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Money- saving tips for homseschoolers
HOMESCHOOLING ON A SHOESTRING
As most of us who home educate survive on one income (or one and
one-half incomes), I think what's most important is not a list of
cost-cutting hints, but the attitudes with which we approach our economizing.
After all, we have several very important reasons for doing without even when
we'd sure like to be able to buy that new/used car, bike, etc.--and all of
our reasons have birthdays! Joyous self-denial is far better than slogging
through martyrdom, right?
With that in mind, here is a compilation of "Cheap Tricks" suggested by
home educators across the country on Prodigy, Fidonet, and a few from me,
too. --Sarah Acker
CHEAP TRICKS
1. GARAGE SALES - for any/all "cheap tricks", cheap!!
2. Use scrap paper for "little ones" to color on.
3. RISK game cubes for math manipulatives.
4. Used books for curriculum (garage sales, Goodwill, etc.)
5. Library as primary book resource as well as for
book sales for supplemental books.
6. Teach economics by using grocery store/couponing, etc.
7. Make abacus out of old picture frame by drilling holes in
the frame, string different sets of beads onto the
pieces of wire you cut to fit your frame. Insert wire
into the holes you have drilled & you have your abacus!
8. Recycling Centers sometimes have used book/magazines, as
well as paper products, mailing tubes, etc.
9. Poker chips as math manipulatives.
10. Chalk (not just on chalkboards, but on sidewalk).
11. Binder w/plastic page protectors for yearbook.
12. Pennies as math manipulatives.
13. Kidney beans, macaroni, etc. as math manipulatives and
art supplies.
14. Modern Talking Picture Service 1-800-243-6877 for large
video catalog of FREE video "rentals."
15. Government agencies for free educational materials.
16. Utility companies for educational coloring books, etc.
17. Eastman Kodak Co., Your Markets, Consumer Imaging
Division, PO Box 92894, Rochester, NY 14650-9931 for set
of science/math lesson plans using a camera (gr 4-8)
18. Disney Channel, Adventures in Wonderland Poster Offer,
PO Box 2180, Dept. AWP, Chatsworth, CA 91313 for free
poster w/lang. arts activities on back.
19. Sunday Comics for reading and to cut up for learning
sequencing.
20. Bean Sticks - 10 popsicle sticks w/10 beans glued to each.
to teach 10's place value of numbers. Add loose beans.
21. The Tightwad Gazette, RR1, Box 3570, Leeds, ME 04263-
9710. Send $12 +name/address for subscription for news-
letter of "cheap tricks" ideas.
22. "Games for Reading"and"Games for Math" books by Peggy
Kaye for games made from household items.
23. Stamp Club at the Post Office--if you join they send you
lots of ideas and educational activities.
24. Butterfly net from old broom handle and scrap net lace,
thick tape, wire coat hanger coated (tape all sharp
edges).
25. Fun foam cut out into letters and numbers.
26. Egg carton math game--write 1-12 in each compartment of
egg carton, put two rocks (or beans) in carton and
shake. Use these 2 digits in your equation (+ or x).
27. Used telephone cable--cut away outer covering and inside
are many thin colored wires usable for crafts, manipula-
tives, etc.
28. Newspapers for eye-hand coordination, for lower grades-
have them color in letters a,b,d,e,g,o,p,q. Also use
recognizing letters--have them circle "letter of the
day", etc.
29. Construction Paper--cut up as manipulatives, art, etc.
30. "Recyclopedia" put out by Boston Children's Museum a few
years ago, has ideas for games, toys & science equipment
from throwaways.
31. Math Scrabble Game, using numbers instead of letters to
make equations instead of words. Make tiles out of
squares of poster board.
32. Use plastic-coated solid colored placemats to cut up for
parquetry set/tangrams (geometric shapes fitted into
patterns), game pieces, counters, decorate w/paint, or
use as puzzles for toddlers. Also good for fraction
circles and squares.
33. Recommended Books:
"Kids Create" & "Adventures in Art" by Laurie Carlson
"Steve Caney's Toy Book" & "Steve Caney's Play Book"
"Concoctions" by Lowi Price & Marilyn Wronsky
"Recipes for Art & Craft Materials" by Helen Sattler
"Parents & Kids Together" by Lisa Lyons Durkin
"Creative Projects Great & Small" by Time/Life
34. Make your own book. Good reference for this is a book
called "Written and Illustrated by..." by David Melton
35. Homemade pastes, play dough and finger paints:
Homemade paste: Mix 1/2 cup flour w/ 1/2 c. water until
smooth. Store in covered container. For more durable paste,
add 1/2 cup flour to 1 cup boiling water. Stir over low heat
until thick and shiny.
Colorful Creative Salt: Add 5-6 drops of food coloring to
1/2 cup household salt. Stir well. Cook in microwave for 1-2
minutes or spread on waxed paper and let air dry. Store in
airtight container. Use as you would glitter. You can also
use white rice with this.
Homemade paint: Mix 1 teaspoon water and 1 teaspoon dish-
washing liquid with 1/2 teaspoon of food coloring to make a
vivid colored paint. Make sure your future Rembrandt wears
an apron or play clothes to do this project.
Non-edible play dough:
1 c. flour
1 c. water
1/2 c. salt
2 t. cream of tartar
1 T. cooking oil
food coloring
Mix dry ingredients & add food coloring.
Paste for Paper Projects--
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 t. Alum (available at Pharmacies)
4 c. water
oil of cloves
Mix the sugar, flour, and alum together. Add the water. Cook
on the stovetop until thick, stirring constantly. Cool.
Add several drop of oil of cloves. Store in a covered
container.
Finger Paint--
1/2 c. flour 1-1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. water 2 t. alum
food coloring
Mix the flour and cold water together in a pot. Stir in the
boiling water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat and add the alum and food coloring.
Paintings from this recipes dry flat.
Whipped Soap Finger Paint--
2/3 c. Ivory Flakes
1/3 cup water
food coloring
Dissolve the soap in water and whip with egg beater until
the texture is like egg whites, or put in the blender.
Whip in food coloring.
(List compiled by Michelle Neitz, Prodigy)
Have a favorite homeschool catalog sent to the children's
grandparents with a rough outline of some of the subjects you will be
teaching next year, a list of the children's projects schedule for
the upcoming year or a list of the each child's hobbies or interests
since those have a tendency to change over time. This is like
planting a seed. You may not get much at first but after they browse
through the catalog a few times, they are bound to find something
interesting for the child.
Color code the folders/notebooks for each child. Randy can be red, Timmy
yellow, Sarah blue.... It saves time in searching for the proper owner. You
can see a blue folder from across the room and can tell Sarah to put her
folder away with out having to interrupt your own activity.
Diana Johnson
RUBBER STAMPED EDUCATIONAL GAMES
GO FISH
MATERIALS NEEDED: 9 different stamps of your choice
2 packages of small gift tags
Number set
First, decide what you want to teach your child. For example, you might
choose the Dinosaur set and the Zoo Fun Set to teach different animals.
Next, stamp one kind of animal per card. (I stamped the animal as many
times as it would fit on the card and put the number up in the left hand
corner so that children could work on counting and numbers, too.)
Now, duplicate this card three more times. You want to end up with nine
sets of four cards each.
Choose a cute stamp and stamp it on the back of each card so that the
set will look like a deck of cards. I chose the Jumping Bear.
Finally, laminate each card. Do it at home with sheets of laminating
paper or take them to a copy store. Do not use contact paper.
You're ready to play. Shuffle the cards and deal five card to each
person. Turn the remaining cards face down in a deck or simply spread them
around on the floor face down.
The first player says to another player of his choice, "Do you have any
_________?" The player he asks must give him all of that particular card in
his possession. The first player continues asking and receiving until he
receives a "No" answer. He them must draw a card from the pile. If he
draws the card he asked for, he gets another turn. If not, then the player
to his left takes his turn, and so on. The player with the most sets of four
wins.
MEMORY
MATERIALS NEEDED: Poster board cut into cards, or gift tags
a variety of stamps
Stamp each stamp on two cards. Make as many matching pairs as you want.
Laminate them.
Optional: Choose one stamp to stamp on the back of each card in order
to make it look like a set of cards, or perhaps write the word "Memory" on
the back of each card.
How to play: Mix the cards up and turn them all face down on the table.
The first player chooses any two cards. If they match, He keeps them and
takes another turn. If they don't match, he replaces them face down and the
person to his left takes a turn (and so on). The player with the most
matching pairs wins.
BINGO
MATERIALS NEEDED: Poster board to laminate
A selection of stamps
To make the cards, cut 5" squares pieces of poster board. Actually, you
can make this any size you want. Make sure you don't stamp every stamp on
each card. I made nine cards and stamped each on seven different cards. 5
stamps x 5 stamps with "free" in the middle of card. Laminate the cards.
Stamp and cut out a set of matching images for the caller to pick. Or,
simple throw the stamps themselves in a bag and caller can pull out the
actual stamps.
Use buttons, beans etc. for markers.
TRAVEL FUN
MATERIALS NEEDED: Posterboard to laminate
"Travel" stamps
A dual-tip color marker or a grease pen
Help travel time in the car be more interesting. Pull from your stamp
collection (and borrow from friends) stamps that you might see as you travel,
i.e. palm tree, cow, horse, airplane. Stamp as many as you can find on a
piece of posterboard (11 X 17 is a nice size) Have it laminated and
mount it on cardboard or something else sturdy.
Give each child a dual-tip color pen or grease marker and, as they spot
each object, they get to mark if off on their board.
Be sure to call your copy store first to see what size board they can
laminate.
ALPHABEASTS AND NUMBIRDS
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Alaphabeasts and numbirds or another alphabet of your choice
1 Package glossy magnet sheets
Any high-gloss finishing spray for craft projects
(can use clear-cote, non-yellowing deep gloss finish)
With an exacto knife, cut the magnet sheets into 1" squares. Then stamp
each letter and number onto a square. Apply two light coats of the finishing
spray to the stamped square. (This protects the stamped images from wet and
sticky fingers.) Make as many extra letters as you want so that your child
can spell without running our of a particular letter.
Put all the magnet pieces on the refrigerator so that your child can
spell and count while your are cooking. Or, put then on a cooking sheet so
that your child can hold it on his lap and spell in the car while you travel.
-- Originally by Cynthia Riddell, FidoNet computer network on the
Homeschooling echo.
AND A FEW MORE...
Expecting the child to share the teacher's version of the student text
is a false economy. Spring for the kid's text and keep from going
bananas, and mark my words, if you don't, you will.
Start your planning for the next year well in advance, so that you can
get to the used textbook sales and mail order places -early-. Get what
you can locally first, then try the mail-order used book houses (see the list
furnished with this workshop) and lastly, order from the publisher. It is
rare to find a regular homeschool text in a regular retail bookstore.
A few well-chosen magazine subscriptions can be a way for relatives to
help out, even if those relatives may not be completely in favor of your
educational choice. Solid magazines like Cobblestone for history,
Cricket for literature, National Geographic World and Ranger Rick for
science will delight everyone and provide a sense of participation for
the giver.
A box of three-hole punched plastic sheet protectors from Sam's
Wholesale Club will last you your homeschooling lifetime. Use them to
slip otherwise consumable papers in, and use sharp water-based
transparency markers. We use them for Saxon Math 65's ubiquitous drill
sheets, math tests, schedules (when we have one!), and many other uses.
Some people prefer to slit the side of one and just slip it over the
page of the book from the side, instead of taking the pages apart.
Take advantage of the back-to-school sales, and stock up on those
single-subject notebooks. They're easier to find than single sheets of
paper at our house.
Get a different color of pencil, ruler, etc. for each child, if
possible. It'll save you headaches and refereeing later.
If you have attractions (zoos, museums) in your area that you know
you'll be visiting more than twice a year, see if a year's membership
would be economical for you--my zoo membership allows me free admission
to a host of other zoos across the country, which is incentive to plan
that monster field trip!
Use the North and South Multimedia Resource Centers (a.k.a. "the Labs") if
you are a member of Home Educators of Central Mississippi. You can check out
most materials for 3 weeks, and evaluate many different kinds of curriculum
and supplemental teaching materials before you decide to buy your own.
--Sarah Acker
(end of text)
USED CURRICULUM COMPANIES
Following is a list of companies which buy and sell used home
education (and in some cases, other) curriculum on commission.
Some also stock new curriculum materials, and most are owned by
home educators.
Never send a box of used books to be sold without first
checking with the destination regarding its restrictions on
publishers and its payment policy. For further information, please
contact the companies directly, as information may have changed.
The Book Cellar
87 Union Square
Milford, NH 03055
1-800-338-4257
Home Education Center
9108 Chapman Highway
Knoxville, TN 37920
Owner: Robin Scarlata
New and used curriculum available, several retail stores in TN
Immediate credit on used materials sent in, usable on used or new
materials. ONLY accepts used copies of materials in their retail
catalog.
Credit card orders: 1-800-788-0840
The Home School Shopper
P.O. Box 11041
Spring Hill, FL 34610
(813) 856-5160
Owner: Carol Harris
Sellers must sign contract, get 60% of sale price, unsold books
return postage guaranteed. Accepts: A Beka, ACSI, Bob Jones,
Lifeway, Rod & Staff, Wanda Philips, Bob Books, Key Curriculum
Press, Calculadder, Master Books, Common Sense Press, "and others".
Rainbow Re-Source Center
P.O. Box 491
Kewannee, IL 61443
Owners: Bob and Linda Schneider
New and used catalogs available. Used materials catalog also
includes homeschooling hints and answers to questions.
Checks issued as used materials are sold. 50 to 70% return of
selling price.
Titus Woman's Potpourri
Call Jenny Sockey
1-800-388-4887 or (206) 822-7337
New and used Christian or "non-offensive" secular curriculum,
educational games, puzzles, toys.
Wilcox & Follett
1000 W. Washington Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60607
1-800-621-4272
Write on school stationery, even if you have to make some up, or
get a refusal letter--they don't sell to individuals or
homeschoolers.
Lastly, here is a walk-in sales-only listing, but worth stopping
for if you're going to be in South Carolina.
Bob Jones University Press
Christian Resource Center
Greenville, SC
Walk-in sales only
"Scratched and dented" BJUP texts sales only
(803) 742-5100, ext. 3333
8:30-5:30, M-F; 8:30-noon on Sat.
Additions and updates are very welcome. I hand this out to new
homeschoolers.
Sarah in Jackson, MS
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