Ten Homeschool Investments
Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 5:00AM
Homeschooling is a HUGE investment.
It is an emotional investment.
It is a time investment.
It is also quite a large financial investment, if you consider the commitment to living on one income (in most cases), purchasing of curriculum, and the myriad of other expenses that inevitably occur.
I will detail in this post what I consider to be the TEN best homeschool investments we have made in our five years of teaching our children at home.
*One quick note: I am advocate of debt free living. (My husband has been employed by a non profit debt relief agency for many years.) We make sacrifices in many areas so we can make these homeschool investments. It's WORTH every penny. I don't advocate going into debt so you can buy homeschool materials!
*This post contains affiliate links.
1. Math Curriculum
For our family, this is Saxon Math. I don't like to buy math curriculum used. I feel it's worth it to make this investment.
This year, we purchased the Saxon Teacher CDs for Saxon 8/7 and this has been SO WORTH THE MONEY!
2. Books
Money spent on books (preferably quality, living books) is never wasted! We also spend money on resource books that I know will get used frequently.
My daughter and I love to frequent consignment stores and thrift stores as well as library sales for used and rare books. I always tell her, "You know I never regret spending money on books!"
Here's a list of the 10 Best Books for Homeschooling Moms that you might find useful.
3. Snap Circuits
I cannot tell you the ENDLESS hours of play (and learning!) time our two sets of Snap Circuits have received. I promise you that if you purchase these for your homeschool you will LOVE them. There is no better way to teach your children about simple circuits and fuel their imagination and creativity at the same time!
My daughter and I made a video to show you one of the projects she recently completed - to demonstrate Reverse Polarity:
4. My Printer
We own the Canon Pixma MX922. I LOVE this printer. We've had it for a few months now and it's easy to use (the wireless setup was a SNAP) and I think it's pretty good on the ink usage.
Best news - it frequently goes on sale on Amazon (for much less than we paid for it at a local office supply store).
Talking about my printer naturally leads to the next item on my list...
5. Notebooking Pages
We use Notebooking Pages in every area of our homeschool.
This membership site is my go to resource when I need any type of notebooking page. You can even create your own pages with the Notebooking Publisher App.
6. LEGO, LEGO, LEGO
Need I say more?
LEGO bricks bring endless hours of learning and enjoyment for my son. From general LEGO sets to the wonderful homeschool sets from LEGO Education®, we love them all!
There are so many ways to make learning fun with LEGOS!
{It might be safe to say I'm a sucker for LEGOS}
Here's a video my son and I made demonstrating a Balloon Car and a set from LEGO Education®:
7. Water Bottles
You might think this is a strange investment, but I found that purchasing NICE water bottles and always keeping them available encouraged all of us to drink more water, and we feel better!
Our Classical Conversations community is also a water ony community, so we take our bottles to CC each Tuesday.
8. Classical Conversations
I recently blogged about why we love Classical Conversations so much.
My husband and I see this as an investment in our children's education, well worth any sacrifices we make to pay the tuition.
One commenter wanted to know the exact pricing of CC. I directed her to this link, which gives you all of the specifics. For what you get I consider this a BARGAIN!
9. Piano Lessons
Yes, piano lessons.
So many people wonder why I (a former music educator and piano teacher) send my children to take piano lessons from someone else.
The answer is simple. My children's teacher has a large studio of students. She holds multiple recitals each year and has her students participate in competitions and festivals. This is just something I could not give my children. It is important that my children know how to read music and play an instrument, and I believe piano is a wonderful foundation for wherever they want to go in the world of music.
When I sit back and listen to my daughter play (she's been taking lessons for almost 5 years now), I'm so proud of her and can see the LOVE she has for playing piano.
This is one investment I am HAPPY to make.
{You might want to read "What About Piano Lessons", which details my philosophy on piano lessons!}
10. Technology
I'm married to an IT professional. We have a lot of technology in our home.
We have strict limits on the technology, but we also believe in having the most current technology available so our children can keep up with the world around them.
In addition to our computers, we love our iPad.
We also use our ROKU and Apple TV on a daily basis. These make internet streaming on our television so easy. We can also air play anything from our computers to the television. Nice.
Is there a specific something you MUST HAVE in your homeschool? What is it?
This post is a part of the iHomeschool Network's link up: Our Must Haves for Homeschool. Visit other bloggers to see other "must haves" for homeschool!
Reader Comments (12)
Besides what you have - I would add a Laminator! I use mine all the time!
When I was a classroom teacher, I encouraged my students to always bring a water bottle from home to keep on their desks to have water whenever they felt they needed it. It was always appreciated by the students and their parents, and I think it truly kept their brains hydrated and prepared for learning. (I got the idea from a neurologist while doing some brain based research in college.). Well, when I began homeschooling a couple of years ago, I bought those exact Camelback water bottles for everyone in my family so we could use them while doing school work without worrying about leaks or spills. My kids already kept a cup of water in the kitchen so they could get a drink whenever but getting these bottles made it where we could have a drink without having to interrupt our learning with a trip to the kitchen. We've since added more to our collection, because like you we determined them to be the best and like to carry water everywhere now.
The Snap Circuits went on my wish list. Those are so cool. And my goodness, your daughter plays piano beautifully! : )
Several of your items are on my must have list. Others you didn't mention specifically that make my list:
Kindles - just the basic $69 model for reading books. There are so many free classics, my library offers free Kindle books to borrow, and the space savings is tremendous in our houseful of readers.
Magazine Subscriptions - These bring a great delight directed opportunity into the home! Some we love depending on age:
The Ensign
The New Era
The Friend
Ranger Rick
Ranger Rick Jr.
National Geographic Kids
National Geographic Little Kids
Lego Club and Lego Club Jr.
Nature Friend
Boy's Life (Boy Scouts of America)
Scriptures - The more the better...LOL. We keep scriptures accessible all around the house.
Music - Quality Music that inspires, motivates, calms, or moves us.
Audio books - For those children who want to hear the same wonderful story twenty times or for when mom's voice just can't take any more reading aloud. We listen to audio books for at least 2 hours a day between quiet time and bed time. Love!
Must haves: Math Manipulatives, MARKERS!, Dry-erase boards/markers/erasers, index cards, filing system...etc. Plus, like you we attend CC, all the curriculum costs, and technology! It ain't cheap, but SO worth it!
I love the list of magazines that are listed above...I think I will have to get a few of them myself! I've also seen a lot about the LEGO learning, but I have to check more into that to see how I can use it for my kids in school...I can't get the link to learning.
My son just received the Snap Circuits Jr. for his birthday. He must have played with it for about 2 hours! It's a great system, and I think for Christmas we will be expanding on this set!
I just started trading a friend who teaches piano to get piano lessons for my oldest. I am so excited watching her learn to play!!
We really are so similar, Mary. Wish we were closer. Molly is gearing up to start the piano lessons she asked for in July when she turned 6. And, in what is a TOTAL surprise to me, Trevor has just asked to play the flute with a local homeschool band program that started in the area last year. We are going to get his instrument, book, and music stand on Monday, and he starts lessons with the band director {a professional flutist} on Tuesday. Whole-band practice will start in mid-October. Since he's the only child to have chosen the flute, his lesson before band practice will always be a private one unless another flutist joins.
Maybe we'll be a musical family yet. ;-)
Hello Mary! I am so glad that you are enjoying your CC community! This is our 3rd year and we love it, too. I have been meaning to tell you that I surprised the kids with a Snap Circuit Jr. set after reading your post about them a few weeks ago. They LOVED playing with them and making all kinds of things. I will definitely be buying some add-on packages for birthdays or Christmas! I agree with so many items on your list! :)
I really enjoy reading your blog! Regarding piano lessons, what age do you recommend starting children in piano lessons? My daughter is 4 1/2 yrs old.
Thank you!!
Hi Jenny -- I didn't see an email address to respond to you, so I will just respond here. I wrote a post about piano lessons -- maybe it will be helpful! http://www.homegrownlearners.com/home/2012/4/20/what-about-piano-lessons.html