Obtaining curriculum doesn't have to cost a lot of money. With the advantage of the internet these days, you can download lots of materials for free. I have oodles of links bookmarked on my computer. Does it take a little more effort than just buying a text book? Yes, but raising children takes time anyway. Personally, I love the hunting to find the "right" downloads for what we are working on. We just finished up a long unit study on Lewis and Clark. We read about them online, did some notebooking, drawing, discussions, etc. To finish up the unit study, as a review, we did a lap book. We also have been watching a documentary on Netflix by PBS. It is 3 1/2 hours long, and we watch about 20 minutes at a time. We are about halfway through it, and will hopefully finish it by this weekend. How much did all of this wonderful unit study cost? Well, not too much. Almost all of the material was obtained online. There are two major advantages to that. One is, as already stated, the cost, or the lack thereof. The second is that by reading online, you don't have a bunch of extra books to store. I say that hesitantly, because I consider books as investments, and love the feel of a good book in my hands. Let's face it, it is a little hard to curl up on the couch by the woodstove in an afghan with the PC. However, for purposes of school, it is fine. Here are some pics of the Lewis and Clark lapbooks we did:
All the materials for this cost very little, as I printed up all the goodies. We also had to buy the folders for the lapbooks, but they came in a big pack, and we will be able to use them for at least 4 sets of lapbook studies for 5 children. Plus, it is just plain fun!
There are times when money should be spent on quality materials. Personally I try to minimize paying for consumable products. I try to limit it to basic workbooks for math, english, and readers.
Something we splurged on for this semester is Visual Link Spanish. It is the best system for teaching spanish that I have ever seen. It teaches everyday spanish, not the prim and proper stuff you learn in school for 7 years and then have your Columbian friends laugh at you because NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE really speaks like that. It is like the difference between speaking the King's english and what we speak in everyday life. I highly recommend this program!
Next up for us is studying Ancient Egypt. I found Henty books available to read and download online for FREE! What a treasure that is. Those books are expensive. They are excellent quality living historical books. The children are now reading The Cat of Bubastes online.. about two chapters a day. They beg me to let them read ahead, as they love the story. I also bookmarked several kid friendly sites about ancient Egypt, and a free lapbooking resource.
Who says learning can't be fun, exciting, and cheap?
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