How to Avoid
“Over-buying” Curricula

Have you ever
been so wooed by a product description that you have purchased it
right on the spot? Or so convinced by friends or cyber-buddies that
your children’s education will not be complete unless you use a
certain curriculum? Perhaps you have felt so intimidated about
teaching a certain subject that you have purchased everything
available on the topic to be sure that you cover it adequately and not
leave holes in your children’s education.
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Whatever the
reason, many well-meaning homeschooling parents over-buy when it comes
to curriculum. This is certainly not an unforgivable sin –
in fact, I am the first one to say that we should not skimp when
it comes to providing the atmosphere and resources for our kids’
learning. |
But let us
discuss some ways we can control the financial outflow during this
season of buying.
Here are five
ways that you can avoid over-buying and successfully plan for a
bountiful year of learning:
- Make
Your Plan
– Take some time to map out your upcoming school year. What
subjects would you like to cover? How does each of your children
learn best? How much time will you have to devote to schooling each
day? What subjects will your children need you by their side and
which ones can they study independently? These are big questions.
Take one child at a time and map out some goals. Take into
consideration his/her age and preferred learning style. Take stock
of his progress in each subject area. Will you need to emphasize a
particular subject more now because of overlooking it in past
years? Are there subjects that he is truly motivated in and can
pursue more independently, thereby freeing up your time as teacher?
Make for yourself a rough plan and schedule for your family and then
move onto step #2.
-
Take Inventory
– Scan your bookshelves and dig through those cabinets to find your
educational resources. Pull out those unused math books, grammar
and spelling workbooks, literature guides, etc. Make three stacks –
1. Will Never Use, 2. Might Use Someday, and 3. Will Use This Year.
Take a look at stack number 2 again and ask yourself, “When will I
use this?”, “Who would I use this with?”, and “What am I waiting
for?” If you truly feel like you have a good sense that you will
actually use the resource sometime in the near future (year or two)
then put it away until next year. If you just cannot nail yourself
down on when you would use it or what the circumstances would be for
you to use it, put this book or curriculum with stack number 1.
-
Clear It Out
– Take your books and curricula in stack number 1 and get rid of
them. The best thing you can do with used educational resources is
put them up for sale. Someone out there is looking for what you
already have and are not using. There are many online places that
you can sell your school books – eBay, VegSource, Well-Trained Mind
Sale and Swap board, and many, many more. Place a reasonable price
to it, then add another couple bucks to the price and sell it
“postage paid”. This means that you as the seller will take care of
the shipping costs (this just seems simpler to me and the buyer
feels like she is getting a good deal). Media mail is the cheapest
way to send books and other media products – CDs, video’s,
curriculum in binders, etc.
-
Buy The Basics First
– Now take stock again of what you have and what you now need. Buy
your basic subjects first – math, grammar, spelling, history,
science. You may even find some of what you are looking for on
those used swap boards while you are listing your items to sell. If
you have time, wait until these arrive before purchasing anything
more at this point.
-
Fill in the Gaps
- Once you receive your basic materials, read through them. Take
notes of what else you are going to need to fill out the program.
Does the math program that you chose require that you purchase
manipulatives? Does the grammar book contain writing exercises and
does it meet your requirements for a good writing program, or will
you need something more? Does the history curriculum contain
geography lessons? Will you need notebooks, composition books or
planners for each child? Finally, decide how much time and energy
you will have to devote to the extras, such as hands-on projects,
foreign language study, logic, music, art and look for materials
that will fit the bill.
Follow these
five steps and you will bring spending under control. Educating our
children is not cheap these days and does require some financial
outlay, but we do not have to buy everything out there to
ensure that our children receive the best education possible. Your
commitment to raising your children well, training them to be
contributors to the family, and spending time with them – over the
books or playing in the backyard – is what will bring about
educational success. There is no perfect curriculum just waiting to
be discovered – it is you that will make the difference in your
children’s lives.
Blessings to you
on your educational journey,
Terri Johnson
Knowledge Quest,
Inc.
P.S. By the way,
a commonly asked question that we get around here is, “If I have
the Story of the World Activity Book, do I need your maps?” Now,
since I do not want you to over-buy, I will give you the straight
answer: That depends. The
Story of the
World Activity Books are geared for students in 1-4 grades
primarily. If your students are in this age bracket, then no, you do
not need to purchase any additional maps. If you have older students,
say 6th grade and up, then yes, you may very well want to
purchase our map
sets. They are more age-level appropriate for your children and
will allow them to learn geography alongside history – thereby
eliminating a separate curriculum you would need to purchase. If you
are mostly interested in reading the
Story of the
World books and by-passing the activity guides, then you may want
to take a closer look at our maps in this situation as well. They
coordinate well with the narrative books and are simple yet satisfying
to use. Colored maps make nice notebook entries and compliment
historical reports. I hope this helps answer this plaguing question.
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