Susan in MO Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Just found out about Complete Curriculum. http://www.completecurriculum.com/ It is only 39.95 for a yearly family membership. It looks like it covers all levels K-12 for Language Arts, Math, Science, and History. There would be printing costs involved, but I can see that if it is done decently it would be a blessing for many. Here is the link to the Cathy Duffy review: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/grade-level-packages/complete-curriculum.htm If it were paired up with library books, I bet it would work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Check into the larger towns near you co-ops. There are 2 that I know of who have lending libraries about 2-3 hours from me. For a small price, you can check out the materials you need for the entire year. You should also check used homeschool stores for half-used workbooks if you want to stick w/ Abeka. I am sure there are people who bought it, then used part of one book before deciding it wasn't the right fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Just a suggestion. Does your state have a charter school for independent study aka homeschool students. I know people have different opinions on this but my children are and get more than enough in their funds to cover the cost of curricula and extra curriculars. Honestly we'd struggle without it to afford curriculum. On the other hand with the library,free online sources and buying used I think it's possible. Our out of pocket budget is about $500 for two kids, but they are little (5&7), so stuff is cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriciaT Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Combine your oldest 3 for science and history for sure! You could order just the teachers manual and experiment kits from Noeo and use the library for the books. Maybe SOTW or Mystery of History. If you are comfortable with Charlotte Mason style learning, Check out ambleside online for excellent free resources for literature. Have your kids narrate (orally or written depending on their writing skills), use dictation for spelling. You can find free vintage spelling books for this- Like "Dictation Day by Day", you can just pick favourite quotes from books you are reading, or you could buy "Spelling Wisdom" from Simply Charlotte Mason. For grammar, maybe you can even find some cheap daily grams or use some vintage grammar books. For math, Math Mammoth is pretty reasonably priced. Or CLE. The main thing is, don't worry! You can totally give your kids an awesome year of homeschooling within your budget. See what kinds of fabulous free, cheap new, or used stuff you can find that you will be excited about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Just a heads up that there's a red LLATL on eBay for under $10 if you're comfortable going retro with your second grader. I think it's the '92 edition. You can also find older editions of Konos and Shurley for shockingly low prices if you're comfortable modernizing them. Saxon Primary was my biggest curriculum expense with my now-adult homeschoolers. I had to sell or trade my original copies, but had no trouble replacing them with free for shipping and/or teacher's manuals that were leftovers from our local groups curriculum swap and headed for the recycle bin. You don't really need the meeting book if you have LibreOffice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I'd buy math. I'd also put some money toward ink and a printer (if necessary) as well as internet connection. Next I'd decide how I want to do language arts - free or invest money. For elementary, it would be very easy to use the library for all the science, history, and literature, etc. Whatever else I bought, I'd aim for non-consumables, that I can use in future years (or resale). There are lots of good suggestions for curriculum. but I'd first decide how I really want to split up the money and what I can do for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Hunter gave good recs, but didn't even plug the awesome public domain curriculum she worked on. http://investigatingthelandscape.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/entire-public-domain-curriculum.html Look at the offerings there and see if any of those would work for you or your children. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I agree with a lot of what was already said. A good printer that is cheap for printing, if you don't already have one. Math: MEP -free Most other subjects Ambleside Online - most books on it are free, you can get many that aren't from the library - there may be a couple you need to buy or substitute. A cheap ereader - to use ebooks which are free or near free If you can manage it - about $50 for the Yesterday's Classics Ebook Collection - their quality of ebook is so much better than the free version. Another good free option if your internet is good is Easy Peasy All-in-one Homeschool. There is a bit of printing - most is done online. A good library card is important... You can also contact Book Samaritan and see if they can help. There is also a facebook page called Homeschool Free for Shipping - or something like that - where people offer items they no longer need and you pay for the shipping cost only. btw - I have 4 children and I don't think I've ever had $400 in a year to spend on homeschooling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Focus on math and LA. I'd use CLE since you have four children schooling. It is traditional, rigorous, and pretty easier to get done in a larger family. You easily have enough to buy math and LA for everyone with a bit leftover. I might even spend the rest in CLE Bible 500 for both of the older two - it's such a great course (includes geography). Do you have appropriate age level Bible storybooks you could assign the youngers to read? Just read books for social studies and science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Vintage texts are my new answer to the money issue because they aren't very expensive and cover multiple grade levels. You could buy a book like Homeschool Sanity by Sherry Hayes to guide you. Here is a list of vintage books (if you want hard copies) or most of these can be found online free if you don't mind printing or using it on a screen. Math: Ray's Arithmetic Strayer-Upton Math Reading: McGuffey's (either set or both sets, I prefer the revised but use both) Spelling: Webster's Speller McGuffey's Speller (with the older set) Writing/Language Arts: Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl Harvey's Grammars Art/Nature Study/Geography: The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady An Atlas A Drawing Textbook (not vintage) A book of fine art or links to pictures online to look at Music: Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory (just buy the teacher guide with answers and teach from it, not vintage) Devotional: Bible and Story Bible New England Primer Hymnal Literature/History/Science: the library or free books online from AO, OFE, dollar homeschool, or Robinson Curriculum list If you need something for teaching cursive, I recommend the charts and cards from Cursive First. You don't necessarily need the whole curriculum (though it is very economical). But the cards and a chart are very helpful. There are also free books online for this: http://books.google.com/books?id=jX7CdVK9HNYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Also, The Eclectic Manual of Methods is very valuable in using several of these books and is free online. https://archive.org/stream/eclecticmanualof00cincrich#page/92/mode/2up Largefamilymothering.com has many very cheap ideas for using composition books and index cards for planning and in place of worksheets, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Loving this thread! Great suggestions. Hug Deep breath. It's always hard in the moment to figure out a plan. 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.