Rigorous high school (especially 9th and 10th) on a shoe string....

[...................]

We've been talking so much lately about online classes, and other expensive options...I thought maybe we could start a thread about high school on a shoe string, specifically 9th and 10th grade when using Community College is not as much of an option. 

 

[theelfqueen]

CK-12 offers free class materials and e-textbooks

http://www.ck12.org/teacher/

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hm, what qualifies as a shoe string budget?  I spent ~$80 on materials for Geometry-at-home, way less than a class would cost, but still not cheap for a textbook . . . 

 

For English & History, we'll use 4 different Great Courses and a textbook, as well as some purchased books for lit.  I don't know, maybe $200-$300 all together?  Again, less than the cost of two online classes, and I purchased the Great Courses over the course of a couple of years, but it's definitely not freeschooling.

 

For Science, I probably spent around $50 on texts & books. Most of our labs will be field-based, or outdoor, but I may spend additional $$ on lab supplies.

 

Spanish $100

OM Integrated Health & Fitness - $150

 

So that's around $600-$700 for six credits worth of classes, so averages out to about $100+/credit.  Again, way cheaper than outsourcing all the classes, but does that count as a shoestring?

 

Of course the extracurriculars are the killers - horseback riding is expensive! And theater isn't cheap either.  But I'd be paying for those either way, right?

[SilverMoon]

-Don't buy newest versions of textbooks. Going back an edition or two can get you science, math, history, geography, etc for pennies plus shipping. TMs for them are usually just a hair more, but still inexpensive. If you need more teaching help get the textbooks used cheap and get the guide/syllabus/etc from Kolbe or Oak Meadow.

 

-Stick to classic literature or Great Books. These are usually free on Kindle, dirt cheap used, and very inexpensive even if you do buy new. Google for free lit guides.

 

-Great Courses on deep discounts or bought used.

 

-Composition books like Writing With a Thesis, They Say I Say, etc. instead of expensive writing programs.

[laughing lioness]

I think Audible or Netflicks has Great Courses - as do some libraries. 

Our library used to have Rosetta Stone but has now switched to Mango -foreign language. 

Henle can be purchased for pennies on the dollar through Amazon and you can buy MP Latin (and other products through the FB page (I bought our Henle text for $2 last year)- Latin.

 

Kahn Academy

The least expensive way I've done high school has been to write curriculum reviews- we received many opportunities, on-line classes, complete curriculms etc by writing good, honest reviews. High School reviewers are not as common so the opportunities are definitely there. 

Tutoring for CC- I have found the Challenge program to be excellent and rigorous, using much of the same curriculum that we would use anyway. 

Starting or teaching at an Academic class day where the Tutors are paid/ grades given. 

 

 

[Reefgazer]

Money isn't the driving force for us, but I do have a kid who is young for grade and I don't think will be mature enough or have the stamina for DE in 9th and 10th.  On top of that, I genuinely believe that the guidelines in TWTM, using literature readily available in the library, will provide the most rigorous high school course pathway for us.  I do plan to branch out with DD, in her junior and senior year, but in 9th and 10th, we're keeping it close to home (which means cheaper).  I think older and cheaper textbook editions are perfectly fine to use, Coursera has some excellent options for high school, for biology labs particularly you can use cheaply available materials, and co-ops can work well for art.  I generally think co-ops are a waste of time, but the ones we have used for art have been cheap and OK for that purpose. 

 

The one thing I haven't been able to do cheaply is foreign language.  DD takes French from a tutor and we do Latin at home.  The Latin grammar here at home is relatively cheap, but in a year or so, I am going to need to outsource the Latin, as well.  DD outside sports, horseback riding and competitive swim, are a fortune.  But I think outside sports can be done for much cheaper with other sports.

Edited January 24, 2016 by reefgazer

[theelfqueen]

My library has access to quite a few Great Courses. My library has so many great things --if you're not friends with your library, make friends! Ours has a science lab, 3D printers, ebooks/audio, so many things available and our librarians are SUPER helpful and supportive!

 

I buy almost everything USED -- often through amazon but I check addall.com for many things -- they're a comparison shopping site for used books.

 

I've gotten a few Great Courses for CHEAP by finding them used. (ummm Superstar Student, CS Lewis and The New Testament)

 

I've found some really great resources for ibooks, kindle, and nook (and we got fires on sale for $35 last Black Friday) for cheap.

 

Khan Academy, and Crash Course both have useful offerings.

 

We're building an Earth Science curriculum next year through the Lens of The Big History Project. We'll use the CK-12 Earth Science spines where appropriate and hit the library for other materials.

 

We're using Saxon  -- I've found Algebra 2 and Adv Mathematics both on super clearance at our local Mardel. Even if we change our mind and use something else -- I spent so little I think I can break even selling them online.

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by theelfqueen

[Faithr]

Have you seen this? http://www.freehomeschoolhighschool.com/home.html

 

 

[Holly]

I'm currently scheduling 9th grade.  While I'm not aiming for rigorous, I do want college to be an option.  Many of the selections I've been making include DVD based lessons.  Not only are these cheaper than online classes, but they can be reused with my younger DC.  Since I have 4 others to teach as well not to mention a limited amount of time to do it in, this seems like a good option for us.  

 

We invested in the new $50 Kindles, so we'll be taking advantage of public domain books as much as possible.  A few of her materials are PDFs, so it will come in handy for those too.  I've also been searching Amazon for used books.  I found the videos needed for Harmony Fine Arts for $3, instead of $60 for the new DVDs.  

 

Here are my choices for DD:

SCM History (and geography)--many books are available at the library and a few are public domain.  I'm sure a text would be cheaper, but I really want her reading living books for history.

Apologia Physical Science--there are cheaper options if you get used textbooks, but I wanted a Christian perspective.  Guest Hollow's biology program looks really good (and can be inexpensive if you use the library as much as possible).

Harmony Fine Arts--I've found most of the materials used and they are re-used for all 4 years of high school, except the Artistic Pursuits 

Visual Latin--this is fairly expensive, but 100% re-usable and she'll be able to go at her own pace.  I'll be using it with my younger DC at a slower pace.

English--reading good lit books (many from public domain), English From the Roots Up (cards only), Our Mother Tongue, and Beyond the Book Report (saving part 3 for next year)

PE--logging hours at the gym/pool, working out at home, on the trampoline, community sports, etc.

[Lori D.]

Here's a list I did up about 2 years back for our homeschool group -- most of the links should still be good.

Ideas for Reducing Homeschooling High School Costs

FREE - miscellaneous ideas
- use your local libraries (public, homeschool group, college/university)
- borrow/share/trade curriculum with other local homeschool families
- use and resell to purchase the next year's materials
- keep it clean (rather answers in a notebook rather than student book to be able to resell)
- reuse materials, rather buy different materials for a younger sibling
- homeschool materials as gifts (ask for materials or extracurriculars as birthday or holiday gifts from extended family members)

FREE - all in one program

Easy Peasy (complete homeschool plans and free online resources linked)

 

FREE - Interactive Online Class
Virtual Homeschool Group

FREE - Textbooks
Hippo Campus
Free High School Science Texts
Hoagies' Gifted Education list
Free High School Science Texts
CK-12 Flexbooks (Math, Science, English, History)

FREE - Books
Gutenberg Project (read online)
LibriVox (download audio books)

FREE - Lectures - Open Source Classes
UC College Prep (high school)
National Repository of Online Courses (high school /college)
Online Education Database (OEDb.com) (college)
iTunes U

FREE - MOOC
Coursera

FREE - Visuals, Tutorials, Videos, Podcasts
Khan Academy
Learners TV
Annenberg Learner
Creative Live (when live streaming classes)
GPB Ed (Chemistry, Physics)
Virtlab (Chemistry demos)
Frog Guts (Biology, virtual dissections)

FREE - Test Practice
Test Prep Review (all tests)
Online Math Learning (SAT, ACT, GMAT)

FREE - English resources
OWL at Purdue - info on writing, grammar, citations, etc
The Five Paragraph Essay - instruction and assignment ideas
NaNoWriMo - creative writing
Glencoe - literature guides
Penguin - literature guides
Sparknotes  - literature guides
Cliff's Notes  - literature guides
Pink Monkey - literature guides
No Fear Shakespeare - side by side modern translation and original

FREE - Foreign Language
Duolingo - Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portugese, Dutch, Irish
Life Print - ASL

BUY USED - local options
homeschool group, from: members, group's website classifieds, annual used curriculum sale
Craig's List
used book stores
charity resale centers (Good Will, etc.)
annual library book sales
yard sales

BUY USED ONLINE - curriculum
Homeschool Classifieds
Vegsource
E-bay

BUY USED ONLINE - books/textbooks
Half.com
Chegg
E Campus
Paperback Swap
Amazon used
Abe Books
Alibris

Edited March 24, 2023 by Lori D.

[Pen]

 

The least expensive way I've done high school has been to write curriculum reviews- 

 

 

How were you able to get the opportunity to write reviews?

[lisabees]

Rigorous?  EdX, MIT OpenCourseware etc.

 

The Library (languages, Great Courses, books).  Be sure to get a card for the big city library near you!

 

Google, Google, Google  (you will find online textbooks and syllabi used by other high school teachers)

 

In our state, we are allowed to use any district textbook for free if requested.

 

We are using CK-12 for 10th Grade Anatomy. 

 

I just received Writing with a Thesis in the mail.  It was 1 penny plus 3.99 shipping with Amazon.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2016 by lisabees

[My3girls]

This is our 9th grade on a budget.

 

English- EiL, vocab from Classical roots, IEW (about $350 but EiL will take her all the way through HS)

Math- Foerester's Alg. 1 (about $50)

Science- CK12 Biology (free)

Modern History- History Odyssey ($45)

German 2- online with GaVS (free)

Band- Co-op ($180)

 

We're also applying for Volunteen at Zoo Atlanta which will be $30 if she is accepted. The most expensive course will be English, but it will all be reusable for my younger 2.

[elegantlion]

I am the queen of shoestrings, although we did invest more into foreign language study. 

 

I looked for QUALITY sources for cheap, older used copies of texts for math or science, combining literature and history in a Great Books study, and customizing classes based upon interests and materials I already owned. 

 

Free is not always best because components can be confusing or need to be printed or don't have adequate teacher support (or hard to get teacher support, like some big name publishers)

 

Yale OCW  has well organized materials for their classes. MIT has classes too, but I found them hit or miss on whether they were full classes and if all components were available. Carnegie Mellon also has open course classes. I have not looked at any of these in several months, not sure if they've changed. 

 

We used Coursera for parts of classes, but never as a complete credit. I also prioritized classes based upon ds's interests, college goals, and what else needed to be bought that year. Government and personal finance were half credits that I spent minimal money on, more get-r-done credits. 

 

We were not necessarily rigorous, but I chose what I felt were well done materials. 

 

Here are some other resources we utilized parts during some part of our journey: (I'm not quite as organized as Lori). 

 

The Physics Classroom

Educational Materials from HHMI - free, you can order DVDs and some are online - these are secular resources

 

Check textbooks for student support sites. Bedford St Martin has several components for their history texts online for free. This is one we used parts of the text and online material. 

 

I also read a lot on this board, wrote down book titles and authors and publishers so if I went to a book sale I knew which ones might work. 

 

The biggest issue I had was myself and trying to make it too complicated. We had a very interactive style of schooling and a few good resources, decent instruction (whether by me, another person, or online), and time for discussion  made high school my favorite era of homeschooling. When I tried to do too many resources (because they were cheap or free) then it got messy. 

 

Enjoy this time, it can be done on a small budget. My son is currently working on college homework after a good first semester at a school that is a good fit for him. 

[laughing lioness]

How were you able to get the opportunity to write reviews?

 The way I got started was to approach curriculum providers that I use and appreciate. I was on the TOS Review Crew for a couple of years and learned a ton and had SO many resources it became overwhelming once I got a professional job. It's a good deal, fantastic group and quality materials. 

I always put my heart into the reviews (I figured if Dorothy Sayers got her start as a copywriter, it was good enough for me), very detailed with links. You need a blog following with analytics

 One of my first reviews in 09 was pf a product that we used and I loved- it ended up on the landing page of the company that ended up buying the product and reproducing it and led to some other great opportunities. I also have my current job due to a review which allows my kids to take on-line classes for free. 

lmk if you have specific questions. 

Edited January 25, 2016 by laughing lioness

[GThomas]

I have not used this myself but you choose your grade and it delivers a list of lessons daily . It's all-in-one, completely free through grade 12. http://discoveryk12.com/dk12/

[Zoo Keeper]

Just wanted to say that I think this board is fabulous.  :)

 

My shoestring for next year just got longer.  I may even be able to tie a shoe with it...;)

 

Thanks for all the great links in this thread.

[lisabees]

I should add that Bozeman, Tyler Dewitt, and Dr. Tang (Chemistry) are good, free supplements to a science textbook.  They provide AP videos.

 

 

 

 

[Prairie~Phlox]

I have not read through everything, but there's this for writing: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/471529-lively-art-of-writing-formatted-workbook-and-key-x-post/?hl=writing+with&do=findComment&comment=6716472

and http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/otters_science/otters_science_main.html

are two of my favorites.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

You might look at the Reischauer Scholars Program. The application for the course is competitive. Ds applied twice to the Reischauer program iirc. The course itself has no cost.

 

It is an excellent course, intended for advanced high school level.

 

Reischauer

http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/fellowships/reischauer_scholars_program

 

Ds also took the sister Sejong Korean Scholars Program. Also a very good course. The tuition was covered when he took it. I'm not sure there is a grant covering tuition for the next round of applications. It would not be shoestring at list price.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Sebastian (a lady)

[MarkT]

We've been talking so much lately about online classes, and other expensive options...I thought maybe we could start a thread about high school on a shoe string, specifically 9th and 10th grade when using Community College is not as much of an option. 

Just curious - what is a ballpark figure for "shoestring"?

 

$100 per course ?

$ x  for the year  ?

 

The key item is as the HS years progress, the knowledge factor increases for a home school parent to properly execute the course becomes greater. This assumes typical student independence/self discipline.

 

I for one could not run a proper HS level English class.  

[MarkT]

I

 

Check textbooks for student support sites. Bedford St Martin has several components for their history texts online for free. This is one we used parts of the text and online material. 

 

http://www.macmillanhighered.com/Catalog/discipline/History/ValueOptions

Did not see any "free".

 

Looks pretty expensive to me versus the library.

[Arcadia]

Not sure how you define rigorous. My local libraries have the honors and AP textbooks used by public schools in the reference so that save me a lot of money.

 

I also have used older versions of high school textbooks free from library book sales free pile.

 

Then there is all the videos on YouTube by high school teachers for AP courses. My boys are enjoying the CrashCourse Economics ones.

 

http://www.macmillanhighered.com/Catalog/discipline/History/ValueOptions

Did not see any "free".

 

Looks pretty expensive to me versus the library.

World History using Ways of the World old 1st edition

https://sites.google.com/a/cng.edu/cng-ap-world-history/

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/strayerdocutext1e/#t_597721____

 

ETA:

CrashCourse has World History too. 42 videos

Edited January 26, 2016 by Arcadia

[charlotteb]

Quite a lot of quality classic literature is free on Amazon Kindle, so that could be your literature and history spine.  As for other curriculum, I buy most of mine used on Ebay, Amazon, or homeschool curriculum sales. 

[Mom22ns]

English: I saw it listed somewhere above, but EIL is definitely shoe string cheap and most of the required reading is available free. 

 

Math: Lial's worked great for us for Algebra 1 - PreCalc and most are available for less than $5 including shipping. If you look at the pinned math thread, toward the end I give links to a teacher who has youtube videos to go with every level of high school math.

 

History: we used college level books, usually an edition back, bought used and very cheaply.

 

Science: CK12 offers free texts, DIVE gives video lessons/labs for $50. Science was where we spent the most money for lab supplies, but you can do less. 

 

There have been lots of suggestions of free stuff already, so I won't give you another list. I just wanted to say rigorous high school does not have to be expensive. I'm not even sure expensive provides the best education. IMO many of the more expensive homeschool curriculums are far from rigorous. They are open and go and easy to use. That is what you are paying for. Certainly AP & DE are pricey, but they are unnecessary and many people do AP exams without paying for the classes.

[CupOCoffee]

Once again, this forum is a wealth of information!! Came here looking for some fresh ideas today...worth the trip!!

 

I highly recommend the GA Virtual classes; DD loves their Forensic Science and Mythology courses so far, and we will be using some others in the future.

 

~coffee~

[Scarlett]

You could always go K12 with the state charter which is free.  K12 high school is very rigorous.  

[historically accurate]

I was just doing a search for "shoestring" high school, and I ran across this thread. I am looking at a very, very tight budget for my oldest's 9th grade year. 

 

I am finding myself slightly overwhelmed since I cannot afford to outsource anything this year, but I am working on each class separately (currently on physics), and then moving to the next one. We don't qualify for our state's virtual academy, and DE is full price here as well. 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by beckyjo

[chiguirre]

I was just doing a search for "shoestring" high school, and I ran across this thread. I am looking at a very, very tight budget for my oldest's 9th grade year. 

 

I am finding myself slightly overwhelmed since I cannot afford to outsource anything this year, but I am working on each class separately (currently on physics), and then moving to the next one. We don't qualify for our state's virtual academy, and DE is full price here as well. 

Check out the Virtual Homeschool Group

 

http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.org/

 

They offer at-your-own-pace classes using Saxon math and Apologia science. They also have free, live classes. Those fill quickly and start enrolling in early August, I think--check the date and procedure if you're interested.

 

CK12 has textbooks with embedded videos and coordinated workbooks and tests:

 

http://www.ck12.org/

 

EdX has some AP classes as well as some English composition classes that could be useful.

 

Easy Peasy has some high school classes planned out using free, online resources:

 

http://allinonehomeschool.com/grades/high-school/

 

I hope these give you some ideas to get started.

[Lori D.]

I was just doing a search for "shoestring" high school, and I ran across this thread. I am looking at a very, very tight budget for my oldest's 9th grade year. 

 

I am finding myself slightly overwhelmed since I cannot afford to outsource anything this year, but I am working on each class separately (currently on physics), and then moving to the next one. We don't qualify for our state's virtual academy, and DE is full price here as well. 

 

Hope you find some helpful suggestions in this thread that are a good fit for your family!

 

Do check out Easy Peasy -- a complete 180 days of lesson plans using only all-free internet resources; that could help cut back some on all of the work of planning each class.

 

Also check out some of the sources for free online textbooks for Math, Science, and History/Geography listed up-thread. Or purchase older editions for under $20/textbook on Amazon or other used textbook resale site -- often textbooks come with a matching teacher edition, which can greatly reduce the amount of time/effort you have to put in to scheduling, preparing, teaching, and grading.

 

Would you like to provide more details of what specific courses (and types of materials/learning style) you're planning for 9th grade in case anyone has some ideas for you? :)

 

Warmest regards, Lori D.

[historically accurate]

Hope you find some helpful suggestions in this thread that are a good fit for your family!

 

Do check out Easy Peasy -- a complete 180 days of lesson plans using only all-free internet resources; that could help cut back some on all of the work of planning each class.

 

Also check out some of the sources for free online textbooks for Math, Science, and History/Geography listed up-thread. Or purchase older editions for under $20/textbook on Amazon or other used textbook resale site -- often textbooks come with a matching teacher edition, which can greatly reduce the amount of time/effort you have to put in to scheduling, preparing, teaching, and grading.

 

Would you like to provide more details of what specific courses (and types of materials/learning style) you're planning for 9th grade in case anyone has some ideas for you? :)

 

Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Thanks for this!

 

Here is what I have so far:

 

Science: Hewitt's Conceptual Physics ($1 for 9th edition at Half Price Books outlet) paired with Physics Lab in the Home (50 cents at library sale). I've just started looking at the lab book that I found, and I have scoured every thread here on Conceptual Physics. I think this will be a good class for her; I just need to synthesize all of the helps I've found into a cohesive whole.

 

Math: I was able to pick up Jacobs Geometry with Callahan videos on ebay. I am good on teaching high school math, but geometry was my worst skill, so I felt more comfortable with some sort of video help for geometry. She used Life of Fred Algebra.

 

English: I own Build Your Library 8 (she changed her mind at the last moment on it last fall), so I think I may use most of the Lit and Readers from this. She is still working on Writing With Skill, so we will continue that. She still needs spelling, so All about Spelling 6&7 (I already own it). Am I missing anything in this? She is pretty good at grammar; we went through The Giggly Guide to Grammar this year. She's not ready to analyze literature in writing, but she's doing ok on written narration.

 

Social Science: I'm a little lost on this. We've always done unit study/living books for history, and she doesn't want to switch to a textbook. She'd like to do US government/election. She also liked the looks of Oak Meadow modern middle east, but it's out of my budget.

 

Spanish I: she's done Lively Latin 1 & 2, and would like to switch to Spanish for high school. I'm looking at Easy Peasy for this - I took German, so I can't really help too much with this.

 

PE & Health: possibly Easy Peasy or health done via the library and just tracking PE time. I can probably do some units, such as Kids Bowl Free over the summer, a hockey unit ending with tickets to a hockey game via the library summer program, and the park district just opened an ice rink with cheap learn to skate lessons (hopefully, that will be the case next year as well).

 

She'd also like to do some sort of coding or computer science, but it might be a little much for her. She's behind on language arts, ahead on math & science, and pretty bright to average on everything else. We are having her currently tested for Asperger's/autism but don't have the results back yet.

[Lori D.]

Sounds good! 🙂 FWIW, here are a few thoughts -- take or leave as it helps. 😉

A quick "oops" correction from my links above HERE is the HIGH SCHOOL link for Easy Peasy. What I linked above is for K-8. Sorry!

On 2/27/2016 at 6:18 PM, beckyjo said:

English: I own Build Your Library 8… so I think I may use most of the Lit and Readers from this. She is still working on Writing With Skill, so we will continue that. She still needs spelling, so All about Spelling 6&7 (I already own it). Am I missing anything in this? She is pretty good at grammar; we went through The Giggly Guide to Grammar this year…

She's not ready to analyze literature in writing, but she's doing ok on written narration… 

She's behind on language arts… We are having her currently tested for Asperger's/autism but don't have the results back yet.

Looks good!

If you find you want more Grammar, KISS is free online -- the 6th grade level has all concepts a student needs to know. While it is set up to be printed out, that can get expensive, so what you might try is either doing it orally together, or, if DD is up for it, writing her answers in a notebook.

High school English credits are typically about 1/2 Lit and 1/2 Composition -- but with a remedial student, you would definitely include Grammar and Spelling if needed. (Our DS#2 needed Spelling all the way through high school, as he has mild LDs with Writing and Spelling). We found it helpful to include some Vocabulary with the Spelling at the high school level.

I was not familiar with Build Your Library, so I looked up the Lit. list for 8:

historical/YA fiction:
- The Golden Goblet
- A Parcel of Patterns
- Carry On Mr. Bowditch
- The High Crusade
- Second Mrs. Giaconda
- House of the Scorpion
- Nation
- Stargirl

classic lit:
** Midsummer Night's Dream
- Canterbury Tales
** Frankenstein
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Animal Farm
** Fahrenheit 451
** Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Favorite Poems Old and New

Since you mention DD struggles a bit with LA, I marked with (**) the works that are tougher to read due to older vocabulary, sentence structure, etc. Since she's moving into 10th grade, as her Asperger's/autism allows, since she is solid with narration, you'll want to start moving towards more "thinking" types of answers to discussion questions -- and I'd start by doing it together orally, rather than written.

Not trying to push the analyzing literature if she's not ready, BUT... I'd definitely start introducing her to basic literary devices  this year -- maybe one a week -- and then both of you keep an eye out for examples of those devices in the Literature as you read. Figuratively Speaking is a super program for doing this, and it's only $5.25 (used) + $4 shipping at Amazon. It's a great program to go through together aloud -- read the definition, see the device at work in an excerpt from classical literature, and then a page with examples or exercises to practice seeing the device (again, easy to do aloud together).

 

Starting to talk about things like foreshadowing and symbolism in movies and TV shows helps too -- the devices are very visual and easier for many students to see them at work there, first, and then translate it over to the written Literature… 🙂

You might look for some free on-line guides to help you start moving into a bit deeper discussion of the literature: Glencoe Literature Library; Penguin teacher guides; Bibliomania teacher guides. And I sometimes have good luck finding guides for individual titles by online-searching "study guide for __(book title)___"

On 2/27/2016 at 6:18 PM, beckyjo said:

Social Science: I'm a little lost on this. We've always done unit study/living books for history, and she doesn't want to switch to a textbook. She'd like to do US government/election. She also liked the looks of Oak Meadow modern middle east, but it's out of my budget.

For government/election, you might look into actual participation for learning:

Elections -- volunteer at a candidate's office, or, some areas pay teens to work at the poll on election day
Teen Court, Youth Court, Mock Trial (model judicial branch of government)
YMCA Youth In Government (model legislation program) (west of Mississippi =Youth AND Government)
National Model United Nations or Model United Nations (mock U.N. session)
Junior State of America (teen events on civics/politics; speakers & discussion sessions)

Most of these programs DO have a fee -- but they also might have scholarships available for families in need. I know the YMCA's Youth & Gov't does, as I was an advisor for 3 years and had several students who would not have been able to participate without the scholarship.

These Government books are pretty cheap used on Amazon:
Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government
The Everything American Government Book

Here are some sites with free educational videos on Civics topics:
Have Fun With History: United States Government
Watch Learn Know: Three Branches of Government
C-Span Classroom: Timely Teachable Videos

Two feature films that are fun for seeing government in action, if they're at your library or if you can stream them free:
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Jimmy Stewart becomes a Congressman)
- Twelve Angry Men (Henry Fonda leads a jury through the deliberation process)

If you want to stick with making History units, it looks like a good History unit to go along with the Lit from the Build Your Library is Medieval through Early Modern… You could check out Guest Hollow's website for ideas for non-fiction books and resources to check out of the library, and project ideas, to make your own unit 🙂 :
1500-1599
1600-1699
1700-1799
1800-1899

And here's a series of free online educational videos that are Humanities and History based:
Annenberg Learner on Western Civilization.

On 2/27/2016 at 6:18 PM, beckyjo said:

Spanish I: she's done Lively Latin 1 & 2, and would like to switch to Spanish for high school. I'm looking at Easy Peasy for this - I took German, so I can't really help too much with this.

DuoLingo is free, and gets good reviews here. 🙂

On 2/27/2016 at 6:18 PM, beckyjo said:

She'd also like to do some sort of coding or computer science...

Free Coding and Computer Programming resources:
Code Academy
Khan Academy
Code.org
Code Combat
Code Avengers
Hackety Hack
Scratch

BEST wishes for an enjoyable high school year on a shoestring budget! 🙂 Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Lori D.

[LearningGrace]

Don't forget Hillsdale College's free courses! http://online.hillsdale.edu/dashboard/courses They ask for a donation, but it's not required. Combined with other reading, they are quite good. 

 

I am also beginning to research online courses for the upcoming summer and/or school year.  Thank you for the Hillsdale idea!  How did you ultimately combine these courses for credit?  Did you count hours of work in combined courses within a subject to achieve the credit?

 

Also, I had hoped to expose our rising senior to at least one classical Christian online course next year, but the cost is rather daunting, to say the least.

Edited March 1, 2016 by LearningGrace

[Brad S]

-Don't buy newest versions of textbooks.  ...

 

-Stick to classic literature or Great Books. These are usually free on Kindle, dirt cheap used, and very inexpensive even if you do buy new. Google for free lit guides.

 

...

 

-Composition books like Writing With a Thesis, They Say I Say, etc. instead of expensive writing programs.

 

 

... I genuinely believe that the guidelines in TWTM, using literature readily available in the library, will provide the most rigorous high school course pathway for us.  I do plan to branch out with DD, in her junior and senior year, but in 9th and 10th, we're keeping it close to home (which means cheaper).  I think older and cheaper textbook editions are perfectly fine to use, Coursera has some excellent options for high school, ...

I agree with these points above, and Lori D's and other posts are helpful.  Hewitt's Conceptual science books wouldn't count as rigorous IMO for high school, although I recognize that everyone has their own opinion and a lot of people find them great for covering the main points; I also wouldn't consider Lial's math books rigorous either as they strike me as pretty calculation focused and lacking the depth of word problems compared to alternatives such as Foerster, which was mentioned above -- again, I realize that everyone has their own point of view, what's good for one student isn't necessarily the best for another and all that, but it's a discussion here and the OP was about rigorous and inexpensive.

 

I haven't seen a lot of discussion on the boards about two inexpensive texts that could be used as part of a rigorous curriculum:

 

World History: Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources (as mentioned by Arcardia above in post #23, with helpful links)

 

World Literature: Norton Anthology of World Literature, condensed or full, 2nd edition, or by its previous title, Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, expanded or regular.  Although libraries may have copies of many of the individual works, getting them all can be very difficult, and the Norton Anthologies have good, brief introductions so that you can get to reading the great literature.

 

Thanks for starting this interesting thread.

[KarenNC]

Some options to go with what has been suggested:

Virtual Homeschool Group---get on the Facebook group to stay up on plans for the coming year. Seating is usually Aug. 1. We've used them for Saxon math (at your own pace and live class), as well as a classics book club, literature class, and Spanish 1. The live classes vary greatly from year to year depending on what volunteers are wiling to teach.

 

Conceptual physics/chem/physical science---make sure you check out www.conceptualacademy.com. Not free, but looks like fabulous supports for using the Hewitt''s or Suchocki's books, I think for $65 a course. There are lots of virtual labs online for free.

 

As long as you don't need the video, audible.com does have a lot of the Great Courses for a credit each ($16 or so).

 

icivics.org is a good resource for government, and check out H&R Block's Budget Challenge if you want some personal finance materials (free plus the opportunity to earn large scholarships) http://hrblock.budgetchallenge.com/I incorporated these into a civics class last year.

 

This past fall I combined an edX intro to sociology course and a Coursera intro to psychology course into an "intro to social sciences" credit. I am hoping to have my daughter take CLEP exams in both subjects with a bit more targeted study.

 

Check local museums for free days and free online educational materials. Definitely become friends with the local librarians. They may have access to lots of free or nearly free resources in the library or online, depending on your area. Your parks and rec dept may have some options as well. My daughter had a great art teacher for several years at a very low cost through them.

[BlsdMama]

We've been talking so much lately about online classes, and other expensive options...I thought maybe we could start a thread about high school on a shoe string, specifically 9th and 10th grade when using Community College is not as much of an option. 

 

 

You cannot read wide and deep enough.  Honestly, if you just had a kiddo reading hours a day that would cover history and Lit... Then write about it.

 

Now that I've done high school a couple times I can see where/how I'd spend money and where I would not.  It depends on the child's natural bent as well.  If I had a math/science kid (my current junior is one) I'd pour out my shoestring in math. :) Then I'd use real books for the rest.  

 

If I had a kiddo planning on some kind of liberal arts degree that wasn't in a STEM field, outsourcing math (unless you feel really competent) for rigor wouldn't be my highest priority.  (Please don't misunderstand, I am NOT saying skip math.  That's not even an option.  I'm saying, on a limited budget, I wouldn't spend the $$ on outsourcing.)  I'd be looking at that kiddo and see where the $$ is best spent.  For some that is going to be music, art classes, speech, etc.  11th and 12th grade is the time to go deep - but the foundation must be laid by 9th and 10th for them to be able to do that later.  

 

I think one of the biggest mistakes is spreading ourselves too thin instead of laying really solid foundations.  I think that's true K-12.  I think the other biggest mistake is not reading enough or with enough intention.  The reading makes a huge difference on test scores, IMO.

[GAPeachie]

-Don't buy newest versions of textbooks. Going back an edition or two can get you science, math, history, geography, etc for pennies plus shipping. TMs for them are usually just a hair more, but still inexpensive. If you need more teaching help get the textbooks used cheap and get the guide/syllabus/etc from Kolbe or Oak Meadow.

 

This is a fabulous tip that I recently used with amazing results.  I am BEYOND thrilled with the condition of the books I received!

 

I just picked up: 

 

Veterinary Medical Terminology for $4.09 with free shipping 

Animal Diversity for $3.92 with free shipping 

Apologia Biology for $3.42 with $3.99 shipping 

America Past and Present combined volume for $4.01 with $4.25 shipping

Foundations in Personal Finance for $5.45 with $3.95 shipping 

Apologia Biology Solutions and Tests for $4.95 and $3.50 shipping 

[Zoo Keeper]

This is a fabulous tip that I recently used with amazing results.  I am BEYOND thrilled with the condition of the books I received!

 

I just picked up: 

 

Veterinary Medical Terminology for $4.09 with free shipping 

Animal Diversity for $3.92 with free shipping 

Apologia Biology for $3.42 with $3.99 shipping 

America Past and Present combined volume for $4.01 with $4.25 shipping

Foundations in Personal Finance for $5.45 with $3.95 shipping 

Apologia Biology Solutions and Tests for $4.95 and $3.50 shipping 

:thumbup1:   Good deals, Peachie!

[Kinspired]

Here's how we did 9th and 10th grade relatively inexpensively. We made use of free resources and bought textbooks used on Amazon, usually for under $5 shipped.

 

9th grade

- Giancoli Physics using a syllabus Kathy in Richmond had posted, supplemented by a physics with lab offered by Georgia Tech through Coursera. Lab kit from Quality Science labs (our most costly expense but was used for 9th and 10th grade and will be used again by her sis next year)

-AOPS Precalculus

- American Odyssey + TC lectures from library

- American literature with homebrewed writing assignments

- elective: 3 computer science courses from Coursera we counted as 1 credit

- photography using old textbook and Lightroom & Photoshop lessons from mom

 

10th grade

Calculus - MIT OCW

Physics - MIT OCW and Rice edX

AP Computer Science - free from Udacity, now edhesive

History - Western Civilization

Literature - Middle Ages Great books mostly on kindle and TC lectures from the library

(She then decided to take 4 AP exams: Calculus BC, 2 Physics C, and Computer Science to validate above free classes)

 

Just sharing because I hope that this can be encouraging to someone. We wouldn't have known about all these resources without this forum.