Homeschooling Essentials: Curriculum on a Budget

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Whether you are new to homeschooling or are an established homeschooler, deciding what curriculum to use can sometimes be an overwhelming task, especially while trying to keep the costs low. Every year I always reassess what we've used in the past to see if it still meets our needs or if we need to change things up. Unfortunately, there is no cut and dry way of choosing what curriculum would work best for your family. What I've done in the past is to talk to other homeschooling moms who use a certain curriculum I am looking at or I research online for reviews if I don't know anyone who's personally used it.

There are some companies who offer an all-in-one package that will cover all your core subjects (My Father's WorldSonlight just to name a few). I've never used an all-in-one curriculum package because I like to mix and match what we use. If you really have the ambition (& time)  you could even create your own curriculum using the library and oodles of free resources found online. Google what you are looking for and you'd be amazed at what you can find! I do a combination of the above, I buy some curriculum as well as use online resources.

All in One Homeschool & EZ School have the entire school year & subjects broken down completely free.
Virtual Homeschool Group offers free online classes to students (has the Apologia sciences that we love)
VocabularySpellingCity.com has free online spellings games & tests. Or for a small fee, you can access even more of their website for both spelling & vocab (my review)

Another one of my favorite online resources is SchoolhouseTeachers.com They offer unlimited lesson plans, classes, printables, ebooks, downloads, a planner, etc for toddlers all the way to high school. While there is a fee for this ($12.95 a month or $139 for the year) you can use this for the whole family as your main curriculum if you wanted so it's well worth the nominal fee. They do offer a special of trying out the full site for $3 for your first month to see if you like it (& can cancel after that, that's worth it for the huge planner alone!) (my review)

Some of our favorite curriculum that we've used over the years are any of the Apologia Exploring Creation Science Series along with the notebook journal. I like that I can use this for several of my children at one time so we can do science as a group (and a bonus is the textbook can be shared!) As my kids are getting older, we have shifted to Apologia's Jr/Sr High Science series (which the above virtual homeschool group offers classes for, we are considering this for next year).

For english & grammar, we have used Bob Jones English for a few years. We are now using Essentials in Writing which we really like (it's taught by DVD which makes things easier for this busy momma!) For math, we use Teaching Textbooks & Math-U-See, again both are taught via a CD or DVD. Another bonus using curriculum on CD/DVD is that you can pass it down through all your children and resell it when they are done. In fact, a lot of my textbooks or CD/DVD courses I have bought used either on ebay, amazonHomeschool Classifieds or at local curriculum fairs where other homeschoolers sell their curriculum, all of which are a great way to help save money on curriculum costs.

Our favorite history curriculums so far are America the Beautiful & Mystery of History, both of which can be used for multiple grades at a time. Both curriculums have a wonderful laid out plan making it easy to teach and both have tons of suggested activities to go along with the lessons.

While we have specific things we have to study each year due to our states requirements, learning can also take place outside typical curriculum in the ways of games, projects, field trips & more! You just have to tap into your creative side and think outside the box!

Stop back this week as I tackle more subjects like getting it all done & entertaining the little ones while homeschooling!

Don't forget to enter the drawing to win an iPad Mini!

Here are just a few posts by some of the other crew members. Check out the link below for the full list!

12 comments

  1. Great ideas, Jenn. We too adore Apologia (I've got to join that Apologia group!) and Sonlight. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Sure thing! The online co-op looks really neat and they offer different classes (their spring semester email just went out.)

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  2. Thanks, Jenn for sharing about these resources.

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  3. I love a literature based curriculum, but I have a boy who does not like to read, so I really need to evaluate this. We adore Apologia and Mystery of History! I use MOH as a supplement, but wondering now if I should use it as our core (since I have it on audio and he doesn't like to read). The audio has certainly been a blessing to me! Being on the Crew this year, I am fully prepared to be open on this topic!

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    1. I have a son like that & what I did this year is for his reading assignment (going through the Narnia series) is I get the audio for him to listen to as he follows along in his books. Using the audio has made a big difference for him this year. That's great MOH has audio & some of Apologia has audio as well!

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  4. What a beneficial post! These are great suggestions, Jenn! ~Heather @ Principled Academy/the Crew

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  5. I like to pick and choose to create a custom curriculum for my children's learning styles, and I really love the versatility of SchoolhouseTeachers!

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    1. I like the flexibility as well! And I agree with you about SchoolhouseTeachers. ;)

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  6. Thanks for these resources! I never heard of Virtual Homeschool Group before today!

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I enjoy hearing from each & every one of you! Thanks for taking the time to comment. :)