Cheap Homeschooling: How to Homeschool on a Tight Budget

Is money tight but you want to homeschool? Here are affordable homeschool curriculum and resources for a small budget. You don’t have to let money stop you from trying homeschooling if that’s what you want to do. Read on to learn how to do cheap homeschooling!

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Cheap homeschool curriculum for a tight budget

So many more parents are considering homeschooling than ever before. Our daughter would be starting preschool this September but since both my husband and I are working from home we decided to keep her home as well.

It got us started on the topic of homeschooling and what we thought about homeschooling our daughter in the future, for kindergarten and beyond.

I started looking into how to homeschool, the most popular homeschool programs, and the costs of homeschooling.

Since this is a finance blog for moms, we’re going to delve into the money side of homeschooling!

>>> You can also check out 8 borderline genius strategies to make school at home successful <<<

Homeschooling costs

For some families, there are financial concerns about homeschooling their kids:

“How am I going to finance homeschooling?”

“Will homeschooling wreck our budget?”

“Can we afford to homeschool?”

So what’s the answer? Is cheap homeschooling possible?

For those new to homeschooling, preparing a curriculum can seem overwhelming.

One of the easiest ways to homeschool for parents new to homeschooling is to buy a prepared entire year curriculum. This gives you everything you need to teach in the first year. This might be a great option if it’s your first year with homeschooling and is something we will probably do for the first year if we homeschool our daughter.

But…

The price of these complete homeschool programs can be restrictive, especially if there is more than one child to be homeschooled.

If you want to save money on homeschooling, you can choose to buy parts of the curriculum or buy them from other homeschooling families. This will help you save on your homeschooling budget and give you more flexibility in planning your annual homeschool study program.

You can also check out my post on 5 affordable homeschooling programs to save on learning at home.

3 Things to Consider When Choosing a Homeschool Curriculum:

When choosing a homeschool curriculum for your children here are 3 important considerations:

Will this homeschool program teach my kids what they need to know?

Does this homeschooling program comply with the guidelines established by the state in which I live?

Will the cost of this homeschool program stay within my budget?

If cheap homeschooling or more affordable homeschooling are essential for your family, here are 4 accredited home school programs that will best fit your budget.

How to do cheap homeschooling with Saxon

Saxon is a popular homeschooling math program. The Saxon method teaches math in small incremental amounts, with lots of repetition. This builds confidence in math and will help your kids have success in math.

This (relatively) cheap homeschooling program provides several single-subject tools for parents. Prices vary from $50 to $150, depending on the item. Parents can select from a diversity of subjects such as algebra, physics, calculus, and phonetics.

Also, because Saxon Math is such a widely used homeschooling program, you can find used Saxon math books for much less money on Amazon, so definitely check that out to save money on homeschooling.

Cheap homeschooling with Abeka

Abeka is not the new kid on the block – they have been around since 1972. Abeka started as a publishing company and then they developed a homeschool program.

They offer one full week of Abeka Academy for free. You can try out this homeschooling program and see if it’s a fit for you and your kids before you commit to purchasing. This week free is the equivalent of 25 free hours of Abeka homeschooling.

Abeka provides its students with two routes: a structured program and self-study. Both options offer books, video tutorials, and testing materials. The structured program provides additional benefits such as high school test scores, progress tracking, free consistent testing, and a college-focused academic program.

On the other hand, if parents choose to utilize only part of the homeschool program, they can select and take distinct courses or sets of courses. In this way, Abeka can be a cheap homeschooling program as you can select only the particular courses you want, saving money.

The cost of Abeka Academy homeschooling depends on the grade, number of courses selected, and if books are purchased through the school. This is another case where you may be able to buy the books from Amazon at a lower price, or even buy used Abeka books.

Abeka can cost as little as $36.50 per month. They offer monthly payment plans or an option to pay-in-full and save $75.

BJU Homeschooling

BJU Home-schooling offers a couple different types of homeschooling programs.

They offer video courses where they teach the material and textbook courses where you teach the material. Their textbook courses are less expensive than the video courses.

BJU offers a zero-interest payment plan as an option to help you be able to afford homeschooling. This cheap homeschooling program strives to make homeschooling simple. BJU Homeschooling is a Christian homeschool curriculum.

How to do cheap homeschooling with Monarch Online

Another cheap homeschooling program is Monarch Online. It’s a Christian home education program and provides 50 courses for students in grades 3 through 12, with regular History, Geography, Mathematics, Science, and Language Arts courses.

Apart from these subjects, there are many electives offered to inspire your kids to learn more about their interests.

Monarch Online offers budget-friendly payment plans. You can pay as you go in small monthly amounts. You can also save more money overall on the homeschool curriculum by paying for the year.

Final thoughts on cheap homeschooling

Your money situation shouldn’t have to dictate whether or not you can homeschool. I’m glad there are cheap homeschool curriculums available so we can all make the best choice for our families.

There are ways to reduce the costs of homeschooling. Payment plans, getting discounts for paying-in-full, buying used books, using textbook lesson plans instead of video lesson plans are all ways to save money homeschooling.

If you are still stressed about money and how to pay for homeschooling (if that’s what you want to do), here are 10 creative ways to save money on a tight budget and also extreme saving tips you’ve probably never thought of.

I’m still learning about homeschooling and I’ll be sure to share all the money-saving tips with you as I find them out!

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Is your family interested in homeschooling in general or cheap homeschooling?