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MrsSwan
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| Posted: May 03 2005 at 11:53am | IP Logged
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This is one of those touchy questions but I was wondering what you pay on a regular basis to provide your children with their materials? I have been doing quite a bit of research and I am loving what I am finding. However the problem remains that we have very little extra $$.
I was thinking of simply supplementing what my children are already learning in public school and then thought, why not just do it all if I'm going to be paying extra anyway. What I am interested in a classical based education, I think.  Lots of reading, Latin, Bible, Catechism, Saints, as well as Math, Science, Grammer and those types of things. Can you offer any suggestions? Thanks so much!!
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Heather Mark
DD 7, DD 4, DS 1
God is who He is
God can do what He says He can do
I am who God says I am
I can do all things through Christ
God's Word is alive and active in me
I believe God!
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Genevieve
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| Posted: May 03 2005 at 1:19pm | IP Logged
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Cost varies from family to family. It really depends on curriculum, enrichment materials, field trips and your utility of the library. According to Linda Dobson's Q & A book, the average cost is about $400/child. But that doesnt tell you whether the child is re-using previously owned material or even what level your child is at etc etc. Seeing your child's age (7yr?), you honestly need to only focus on the 3Rs and your faith formation. If you are interested in a classical education, check out MODG catalog or Kolbe grade book list. They both indicate the total cost of a classical curriculum should you follow their syllabus. The cost however doesn't include enrollment in their school but you are free to purchase their syllabus without enrolling.
Genevieve
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~Rachel~
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| Posted: May 03 2005 at 1:50pm | IP Logged
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Hey Heather... glad you found your way over here  , Angi told me you were having fun  .
Have you looked at Mater amabilis?
Ambleside Online (it has free extexts but you have to adjust the religious ones) and of course there is also TWTM...Well Trained Mind
and their boards: boards
Hopefully you also checked out the CM/ Classical discussion on the boards, plus rabbit trails. Great free ideas there!
Have fun! 
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~Rachel~
Wife to William
Mum to James 13, Lenore 8
Lighting a Fire
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tovlo4801
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Heather,
I don't believe that homeschooling has to cost much money at all.
You might want to check out the yahoo group Thrifty Homeschoolers. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThriftyHomeschooler/The messages and files are full of great ways to save money both on homeschooling and in the rest of your life (if you save money somewhere else, that's more for homeschooling right?) It's not a ton of e-mails because all e-mails go to the moderator and then she is the only one who posts.
I saw the moderator of that list, Maureen Wittlans, speak at our homeschool conference last year and I was inspired. She spent the talk explaining specifically how she could homeschool for under a $100/child. Listening to her convinced me that much of what I thought I needed really was just not necessary.
I've worked out our budget now to allow for $50/month for homeschool expenses, but I probably won't spend it all each month. I want this to cover field trips, fun things, and books that we want over the course of the year. In the next few weeks I'll make some bigger purchases for the next year. My budget is $400 total for both boys. A lot of it will probably be things for my oldest son since he doesn't have any hand-me-down curriculum.
I really use my library A LOT. Most of the books I bought my first year I could have gotten at the library. I live near a metropolitan area and all the library systems in the area will honor my library card. My actual library system doesn't carry many of the OOP catholic literature that I'd like my son to read, but I found out that the library system where my dh works, carries most of those books. Now we just go online and reserve what we want from that library system and my dh picks them up and drops them off. You can get textbooks at the library too. This year I discovered that I can do Rosetta Stone language courses for free on-line through our library system. So definitely explore your library and see what you can get there for free!
HTH
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: May 03 2005 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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For our family, most of what I consider "necessary" homeschooling expenses have been in the area of religion. We spent a lot of money early on to buy the vision books and Windeatt chapter and coloring books. We bought catechisms and readers, books on "how to" homeschool, etc. These were all things that our library doesn't carry. Now, we could really get by with spending $50-75/yr for a math curriculum (that is then handed down) and then whatever it costs for paper and 3-ring binders. Since we rely heavily on booklists as use literature as "curriculum," we pretty much just use what the library has available. That being said, in practice I do spend more than $75/year, but those are not necesssary purchases. I buy picture books and chapter books that I know the kids will reread many times if they are on our shelves, Bethlehem books that my library doesn't carry, field guides, scrapbook paper. As I said, though, these are extra purchases that I would not make if we didn't have the money to do so. We don't really go on field trips, so that's not a current expense for us. We don't use tutors either and don't have a foreign language curriculum. As we add Latin to our schooling and resume music lessons, our costs will certainly go up.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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~Rachel~
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I have to second (or third ) the library as our best resource.
I like to buy books... my DH gives me a weekly allowance JUST for this purpose... but it is not something I can not live without.
Our library doesn't always have the books I want... but they and another library that is somewhat local, have a 'thing' where I can also borrow books from them. Plus the inter library loans...  .
The other thing I like to do is see if I can find it as an e-text.
Through the library and the etext I can 'test drive' things, then I decide whether it is something I should purchase or not.
I have found dollar stores, antique shops and secondhand book stores invaluable as far as 'finds' go... some not so valuable as far as collecting goes, but definitely valuable as far as school goes... I found the Burgess animal book at the library for 25 cents!
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~Rachel~
Wife to William
Mum to James 13, Lenore 8
Lighting a Fire
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MrsSwan
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| Posted: May 05 2005 at 12:20pm | IP Logged
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You guys are fantastic, thanks!! I've already checked our library and it sucks! 
I'm going to research all the info you gave me and hopefully be back with some more questions!!
__________________
HeatherMark
DD 7, DD 4, DS 1
God is who He is
God can do what He says He can do
I am who God says I am
I can do all things through Christ
God's Word is alive and active in me
I believe God!
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: May 06 2005 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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Heather, if your library isn't a good resource, some other options might be:
+interlibrary loan
+asking grandparents, etc to buy books for Christmas/birthdays
+giving the kids picture books for Christmas/birthdays
+We have a Barnes and Noble credit card (mastercard) that we use for EVERYTHING. I pay it off at the end of every month, but in the meantime it earns me gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. Free books!
+Borrowing books from friends (I do this a lot!)
+Check out Scholastic's Book Club. You can get very inexpensive editions of some great books through Scholastic, and earn credit for free books too.
+go to library books sales in "nearby" towns (When we were starting out, we'd go to sales that were an hour away. They are worth it if you want to form your own home library.)
+garage sales/literacy program sales (our local literacy group puts on book sales from time to time in outdoor tents)
+used books stores, salvation army, goodwill
+amazon.com's used book resource (and other used websites)
+bookcloseouts.com -- has new books at great prices (especially field guides). You have to check often because the selection varies and is sometimes limited.
Hmm...I'm sure I could come up with more ideas. These are just off the top of my head. Hope they help!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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~Rachel~
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| Posted: May 06 2005 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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You can always ask the library if they have a policy you can follow to get them to purchase a specific book for you too... I think there was an article at the House of Literature website... in the Saint Nicholas V connection...
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~Rachel~
Wife to William
Mum to James 13, Lenore 8
Lighting a Fire
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Marybeth
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One way to cut down on my purchase of books was to buy some treasury books. This way we have many books in one which helps with space and the book costs less than buying all the books individually. I have The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury which has 40 some stories in it. I bought it used for 15 dollars. I would suggest Cathswap at Yahoo for finding good used childrens books. This is one way we have built up our collection.
Also,maybe you could meet with your library director and suggest some books for your library. It may be worth the effort if they will take some of your suggestions and purchase them.
We go in on book orders in my homeschooling group which lets us purchase with no shipping costs. This is nice way to save $$$.
Marybeth
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ALmom
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We know of a family with many children, who have managed to homeschool all 6 of theirs on very little. The husband was out of work for a while and they simply couldn't purchase much at the time. Even though there aren't many Catholic homeschoolers in our area, most of us who have been homeschooling are happy to loan, give or sell at a discount books that either a particular child won't be using because they are not ready yet or because its something we bought in our early homeschooling days that one of our children really loved but the rest hated. We also do book swaps - ie we all get our wish list together and then we find that a lot of us want the same books. We divide up which ones we will order, and then trade when our children have read them. A lot of places give free postage after a certain amount spent. We place the order together, have it shipped to one person at a central location and then all pick our order up from there.
One thing I wish I had done earlier on was borrow at first even though you do eventually want to own many things. This way I would not have wasted as much money on stuff that sounded great, but just didn't appeal to our children.
Teacher supply stores have sales once a year and you can sometimes get great manipulatives for very little. Also just looking at a Montessori catelogue allowed us to make some of our own stuff from the pictures. Also things like friends of the library booksales - we have found some real treasures in the way of Out of Print Catholic books (even in the deep south).
We got a lot of materials used through other homeschoolers whose children were all older than ours.
Sometimes we even have a box at support meetings with give aways. If you let people know what you'd like to get your hands on - to use or purchase, you might be surprised at how much stuff comes to you out of the woodwork.
Most of us end up with lots more stuff than we need and your request might just be the stimulus for us to part with stuff we are no longer using. (You might actually help us detach!)
Janet
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Rachel May
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I realize this is an old thread, but since my question is related I thought I would just tack it on in an effort to be tidy.
I'm curious how many books you buy when you are on a rabbit trail. Do you always buy a few and borrow a bunch? Do you just borrow? Also, do you buy things before, during or after you start your trail? (At this point I'm sort of picking the trails and taking the kids along with me so I could buy ahead. )
I want to build our library more, especially because I'm certain we'll revisit trails and would like to have some books around to job memories. I am curious if anyone has a sort of systematic way that they do it, and if you design your budget to accomodate those book purchases or just find the money elsewhere. We've yet to start a homeschool budget......
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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cathhomeschool
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When we were first starting out, we bought lots of books at library book sales, half price stores, etc. These were mostly chapter books and science and history books. I wanted to have enough on hand that we'd have something on the shelf should a new topic or rabbit trail pop up. Now with our rabbit trails, I try to borrow as much as possible and buy only the essential. Then, if in the course of our trail, I find that the kids just love a particular book that we're using, I'll put that on our wish list and buy it at some point.
We do not have a book budget or really even a homeschooling budget. I buy what I feel is needed after thorough research. One thing that helps (mentioned in my post up above) is that our credit card earns us points towards Barnes and Noble. I rely heavily on those coupons and on the 20% off teachers card to make my purchases! I also put things in my amazon cart (which my cred. card also gives me certificates too) and then buy them when they're 20-30% off.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Servant2theKing
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I'm not sure this was mentioned in earlier posts, but scouring used book sales can be a great way to pick up treasures for your homeschool library...the library in our capital city has a used book store, which we try to visit a few times throughout the year...the first time we went there they had an entire set of Treasure Box books (with laminated covers), for 25 cents a book. We've been blessed on various travels to find bagloads of great Catholic books, especially at Church book sales, often for $1 bag!
We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years...in the beginning we didn't have an established budget for our homeschooling. As we went along we realized that we needed to give our homeschooling as much priority as we give to things like tithing, mortgage, groceries, etc. If you start small, and are realistic about what you can afford, you will be truly blessed by carving out a regular budget amount for homeschooling. Income tax refunds can be a wondrous source of funds for your homeschooling budget; what a fitting way to apply the child tax credit! One consideration in determining what amount to budget...most homeschool budgets are a mere fraction of the cost of tuition or the exhorbitant amount spent in schools per child. Even though it may seem excessive to allocate money from already tight budgets for books, you're still educating your children for FAR less than schools do. We now regularly allocate funds for purchasing homeschool books, as finances allow we include and additional amounts for used book sales.
Our homeschool library has grown a great deal through the years, slowly and surely...many books have come into our possession through grace-filled happenstance, when the Lord places us in just the right place at the right time for such treasures to be available! Make it a regular prayer intention that the Lord will guide you to materials that will enrich your homeschooling, and fit your budget! I always ask St. Anthony for his grace-filled assistance when visiting used book sales, otherwise it can seem like looking for a needle in a haystack! With time and patience, you will see your homeschool treasury of books grow right along with your childrens' love and knowledge of their faith and the world around them!!!! Happy Homeschooling!
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All for Christ, our Saviour and King, servant
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Molly Smith
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I wish we had an immense home library, but we rely heavily on our library system--which, thankfully, is great. But, my dh's credit card builds points that we can use to buy Amazon gift certificates. We actually end up with a few hundred dollars each year for Amazon. We also give books to the children as gifts in their Easter baskets and from St. Nicholas and from new baby siblings, or any excuse we can find to put it in the "gift" category. Grandparents do the same. I really need to keep a master book wish list going. Thanks for reminding me...
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Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
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TracyQ
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There is SO MUCH online too you can use for homeschooling! There are some wonderful resources out there. You can adapt so much of what you find and use to make it work for you for so little. You've already gotten so many wonderful resources and ideas here, but I have a few more for you to ponder and look through that may help.
I like to use online reading lists to give me more clear direction as to how to tie history all together. Here are a couple that have helped:
Reading Your Way Through History
CM Twaddle Free reading list
Popcorn and Peanuts
Sonlight Book list by Classical stage
There are so many booklists out there. YOu just go to google, and do a search for some homeschooling book lists, and you'll get many more.
I found this neat list for movies chronologically that is a great resource. But be careful, I have NO CLUE about each movie. You'd have to check for online reviews or ask others about them:
History through movies list
This gives history book list plus craft ideas, and ideas for maps online, and other resources. It's a treasure of a website for the homeschooling mom:
A Book in Time
There are some wonderful FREE books online through various websites. Here are a few of those sites that are very helpful:
The Baldwin Project
Reference Desk
Project Gutenberg
There are some great sites with great free homeschooling forms. Here are my two favorites:
Donna Young
homeschooling forms
And here's a wonderful site to help with low cost homeschooling:
Homeschooling on a Shoestring
There are so many great resources online. You can do google searches for many free lessons in various subjects too, and ideas, etc. You can make your own games, and can homeschool low cost. Check out the homeschooling blogs for blogs that focus on thrifty homeschooling too. A great place for blogs is Homeschool Blogger
And I find so many wonderful free resources right here on this forum, from many trusted, beautiful people of faith too!
Hope this helps!
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Cost of Homeschooling?
