Back To Basics

Does homeschooling have to be expensive? No! Though I spent more than I probably should have on books and curriculum, it was mostly out of excitement which I hear is not uncommon your first year. There are many ways to home school without it busting your budget. With the Internet, resources are endless. Just type in free home school or free learning tools and many, many come up. I have shared the spellingcity.com and we all know there is the library which is fabulous for books, books on cd and movies. The library apparently has Rosetta Stone Foreign Language resources for free. Don't forget about ProjectGutenberg.org where you can read or print classic books for all ages at no cost. I have a few links on my side bar as well. Used book stores are also great. Here in Arizona there is Bookman's which is a huge used book store, I was able to find a ton of books on my (Well Trained Mind reading list) for super cheap and in great condition. Ambelside Online.org is a great web site offering curriculum based on the Charlotte Mason method. There is Simply Charlotte Mason.com that has a lot of free resources as well.

The big two I know of here in Arizona are Connections Academy and Eagleridge Enrichment Program. These two have online programs or traditional (books/packets) programs that you can do at home. They are funded by the state so I think Aims Testing is required each spring but everything is free and I know with Connections Academy they provide the computer, Internet service etc. all free. Eagleridge also has the enrichment program for homeschoolers where the children go to the school a day or two a week depending on your preference. I know this is not too orderly but I'm in a hurry, I just want to make sure anyone interested in homeschooling knows that it can be done at little or no cost. I'm affraid I may have given the impression that it has to be expensive. A lot of it depends on what method you choose, but I'm sure with any method, if you try to be frugile you can. Buying stuff used on Amazon, Craigslist etc, is a great way to go.
Do you need a school room? No! It's not necessary. We have one, but again I got excited and wanted to make it fun. It really only gets used once in a while and mainly is a great place to keep all our school stuff. We spend most of the time lounging on our couches or at the kitchen table. I figured we would but if you know me, I get 'gung ho' about things and tend to go overboard.
If you are a home school family and think of any I've left out (which there's probably a lot) please leave a comment as to what it is or what works for you.