joannqn Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) I may not have the means to purchase curriculum next year. If I do have the money, the following is our plan. If I don't, I'll need to find a way to teach the equivalent topics at little to no cost. Suggestions? Assume I own nothing that can be reused and that too much printing free off the web might be too costly. DD11: MCT Magic Lens 1 IEW US History Vol. 2 MUS prealgebra History Odyssey Modern Times Level 2 10-11 novels as listed in HO (some of these are NOT available in our library) The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommended labs Apologia Astronomy with TOPScience #40 and #41 for labs Rosetta Stone Spanish 2 DS9: MCT Voyage Level IEW US History Vol. 1 AoPS Intro to Counting SOTW 4 with AG 10-11 novels to go with the time period The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommend labs Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide with TOPScience #40 and #42 for labs Rosetta Stone Korean 1 (finish) and Korean 2 (start) ETA: Shorted the post by removing all of the excess background info. Edited May 14, 2011 by joannqn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallsteps Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Library cards are free, at least where we live. I would take advantage of your local library. Get to know the librarian and request books for them to order that you would like for your home school, if you can't find what you need. You might also get a card from a neighboring town/city if their system offers more. Ask your kids to be creative in coming up with ideas for how to learn without money. Maybe it's time to come back to what's most important to learn. Most people have way too much curriculum and an unhealthy dependency on it. I am often tempted to buy the next best thing for writing or for a particular learning style for my child. Don't be discouraged. Your creativity and invested time is so much more than expensive curriculum. I'll be watching this thread for ideas myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I'd hit curriculum swaps if there are any in your area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 If you can only afford one thing I'd suggest getting a laser printer so that you can print out some of the various free online resources. Laser printers are surprisingly inexpensive now and you can buy generic toner replacement cartridges for $20 on Amazon. I can get several thousand prints out of one cartridge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 http://www.koreanclass101.com/ There are other free Korean lessons when I searched, but here is one. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simka2 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Someone just posted a website with Rosetta Stone for 73% off on the K-8 curric board. It might be worth taking a look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=CK-12%20Foundation These might be above the level you need, but might be worth looking at for free. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I would try to plan around what was available to me through the library and borrowing from other homeschoolers as much as I could. There are lots of free programs online; I might invest in the beginning of the year in ink cartridges and a printer if you don't already have one. Do you have any old curriculum that you could sell to help pay for new? I have seen many old textbooks at used bookstores. I used to go to one that sold hardbacks (including textbooks of all sorts) for just 1.00 each! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Library cards are free, at least where we live. I would take advantage of your local library. Get to know the librarian and request books for them to order that you would like for your home school, if you can't find what you need. You might also get a card from a neighboring town/city if their system offers more. Ask your kids to be creative in coming up with ideas for how to learn without money. Maybe it's time to come back to what's most important to learn. Most people have way too much curriculum and an unhealthy dependency on it. I am often tempted to buy the next best thing for writing or for a particular learning style for my child. Don't be discouraged. Your creativity and invested time is so much more than expensive curriculum. I'll be watching this thread for ideas myself. :iagree: Especially the line about the "unhealthy dependency" on curriculum. All of science, literature and history can come from library books, often from books that aren't even listed in the WTM or other sources, but simply the books you find in your local branch. Read aloud, assign independent reading, assign copy work or narrations. Diagram sentences. Look up unfamiliar vocabulary words. Get craft books. Science project books. Search inter library loan for videos and documentaries. You have internet -- embrace the power of google!! Use the words "lesson plans" or "work sheet" in your search and you'll find lots of great stuff, though you'll also find more not so great stuff. Learning doesn't have to come from pre-set curriculum. Really. I have graduated one and am about to graduate another and until high school the only curricula I used was for math. I added text books to science for high school but otherwise was curriculum free. As one former active poster used to always write: Read. Think. Discuss. Those are the most important parts to a very successful homeschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emzhengjiu Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Have you consider using Ambleside Online? It seems to be a really good, free program. Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elinnea Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 For History Odyssey you could use the try before you buy feature. At that level it's only for 13 or so lessons but that would buy you a bit of time. Then you could purchase the e-book as it is cheaper than the printed copy. You wouldn't need to print out all the pages of the e-book if you're daughter could look up the assignments on the computer- only maps and activity pages would need to be printed out. For the novels I would think that many of them would be available at the library or, like someone else posted, that your librarian might be willing to order them for you. You could also try Paperback Swap. Between Paperback Swap, thrift stores and the library I've managed to get all my novels together for HO. If it were really dire you could just have your daughter do the reading and outlining in the Kingfisher (or whatever spine you use) and then read and report on the novels. HO is nice because it is all laid out but you could probably do your own thing without too much work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simka2 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Someone just posted a website with Rosetta Stone for 73% off on the K-8 curric board. It might be worth taking a look at. After taking a closer look at the website I have reservations. I would love to hear from someone who bought from them. In fact I won't until I hear otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I have found good curriculum on the clearance shelf of half price bookstores. This is not free, but it might help you get some usable things for very minimal money. I bought a huge dictionary for $2, in addition to a map reading workbook, a Bible study for kids and some workbooks for my K'er, who has an insatiable appetite for such things. Everything but the dictionary was $1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I've been getting some really good deals at Amazon Marketplace. I've found used textbooks in great condition for a very reasonable cost. That has helped my budget quite a bit. Also, our local library has used book sales and there have been several curriculum swaps locally. All this is helping to keep my budget in check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I like the idea of making sure you have a good printer. I have saved myself some money by going back and looking at method as put forward by SWB. I realized I didn't need to spend a lot of money on grammar stage science. I needed a library card and some basic on ths subject encyclopedias and some time outside. For logic stage history I needed a history encyclopedia for a spine and then a weekly trip to the library. For writing, you might consider spending the $$ on the audio downloads at peace hill press about writing and see how SWB suggests incorporating writing across the curriculum. It doesn't require spending any money other than paper and pencils. If you use history and science, you have all the writing topics you need. For spanish, I bet you can find all kinds of public school spanish books used for not much at all. What it will take is time. Everything costs in either money or time. If you don't have the money, you will have to put in the time to organize and pull things together yourself. Public libraries often have rosetta stone available to borrow for a few weeks at a time. Many now offer Mango as an online language tutor. I don't have an opinion of Mango because I have never used it. There is a MONSTER thread on this board about free materials. Read through that and see if there is anything useful. Don't forget things like google books. But mostly, I would suggest thinking about what you want your method of instruction to be and then looking for ways to make the content happen around that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Can KISS grammar cover the MCT? That's not my level yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Have you tried Book Samaritan? You can write to them with a need and they try to fill it as best they can. http://www.booksamaritan.com. I've never used them myself, but might need to in the coming years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 DD11: MCT Magic Lens 1 IEW US History Vol. 2 MUS prealgebra History Odyssey Modern Times Level 2 10-11 novels as listed in HO (some of these are NOT available in our library) The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommended labs Apologia Astronomy with TOPScience #40 and #41 for labs Rosetta Stone Spanish 2 DS9: MCT Voyage Level IEW US History Vol. 1 AoPS Intro to Counting SOTW 4 with AG 10-11 novels to go with the time period The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommend labs Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide with TOPScience #40 and #42 for labs Rosetta Stone Korean 1 (finish) and Korean 2 (start) I'm not familiar with most of these materials. Some I don't even know what subject they're designed to teach. So, I can't help you find free or cheap equivalents. I can say that what I usually do is decide what I want to teach and then start looking around for materials that fit my budget. So, I might go look at the reading lists for several history/literature curricula, make a master list of the titles that look interesting and then see how many of them are available at my library or from sites like PaperbackSwap and BookMooch. I'd keep collecting from these sources (and used book stores and thrift shops) until I had enough, then sit down and plan the year using the materials I had found. I've done the same thing with science and geography and so on. Math is tougher for me. I'm not a math type and so really need help there. If I truly had no money to spend (and didn't have access to services like Florida Virtual School), I'd probably scour thrift stores for old texts and/or put out the word to friends that I was looking. Another thought would be to go with something like this: http://www.ucopenaccess.org/ They don't offer pre-algebra, but they do have algebra one in two parts (A and B), which might work if it goes slowly enough. In other words, in general, I would try not to get my heart set on specific curricula, but would try and think creatively to find materials I could afford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Thanks for all of the help! http://www.koreanclass101.com/ There are other free Korean lessons when I searched, but here is one. Dawn They have a 7 day free trial so I'm having DS check it out. It doesn't appear to have any sort of voice recognition which is one of the stronger points of Rosetta Stone. It sometimes takes a couple of days for him to get something pronounced right even though he thinks he is doing it right. Without voice recognition, he might not learn to speak it properly, but we do have a Korean church that gives classes if we can figure out how to fit it in our schedule, so that will help. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=CK-12%20Foundation These might be above the level you need, but might be worth looking at for free. Dawn Pretty sure this is out of our league, but I downloaded it for later. Thanks! Diagram sentences. Look up unfamiliar vocabulary words. How do you know if you are diagramming the sentences correctly? I have no idea how to do that. With MCT (which analyzes rather than diagrams), I rely on the teacher's manually heavily because I simply do not know the material. If it were really dire you could just have your daughter do the reading and outlining in the Kingfisher (or whatever spine you use) and then read and report on the novels. HO is nice because it is all laid out but you could probably do your own thing without too much work. This is what I'd do for history. Can KISS grammar cover the MCT? That's not my level yet. I think it can, but we'd be all over the place grade-wise. I'd have to go through the grade levels and pick out the stuff we haven't learned. The worst thing about switching curriculum is the sequence differences. I'm tempted to just skip grammar altogether for a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 What about poetry? According to MCT's description, we would be covering double-half rhyme, elided rhyme, amphisbaenic rhyme, reverse rhyme, advanced rhyme, advanced meter, heroic couplet, terza rima, villanelle, submerged sonnet, metonymy, and synecdoche among other things. I can't find anything like it online nor can I find anything under "poetic elements" in my library's catalog except one book covering a few basic things. It seems most poetry stuff is just reading it or writing some basic things like haiku and limericks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 What about poetry? According to MCT's description, we would be covering double-half rhyme, elided rhyme, amphisbaenic rhyme, reverse rhyme, advanced rhyme, advanced meter, heroic couplet, terza rima, villanelle, submerged sonnet, metonymy, and synecdoche among other things. I can't find anything like it online nor can I find anything under "poetic elements" in my library's catalog except one book covering a few basic things. It seems most poetry stuff is just reading it or writing some basic things like haiku and limericks. Hmm. Well, since you have a list of things to cover, I'd probably just start researching online for explanations of those terms and examples. For example, I just typed "terza rima" into Google's search box, and the first link that came up was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terza_rima It explains the terms and discusses several examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Isn't Khan Academy free for math? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 (edited) Khan Academy is free. Also, if you do a forum search, there was a thread not too long ago with bunches of free online (printing not necessarily needed) resources. I'll see if I can find it. Found it: Not sure how to link to it, but if you go to the forum search type in "Free Curriculum List". There's bunches of stuff there for your perusal! Edited May 16, 2011 by EppieJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whereneverever Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Ambleside covers poetry and has an email list to discuss it. I would pull the parts of KISS grammar you need. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 For language: You might also try LiveMocha.com They have Spanish and Korean. It is kind of fun because you earn cyber tokens for taking lessons, etc....but I have only done one lesson. And it is FREEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 (edited) :iagree: Especially the line about the "unhealthy dependency" on curriculum. As one former active poster used to always write: Read. Think. Discuss. Those are the most important parts to a very successful homeschool. :iagree: I would even go further and say skip the printer. Ours broke a month ago. I am very seriously considering NOT replacing it. It has helped me TRULY decide between necessity and luxury - the cost of ink, all the paper, the waste, and gasp! Being "green." If I truly (TRULY) need something printed, I can go to our local library. Math textbooks are difficult to replace but you can pick up an older Saxon version for a few dollars. I'd second (and third) Ambleside. If you have not read A Thomas Jefferson Education, I could not recommend it enough. Books, real, live books, reading together, discussing together, writing about them and life and the things you study. THIS is an education. DD11: MCT Magic Lens 1 IEW US History Vol. 2 MUS prealgebra History Odyssey Modern Times Level 2 10-11 novels as listed in HO (some of these are NOT available in our library) The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommended labs Apologia Astronomy with TOPScience #40 and #41 for labs Rosetta Stone Spanish 2 Grammar is grammar is grammar. There is no magic curriculum. Diagramming sentences and reading good books is really what needs to be done. Pre-Algebra - an old version of Saxon. All history and science can EASILY be done at this age with real books from the library. Spanish - you can pick up an older text of Spanish inexpensively at bookstores or Ebay. Also, have you ever read Carry On Mr. Bowditch? Get thee a well known text and a Spanish to English dictionary. Translating is a great way to learn a language. And, for something like Spanish, there are plenty of resources at the library. DS9: MCT Voyage Level IEW US History Vol. 1 AoPS Intro to Counting SOTW 4 with AG 10-11 novels to go with the time period The Geology Book with TOPScience #23 for labs Meteorology using Jetstream and the recommend labs Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide with TOPScience #40 and #42 for labs Rosetta Stone Korean 1 (finish) and Korean 2 (start) Everything I said above still goes for this. DS is even younger and so if you waited on Korean, that would be acceptable, no? Or start the same way as above and later (as afforded) you could put the curriculum into your budget. Edited May 16, 2011 by BlsdMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Thank you for your help. I think I have a plan. We'll have a little bit of money so I'll buy the student book for MUS prealgebra and teach it without the TM. Grading will take more time since I'll have to do all of the problems myself, but it will be doable. I'll just buy Sam's math; I can't find anything comparable. We'll also buy the TOPScience units I wanted. I think my kids would be really unhappy if they didn't have any hands on work in science. The rest will be pieced together from online sources and the library. Hopefully,things will work out, and I won't have to do any of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhgillil Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Sorry if any of this has already been mentioned; I do not have the time to sort through all of the posts at the moment. Have you checked to see if any of the books not available at your library are available at the Kindle Store for free or super cheap? Also, Khan Academy could be a great tool for your math and science needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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