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Education on a Budget


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What have I gotten myself into?! Our church is having an economic survival fair next week and my job is the education table. In the interest of having a broad appeal, instead of including only homeschooling, I need to also include public or afterschooling and college. I will have an 8 foot table with a tablecloth and sign, and I can have electricity if I want it. I can spend up to $100, although I'm not sure what I'd spend it on.

 

So I need your best ideas for surviving homeschooling, public/private/afterschooling, and/or college on a budget, as well as any ideas for handouts and displays.

 

Thanks in advance!

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Sounds like a good time to promote the library and a good study bible. Perhaps something about how true education doesn't have to be tied to a classroom, how we still continue to learn outside the classroom and past graduation.

 

Maybe sometime tied to the days of creation and how that could be tied into education.

 

I'm thinking nature study, relationship skills...

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Don't forget to mention the colleges that are doing free online classes (MIT, Hopkins, Notre Dame, among others). They're non-credit, but you get a grade, I believe, or at least a certificate of completion. I'm sure many of them can be used to enhance your professional knowledge, which can bolster the resume in an uncertain economy. Online degrees (accredited distance learning programs) are considerably less expensive than attending school, and not too much of a cultural stretch for homeschoolers.

 

For homeschooling and after schooling, area museums usually have free or marginal-cost programs, as do nature centers, arboretums (arboreta?), and public gardens.

 

The Smithsonian has a materials checkout program that is free.

 

I'm sure there are others I'm just not coming up with.

Edited by MyCrazyHouse
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You could put together a handout listing your favorite websites - free printable worksheets, free lesson plans, free educational videos, local places to visit.... Also, your library may have it's summer reading club handout available by then and probably wouldn't object to you taking a stack for this.

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You could put together a handout listing your favorite websites - free printable worksheets, free lesson plans, free educational videos, local places to visit.... Also, your library may have it's summer reading club handout available by then and probably wouldn't object to you taking a stack for this.

 

:iagree: I'd also break them into age groups and homeschooling and after schooling. For a general audience I might title after schooling as fun educational ideas or......

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How about info from Ambleside Online, which uses Charlotte Mason techniques on books that are mostly available at libraries or free online.

 

Preschool Activities from Paula's List (One idea that I love is to have a bag exchange.)

 

Classes at the local parks and rec system. When we visit my inlaws, we take advantage of the parks system they have, which has a hike or a naturalist talk or a special exhibit going almost every weekend.

 

For college, I might highlight ways you can get college books used, especially online. You have to watch out that you get the right edition and that you don't spend your savings on shipping, but you can save money doing this.

 

What about some ideas for packing lunches? I remember that when I was working on my grad degree, I spent a lot of money on fast food because it was easy to hit a drive through on the way to class. I love lists of healthy creative lunches and snacks because it reminds me of things that I do like to eat but have forgotten I like.

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Does your local library system or ps system offer free online tutoring? Many do, and they don't always do a stellar job of publicizing it. Also, local colleges and even high schools are great sources for locating affordable tutors for both homeschooling and ps families. You might want to see if you can get contact info from their academic affairs offices.

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Don't forget storytime for preschoolers at the library. Also they a lot of times have book clubs for older kids and homeschoolers. Our library also has a 'lunch with the author' day for adults, I don't remember if it's weekly or monthly. But anyhow it's a time when people get to show off their literary works.

 

What about Head Start?

Recipes for play doh or instructions for making simple waldorf style toys (out of sticks, how cheap is that?) or a nature table as well as nature walks.

 

Show people how to use the library to put together their own curriculum if they can't buy one. Maybe have some info on unschooling-- no curric necessary, get your education in the school of life.

 

X-mas presents are a great idea (who ever it was that said that). Kids have enough toys, but they always need art supples, paper and pencils, or a new backpack.

 

Do you have a local university that offers any sort of free summer classes to elementary, jr or sr high students?

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Well, this is a broad view of *education*, but I'd check with your local city or county sports and rec departments to see what classes may be free in your area. In our area, we have a city art center with free lessons, free soccer and PE classes and free karate through a Christian ministry.

 

HTH,

Lisa

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Even if people don't own a computer, they can use one with internet access at the library. Also, all the libraries where we have lived have had computers with headphones for websites like mine or Starfall which need sound. (There is one local library that has free headphones for children 16 and younger but allows adults to bring their own headphones if they want to, all the other libraries have had free computers with headphones for everyone.)

 

I was recently listed as a recession resource on what looks like a great list of links:

 

http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/recession.html

 

I would contact your local libraries for ideas and also to see what they have available that you might not know about.

Edited by ElizabethB
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I would like to put a plug in for the state funded Virtual Academy, if your state has one. 3 of my children are enrolled in our state funded Washington Virtual Academy, which uses the very expensive K-12 curriculum. :D

 

NC has a virtual academy, but only kids in public school can take classes for free. Homeschoolers have to pay the same tuition as out of state students. :glare:

 

Thanks for the idea though.

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