I'm so busy talking about couponing, I rarely get to talk about one of my other great passions...homeschooling. I have been schooling my own kids for 8 years now, and it's time to start planning for year nine.
Generally speaking, I think homeschooling can be a really frugal choice. No private school tuition, uniforms, trendy clothes, hot lunches, etc... But all that can go out the window when it's time to buy curriculum. Even moms that are super thrifty in other areas seem to let loose when it comes to curriculum. Given the tight economy, I have a feeling everyone is going to have to make some careful choices this year.
So, how do I get great deals on curriculum?
- The first key is planning. If you know well in advance what you will be doing, you'll be more likely to find a great deal. Last minutes shopping means higher prices on books and shipping. If you're curious what we'll be using next year, you can take a peek here: Download Curriculum list 09-10 .
- Then I start scouring the used curriculum sights. These are my personal favorites:
- Sonlight Used Curriculum Forum--You will have to pay to use this forum if you do not already have a membership to their forums. If you are planning on using a complete core, you will be glad you spent the money.
- Homeschool Classifieds--This is a well organized site, and I have great success with the honesty and integrity of the sellers (of course you should always use good common sense).
- VegSource--Vegsource is a little disorganized, but worth the hunt, very much like going to a thrift store!
- I'll be visiting some used curriculum sales.
- Clearview Baptist
- Whole Heart Academy --Tuesday, April 21st at Oak Hill Assembly
- I will also go through our old curriculum to see what we have to sell. Usually, I sell anything my youngest child has completed or passed up. I used to sell things that just didn't work well, until I realized that each of my kids is different. What doesn't work for one, may be just the thing for the next one. Last year, I was able to foot about half of our curriculum bill with money from selling old curriculum,
- Finally, I'll use my local libraries. Because we use a literature based approach, we go through unbelievable numbers of books. Anything I can get at one of two libraries in town helps to reduce our overall cost.
- One more option I am excited about for this year is using my Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks. It will only pay for a small percentage of my curriculum needs, but every little bit helps.
Do you have any great strategies for saving on homeschool curriculum? I'd love to hear them. Please leave a comment.