How do I spend money on curriculum I already have?

[LolaT]

I know. That title probably made no sense. I'm starting to think about curriculum for next year because I just want to take care of it now and not think about it all summer.

 

I'll be doing 1st grade with my DS in the Fall. He will (probably) be in a program that will reimburse us for a small amount of his curriculum. $150 in one subject. I know, this shouldn't be a dilemna and if he was my first, the money would have already been spent. But he's my second and I already have all the curriculum for 1st grade. Clearly my imagination is lacking at this moment. What can I buy? For ONE subject only.

[happymomofboys]

Is it for one product/book up to $150 or is it a flat $150 for one subject? If it's just $150 for one subject, I'd pick a subject like literature, science, art, or music where the materials would be able to be used now and in the future. $150 worth of good quality children's literature, science books and experiment kits, art books and materials, or musical instruments and CDs could be used to supplement what you currently have and/or used in the future.

[alisha]

I would go with the subject of Logic and get a bunch of fun games, like anything from Thinkfun, Mindware, all sold at Amazon, or go Math or Science and get some fun building toy like Magformers.

[Rosie_0801]

That would cover the set of Lang's Fairy Tales, if you don't have them already.

[tuckabella]

IEW TWSS.

[IrishMum]

Math- Right start games and some Life of fred first books?

Or start a collection of great books for literature. The New York Review Children's Collection are beautiful e.g. The Box of Delights

[beaners]

That would cover the set of Lang's Fairy Tales, if you don't have them already.

 

 

I think those are all available for free on the Kindle too, if that's something you're interested in. At least, I know a lot of them are. I read nearly 1000 pages out loud last year before the kids moved on to something else. :svengo: The formatting wasn't terrible for something free.

 

Going by the ages of your children, I'd buy something that you could use with both of them. If you already have everything for the younger, is there something you need for the older that the younger could tag along on? Science, history, art, music?

[BugsMama]

Logic of English.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon

[LolaT]

Already have the RSM games.

 

Music instrument is a very good idea. I did just buy him a ukulele but that was around $50 and I can't really cover the rest as a music class.

 

Also, DD is in the program but I shouldn't have as much trouble with hers by simply getting the next level of her current curriculum. I'm not sure of anything I could get that would work for both of them though.

 

I like Games for Logic. Not sure I can come up with $150. Same with literature. A lot of classics are free on Kindle which we have.

 

I don't even know what IEW is, I have to look it up. Really, I should be sleeping right now!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Maybe there are a few things that would make your life easier- getting the audio CDs for SOTW, for example, or other audio books. Or a book package for Five In A Row. They are all good quality children's picture books. Art supplies? Those need to be renewed every year or so. Other consumables, like wide ruled paper, pencils, etc.

 

I would nave *no* problem scraping together 150$ of stuff! lol.

[Farrar]

Trust me that you could spend $150 on logic easily and have enough materials for the next few years. Get a few things from Prufrock Press, a couple things from Tin Man Press, and half a dozen games and you'll have done it.

 

I could easily spend that much on math as well - math games, extra math books like Primary Challenge Math, etc.

 

Or on science. Equip yourselves with a good microscope and a few other things and that would be spent in a heartbeat.

[*Michelle*]

$150 buys a pretty nice microscope and pre-made slides.

[swainsonshawk]

We had this problem, too! I have my 5th child who I had to spend $150 in one subject, too. We chose science and I bought the magic school bus DVD set and a bunch of Let's Read and Find Out Science books.

 

The other problem I had was that the materials had to be used for THIS year to educate THIS child. Which meant that I couldn't buy expensive things with the intent to use them in the future. This science purchase was a good thing for us--it's nice not to have to run to the library all the time!

 

Becky

[Wabi Sabi]

Subscribe to the Magic School Bus science kits club where they send you a new science kit each month for a year? That runs right around $150, I think.

 

Or, what about Little Passports? That's $130/year.

 

http://www.littlepassports.com

[BatmansWife]

First thing I thought of was the Life of Fred elementary set. You can get all 10 books for $148.95 with free shipping at Rainbow Resource. Badda bing badda boom. Done. There, that was easy. :001_smile:

[LolaT]

Microscope also a great idea. Already bought one. I bought all this stuff for my first long before we were in this program. Also have Magic School House DVD's, a few Prufrock Press logic books and Tin Man.

 

And yes, it does have to be for the grade he is in. I can't buy something that is clearly 3rd-5th grade curriculum and it does have to be ONE subject. That is the only thing that makes it hard to get up to the amount.

 

Thank you all so much for all the great ideas!

 

Life of Fred - I might be able to get that! I'll have to check. Didn't even think of it even though I've considered buying it.

Magic School Bus Science Kit Subscription - great idea!

Little Passports - great idea!

 

In fact, all subscriptions are expensive, why didn't I think of that. I have him doing Kiwi Crate right now for K (with no reimbursement) I could even continue that, duh.

[Clear Creek]

How about a set of read-alouds? Memoria Press and Sonlight both have grade level specific read-aloud packages.

[pitterpatter]

Curious. Where does one get a stipend for $150 for one subject?

[Ariston]

I would also go with life of fred. Its something I always want to buy but cant quite commit the curriculum dollars to.

[LolaT]

Curious. Where does one get a stipend for $150 for one subject?

I think there are a lot of public school alternative programs cropping up these days. A lot of them are K-12 online type things. This is one where you have to already be enrolled in a participating charter school as a distance learning student or participating alternative (online) school. They kind of piggy back on to that. It's a bit confusing. You can read about their program here.

 

What it boils down to, I think, at least in part, when it comes to the charter schools for example is --if a charter school is struggling to keep up their numbers, they may resort to providing "distance learning" programs where the student can participate in school part time or not at all, use their curriculum or their own. Depending on what options they decide to make available, they might offer a small curriculum reimbursement because this is coming from the funding they receive for that student in their school. So giving some of that money to you is better than not getting enough enrollment and face closing. They, in turn may contract with another company that offers certain curriculum or programs of their own. In this case, that company is the one that also handles the student. So, they must be the ones getting the money, and they decide if they want to use it for their programs or to provide some of it as reimbursement for curriculum. The reimbursement option, I think, is definitely a way to draw in homeschoolers but legitimately does give you the freedom to pick soley from their offerings or at least create one course yourself.

[pitterpatter]

Well, huh. Thanks for the explanation. :001_smile:

 

I think there are a lot of public school alternative programs cropping up these days. A lot of them are K-12 online type things. This is one where you have to already be enrolled in a participating charter school as a distance learning student or participating alternative (online) school. They kind of piggy back on to that. It's a bit confusing. You can read about their program here.

 

What it boils down to, I think, at least in part, when it comes to the charter schools for example is --if a charter school is struggling to keep up their numbers, they may resort to providing "distance learning" programs where the student can participate in school part time or not at all, use their curriculum or their own. Depending on what options they decide to make available, they might offer a small curriculum reimbursement because this is coming from the funding they receive for that student in their school. So giving some of that money to you is better than not getting enough enrollment and face closing. They, in turn may contract with another company that offers certain curriculum or programs of their own. In this case, that company is the one that also handles the student. So, they must be the ones getting the money, and they decide if they want to use it for their programs or to provide some of it as reimbursement for curriculum. The reimbursement option, I think, is definitely a way to draw in homeschoolers but legitimately does give you the freedom to pick soley from their offerings or at least create one course yourself.