Red Garage Door

When you have a day that is just too overwhelming, take a break, have some fun, and remind yourself of some of the real benefits of homeschooling.
Rest, Regroup, Rejuvenate, Reorganize!
If time is an issue, maybe doing an interactive computer curriculum for a bit may help.
If burn out is the problem, take some time off. There is nothing wrong with that. Have a couple of teacher workdays for yourself. Maybe you could have a few field trip days where you and the kids explore.
Mix things up a bit. Change the way you are doing things. Ask the kids what they want to learn about. Feed off their ideas, return the fun to learning. The beautiful thing of homeschooling is that you are never bound to one thing.
Switch it up, give it a twist and it will become new for you.

The library is a great free resource! The library in my old town has a book cart that has used books they want to sell — for cheap! I’ve got some great educational books for 25-cents! We’ve found some of those ‘New True Books’ that tell about for example ‘The Hopi Indians’, etc, that my kid will use.

One of the best buys I got at the library was book-on-tape: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which comes in a video-tape case type of thing, has around 4 tapes, I believe it’s the unabridged version, for 50-cents! The cost of it brand-new I think would be over $20!

Library book sales are the best! I’ve been to the sales at my local library and my first experience with them was amazing. I did not realize the sale was going on and when we got there it was going to be over in about one hour. It was also the last day so the library had the prices $5/bag (they used the brown paper grocery bags). Because we got there so late, I actually got $5/car! I ended up with six computer paper boxes and several grocery bags full of books – and the library wanted me to take more! They really tried to get me to take their romance novels (ugh!), which I would have taken directly to a used book store to use for store credit . No more room. I got some American Heritage encyclopedia style books and quite a few other sets of encyclopedias. My kid can use them for projects and cut them completely apart and I certainly will not mind. My parents, when my sister and I were young, bought the Encyclopedia Britannica set which cost them quite a bit of money. The pages were thin and I was so afraid I would tear them just turning a page. I am glad I paid only pennies per book so my kid can enjoy them! Because of our adventure that day at the library, they took my name and phone number to call me when they have another sale. They welcome us when they see us come in, ‘here’s our homeschoolers’ LOL!

Before looking at prices for full-blown homeschool curriculum, see what interests your kids. Go to the children’s section at the library and see what they’d like to read about. When I first started, I made the mistake of plunking down money (which I really couldn’t afford) for “curriculum” (that had been barely used).

Costco and Sam’s Club have inexpensive books if you want a workbook. I get the Learn At Home book (at Sam’s) and supplement it as we like (or I feel a need to). Some might call it a ‘spine’ – basically a starting off point.

Money is better spent on museums, zoos, aquariums (most offer homeschooler discounts or a discount where you get a pass for one place and receive similar discounts at other locations – see the discount page for info on the ASTC Passport Program – if your nearby locations are not listed, you can always call and ask too), etc and if she chooses a favorite animal head back to the library and read about it, search for free craft projects on the net – www.enchantedlearning.com is a cool place to start.

The best advice I got when we first started homeschooling was ‘read, and read some more’. What I did before that was drop a lot of money on a curriculum package (which wasn’t worth it and we hardly used). You may find that it’s as easy as helping your child learn to put on their shirt. Just a natural progression. Some days may seem trying but you may both just be figuring out how your child learns.

Some people may set up ‘centers’ in their home (as one would find in a preschool). If you’d like to try that and don’t have the room, an idea would be to use a tote or bin of some kind. Example: Say she or he really likes cars – put some toy cars, books about cars, a coloring page of a car, paper model to make of a car, homemade game with a car design (like matching 1 car with the numeral one), etc in a tote (I prefer the clear plastic totes), a tracing sheet spelling the word car, car cookie cutter to use with playdough, and as my kid just told me – a book about mechanics. You could even label the outside with a sticker that says the word Car, and your child could decorate the tote with car stickers.

Homeschooling preschool page on the website: http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/preschool.html

For those that don’t homeschool…Don’t think you know anyone who homeschools? You probably do.

Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Florida Gators at the University of Florida is the only sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy.

Famous people who are or were homeschooled or who homeschool their children. Just a couple you may have heard of include Lisa Whelchel who played Blair on the television show “The Facts of Life” and Wikipedia founder Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales.

A side note: The State of Alabama’s “Tim Tebow Bill” is legislation that will allow homeschooled students equal access to sports and extracurricular activities.