JRmommy Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 I am a new homeschool mom to a 4 year old, and while I am tempted to spend money on all of the great curricula that I read about on this forum, I'd love to see how long I can go without them. What free or very inexpensive resources have you used that have been helpful in your homeschooling journey? (FYI - my 4 year old reads on a 1st/2nd grade level, can write all of his letters (upper and lowercase) and numbers, and do simple addition/subtraction.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 There's a link on the sidebar of my blog called Educating on the Cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jessica* Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 I did a tag search and got a ton of results for free resources. The Free Curriculum List post is absolutely massive. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacnchs Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 I am a new homeschool mom to a 4 year old, and while I am tempted to spend money on all of the great curricula that I read about on this forum, I'd love to see how long I can go without them. What free or very inexpensive resources have you used that have been helpful in your homeschooling journey? (FYI - my 4 year old reads on a 1st/2nd grade level, can write all of his letters (upper and lowercase) and numbers, and do simple addition/subtraction.) I do spend *some* $ but not a lot: here is what I do: I NEVER buy anything new (look on these boards, amazon, craigslist, etc) Phonics - Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching reading Reading - bob books, early readers, all books from library Math - Saxon (but you could do many different programs, just get them 2nd hand) Science - look at WTM suggestions; we are studying what is in our backyard, taking pics, checking out books, then make a 'book' about whatever it is (butterflies, flowers, animals, bugs, etc.) History - SOTW/CHOW Grammar - FLL Writing - FLL & Bible verses All of this cost about $50-75 (OPG - $15 used, Math - $20 used, $20 manipulatives, Grammar - $15, History - was given to me by a friend) and it will last me many years b/c only math is consumable - the rest can be used for all of my kids (so it will be less for subsequent kids). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 What a fun challenge! I really like Lesson Pathways. It has free, complete lesson plans for the main subject areas for K-5. Education.com has a huge collection of games and activities. You can search by grade and/or topic. Hope this helps :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 (edited) I'm homeschooling academics free. My kids and I are loving this year. It's going wonderfully. I think with a library card and internet access you can homeschool absolutely free (less paper and crayons type supplies) and very well for at least the elementary grades. I've put some resources I'm using in my blog. Are you looking for particular subjects? I won't be much help for kids out of elementary school but I'm doing Core Knowledge Curriculum guide with my own ideas and some of the Baltimore Lesson Plans that follow that curriculum as my history, science, literature, art, and music. They cover K through 5th in the Baltimore plans. I found some were great and others gave me a nice starting point in my own planning. I liked the science and used it and much of the literature and music as is though I did add free resources I found. I felt all the Kindergarten materials would have been wonderful as is when I looked through them. Based on a glance through I suspect in 2nd grade and up I'll be using them much like I did this year. I've found a shocking number of the materials I needed to carry the Core Curriculum out free online. I haven't linked them but would be happy to do that if someone else is using the 1st grade Core Knowledge sequence. I found all the art and music suggestions, lots of great stuff to go with the science, resources and ideas for the history topics, and the vast majority of the literature I needed. Interlibrary loan is being used as well. I spent a very small amount for things I needed to carry out the science experiments but not much. It was mostly plastic cups and balloons so not major expenses. This past year I used a free phonogram based (O-G) reading and spelling program with free online readers I've found though they're reading regular books now. I needed almost nothing to carry out that program (maybe 1.70...) and I think it was as good as anything I could have purchased for their reading instruction. I did it at our pace but the plans would have been K through 2 had I followed their pacing. For this year I am using some Spalding principles I found free online as well for spelling since I'm headed in that direction with our future in this area. That gave me enough for spelling as it has the marking rules, the above O-G links give me the multi-sensory ideas, and it contains the spelling lists. I am confident I could do this whole thing essentially free too using either inexpensive or library based Spalding or Orton-Gillingham materials but I'm planning to move into PR1 as we are able. MEP is my math along with some leftover from last year RightStart stuff. Our only purchased curriculum item this year so far was Karyn Henley materials for bible which are relatively inexpensive. I didn't "need" them and have been doing my own materials so far as there is so much available online but I love her things so I ordered them yesterday. Outside of the materials mentioned above there are at least two other free science curriculum choices, at least three free history curriculum options I can think of, and so much available for art and literature it would be hard to list them all. When it's opened up to low cost materials or library available materials rather than just online the options are even wider of course. If you are looking for something specific let me know and I'll link if I have a resource or resources. Edited September 20, 2010 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moniksca Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 The Free Curriculum List post is absolutely massive. HTH! I made a separate blog for homeschool resources using this list and any others I found, if you look to the right it is all categorized. I wanted to keep an easy reference list. There's also these sites: Links to all things free for homeschoolers Freely educate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 I'm homeschooling academics free. My kids and I are loving this year. It's going wonderfully. I think with a library card and internet access you can homeschool absolutely free (less paper and crayons type supplies) and very well for at least the elementary grades. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about what you're doing and, I just have to say that I THINK YOU'RE AWESOME :D Good job, momma! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRmommy Posted September 19, 2010 Author Share Posted September 19, 2010 WOW! Thank you so much ladies for the resources. I am going to be on the internet all night researching these links! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio McFluffypants Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 Check out www.oldfashionededucation.com and www.amblesideonline.com They both have tons of links to free materials even if you only use some of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 I haven't used it, but a family I know loves http://www.theheadoftheclass.com/ As for us... used, used, used Ambleside online Progressive Phonics Star Fall Library HTH, Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chels~ Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 I keep an updated list of free resources on google documents. The link is in my sig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 I have it up on Scribd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 I have it up on Scribd. I used to get a lot of materials from Scribd, but now they charge for access to files that are not recent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 Get TWTM from the library - take note of recommended books & resources. Take note of the list of people from each time period she recommends you study and important dates / events. Then go to the libary and check out age appropriate books (in order) for each person, event, date. :) Following a reading out of a "spine" resource - Story of the World, Gen. Foster books, Encyclopedia of History, etc., have the child do an oral or written narration depending on their age & ability. Memorization from excerpts, scripture, & poems. You can pull these from books you have or books from the library as well. Math - Don't start 'til the 4th grade. When you do start, get an older edition. Often you can find these for about $15ppd. Grammar - You'll find that doing grammar "Charlotte Mason" style using dictation is virtually free. You could pick up an older used edition of Rod & Staff very inexpensively. Science - Nature Study and reading real, whole books from the library on various topics until high school. In high school older copies of Apologia are cheap and easy to use. My best advice? Burn your catalogs & stay off the forums. You'll spend far less. And frankly, if you devote all the time you'd otherwise spend online & perusing catalogs, your kids will have a superior education. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.