Suggestions for streching the homeschool budget

The writer of one of the blogs that I catch up on as I am able has posed this question: how do you spend your school money? In her post she asks for ideas to stretch the school budget. Here are a few of my thoughts. Feel free to share some of yours.

The harsh truth about stretching the school budget: IT IS TEACHER INTENSIVE. There you go. Can you home school on a dime? If you have access to a library, then the answer is yes. The world is full of free or nearly free resources. The difference between your inexpensive home school and your neighbor's costly home school is most likely preparation time. Having said that, here are a few things to get your brain turning about ways to save:

*use your state's Standard Course of Study for each subject to help guide you on topics to include for each grade level (you should be able to access this on-line) Take that information to create goals for your student.

*trade resources with another family - -Most of my friends aren't ready to part with their materials, but are willing to loan things out. This year I loaned my Saxon 2 materials to a friend who returned the favor by loaning me a grocery sack full of reading material for my oldest.

*for younger students buy one of the grade level Critical thinking books (Mathematical Reasoning). I have been using Saxon and Mathematical Reasoning. I have enjoyed the combination, but Mathematical Reasoning covers the same material. If you do this you will need to be sure that you include homemade flashcards, skip counting exercises, and additional work on calender information. Those are all things that you can do yourself for little to no money.

*nearly anything can be a math manipulative - - Don't be convinced that you have got to have the silly linking cubes. Surely you have 100 grains of rice. Ok, maybe something a bit larger, but you get my point.

*find out about your library's interlibrary loan policy. I live in a small town. Our library is nice, but small. That has not hindered my ability to borrow books. If the book I need is not available locally it can usually be borrowed from another library. I have to pay the return shipping. That amounts to significant financial savings. Again, the real issue here is time and effort.

*science - - (again, teacher intensive) plan the year based on your area; Plan one activity a week and select several library books to read, for each week create a supplies list and buy the supplies a week at a time. I bet that you can average $5 a week. Yes, you can buy a teacher notebook that has done this for you, but you are trying to save money. Use your state's Standard Course of Study as a guide line or better yet your student's interests.

Things that I would spend money on:
a reusable writing space (dry-erase board or chalkboard; I used lap boards until I was able to devote a wall to this; you will save money on paper by doing this)

a great map (in a perfect world: a world map, a U.S. map, and a map of your state)

resource books that would be used for many years (children's dictionary, student dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, children's Bible)

teacher training (podcasts, webinars, books, magizines, etc.)

a place to store things (even if you are not buying much you will need this; my students are little so I asked my husband to create a shelf about 16" from the ceiling. It is ugly. It is out of reach. We used a bunch of "L" brackets and two long unfinished boards. Hopefully you can come up with something better.)

an integrated Language Arts curriculum (this is just my opinion; History/Geography/Literature/Art/writing would be a huge thing for me to plan. At some point my time is worth something. I have chosen to use Tapestry of Grace. )

Crunching the numbers
In this scenario my expenses would look something like this:
Tapestry of Grace year plan $260
2 mathematical reasoning books $60
reusable writing space (including chalk/dry-erase markers) $30
maps $50
long-term resource books $50-100 (I was able to get mine used for much less)
teacher training free-$100 (I have found the library and the internet to be great sources for free materials)
storage items (shelving/plastic containers with lids/cabinet) $100

Grand total: $500- $700

The things that are glaringly missing are basic supplies (paper, crayons, pencils, etc.),science lab supplies, group fees (do you join a local homeschool group, HSLD, or a state group?), field trips, a specific class your child might take (My girls take a P.E. class at the local college. We spend $50 a year for both girls to participate in this.) Most of these things do not come up all at once, so I find it easier to budget for them. I would guess that I average $10-$20 a month on these kinds of things.

One closing thought, balance is key in determining your school budget. Every decision will impact how your home runs. For example, I bought the reccomended math manipulatives. With four small children my house never seems clean. I decided that I would rather eat rice and count linking cubes. I figured that I would use the vaccum cleaner less. The trade off for me was an atlas. I wasn't able to find a used one last fall, so we check one out from the Library every few weeks and use a globe that I bought at Target for $1 the rest of the time. Think through every aspect of your home as you consider purchasing school material. How will an item benifit you and your students? Will the lack of an item offer an opportunity for creative use of other items or will it create another mess? Enjoy the number crunching and take pride in the extra effort that you are putting into your child's education.

reworking math

For the entire month of January we have struggled our way through math. Both girls are on lesson 80, which marks the half way point. My third grader had the same experience last year. I think that the mid-point is the peak of new material. Lessons 1-40 are review from the previous year. Lessons 40-80 gradually increase the amount of new material a student is expected to master. Around lesson 100 the material seems to ease off on the new concepts and borrow more often from previous lessons. As I have said previously, I love math. I want to do all that I can to instill in my children the idea that math is fun. Sometimes that is hard. I forget that they are learning a foreign language. I get frustrated that I need to repeat things so often.

Since January I have been expecting the girls to "gut it out." Math was no longer fun; it was a period of time to be endured. We saw more than a few tears hit the school table. Last weekend I took some time to really evaluate my goals for math. I talked with a friend who is several years ahead of me on this homeschooling journey. She confirmed my thoughts. I need to let go of my "finish the book" mentality. I need to grab hold of a mentality that says, "learn the concept well."

This week I did not attempt to teach the girls math separately. I reviewed each of their lessons and choose a hands on activity for each day that combined aspects from several lessons. This week the girls learned about square roots, collecting and analyzing data, symmetry, congruence, and practiced skip counting. Or, as they might tell you, this week for math we built pyramids, counted skittles, made snowflakes, and sang a few songs.

In addition to purposefully choosing a hands on activity for each math lesson, I allowed the girls to grab any "math resource" they wanted as they worked through their written assignments. They both used the hundreds chart several times. My first grader used linking cubes and coins also. My third grader continues to benefit from the base 10 blocks and used the linking cubes a few times too. I enjoyed watching them chose these items on their own. That is a logic exercise all by itself. (I need to solve this problem, what resource will help me solve this problem?)

Math went much better this week. The girls were more relaxed when they started their worksheets. I have been combing the Rainbow Resources catalogue for a few books to help me as I rework our math time. As I find great resources I will share them with you. Here is a short list to work with . . . . .

donnayoung.org - - lots of great things on this site, for math I like the fact sheets

Liz Robinson:musical mathematics - - skip counting songs from 2's to 9's, great for students on the cusp of memorizing the multiplication table

Math Games - - that is the title of a book that I checked out from the library several years ago, it is what it sounds like, a book of games designed to reinforce math concepts, filled with helpful ideas

Feel free to leave a comment about any math resources that you have found to be helpful. May math look a little more like the pictures at the beginning of this post each day.

Geography Adventure Returns

Sometimes school might need to look a bit more like this . . .

The girls did have to fill the geography challenge jar to earn this afternoon on the slopes. Tonight I will empty the jar and we will start working toward a new goal.

If you are interested in trying out Tapestry of Grace, don't forget to check this out.

To buy or not to Buy

One of my absolute favorite things about Tapestry of Grace is the fact that we are using actual books. Even for lower grammar students (aprox. K-3) there are no "readers". My girls aren't reading random excerpts, but instead, complete stories. I have been pleased with the choices. Highlights from year 2 unit 2 have been - -
Children's' Shakespeare
Mother Goose (that took me by surprise; my 1st grader has enjoyed reading all of the poems in an over-the-top, animated way)
I, Juan de Pareja
Trial and Triumph

As I finish up a nine week unit my husband and I begin the "to buy or not to buy" discussions. Using real books is an educational joy and a financial strain. We live in a college town and have decent access to many of the books that are needed. Tapestry is purposefully designed to allow for book substitutions. In fact, the teacher's manual includes library call numbers, so that you do not have to work at finding similar books. That fact alone might lead you to ask, "what's the debate all about? Borrow the books and save some money." And you are right . . .I think.

My girls will reread books. My first grader has recently realized that she is actually reading. She has enjoyed returning to books from earlier in the year. She can measure her progress. She knows that she is reading something that was far too daunting in August. It is encouraging to her. My third grader is a devoted reader. The library is not large enough for her voracious literary appetite. A pile of great books seems like a reasonable investment.

So, here I am again. Weighing the pros and cons of purchasing verses borrowing.

purchase: creates a storage problem, means I once again wait for __________(random household item that, while not necessary, sure would be nice), means that if one child is sick and I don't make it to the library school can go on, and allows for the silly joy that comes with a pile of new books

borrowing: involves some extra work on my part, hello cute little house thingy that I keep not buying, can cause a set back if I am unable to make it to the library, teaches my children that they do not have to own every single thing

No matter the outcome of this debate, I can homeschool two children for half the price of sending one to a private school.

A New Room for a New Year

This fall we were able to finish our basement. What an improvement that has made in the functioning of our home. We now have a space devoted to school.



The is plenty of natural light. The black wall that you can see in the picture is a magnetic chalkboard. That wall is worth every coat of paint that it took to make it magnetic. The other huge improvement for us is the space around the table.

Join us as we set sail for the new world

We are packing our bags, filling our minds and generally preparing for a trip to the new world. Our boat sets sail in two weeks. Won't you join us?

Seriously, if you have considered using Tapestry of Grace, now is a good time to check it out. The free three week trial includes everything. Very few curricula offer such an in depth preview. We are finishing up week 18 this week. So, I plan to start week 20 January 25. Take some time to look over the sample materials. Pick up a few books from the library and join us on this learning adventure.

Let no set back go to waste

This morning was exactly what I imagined homeschooling would be like. When I brought my oldest daughter home I had a four year old, a 18 month old, and a 5 week old. I was terrified. I was lucky if dinner was ready. I had no idea how I would teach my daughter how to write a paragraph. Totally convinced that God was asking me to bring McKenzie home, I withdrew her from school. I braced myself for a "wasted" year.

At 10:30 this morning I was still cleaning up the breakfast mess. In my mind I was going over all of the academic things that undoubtedly would not be accomplished today. Then, my three year old broke a Christmas decoration. Okay, deep breath. Not a crisis. Not even close. However, it had to be cleaned up. (dirty dishes in the sink - -ok; broken glass in the carpet --not ok) By the time that I was ready to start school I already needed a mental break. I sent the kids to play in their room while I went to basement. While I stood in our unfinished basement I decided that the best way to start our school day was with something fun. Yes, we were "behind". Yes, I was anxious about fitting in two handwriting lessons. I also knew that I did not have the patience needed to guide the girls through their more challenging lessons.

Today, at the shameful time of 11am, we started our school day by reading "The Winter's Tale" from The Children's Shakespeare by E. Nesbit. The girls loved it. In fact, they were jumping up and down begging for "one more Shakespeare." My six year old said, "Shakespeare is better than dessert!"

We didn't have time for handwriting lessons today. I didn't hold up any math flash cards today. We didn't draw maps of Magellan's historic trip to the Spice Islands. Today we read Shakespeare. Today I offered up a prayer. God, despite my weaknesses, please let my children learn.

Ten years from now my girls might be sitting in a high school classroom. I hope that if their teacher hands them a copy of a Shakespeare play they will clap their hands in joy.