Can you buy curriculum early?

ClandestineX · June 2013

As the subject line states, can you? Or is there changes made yearly due to the changes of testing?

As you can see I am a little early in planning for homeschooling, but as I look at the cost, I would hope I can just buy it now when I have the money. Secular curriculum costs about a thousand per grade I hear.

lilyaster · June 2013

You could buy curriculum at any time. The different companies update periodically. You have unlimited options for curriculum; you can do it for way less than $1000 per year if you want.

hayleydeee · June 2013

That sounds pretty high, which curriculum are you looking into? There are also web sites where people sell their's used. Or, if you end up homeschooling with a Charter School you might be able to get funding through them. Our gives 1,800 per year per kid toward school related expenses.

ClandestineX · June 2013

hayleydeee:
That sounds pretty high, which curriculum are you looking into? There are also web sites where people sell their's used. Or, if you end up homeschooling with a Charter School you might be able to get funding through them. Our gives 1,800 per year per kid toward school related expenses.

Is there a mandatory thing stating that we have to follow a curriculum the Charter School wants us to follow? The Charter Schools around us are very religious and I was looking into the secular approach more.

A while back when I asked for some suggestions on secular homeschooling, someone mentioned Calvert. It looked pretty good, but anything past Grade 1 is over a thousand.

cylynn · June 2013

I have heard good things about Calvert, in our area it is a virtual school option through the school district. I believe you can search on Calvert's website to find out where they work with the districts.

LatteLady5 · June 2013

I'm sure you can buy it early but it looks like your LO is only 2 months old right? You might change your mind about what curriculum you want to use and then you'd be out that money. If I were you I would consider just opening a savings account for "education expenses" and deposit what you would spend on curriculum in that. The money will gain interest, you can always add to it and if you see that curriculum is going up really high, you can withdraw and buy it then.

I just wouldn't buy it this early. Something better may come along and you might be disappointed. 4ish years is a long time.

I do have friends who have homeschooled all four of their children using the same curriculum. When they learned the curriculum was not going to be offered after a certain date they just bought it to last through highschool. They had already been using that curriculum for 5+years though so I think that's a little different.

hayleydeee · June 2013

Wow, I wonder how those Charters get away with faith based content while still getting government funding. Ours are really strict about being secular, just like any other public school.

But other than that, some of them will let you chose your own (secular) curriculum. Maybe it's different in other states. In CA only private schools can be associated with a religion.

calimama2007 · July 2013

I wouldn't buy too far in advance, as you may realize certain things work well for your kids, etc. Additionally, I would venture to guess that homeschool curriculum generally has little to do with testing standards--unless you are talking about going through a charter. I'm sure it varies by state, but in California, if you are not going through a charter, your child is exempt from statewide standard testing.

We are doing a secular curriculum, and we are well under $250 for the entire year. In addition to the texts, BTW you can get MANY resources on ebay and amazon for a discount, the library has many useful resources, both texts and "living books" and really almost anything you could need. There are also some EXCELLENT free resources online, e.g. Ambleside Online and allinonehomeschool.com (easy peasy)

That being said, I researched for about a year what I was going to purchase for our upcoming fall, and started placing orders in May.

ETA: the charter schools that homeschoolers are talking about are not the same thing as charter schools in the traditional sense. It sounds like you are talking about a Christian school that happens to be a Charter school? Homeschool charter schools are typically like online hubs that have a teacher who you meet with every so often, and they give you funding to buy curriculum from an approved state standard meeting list-- no religion involved. In CA, for example, you meet with your teacher every 20 school days, and discuss what you have done, hand over one sample of work per subject, etc. and children must do testing beginning in 2nd grade.

AnneGregor · October 2014

Do you have a question about homeschooling or about which homeschool curriculum is best for you and your child?

They can definitely help - https://HomeschoolingOption.com/

Anne

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