Okay, we won't start school officially until after Labor Day. Due to financial issues, the only thing I have in place is the Prairie Primer. I'll have to wait to get Teaching Textbooks, and MSU, one month at a time. I am adding Rod & Staff to this as well. Do you think we'll be okay if we start with some free printable math things until we can afford the real deal? Am I going to ruin my kids? (That is always my main worry)
I don't see how it can hurt any, you mainly review the first few lessons anyway, I for one like to use all the free stuff i can!! (even if it is just for extra practice in my case)
Your kids will be fine. Just have fun and enjoy the new school year. I can't wait to get started back. Aug. 24th will be our first day!
I have homeschooled for over 8 years by printing things off from websites, borrowing from the library and buying their textbooks/workbooks from thirft stores. I have rarely bought new curriculm , its too expensive and I know I can find it cheaper somewhere else if I really needed some particular item. I spend about $50-$60 ( really its probably under $50 to be honest) a year for TWO kids ( 6th and 8th graders nows) in books and supplemental materials. My best find ( this year) was Instant Immersion Talk Now! German CD-Rom....$3.99 on clearance at ROSS!!! You will be fine and so will your children!!
To tell you the truth I don't think we'll have EVERTHING either. Right now we have our Science curriculum from Apologia, next week we're going to an Abeka display to purchase our Math curriculum and we'll keep purchasing weekly, but we won't have it all when we start either. I was worried at first but then figured since this is our first year homeschooling we're probably better off not starting with too too much so we can "get into it" All of our kids will be fine!!!!!
hahah hahaha hahhaa Okay I am sorry, but I have so been there with the comment "ruin my kids"so I had to laugh! THanks! No you are not going to ruin your kids, yes you can do printables! We did some late starts on currics I couldnt get because they were back ordered too before. You actually do really well to slowly ad in lessons as you go. You start with the prairie primer classes, and then the next day add your math sheets, watch a math video from the library, then add in a science vidoe the next day.. plus the other stuff, you know what I mean? just ease into it!
You are not going to ruin your kids, I repeat, you will not ruin your kids. (((( )))) What grade are your kids in?
Here is a good math help. Go to Houghton Mifflin's site (http://www.eduplace.com/math/mw/)and choose the grade you need. Click on leveled practice and print out 1.reteach (this is your lesson and will show you how to teach it) 2. practice (seatwork) 3. homework (extra and maybe not needed) 4. problem solving (word problems) 5. enrichment (mental math) This should hold you over until you can buy what you need and truthfully you could teach the whole year this way and they would be getting a solid math program. I am not sure of the ages/grades that you would need but it has from k-6th grade on there like this and it would definitely save money. You can often go to the publisher's sites like houghton mifflin, scott foresman, harcourt and find enough free printables to teach the year in many subjects. I don't know what else you need, but I have seen links for Scott Foresman english/grammer printables like Houghton Mifflins math that you could use to teach the whole year as well. Another thing is that you can call your local schools and see if they are changing curriculum this year. They give away the old curriculum. I have gotten a lot of books like this when they change publishers.
Thanks for the link to that math site. Cool! I could use that for my 2nd grader. Cheryl, if it's any consolation, I haven't ordered Zach's TT6 yet, either. Just haven't had the money for it. Even though we started school this week, it's working out OK because there are still over a dozen lessons left from TT5, catching up from when I had so much morning sickness earlier in the year. I figure if he were in school, they'd spend the first few weeks reviewing last year's content anyway, so what's the difference? Besides, your girls scored so well on their end of year testing. I know they'll be just fine!
Cheryl- it will all work out and be fine because you are concerned and involved!! The only way you could "ruin" things is by having the kids feel like the lessons aren't enough- don't second-guess things or lament and all will be fine! Make it fun, use free stuff from the internet and your library, and enjoy! HTH, MT3
Wow, openminded, I love the math site. I so glad this thread got started, I might even use this this year. I love the little "games" you can play on the site too.
That's sounds like a GREAT idea! You're kids will be fine!!! I PROMISE!!!! I did my oldests first couple years totally for free off the internet! (well, I bought two things, used one and barely used the other....)
Wish they went higher than 6th but I printed a practice page for my ds, he is coming out of 6 so it will be good tohit some points before we go into our school year!
Best way to ask this..what do you think your child would be doing at public school...which is your alternative? Seriously? Because the answer is not very much. You are not going to "ruin" your children. Now, if you sent them to public school..that might ruin them, but you are doing fine. Did you know there are people and even elite private schools that use no math curriculum through 3rd grade?
I think using online resources are fine while you wait. Or maybe you can try what I did this year - Craigslist. My homeschool funds came from items I sold on Craigslist.
We don't have everything yet either. We are using Zaner Bloser's website for spelling list ideas and free lapbooks online to get started with some unit studies. Many of the free lapbooks go with books the library has. We also write a lot of letters. This helps me to teach them grammar.
