"Oh my, I have to buy ALL these books!" Yes, Mother of Divine Grace uses a lot of books in their curriculum, particularly for their history/literature. With a little ingenuity, you can save money.
Keep the Big Picture: Most of the books are non-consumable. Therefore, if you have a large family, you will be using the same books and syllabi again. This is a huge cost savings.
What about the Consumables: Some moms use page protectors and dry-erase markers.
Utilize Technology to Save Money: This year MODG is going digital. For those enrolled in the school, all MODG syllabi are available online. Go digital with your books. Many of the classics are available for free or very little cost for your e-reader (Kindle), i-Pad, or even computer screen. You can even read them on your phone! Famous Men of Greece and Famous Men of Rome can be found at The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project (mainlesson.com). More free books can be found at gutenberg.org and Amazon.com via Kindle. Even e-books that are not free are almost always cheaper than print copies.
The Library is Your Friend: Borrow books through inter-library loan. You have instant access to thousands of books. If your library has it, you can read e-books or read books online. Listen to recorded books. Johnny Tremain and Rifles for Watie both offer wonderful recordings.
Oral Work is less Paper Work: Some subjects lend themselves to oral work, particularly, religion. Anything done orally is less paper. But more than just saving paper, you are knitting a lifelong relationship with your child and discovering the truths of the Catholic Faith together when you do religion together. Other subjects we have done together orally include 9th grade Grammar, math drills (multiplication tables x infinity), Henle Latin exercises, and more.
History Timeline Notebook: Since the history timeline covers multiple years, you are purchasing only one notebook.
Buy Used: Purchase used books through Yahoo Groups like Cathswap, Cathbooks, and MODGMaterialsSwap. Buy books through used book sites like Amazon, abebooks, and other similar used book sites. Buy through e-bay. Recently I found this textbook site which had several Concepts and Challenges books, Direct Textbook.com.
What you really save on? Call your local Catholic school and inquire as to the cost of tuition. Hint! Hint! That doesn't include school supplies--12 glue sticks for kindergarten--I kid you not. It makes homeschooling a bargain. Do they have uniforms? You won't be spending money on those, either. You won't have to buy designer jeans or shoes--there is no one to impress. You won't have to contribute to the latest monthly (Gosh! Seems like weekly) fundraiser--public schools have those, too! And you won't be asked to volunteer for them either;) You won't have to worry about what food they threw out at lunch, because if they do, you know what it was and why. While you won't be spending money on school field trips, you do have other opportunities for activities and field trips. How far do you have to drive to school? That varies with each family. Most likely, since the kids are not sharing germs with 10, 15, 20 or even 30 kids or more, they will be more healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment