Over the last two days we’ve looked at praying and planning as the first two steps for homeschool prep. Today we’re going to put the planning stage into action as we move into purchasing your homeschool curriculum.
In your research stage you should have outlined the price of each of the curricula you were interested in using. If you missed this step take some time to go back and write the prices down before proceeding.
Homeschooling is meant to be a blessing and just because a curriculum is expensive doesn’t mean that it is the best or that it would work well for your children/family.
What’s Your Budget?
At this point you need to decide what you’re budget is for this year’s homeschool curricula. Be sure you don’t spend money you don’t have or break the bank for homeschool curricula. There are so many ways to save money on homeschool curricula or not spend any at all! Below are a few of my favorite sites for either saving money or getting free homeschooling resources.
- In All You Do
- Life of a Homeschool Mom
- Free Homeschool Deals
- Homeschool Educational Free Market
- Homeschool Classifieds
You can find more of my favorite frugal homeschool resources here!
Keep in mind that any book that is not consumable can be reused for the next student, so any textbooks you order can be used more than once. Many publishers also allow reproducing of consumables within a family, so check on that before purchasing multiple consumables as well.
Time to Go Shopping
This is often the homeschool moms 2nd favorite part of homeschooling. Women tend to love to shop and as you go through your homeschool years you’ll find that you look forward to this day more and more each year!
The planning stages are very important for this step in the homeschool prep process. If you’ve done your homework prior to purchasing, then all you have to do is buy the curricula you need for your homeschool year.
Often publishers and companies will have sales at certain times of the year, I’ve seen many sales in March-April and July over the years I’ve homeschooled. While you may have missed these sales this year, make note of their sales dates from this year or sign up to receive their emails so you don’t miss them next year.
Before you shop I suggest making a master list of the curricula that you are going to be purchasing for your homeschool year. Grab a highlighter and highlight each item as you purchase it. This will help keep you from getting distracted by all the lovely curricula available and will keep you on budget. Remember, you’re on a mission to purchase the homeschool curriculum for this year, not researching new curricula.
Are you looking for more homeschool prep ideas? Follow our homeschool prep board below.
