Money is always a consideration when a homeschool parent looks into resources for their homeschool students. There are always surprise expenses that tend to throw the homeschool budget out of kilter each academic session. However that does not mean that the homeschool students will have to do without good study material. Here are some ways to homeschool effectively on a shoestring budget.
Don’t Buy, Borrow
When it comes to text books, buying new ones can prove prohibitively expensive. Instead of buying new books look for homeschool cooperative associations and libraries from where you can borrow them. Many such libraries allow you to keep books for a month or more. Use each subject text book to set the tone for the topic being studied and then move on to using other free resources.
Buy Second Hand
Not only are many homeschool parents looking to recover some of the money that they spent on textbooks, it also gives the next homeschooling family a financial cushion to be able to buy textbooks second hand. Keep in touch with parents whose children are in a grade higher than your own and ask them about selling their text books at the end of the academic session. This can be a major savings source.
Library Sales
Books that may not be in the best of states physically are often sold for a song by libraries. The material inside is still good. Check the condition of the books before you buy them to see that you can use them with your homeschool students. You can get a number of reference books at an extremely reasonable rate if you keep track of the local library sales.
Public School Giveaways
While you may not get exactly the sort of books you want your homeschool students to read, you can still pick up map books, encyclopedias, workbooks and other reference material at these giveaways. There is no harm in checking out what you can pick up for free or at really minimal costs. Make sure that you go through all the second hand books you get before handing them over to your children to use.