Have you ever spent $350 on a curriculum & realized that it was a mistake?

[C&R]

Have you ever spent $350, O.K. maybe even more than once, on a curriculum & realized that you made a mistake!

 

I really should have known better on the one I just purchased. We loved their pre-school programs, but the K program did not work very well for us. So if I applied this knowledge to Grade 1 I possibly could have saved myself some money.

 

All of the curriculums have something to offer, and many of my home school mistakes do not come from curriculum; but I do think some fit our family far better than others.

 

I am going to continue with another that has worked well for us before.

 

I just wanted to know if I was alone in making home school purchase mistakes. I am sure I could have at least $1K for all the mistaken purchases I have made.

 

The good news is I am done looking and landing on the one that by far has worked the best for our family over all.

 

Has anyone else spent money they wished they had not?

[LittleIzumi]

Yep. Sold it.

[StephanieZ]

Oh, we all make errors, of course. Just factor it in to the overall cost of homeschooling. I'd say 25% of my expenditures have been busts. Maybe only 10% of the purchases I make for child #3 since I have more experience now. . . but, I don't purchase as much for her (since I reuse so much from #1 & 2).

 

No worries. Don't sweat it. Just take your licks, try to return and/or resell. . . and move on. It happens. No big shakes. Really.

 

(Think how much MORE you'd lose if you also wasted dozens/hundreds of hours trying to make it WORK for you, lol! You're saving time & $ by cutting your losses now!)

[Aurelia]

Definitely! In fact, I still have some of that stuff. I really need to get my backside in gear and post it for sale...

[MyLittleBears]

Absolutely! I made a curric choice I thought was perfect for us based on someone else's love and enthusiasim for it. We stuck it out for 12weeks and couldn't stand it. My dc were bored to tears. I sold it and realized that I had learned something about myself as a teacher with this mistake. That, in an of itself was of real value. So, while I regret having spent the money, the lesson learned it what counted. Thankfully, I was able to recoup most of my losses and with it purchased something else. I think a lot of people have made curriculum mistakes and probably more than once, but that's the beauty of homeschooling, we can tweak to ours and our children's needs.

[Schastain]

My daughter struggled in first grade. I am a certified teacher and I could tell it was more of a learning issue than just an attitude. So, we gave in to her and allowed her to atted a local "school" for classical homeschoolers that meets once a week. We spent over 300 on books. Then add in supplies and tuition! Boy oh boy! It was a mistake but we just kept trying to make it work, then we realized that we only had a few months left. We decided to stick it out. Mistake.

If it doesn't work...get rid of it. The great thing is, someone somewhere will buy it.

SC

[Barb_]

Yep. Sold it.

 

:iagree:

 

Same here. I made someone else very happy LOL

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

What is it?? You may have buyers waiting to pounce :D

[elegantlion]

Never at the 350.00 mark, but yes I've wasted some money.

[Diana B]

Never at the 350.00 mark, but yes I've wasted some money.

 

:iagree:

 

I guess one benefit of being poor is that I don't have that kind of money to buy a curriculum in the first place!

 

Free or super cheap curriculum hurts a lot less when you realize it won't work for you!

[Mama2Many4]

Yes, multiple times. Which makes me feel even worse. It was even on the same curriculum hoping that we'd like it the second and third time around. We didn't.

[Mama2Many4]

:iagree:

 

I guess one benefit of being poor is that I don't have that kind of money to buy a curriculum in the first place!

 

Free or super cheap curriculum hurts a lot less when you realize it won't work for you!

 

We buy our bulk school supplies and curriculum out of our income tax return every January. It hurts to lose it on something you won't use, so I know exactly what you mean.

[abrightmom]

Absolutely! I made a curric choice I thought was perfect for us based on someone else's love and enthusiasim for it. We stuck it out for 12weeks and couldn't stand it. My dc were bored to tears. I sold it and realized that I had learned something about myself as a teacher with this mistake. That, in an of itself was of real value. So, while I regret having spent the money, the lesson learned it what counted. Thankfully, I was able to recoup most of my losses and with it purchased something else. I think a lot of people have made curriculum mistakes and probably more than once, but that's the beauty of homeschooling, we can tweak to ours and our children's needs.

 

:iagree: Similar experiences here. The mistakes are TREMENDOUS teachers and help you to figure it all out. We usually make the decision to buy based upon research and thought. We go into the purchase with our eyes wide open and we don't expect it to be a bust. So, when it flops that isn't a failure! It's a learning experience.... I've stacked up quite a few of those in the past two years.

[texasmama]

My first year homeschooling I spent some money on curriculum which didn't work for us, but I don't regret it. I learned what did work for us (in addition to what didn't), which was a valuable lesson and led us to the place we are at currently. Live and learn.:001_smile:

[Just Robyn]

Ouch! I have bought things that didn't work out and I consider them expensive mistakes (not that I could have known prior to purchasing that they wouldn't work for us), but thankfully, so far, I haven't had a $350 purchase not work out. I guess I've been really lucky and should thank the stars. Now I'm getting a little paranoid about everything I bought for next school year.

 

Good luck! Try to sell it, or trade it, and if you can't do that then maybe you can find some workable parts of it to use as a supplement. If all else fails then maybe you can donate it.

[Just Robyn]

My first year homeschooling I spent some money on curriculum which didn't work for us, but I don't regret it. I learned what did work for us (in addition to what didn't), which was a valuable lesson and led us to the place we are at currently. Live and learn.:001_smile:

 

That's a really good point. Every time you buy something and see what it is about it that doesn't work for you, you're closer to figuring out which curriculum will work.

[PollyOR]

Yep. And I couldn't resell it (digital). Ouch!

[C&R]

:lol::rofl: Thank you ladies for some great ideas and insights.

 

You are correct I do learn a lot from my mistakes!

[AnointedHsMom]

Yep to the tune of $1000 :svengo: Couldn't sell much of it either. I learned alot though.

[gracefulhome]

I have spent a lot of money on things that did not work for our family - expensive math curriculum and other things.

 

I made one big purchase of a complete curriculum that I thought would be great for our family. Many people I talked to loved it. I purchased it over a year before we needed to use it and then when we got to that point, I knew it wouldn't work. It was too late then and I couldn't take advantage of the 18 week money back guarantee. I sold it and made someone else very happy with a good deal, but it was a loss for us.

 

I know I must be insane, because I was just looking at that same curriculum again last week. :tongue_smilie: I've since come to my ssenses. As good as it looks and sounds, it doesn't fit our style.

[Blueridge]

Yes indeed, op. But I will say this...the *mistakes* I have paid for through the years have often been a perfect fit a few years down the road with another daughter, so they weren't really mistakes after all. I have shelves of goodies that I return to again and again. The only bad thing, really, is when I've spent *this year's cash* on something that won't work until *years from now*. Thank goodness for a patient dh! :)

[NanceXToo]

No. Thank goodness. I was lucky in that I determined right away which curriculum I wanted to go with, bought it used for a great price (grades K-8 all in one lot!), and love it enough to stick with it.

[Quiver0f10]

Yes, multiple times. Which makes me feel even worse. It was even on the same curriculum hoping that we'd like it the second and third time around. We didn't.

 

 

HA! Same here. :lol:

[mom4him]

Yep. Sold it.

:iagree: More then once.:tongue_smilie:

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

My purchases have been smaller and I've been able to sell a couple. Even though it's not a huge loss in the scheme of things I'm still kicking myself over the mistakes I've made and I'm really hoping that what I've learned will actually benefit me in some way in the future.

[AngieW in Texas]

Absolutely. I loved SL for K-7, but I absolutely hated their high school Cores. Core 300 was a huge waste. I'm just glad that I bought most of the books used.

[MIch elle]

Yes, and more than once! :glare:

[Bloggermom]

Spent $1100 on an online curriculum for my son. We quit half way through... it was not what I was expecting. Live and learn.

[Guest]

Absolutely! I think it comes with the territory unless you are very lucky. The most costly for us were the years I bought Calvert School materials. Still makes me queasy to think about.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Hunter]

The cost of my mistakes increases with the amount I'm able to spend. I made little mistakes when I had little to spend, and big mistakes when I had a lot to spend.

 

But the little mistakes when I was dead broke, were the most heart breaking. But funny even then, when I had nothing but scraps to work with, I did something decent with those scraps. Better than what the PS was doing :-0

 

There are so many experiences and lessons I wish I had been able to give my boys. But the junior college they attended assured me over and over that I had done a great job in general, and considering what I had to work with - well, they just shook their heads and laughed.

 

Just keep moving on. The past is unchangeable, but the future is not.

 

I made 2 big boo boos this year :-( But the good news is I had enough money to actually accomplish those boo boos :-) What fun that I have enough money to have actually hit the "Buy" button :-)

[justamouse]

Ha! Yes, and double that!!

 

I know sometimes I seem like a wet blanket when it comes to curric, but that is the exact reason why.