Budget-Friendly Homeschooling Tips

Social media makes you want to buy all of the things. In my first year of homeschooling, I got sucked into that trap real quick. This homeschooling mama had it so I must have to too. Then I had to have a conversation with my husband and myself because our homeschool budget was going out the window.

Over time I found some really great resources online that were completely free and made homeschool fun! I also found a few other resources that allowed me to buy second-hand or to save a little.

So I'm going to share some budget-friendly resources I love and highly recommend and some budget-friendly tips to help with your homeschooling journey.

These are in no particular order

If you've heard of Learning Resources, you know that they have some really amazing games, manipulatives, and items for your homeschool. What you may not know is that on their website, they have a whole section dedicated to free resources to print and use at home. I have used quite a few and have even created a unit study with some of the freebies given.

Teachers Pay Teachers is another amazing resource. They often have worksheets and bundles for an inexpensive price or you can filter by free and hundreds of options are still readily able to use.

With any worksheets or curriculum that you use, if you know that you'll be using it again, making copies, or laminating will save you money in the long run. You won't have to keep repurchasing the same curriculum.

This is true of digital resources as well. I prefer to buy all of my curricula digitally. This allows me to print what I need and save some money. Digital resources are almost always less expensive than hard copies. If it is a themed unit study that you know you'll use year after year, digital is the way to go.

A reusable curriculum that can be used for multiple grade levels is another money saver. They usually have different activities for different age groups so your child won't get bored because some of the course material has changed.

Epic! is a favorite in our family. It's an online app that you can pay $7.99/month for a wide variety of books for your kid. If I can't find a hard-copy book, I always check Epic! I have gotten lucky quite a few times.

ThriftBooks is another favorite. They are a second-hand online book store. I can find so many books through this site and can oftentimes pay under $5. Shipping does take a while, so I would plan at least a month in advance if purchasing books through here.

Let's not forget the Library! If it was a recommended book that was not in the budget or that I personally did not want to own, I would check it out at the library. It's free and easy to do.

The Dollar Tree is a great place to purchase workbooks, manipulatives, and flashcards. Everything is a dollar! I also like to purchase our homeschool organizations bins from here.

Lastly, don't underestimate the power of a trip to the museum, a nature walk, or a field trip to a zoo or even a farm. There are homeschool days that allow for free or discounted tickets.

All you really need is a library card and a quest for adventure!

Your homeschool journey is what you make it! Don't get wrapped up in all of the wooden manipulatives and the fancy curriculum. I guarantee you will buy something someone else loves and you hate or your kid won't like it.

I hope this was helpful.

How do you stay on budget and save money in your homeschool year?

love & light,

Jalesa