Budgeting for Curriculum

[carriede]

How do you all usually pay for curriculum? For large, planned expenses (which I consider homeschooling to be), we usually make a total estimate, then divide that by the number of months we have to save for it.

 

My son is only 4, so we're not saving a ton every month, but I'd like to have a majority of our curriculum money saved up before I need to purchase it next year. (Which also means I need to figure out what I want to use soon! So weird!)

 

So! Just curious what y'all do. :)

 

Edited to complete post, stupid iPod.

[Oakblossoms]

Tax Return. Otherwise I would make a monthly amount. You don't need to purchase everything at once. I usually have a list of what I need a few years ahead. It changes as I work with each child more. I pick up what I need here and there. I have purchased quite a few things on the board here for an excellent price. I am on my third student and they each learn so differently.

[TraceyS/FL]

I buy at various times, saving up when I need to. Technically I am supposed to set aside money each month, but that hasn't been possible this year :(

[Ali in OR]

Dh gets paid twice a month and $50 gets automatically deposited in a separate bank account (so $100 a month). It was hard at first because nothing had been saved up--I just bought stuff over time. $100 was what we were spending on dd's pre-school at the time; I said that if we thought her preschool education was worth that we could budget the same amount for homeschooling. You can definitely school for less but having something more than a bare bones budget allows you to do some extras and buy some things that make educating your child more fun and interesting. We have never increased that amount even when we added another kid to school. We have a great home library, good art supplies, classical kids CDs, all of the math manipulatives I need/want, oldest will take an on-line course this year, etc.

[twoxcell]

Tax return money for us. We don't really have extra money at any other time. ;)

[texasmama]

What I do is buy a bit at a time to spread out the expense through the year.  This has worked well.  I also buy used or during the curriculum sales when this is possible.  I tend to buy ahead when I find a good deal, and I am always trolling around looking for good deals.  :)

[Juliegmom]

We are in the same boat with not having extra money available so we use our tax refund.

[FairProspects]

We own a business, so we are always paying taxes rather than getting a return. We have 4 budget categories each month  -  Co-op fees, supplies, books, and curriculum. We just deposit the budgeted amount into the right envelope or category for the month and then I can use it as I see fit. We keep a lot of financial records and spreadsheets so I could estimate fairly accurately how much each category would need. I may need to kick some extra into supplies this month as the sales come out! :laugh:

[Desert Strawberry]

Tax return for the big buy. A little at a time for the rest. I really don't spend much. My big buy this year was a whopping $80. I'll spend at least that much again this year, but spread out, as we need it.

[Sobeknofret]

We divide the curriculum up into separate portions of about $75-80 each and then purchase one per month. If we have a little extra money, we'll buy more. We just got our last two packages today thank heavens!

[texasmama]

We own a business, so we are always paying taxes rather than getting a return.

We own a small business, too - and we always pay at tax time, too.  What's up with socking it to the small business owners?  Off topic but I do miss the days of tax refunds...

 

Also, I volunteered to teach a class at the kids' co-op next year, and that saved about $200 in fees for the year.  Still had to pay some, but every little bit helps.  I need to outsource the classes at co-op so I would be paying full price if I didn't teach.

[Mnemosyne]

Not homeschooling yet, my oldest is almost 2.

 

But, we are starting to put away $50/m now so that we can save up for starting expenses. Once he's 3 I'll bump it to $100/m (taking into account preschool costs) and by the time he's 4 I'll probably have $200/m (for each kid) until we can guesstimate more how much we'll need. I'd rather save too much than not enough.

[LaCEmom]

I just buy a little at a time as the overall budget allows.

[Jackie]

We put money aside from each paycheck to cover curriculum, memberships at the zoo and science museum, swim lessons, and some extra for the various educational toys and projects we throw in throughout the year. Right now, this is totaling $60 every two weeks.

[carriede]

I hadn't thought of using our tax refund! Homeschool expenses would certainly not use up the amount we usually get back. I wonder if DH would be on board? Though I suppose our current method is working fine...

[carriede]

Not homeschooling yet, my oldest is almost 2.

 

But, we are starting to put away $50/m now so that we can save up for starting expenses. Once he's 3 I'll bump it to $100/m (taking into account preschool costs) and by the time he's 4 I'll probably have $200/m (for each kid) until we can guesstimate more how much we'll need. I'd rather save too much than not enough.

I was going to say that this sounded like overkill, but then I thought of the private school tuition rates... ;)

[strange_girl]

My kiddos are still young (rising 2nd grader and K), but up to this point we've budgeted $20 a week for homeschooling.

 

However, now that they are coming into more 'real' schoolwork (and soon there will be 3 of them to buy for), we really need to double that amount.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Tax return here, too.

[Mnemosyne]

I was going to say that this sounded like overkill, but then I thought of the private school tuition rates... ;)

 

This is how I see it - at the very worst, we'll have saved money we probably would have spent otherwise. So, if we don't need it, into savings/rainy day funds it goes. ;)

 

And we've been considering sending our son to a Montessori preschool for various reasons before starting to homeschool him come kindergarten, so that's pretty spendy as well.

[violingirl]

My income isn't "extra" but in addition to covering a few household payments, it is what pays for homeschooling related fees, sports fees, field trips, etc. That being said, we don't spend nearly the amount some do on curriculum and a consideration I make in purchasing materials is whether or not I can use them also with my younger children. I try to buy what can be passed on and also to buy used when I can to make our homeschooling dollars go farther. I buy our year's worth of school supplies when they are on huge sale in late July/early August. 

 

 

[FO4UR]

We set aside a portion of our tax return too.  Then, I check the used book store.  I sell old and buy used.  I go to library sales.

 

 

I think the average cost is $600 per child per year.  We've never spent that much, but I do a lot of my own planning.  (I don't buy $$$ packages.)

[JenC3]

Up until recently it wasn't a problem, but now I'm a bit more budget conscious so I'm using only money from selling curriculum. I also spread out the purchases so I was finished when the fiscal change began. Now I will set aside a bit each month to make purchases.

[AdamsFamily]

We set aside each month, too.  I buy throughout the year, taking advantage of sales and used books availability.  We budget for curriculum, school supplies, music lessons/rentals, and sports activities.  I also redeposit money from used sales to help pay for extras like museum trips. 

 

I have already thought through the 2014-2015 school year for my dd's.  I know I will change some things, but I wanted a ball park figure.  My budget for that year starts in September, so I needed to know approximately what I will need.  I have been hsing long enough to know when my normal providers put their products on sale and how low their prices will go, so I can budget at sale prices.

 

If our financial situation changes, I can get more aggressive about selling some of my used stuff (like posting them on more forums, ebay, yard sales, etc.).  I feel like this gives me a little hs "insurance".  I also always keep an eye out for used books or deeply discounted books.  I have built up a nice classic and reference library just from Dover and our local library's sales.  I have two sets of Encyclopedias that were published within the last 6 years that cost $25 each.  :001_smile:

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Tax return money is the majority of my annual budget.  I usually have a small amount per month I can order a new workbook or something with.

[truemind]

$600 for curriculum etc.  We set aside about $50 per month.  Swimming is extra.  Swimming money we pay on a monthly basis anyway.  I try to avoid expensive stuff and go for used books whenever I can. 

[stoverdavid30]

I've seen several of you young parents put aside $50 per month.  I wish someone had told us that when we started!  Great idea...

[Melly]

I wish we could set aside money each month but we don't have disposable income.  We are really low income so we use our yearly tax return as it is generally pretty big.

[Dustybug]

I purchase used throughout the year when I can and then when our state tax refund comes, I use that to purchase the remaining items, pay for subscriptions/membership fees, etc.

[Holly]

We no longer get a tax return (DH is considered self-employed and we pay taxes quarterly).  I just spread our orders out throughout the year.  I organize it all so we aren't spending ridiculous amounts on shipping.  From the smaller companies, I like to place one or two orders a year.  Amazon has free shipping at $25, so I order from them every couple months.  

[Runningmom80]

I've been just buying as I need it, but now that I have an idea what will work, and how much everything costs, I'll probably try to stick to a monthly budget, and just try to plan ahead as much as possible.