so Teaching Textbooks or Saxon with Dive CD's are worth every penny. Daughter will be doing 7th grade next year and I feel I need to be SERIOUS about it so I am undecided. What I picked would bring my total up to $500, then adding my boys stuff brings up to $860 not including shipping. If I did my own thing, at which I shudder :willy_nilly:, I could bring it under $500 and save almost $500. Anyone else in this boat? What are you doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Are there any books that you can substitute for the ones you want from the library? What about trying to find the ones you want used? Are there any parts of your DD's old curriculum that can be reused by your boys? That's the only way i've been able to do things is to reuse anything that is non consumable, buy used or substitute. I also try to put about $10 each week into a homeschool fund for later items. $1000 for three kids is not alot, but I sure understand about putting that money to use elsewhere! That's what i'm going to be doing this year, my budget is considerable smaller, not that it was ever big so my main thing is math and I will use what we have on hand and if I have to I will make up my own history. I had to give up using my main history program because I just couldn't afford to continue using it, and I wasn't even using the updated version of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Is that the sinking boat where money is getting tighter and tighter and dh's paychecks are getting smaller and smaller due to economy. Oh, yes! I am there with you! My only saving grace is we have a great library. I think I will do MFW-ECC and then add in math. We do LA the CM way so not too much money there. Now, if I could figure out which math I would have a complete sum. I think total I am looking at around $500 for the year for both girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Is that the sinking boat where money is getting tighter and tighter and dh's paychecks are getting smaller and smaller due to economy. Oh, yes! I am there with you! My only saving grace is we have a great library. I think I will do MFW-ECC and then add in math. We do LA the CM way so not too much money there. Now, if I could figure out which math I would have a complete sum. I think total I am looking at around $500 for the year for both girls. I saw your other post and i'm wondering what math programs have you tried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 we started with MEP, that was a nightmare for her and now we are doing Abeka. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 This coming year is the first time I have to actually think about a budget. I have always been given money for homeschool items from our school board but our new province does not do this. I have already ordered most of what I will need for next year, but still have some items to buy. I think I will be spending another $600 or so for next year. After that I am not sure what my budget will be, I may have to actually use what I have on my shelves already for a couple year instead of buying new stuff. ILeft to buy for next year, the next level of math, french, greek, some science stuff I wanted, the supp math texts I want, the last few manips I need, some stuff I want for dd's tot school, and our classical music study. I think I have everything else already, though I may think of something else once I start ordering. Everything else I have already bought for next year when I still had funding left earlier this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Ugghhh. I don't want to think about it. We won't be getting a refund this year (long story) and in the past that is always what I used to buy curriculum. It's kind of depressing, but we'll make do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 I only have 2 kids and we share history/science/readers and I am still at $1000. Our library is horrible. So I have to buy the books. I do sell stuff every year to help offset things. Although this year I kinda wanna keep a lot of the books! it's a saga here in trying to bring costs down. I have no answers except to try and sell some things you don't need any longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairie rose Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 We used to have enough money in our monthly budget that I could have a monthly homeschool allowance to save and spend as needed but due to job changes, that is no longer the case so I'm having to spend from tax refunds this year. My allowance was $100 per month, so $1200 per year for 3 kids. This total did not include things I would have paid for whether they were in public, private or homeschool. Things like ballet classes, sports, music lessons, run of the mill art supplies like drawing paper, construction paper, crayons and pencils. I'm wanting $1000 from taxes but I'm thinking I'll only get about $800 which is fine, I can get the basic things I need for 3 school age kids (5th, 4th and 3rd) and one 4yo preschooler. Our library is pretty decent but it always seems like everyone is trying to get the same books at the same time so I am buying the main titles for our history program (History Odyssey). I'm also spending big money on science kits with all the needed items for experiments so I don't have to try and budget for odds and ends needed for experiements which we always seem to need when we have no extra money for them in the budget. I'm trying to use curriculum we already have as much as possible. My preschooler's curriculum is almost all free or reused items, MEP reception math (free with some reused math games from the older kids), SWR (sorta reused), FIAR (reused and we already own 97% of the titles used) and Learning Page worksheets for busy work when she wants to be like the big kids. ;) The biggest :banghead: cost for me this year is repurchasing SWR. :glare: I sold my materials a couple of years ago thinking I had found something better but I'm now going back to what I know works and telling dh to not let me change spelling/phonics again. Ever. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 We are buying with tax refund as well. I have figured a few scenarios, but we are coming out to around $1500 for 4 kids no matter what. I tried the lbrary route and it was a pain to get the books in time from other libraries and we wound up with a lot of fees as well. Luckily, our state gives us back 1/2 up to $5k for each kid to claim as a credit on our state taxes. So I will get back 1/2 of what I spent last year on school with this year's state refund. That will go into savings towards next year's budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aquiverfull Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 I always buy with tax refund every year. I don't know how we could afford to homeschool without that. Have you thought about looking for the things you want to buy used? I usually buy new things, however in the past I've bought used. I had some good and bad experiences though. The things I want to buy this year, will probably surpass our budget, so I plan to look for things used if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosehaven Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 we have always bought used and always had good results. Takes longer but it also delays impulse buying which can be way costly. God bless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Not really sure what my budget is. I almost always by used. By starting my planning now, I can watch the Sale boards, and jump on good deals. I create a spreadsheet, with a lisyt of what I want, and how much it is new. Then whenever I see it for sale, I can instantly check to see if it's a good price. Also if it's something that's going to cost a lot, I know I will need to budget for that, and that usually is tax time. But there's few things I have paid full price for. I also resell many things, so that helps off-set the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Queen Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 PaperBackSwap.com is a book trading club. I have found some great things on there. Maybe you would find those books your library doesn't have on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Since we've used a charter school up through now, we've never had to pay much out of pocket, maybe $100-200 annually. Next year though (2010-11), we're filing as a private school :hurray: which means I have to buy everything :001_unsure:. I actually went through my list of supplies, checked a few websites, and set our budget for next year at $500 for both kids, not including monthly costs like ballet lessons, etc. The $500 is just for books and basic supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I can not confidently teach algebra either, but the book I am using is cheap, goes slowly and explains clearly, and is easy to correct because all the answers are in the back. It's Algebra the Easy Way by Barron's. You can preview it if it's at your library. It's meant for self-teaching. Really, you'll be in the same boat with DIVE or TT -- if the explanation provided by the program doesn't make it sink in for your kid, you're still stuck. May as well see if a cheap explanation works before you go buy expensive ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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