Many parents who are considering home schooling their children are concerned about the rising cost of curriculum. They wonder whether or not they can really afford to teach their children at home using quality curriculum. Before deciding that home schooling is too expensive, they need to consider the many low cost or free home school curriculum resources there are!
The internet is the best place to start looking for low cost or free home school curriculum resources. There are hundreds of websites that offer unit studies, curriculum reviews, lesson plans, worksheets, craft ideas, and anything else an educator could want. These resources are not always home school specific, but since a home school is in fact a school, they are easily incorporated into the home schooling environment. These lessons and unit plans can be downloaded and printed, allowing the home schooling parent to create their own free home school curriculum using lessons that are targeted to their children’s learning styles.
If you are not already a part of a home schooling co-op or support group, find one and join! You will find that the friends you make in one of these groups will be an excellent resource for low cost or free home school curriculums. What you will find when you join one of these groups is that your friends may be willing to trade curriculum components with you. Perhaps your older child has finished a grade level one of your fellow home schooling families needs, while your younger child needs to use the grade level that their child just finished. The two of you can swap curriculums for a while, allowing both of you to save money. While you may still need to purchase workbooks, these are usually inexpensive when compared to answer keys and teacher’s resource books, which you can trade for.
Another option that you may have when you join a home schooling support group is borrowing or renting parts of the curriculum. This is another great way to get your hands on low cost or free home school curriculum. Many of your home schooling friends have curriculum on their hands that they are not using. They may not wish to sell it, because they are planning to use it for younger children down the road. However, they are often more than willing to allow another homeschooling parent to borrow it while they are waiting until they need it again.
If you cannot find one of these home schooling groups in your area, consider looking online. There are hundreds of groups that meet on the internet to chat and discuss the education of their children. Many of these groups have message boards where parents can advertise curriculum they want to sell or rent to other parents.
Believe it or not, the public library can be a resource to find free home school curriculum components. While you are unlikely to find actual teacher’s resource books from the major curriculum development companies, you can find books on science experiments, history resources, math resources, and much more in the aisles of your public library. Take your kids to the library on a regular basis, and while you are there, search the education sections for books you can incorporate into your home school curriculum.
With these resources, you do not need to fear the cost of home schooling your children. While you will need to buy curriculum components from time to time, the benefits of schooling your children at home far outweigh any monetary cost. After all, as a homeschooling family, you know your children are being taught your values, and you know that they are safe. And isn’t that what every parent wants?
