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For more ideas on homeschooling on a tight budget, glean ideas from our "Cost of Homeschooling" page, and our Resourceful Homeschooler page. Mandatory needs: Prayer, motivation, a library card, and a desire to teach your child. Maximize your library use by finding out how to access your library from your home computer. HIGHLY recommended: On-line access. There is just too much available on-line for free to disregard this incredible source that costs you $10-$20 per month. You can do research in store catalogs (like Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook, etc., and then check them out from the library. Helpful: Subscription to local newspaper, or read the Sunday paper at the library to find out what's going on in your neighborhood in the way of free concerts, art displays, and events. Helpful: Netflix--a library of DVDs to rent by mail with no deadlines, no late charges. If you currently rent DVDs occasionally, this subscription will pay for itself and give you the benefit of an enormous library of educational DVDs.
The plan: I love thinking "school in disguise," with as little "seat time" as possible at this age! Children are not created to sit at a desk for hours at this age! Get out, use a variety of materials and approaches, use short lessons! Sneak in learning time at bedtime with your read-alouds. Besides reading classic picture books aloud, read historical fiction for younger readers, read Childhood of Famous Americans books, etc. Read the Bible at night. When I had a range of children from baby to older elementary, I would start with the picture books that the youngest would enjoy (actually, before that, I would nurse the baby to sleep while I read aloud to the older ones), then move to the Bible, then to the harder read aloud. As the reading got more difficult, the younger ones would fall asleep, but they would not have missed the reading that was tailored to their age, or the Bible.
Scope and Sequence If you just starting out and you're paranoid you're going to ruin your child by "winging it," you can refer to several on-line "scope and sequences," which are listed on our Homeschool Essentials Page. Please don't think that you have to do everything it says, or do everything when it says you should! Just use this as a general guide! And don't get trapped thinking that the public school up the street actually covers all this material (or in a manner that the children will retain the information!). Recommended Books--most are available from the library. If you can afford them, and prefer to buy them, I've linked to our Affiliate links.
Art ($0-20) Field trips to museums. (Check for free admission days) Videos and books from the library ($0) Use our Arts Links page. There are lots of craft sites on the Internet that have craft recipes and ideas for inexpensive crafts and art projects. Many can be used from recycled products you have at home. Check out author Lucy Micklethwait for art appreciation and crafts. ($0) Many artists will tell you the best thing you can do for your child for art is to make sure he has everything he needs to be creative. That might mean investing in $20 worth of supplies (crayons, colored pencils, glue, etc.). Check your local printer for paper scraps they would normally throw away.
Bible ($0-$18) Small Children's Catechism based on the Westminster Confession of Faith ($0) The Bible ($0) Children's Storybook Bible
($17.99 ChristianBook,
will work through 6th grade.) OR See our Christian Worldview Links page for worksheets and such for Sunday School. (Don't think you need to use worksheets for a "proper" education.) ($0) See Curriculum Index Page for links to worksheets. ($0)
Geography ($0-$12) World Map, U.S. Maps ($0-12 total). If you have a roadside membership, these maps are often free. See our Geography Links page for outline maps you can print out for free, as well as interactive games you can have your child play. ($0)
History ($0) Library books for history, using reading lists from our Library Page Reading Lists. A child who enjoys history through real books will retain a lot more than one who is fed facts through a textbook. Use biographies and historical fiction, along with other library books like DK books and Usborne Books. Look for the OLD Hillyer's Child's History of the World. ($0) Field trips to museums. Call your local museums to find out which day of the month is their free admission day. ($0) Videos from the library. Non fiction, educational videos from the library are often free to check out. Language Arts ($0-$16) Handwriting: Copy Bible verses. ($0) Handwriting
for Kids Composition: Write letters, thank you notes, business letters asking for information from companies your child is interested in (you'll often get back coupons for free or discounted products). ($0) Reading/Phonics ($0-16): This is an area you can spend a little or a LOT in. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons ($15.99 from ChristianBook, or easy to find on used curriculum message boards) has been used with great success for a long while to teach children to read. Or, you can find phonics lists for free on the Internet and make up your own flashcards and program. ($0) Paper for flashcards can be obtained from local print shops for free--scraps of cardstock. Readers: use the library for easy readers. You should be able to find phonics-based readers .($0) Literature: there are too many GOOD, quality books out there to waste your time with "twaddle" (worthless books). Use some of the many quality reading lists available on-line, such as our HomeschoolChristian.com Library Reading Lists listing. Christine Miller's Classical Christian Education "1000 Good Books" list is one of my absolute favorites. ($0) Books on tape/CD from the library! You may be amazed to discover the selection your local library has. Ask your librarian to show you how to access books on tape/CD from other branches. In my area, the San Bernardino County Library system has a contract with Recorded Books International, and I can use RBI's printed catalog or web site to make my wish list and order in nearly any of the books on tape/CD that RBI has taped from other branches at no cost. I rarely wait more than a week for a book on tape to arrive. The advantage of using books on tape while in the car is that children strapped in seat belts will listent to books way over their reading level. Books on tape will increase the listening ability of your child. ($0)
Math ($0-$20) See our Curriculum Page index for Math worksheets online. My personal favorite is Scott Bryce's The MathWorkSite.com ($0). In the early years, your emphasis for math is learning math facts. This doesn't even have to be written down in the beginning! Teach your child to count forwards and backwards, by 2s, 4s, 6s, etc. You can do mental math. There are books at the library for mental math ($0). Play with manipulatives -- M&Ms, beans, paper clips, buttons. Use these to sort, break into equal groups, add and subtract. Play math games, invent math games. My favorite math games are Chips ($7 from Excellence in Education), and Match 'Em ($11 from Excellence in Education). Used Math Curriculums are easy to find on used curriculum message boards. Math facts set to music. My personal favorite is Math-U-See's math facts song tape. The tape drove me crazy, but once I learned the songs, I didn't use the tape. After we memorized the songs, then we would cut out most of the song, and only sing the part with the facts. We could do facts 2-9 in just 3 minutes. ($6) Music ($0-10) Free local concerts. They're out there! ($0) Check out CDs and cassettes from your local library ($0) See our Music Links page. There are lots of music sites with music you can listen to on-line! Buy a recorder (under $10 for recorder with book from Christian Book) and teach yourself and your child to play! If you already know an instrument and can teach your child, you'll be amazed at the low prices for used instruments on ebay! Physical Education ($0) Walk, run, bike, skate, sled, swim! Don't think your child is being deprived by not having organized sports! If you want your child to be healthy for LIFE, help them enjoy individual sports that can be continued on through their senior years. Basketball teams are not as easy to come by when you're 80, but if you've developed a love of walking or swimming, that is something you can continue throughout life. If you REALLY love organized sports, in addition to doing individual activities, then find a local homeschool group that has park days, and organize some sports with them if they don't already have them going. There are homeschooling leagues being created all over the country right now. If you've got a local parent who loves a sport such as baseball, get the kids together to play for FUN sometime! They won't have the cost of a league or uniform. Just find a field that you can use for free! Science ($0) See our Science Links page for loads of information. Find a site with ideas for cheap/free science experiments. Make a nature journal. Nature walks, park days. Videos and books from the library. Let's Read and Find Out series is one you might want to look at. Complete Curriculum Ambleside Curriculum On-line This is a free complete curriculum based on Charlotte Mason's style. At the time of this update, Grades 1-9 are available for free on-line. General Ruth Beechick's Three R booklets are very popular: A Home Start in Reading offers five simple steps for teaching your children to read. A Strong Start in Language presents a proven 4-step method for teaching writing. And An Easy Start in Arithmetic helps facilitate learning by focusing on the "four attitudes" of math education. Includes a phonics/arithmetic chart. Grades K to 3. 28 pages each, three softcovers ($9.99 for all three from Christian Book) Five in a Row by Jane Lambert is very popular among homeschoolers who want to use library books for this age group. ($16.99 from Christian Book) Support GroupFind a local support group or form one. Many local newspapers will give you a free advertisement for this sort of thing. On-line Support--see our many message boards by using the pull-down menu at the top of this page. Family Support Make your Christmas wish list reflect your priority for education when your family asks for ideas! Ask for educational games, videos, and subscriptions to magazines you can't borrow from the local library. Suggest gift certificates so you can do the choosing. (Think of the thank-you notes that will count for writing!) Have Grandma or Grandpa read aloud, or be read to by your budding reader! Have them correct math sheets with your child if you use worksheets.
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our Support HomeschoolChristian page!.
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