Homeschooling On A Limited Budget, How We Do It!

When a family decides home education is the best option for their children the two most frequent questions that arise are, how do we do it and how much will it cost. The plain simple truth is that many families spend several hundred to several thousand dollars each year on homeschooling curriculum, resources, and activities. After homeschooling my own children for several years I can assure you it can be done with a budget in mind. These are some of the ideas and resources we have used to provide exceptional opportunities and curriculum at a very affordable price. We do pay for extra curricular activities, but try to find free and low cost opportunities for enrichment for our children.

We have adopted a homeschooling format that benefits our family life and our children well, it may not be for everyone but has worked well for us. The main idea behind the way we educate our children is the Charlotte Mason Method mixed loosely with Unschooling. This method affords us the opportunity to be flexible and subsequently allows us to home school on a tighter budget.

Charlotte Mason believed in an educational approach that emphasized three points, the first is atmosphere. The idea that children learn much from their enviornment. Basically, introducing educational games, books, software, and learning projects in your home would cover this idea. This is a concept that many parents start with their very young children without even realizing that they are doing it. The second idea is discipline, this is not to be confused with punishment. This is the idea that children are to be taught from a very young age how to keep their room in order, sharing in household chores, and how to behave in public, etc. The third idea is that children learn best from living books. Most of the early Charlotte Mason method centers on using concepts from stories from great authors to teach anything from Spelling to Mathematics.

A loose translation of Unschooling is the idea that children will choose to learn what interests them or draws their curiosity. Our homeschooling method falls somewhere in the midst of these two great methods.

So how do we use these methods to keep our budget in check? We use our public library to the point that I think our Librarian is sick of seeing us! That is a bit of an over exaggeration but, we are at the library a lot. Checking out books on a variety of subjects is free knowledge in your hands and can be used for any subject. If this seems daunting, check out books on a particular subject and complete a unit study about the subject. There are literally books on anything that can take the place of expensive text books. If this makes you a little uncomfortable at first, it is good to know that most public libraries have text books you can check out on an as needed basis. Also many libraries have special clubs or classes for homeschoolers that are usually free or low cost.

Another great option is the many Conservation Centers, they not only offer educational opportunities but also offer classes geared to home school.

Taking nature hikes and using the the park system is not only free, but a great resource for families. Go for a walk and try to identify trees, plants, etc. This is a wonderful science activity.

Although Zoo's and Children's museums are not usually free they do usually offer yearly family passes. If you are lucky enough to have a good museum or zoo take advantage of passes, it only takes a few visits to get your money's worth.

Online freebies in education abound. We use many online sites to get free lessons in anything, but our two favorites are khanacademy.org and coolmath-games.com. Google free learning sites and you will get a very long list of all the resources on the web. Just be sure to parent check them for appropriateness and content accuracy.

This is obviously just a small sample of ideas to get you started homeschooling without breaking the bank. Use these ideas and have your older children help you come up with your own ideas!