20 Smart Ways To Save Money When Starting To Homeschool

Dreaming about homeschooling your kids, but worried about the cost? Believe it or not, you CAN start homeschooling on a budget!

Yes, there are so many amazing homeschool curriculums and they are all so expensive! Now that I have been homeschooling for almost five years, I can honestly tell you, you don’t need those expensive curriculums to homeschool your child.

Today I am excited to share with you how you can start off your homeschool for almost free. And it’s not as hard as you might think.

20 Ways To Save Money When You Want To Homeschool

1.  Try the Deschooling approach

I think this one may scare some parents a little. However, its the most popular way to start out. When you first start homeschooling, its good to get the public school mindset out of your mind. With deschooling, all you have to do is read books you have on hand, play outside, go on field trips.  Live life and have fun with your kids for a while. Forget out the strict public school schedule. During public school, they are honestly getting your kids ready for testing. Testing at their standards and that’s it. If you’re not planning on putting your child back in public school or doing any state testing, then don’t worry about it! That is the beauty of homeschooling! You can take breaks when you want to and work at your own pace.

2.  Just do one or two subjects

In my opinion, the three most important subjects are math, reading, and writing. If you can do these 3 things you can do and learn anything. Your state may require you to do all subjects, but remember watching history and science videos, counts!

3. Watch Videos

Like I just mentioned. Don’t be afraid to let your kids watch educational videos. Netflix and Youtube will be your best friend! Youtube is also free! Videos are also good for visual and auditory learners.

4. Check out your thrift store

This is my favorite!  When I first started homeschooling, I went to all my thrift stores and sorted through hundreds of books. Y’all I found a full Hooked on Phonics curriculum for $10. (this was my sign from God that he wanted me to homeschool. ha!) I have seriously used this to teach all of my boys to read. I absolutely love it! Last week I found this Spectrum Reading, Grade 3 workbook. It wasn’t even written in.  I got it for 10 cents. Now that my son has started working in it, I would honestly pay more for it. He enjoys it!

5. Check out Khan Academy

Khan Academy  has over 4000 worksheets for you to use in your homeschool! They pretty much cover every subject and it’s completely free!

6. Use Easy Peasy Online School

Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool is a complete free Christian online homeschool Curriculum. You go at your own pace and you can easily pick and choose what subjects you want to cover.

7. Take trips to the Library

If you have a library nearby or even if you have to travel a little to get to a library, it is totally worth it. You can seriously find books on every subject at the library. There are even videos and audio books. We go to the library at least every two weeks. So, before you buy a book, check your library first!

8. Purchase awesome workbooks at Ollies

I had to put this in here because I shop at Ollie’s a lot. If you have an Ollies near you, they have an awesome book selection. You can find some great educational workbooks there for a fraction of the cost. I have purchased several workbooks for my kids. They have some really awesome science and history books as well! Literally, all the workbooks are under $5

9. Watch for Sales on Christianbooks.com

You don’t have to purchase your curriculum at full price. Christianbooks.com has lots of awesome material for every grade and subject. They are always running sales! Right now I believe they are offering 20% off. You can sign up for their newsletter to get notifications whenever they run a sale.

10. Use Amazon Prime to get free shipping

With an Amazon Prime membership, you get free two-day shipping and special discounts on items. You also have access to tons of educational videos and documentaries.

11. Remember that baseball and playing outside count

In our state, PE is a requirement. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do jumping jacks in your living room every day. (although you could) If your child is active in any sports during the year or dance classes, these all count for PE! Go to the park when the weather is nice? That counts too! Don’t spend any extra money in this department.

12. Join a Church

In our state, we go through whats called an Umbrella School. We are required to do Bible with our kids. If your child is involved in Sunday School or an Awana program this counts as Bible. You could also read bible stories and check out bible story books at the library.

13. Join a Homeschool Co-Op group

Check around your area and see if you can find a local Co-Op to join. A Co-op is a group of homeschool families that get together usually once a week. We have a co-op near us that is $30 for the whole year. You meet once a week and the kids do Art, PE, Music, and Geography.  Some co-ops offer Science, History and even Drama. Just check around!

14. Use ABCMOUSE.COM

I can not say enough about ABCMOUSE.COM . For $7.99 a month, they offer everything your child grade pre-k-2nd needs. The activities and games are fun and geared completely toward kids. If you’re just starting out, this is perfect. There is a complete lesson path, printable worksheets, and tons of books and educational games. Love Abcmouse.com!

15. Don’t feel like you need to buy a ton of supplies

Don’t worry about spending lots of money on supplies. When I first started homeschooling, I wanted to buy all the cute folders and stock up on coloring pencils and glue. I felt like I needed a bookshelf and at least one desk. Honestly, you don’ t need it. You don’t have to purchase all of those school supplies right now.  All you really need are a few pencils and maybe some crayons. Possibly some glue. If you have kids, I bet you have all of this stuff already. And, we never use a desk. My kids are always on the floor or at the kitchen table.  If buying a bookcase or desk isn’t in your budget, don’t worry about it, you don’t NEED it!

16.  Join Homeschool Groups on Facebook

There are several homeschool groups on facebook. You will get to connect with other homeschool parents, ask questions and some parents even offer up homeschool material they no longer need. This is a good way to get homeschool material free or cheap.

17.  Remember that Pre-k is not mandatory

I have seen a lot of new homeschoolers who are stressing themselves out over what preschool curriculum to use. You do not need to purchase a preschool curriculum. Just have fun with your preschooler. Read books, play games, go the park, take walks and observe the world. If you feel like you just want to do worksheets with them, there are tons of free worksheets on the internet. Don’t feel like you need to spend money a preschool curriculum!

18.  Print your own material

You can save lots of money on home-school material by printing your worksheets. There are so many FREE worksheets online. You can find something for every subject. This is perfect if your just getting started and your not quite sure what curriculum you want to use yet.  Also, several home-school curriculum’s are offered in a .PDF format for you to print out yourself.  This works well if you have more than one child, because you can print files as many times as you need. Here is a list of cheap was to teach kids Science and  free ways to homeschool history

19.  Skip out on purchasing the teachers manual

If your teaching Elementary classes the chances are, you don’t need the teachers manual. You can save a lot of money by not purchasing the teachers manual.

20. Don’t waste money on purchasing a FULL curriculum bundle

You will see curriculum bundles. Yes, they look awesome and everything seems to be perfect and all ready for you to use. The problem with this is, your child might be happy with the Math part of the curriculum, but the reading may be way too easy and not challenging enough.  I suggest if your just starting out, not to waste money on a full bundle, they are super expensive and there is a chance you may not like some of the material. The material may be too difficult or too easy for your child. Take time to get to know your child’s learning style and strengths first. If you do this, you can pick and choose which books to purchase for your child.

Remember, you don’t need an expensive curriculum to get started homeschooling your kids. Don’t let the price of material keep you from homeschooling your children. Have fun, get to know your kids and their learning style. Read books from the library, pick up cheap workbooks, print worksheets, watch educational videos with your children. It will be enough and your children will still be learning!

Don’t worry, you can do this! If you have any questions please leave a comment below, I would be happy to help you in any way I can!