Tips For Enriching Your Homeschool Curriculum On A Budget

Easy and practical tips for adding some excitement to your homeschool without increasing your workload or breaking the bank 

Homeschooling on a budget can be very hard.  I wanted to provide my kids with the absolute best curriculum, but couldn’t afford to pay thousands of dollars.  I have a small homeschooling budget and have learned several tricks to get the most out of the money I have had available.  

One thing I started doing fairly early on in my homeschooling career (it definitely is a career), was to search for free online resources.  There are tons of free homeschooling resources out there.  In fact, there are whole websites devoted to free homeschooling materials.

Websites with Free Homeschooling Printable Resources:

www.homeschoolshare.com (This is entire website of free lapbooks and unit studies.)

www.teacherspayteachers.com (When searching for a topic, select the filter on the left side panel for “free”.  This will have the site only show resources that are free.)

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/products/fontsdemo/index.html (Free customizable handwriting paper)

http://www.educents.com/search/?q=free (This search will bring up all the free printables and unit studies that are available.)

Websites with Free Online Educational Lessons or Games:

https://www.khanacademy.org/ (Free online classes and lessons.)

http://more.starfall.com/m/welcome/index/load.htm (Online educational games, videos and lessons for K-2^nd Grade.)

Websites with Free Online Educational Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/

Tips for Adding Enriching Activities to Your Homeschool:

• Create educational YouTube playlists for whatever topic you are studying. (Phonics, Math Facts, Literature, Science, History, etc.)

• Add an easy unit study when your child is interested in a topic or book (or to get them more interested in a topic you want to cover)

• Unit studies can include whatever best fits your family and your child (a lapbook, an interactive notebook, a project board, field trips, a report, a hands on projects or model

• Add a simple craftivity for the book or topic your child is studying. (A craftivity is a craft that includes a writing activity.)

• Search for free printables and lesson plans on teacher blogs for your child’s grade. (Teacher blogs often give free printables, craftivities and lesson plans.)

• http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/ (This is one of my favorite first grade blogs.)

There are so many ways to give your children the education you have envisioned without breaking the bank or having to write your own curriculum.  I hope this gives you a starting place to find some great resources to enhance your homeschool.