Homeschool mom's and dad's have every right to feel the back to school pressure. All of these awesome sales on organizers, shelves, new comforter sets (yea, we like to sleep as much as college kids!), and supplies! If you get excited hearing about ten cent crayon packs, spiral notebooks, and pencil boxes you just might be a frugal parent. A quick search online and you can find other great deals.
My advice, go for the under a dollar supplies when you see it. They'll run out quickly. Teachers tell parents, who tell grandparents, who tell others and before you know it the store is sold out.
I like to take inventory of my supplies. That means checking each glue stick to make sure it's not dried up. Hunting down scissors to make sure we have four useable ones. Moving all the paper to one area: printer, graph, handwriting, notebook, and construction. Going through the craft supply box, will we have enough water color paint, colored pencils, glue dots, velcro, wiggly eyes. and pipecleaners.
**If your children are like mine and spent all summer making slime you might want to be sure you have school glue, glitter, and food coloring left in the house!
Because we homeschool and we are able to make our own schedule, which means, I can hold off on many things and wait for the clearance sales. My kids usually get new shoes and clothes as needed, but if I see something worth the price, I'll purchase it and save it for Christmas or a birthday.
This year we're joining a co-op one day a week. My mother has been buying the kids lunch boxes because when we go on field trips or meet up for playground play groups we always pack a lunch. I load up a bunch of stuff in my picnic basket and off we go. I was thinking of buying new book bags, but seriously, the ones we have are still good. They hold a lot and they haven't left the house since 2014!
I've seen Wal-Mart and Target offer $7-$12 book bags and lunch boxes for about $5. If you shop alone and come home with the supplies there's no complaining, because your child didn't know they could've had a PJ Masks, Shopkins, or Paw Patrol one.
Online office supply stores are great to look at before you hit the store. If there is a brick and mortar store near you stroll in and check the prices-- might have a sale you didn't know about. I usually go to the teacher supply store once in August and again in Sept. Teachers also do inventory and return things they never used, so it ends up in the clearance bin.
I'm not trying to replicate a classroom in my home. The only school like thing is: I do need them to complete subjects, but they don't need three bulletin boards, hall passes, Ikea desks, and outrageous Pottery Barn bean bag chairs. If you base your wants off of a picture someone posted online, consider it could be a fake!
Ask around if there's something you think would be a great addition to helping you stay organized. This time of year my social media is full of teacher friends asking for any and everything that will pull their classrooms together. People have things and hoard things, but I've found they are willing to part with things knowing it's going to a great cause.
Have you checked Craigslist? Have you checked neighborhood yard sale sites?
Those are sites I check all year long, you never know what you'll find. Have your friends and family members keep you in mind if they see the library is having a book sale. Even if it's an hour away. You could still come out ahead with some awesome resources. Outside toys go for hundreds of dollars, you might score some playground equipment for $50.
I saw a parent mention on YouTube that the store Once Upon a Child does not donate anything to charities, they toss everything in the trash. Are you interested in dumpster diving? Do you know someone who is? Might want to give them the heads up about the place.
My most valuable, but frugal, homeschool advice..... Use free online curriculum. If you want to go by what the public school kids are learning www.engageny.org has everything you'll ever need. If you want more of a classical education Check out Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool over at www.allinonehomeschool.com
A quick Google search for Free online curriculum will lead you to many hours of checking out great learning resources. If you child likes horses, search free horse lesson plans. You can also find lesson plans that go along with movies all for free, just have to search. Do you have a friend that just loves loves loves Classical Conversations? Print out a few free things and try it with you family before you drop mega bucks on a curriculum and join a group that's not right for you.
One of my favorite free curriculum options is searching the public domain books. Grammar-Land is one of my favorites. Many homeschool blogs have free worksheets that go along with the book.
Teachers Pay Teachers is another gem that offers free teaching resources. You might even decide to make your own lessons and make some money one day.
Maryland has a tax free week every August. If your state does, check out what exactly you can purchase tax free and if it would benefit you go for it.
When we started our homeschooling journey we had no choice but to go at it as frugally as we could. We are now down to one income and every penny needs to be accounted for around here. So far, it's been doable. I'd love to go to more places with the children, but the costs are outrageous. I've noticed many places do offer FREE days and that's when we fight the crowds and enjoy our free days. We are lucky enough to live in a city and near Washington, DC there are many free museums and places we can check out.
Every October Baltimore has Free Fall Baltimore, you can do things the whole month for FREE. We always go to the Maryland Zoo. Last year, we attended a local farm class once a week teaching us about the pros of being self sustaining, lots of information on seed saving, and a ton of knowledge about permaculture.
Don't feel bad if you have to turn down a Science center trip, at $30 a person and five people in my family the cost of that trip is already at $150 just to get in the door. Parents that homeschool just one or two children rarely think of that when inviting people. They just get excited and want to get a group together, don't take offense.
My advice, go for the under a dollar supplies when you see it. They'll run out quickly. Teachers tell parents, who tell grandparents, who tell others and before you know it the store is sold out.
I like to take inventory of my supplies. That means checking each glue stick to make sure it's not dried up. Hunting down scissors to make sure we have four useable ones. Moving all the paper to one area: printer, graph, handwriting, notebook, and construction. Going through the craft supply box, will we have enough water color paint, colored pencils, glue dots, velcro, wiggly eyes. and pipecleaners.
**If your children are like mine and spent all summer making slime you might want to be sure you have school glue, glitter, and food coloring left in the house!
Because we homeschool and we are able to make our own schedule, which means, I can hold off on many things and wait for the clearance sales. My kids usually get new shoes and clothes as needed, but if I see something worth the price, I'll purchase it and save it for Christmas or a birthday.
This year we're joining a co-op one day a week. My mother has been buying the kids lunch boxes because when we go on field trips or meet up for playground play groups we always pack a lunch. I load up a bunch of stuff in my picnic basket and off we go. I was thinking of buying new book bags, but seriously, the ones we have are still good. They hold a lot and they haven't left the house since 2014!
I've seen Wal-Mart and Target offer $7-$12 book bags and lunch boxes for about $5. If you shop alone and come home with the supplies there's no complaining, because your child didn't know they could've had a PJ Masks, Shopkins, or Paw Patrol one.
Online office supply stores are great to look at before you hit the store. If there is a brick and mortar store near you stroll in and check the prices-- might have a sale you didn't know about. I usually go to the teacher supply store once in August and again in Sept. Teachers also do inventory and return things they never used, so it ends up in the clearance bin.
I'm not trying to replicate a classroom in my home. The only school like thing is: I do need them to complete subjects, but they don't need three bulletin boards, hall passes, Ikea desks, and outrageous Pottery Barn bean bag chairs. If you base your wants off of a picture someone posted online, consider it could be a fake!
Ask around if there's something you think would be a great addition to helping you stay organized. This time of year my social media is full of teacher friends asking for any and everything that will pull their classrooms together. People have things and hoard things, but I've found they are willing to part with things knowing it's going to a great cause.
Have you checked Craigslist? Have you checked neighborhood yard sale sites?
Those are sites I check all year long, you never know what you'll find. Have your friends and family members keep you in mind if they see the library is having a book sale. Even if it's an hour away. You could still come out ahead with some awesome resources. Outside toys go for hundreds of dollars, you might score some playground equipment for $50.
I saw a parent mention on YouTube that the store Once Upon a Child does not donate anything to charities, they toss everything in the trash. Are you interested in dumpster diving? Do you know someone who is? Might want to give them the heads up about the place.
My most valuable, but frugal, homeschool advice..... Use free online curriculum. If you want to go by what the public school kids are learning www.engageny.org has everything you'll ever need. If you want more of a classical education Check out Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool over at www.allinonehomeschool.com
A quick Google search for Free online curriculum will lead you to many hours of checking out great learning resources. If you child likes horses, search free horse lesson plans. You can also find lesson plans that go along with movies all for free, just have to search. Do you have a friend that just loves loves loves Classical Conversations? Print out a few free things and try it with you family before you drop mega bucks on a curriculum and join a group that's not right for you.
One of my favorite free curriculum options is searching the public domain books. Grammar-Land is one of my favorites. Many homeschool blogs have free worksheets that go along with the book.
Teachers Pay Teachers is another gem that offers free teaching resources. You might even decide to make your own lessons and make some money one day.
Maryland has a tax free week every August. If your state does, check out what exactly you can purchase tax free and if it would benefit you go for it.
When we started our homeschooling journey we had no choice but to go at it as frugally as we could. We are now down to one income and every penny needs to be accounted for around here. So far, it's been doable. I'd love to go to more places with the children, but the costs are outrageous. I've noticed many places do offer FREE days and that's when we fight the crowds and enjoy our free days. We are lucky enough to live in a city and near Washington, DC there are many free museums and places we can check out.
Every October Baltimore has Free Fall Baltimore, you can do things the whole month for FREE. We always go to the Maryland Zoo. Last year, we attended a local farm class once a week teaching us about the pros of being self sustaining, lots of information on seed saving, and a ton of knowledge about permaculture.
Don't feel bad if you have to turn down a Science center trip, at $30 a person and five people in my family the cost of that trip is already at $150 just to get in the door. Parents that homeschool just one or two children rarely think of that when inviting people. They just get excited and want to get a group together, don't take offense.
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