Creative Curriculum

As another school year is about to begin, you might already have your new books and plans all ready. Or, you may still be trying to figure out what you are going to use. The curriculum fairs and catalogs are full of interesting, exciting and often expensive packages and text books all ready for you to use. 

There were years that we bought the big box of everything. We loved the books and it was nice to have everything all planned out for us. There were many years that we bought an eclectic mix of curriculum from our favorite suppliers and authors. But there were a few lean years where we couldn't afford the shiny new books. And those ended up being some of our funnest years of schooling. 

When money is tight, you need to get creative and resourceful in your planning. The library is very helpful for this. Sometimes you may be able to borrow from other homeschoolers. We once borrowed an entire set of Sonlight books for a year, other years we have just borrowed a subject or two. 

One of our favorite treasures is a set of American Adventure historical fiction books that we discovered in a tub of books that we picked up for free from the online Freecycle list. We created our own history curriculum from these books and the kids loved it! The books follow an extended family from the days as religious refugees/pilgrims in the Old Country to their voyage to America and the on through history until the mid 20th Century.

 I would read the books aloud to the kids.  While they were fiction, they included a lot of historical facts. We would expand upon the information that we picked up from these books by finding non fiction books, videos and other resources at the library to go deeper into the various subjects that we were learning about. If I could tie in a field trip we would do that as well. The kids enjoyed the stories and the history, science and geography they were learning was all the more interesting because they could relate to it more as they saw it through the eyes of the fictional family that was interacting with very real historical figures. 

I spent next to nothing on history and science for those two years, but we learned so much and had so much fun learning it. So, be creative and find ways to work within your means and make facts come alive. Expensive does not mean better.  

Some good resources to use for frugal schooling are the library, internet and local historical or science museums and educational groups. 

You might also want to check out these books. Homeschooling Your Child For Free and The Complete Home Learning Source Book. 

Jen