Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Are you looking for ways to be a better steward of your curriculum dollars? Today on Home School Heartbeat, President Michael Smith talks with book fair coordinator Beverly McCord about ways you can save your pennies without scrimping on quality.

Mike Smith:
As a homeschooling mother of four, I know that you have several tips you can share with our listeners on how to use of their limited curriculum dollars. What do you recommend, Beverly?

Beverly McCord:
Well, first investigate all the public libraries near you. Next, find out when local homeschool support groups are going to be holding their used curriculum sales. Most of them hold them in the spring, a couple of weeks before their local curriculum fair. You can also find some year-round used booksellers. Third, you can make a lot of things yourself. For instance, I made all of my math manipulatives and all my phonics flashcards. Now I'm going to make some unorthodox suggestions that are going to rankle some people. For example, I discovered that it was a waste of time and money to buy any curriculum before 2nd grade, especially for boys—and I have three of them. I really couldn't get them to sit down and do much work until they were about 7. I also found that the first half of most 2nd-grade curriculum is a review of 1st grade. And last, I never found teacher's manuals helpful, so I never bought them—and I never bought test booklets and answer keys until 6th grade. They weren't helpful either.

Mike:
Beverly, what great advice! Listeners, you can check out Beverly's website at homeschoolbookfair.org.