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Cost of implementing scm
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OK – So I JUST found SCM and I’m so excited to get started with my daughter in year 1 next year. What I’m trying to figure out is – if I implement scm exactly as directed (understanding there are some variations for things like math) what type of cost am I looking at? I’d like to do it assuming I have to buy most of the living books as opposed to borrowing them from the library. Obviously, I don’t expect an exact amount, but I was hoping maybe others that have done the year 1 according to the suggestions on this site could give me a ballpark $250-$400? $600-$750? Over a thousand? Less than $250? I realize that if I borrowed all the books from the library I could probably do this for less than $100, but I’m kinda addicted to owning books (though I’m definitely open to buying them used) and whatever I spend it’ll be significantly less than if I put my daughter in a private school so your experiences would be greatly appreciated – in as much detail as possible.
Thanks!!! Blessings, Rebekah
Hi, Rebekah! My odd who is 6 will be in year 1 next school year also. I am not buying all the books however but thought I’d give you my estimate for our total spending–around $230.
Here is what I’ve purchased:
Math: Math U See
Beginning Reading: Pathway Reader Series preprimers and workbooks
History, Bible, Geography: Genesis through Deutoronomy & Anc Egypt Study Handbook–True Story of Noah’s ark from amazon, Boy of the Pyramids)
Science: Handbook of Nature Study by Anna B Comstock
Foreign lang: Spanish tapes (bought used)
Personal Development: A Childs Book of Character (used off amazon)
Picture Study: $20 for clearance artist books at Borders or Barnes & Noble
I have the following already books that I bought used or will borrow:
Poetry books borrow from library
literature books on list bought used or library borrow
picture study (books as gifts)
music study–library or friend
hymns–internet or library
History living books coming from library
Hope that helps even a little! My parents helped with some of the art books for Christmas and my mom bought me the Laying Down the Rails and Charlotte Mason Education organizer which helped so much to plan our school year!
Tara
PS Welcome to SCM! I LOVE it here!
Rebekah, this was a fascinating question to me. I had never added up the totals before. Like most CMers, I’ve just collected books over the years and used what I have or scoured the library system. As Tara said, using the library can cut the total significantly.
Allow me to mention first that we certainly don’t intend the SCM Curriculum Guide to be something you have to follow exactly. It’s simply a framework and a starting point. You can swap in other books you already have, skip some, or otherwise customize it to fit your family.
But I was curious what it would cost for someone who wanted to purchase everything listed. Here’s what I found.
(Skip to the bottom for the summary. But since you said you wanted details, I’m itemizing everything. 🙂 )
Math: RightStart set or MUS set @ $190 or $85
Beginning Reading: 3 readers @ $6 = $18
Copywork: $0
History/Geography/Bible:
(optional) Lesson Plans handbook @ $14.95
*Bible @ $8.57
True Story of Noah’s Ark @ $15.67
Boy of the Pyramids @ $12.95
Growing Up in Ancient Egypt (OOP) Used @ $13.07
Seeker of Knowledge @ $6.95
Croco-Nile (OOP) Used @ $19.91
Shipwrecked Sailor (OOP) Used @ $28.93
Uncommon Traveler @ $6.95
*Material World @ $16.50
*Uncle Josh’s Outline Map Book @ $15.95
Scripture Memory: $0
Science:
106 Days Lesson Plans @ $14.95
Yellow and Pink (OOP) Used @ $35.00
Cactus Hotel @ $7.95
Trellis and Seed @ $6.99
Footprints on Moon @ $7.95
Galileo and Stargazers @ $11.50
CLNR #1 @ $6.95
Blacky the Crow @ $2.50
Buster Bear @ $2.50
Box Turtle at Long Pond @ $14.03
Water Snake’s Year (OOP) Used @ $19.95
Spoonbill Swamp @ $8.95
Really Happened to Dinosaurs @ $8.79
Old Mr. Toad @ $2.50
How Was I Born @ $11.56
My Five Senses @ $5.99
Helen Keller OR Out of Darkness Used 4.34 or $7.95
Your Skin and Mine @ $5.99
Science Experiments @ $8.99
Nature Study:
*Sketchbook @ $8.76
*4 Field guides (birds, trees, flowers, butterflies) @ $6.95 = $27.80
Poetry:
*Favorite Poems Old and New @ $17.81
Literature:
Charlotte’s Web @ $7.99
Stuart Little @ $5.99
Trumpet of Swan @ $6.50
Popper’s Penguins @ $6.99
Winnie-the-Pooh @ $16.49
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland @ $5.95
Peter Pan @ $5.99
*Picture Study:
6 artist books @ $40 = $240
OR calendars @ $12.99 = $77.64
OR postcards @ $1.50 = $9
Music Study:
*6 composer CDs @ 8.99 = $53.94
Hymn Study:
*Hymnal @ $10.99
*CD @ $10.99
Personal Dev:
Child’s Book of Character Building, Vol. 1 @ $13.59
Totals and Summary:
I tried to assume the person had nothing already — no Bible, no sketchbook, no music CDs — nothing, and wanted to buy everything. Here are the totals, plus I divided them into months based on a traditional 9-month school year. That’s when the costs started making sense to me, when I saw them per month and mentally compared them to private school tuition or recreational program fees. Very interesting.
Option 1: Buy all Resources, including rare OOP books, Bible, hymnal, field guides, art books at highest prices: $999.17 (about $111/month for 9-month school year)
Option 2: Buy all Resources except rare OOP books: $882.31 (about $98/month for 9 months)
Option 3: Buy all Resources except rare OOP books and expensive art books (use calendars or discounted art books instead): $719.95 (about $80/month for 9 months)
Option 3 separated into grade levels
1st Grade specific: $137.49 ($15/month)
1–3 Grade students all use: $333.51 ($37/month)
Note: A large portion of this amount is the manipulative set for math.
Family (*all grades) use during all years: $248.95 ($28/month)
As we mentioned above, you can do CM for a fraction of these costs (and most of us do!) by using the library, looking for used books, and taking advantage of sales and wishlists. 🙂
Thanks for the question and the opportunity to do this exercise. It’s astounding to me that, even if you purchased all these resources, you would be paying about $100 per month (only 9 months of the year), plus you would be building a phenomenal library for your entire family and grandchildren to use!
Hey just a note…Dont forget to check Amazon to buy used stuff if its available. Also Vegsource.com has a great sell and buy section or trading and all that. Thats how I found my Math U See. I saved about $30 on that.
Sonya, Thank you SO much for that very detailed breakdown. That’s PERFECT!!! Now I can print that out to use as somewhat of a guide and a starting point. I know that nearly $1,000 seems like a lot, but it’s significantly less than most parttime preschool programs – let alone the cost of a private school 1st grade class. Now, I can also try to save money by taking this and seeing what’s available at my library and keeping my eye open for used books.
I’m also very excited to see how others are implementing this program for less – thanks Tara! It’s great to see how you’ve managed (in real life) to put together the program for your daughter for significantly less. I’d still love to see what others are doing too.
I realize this all comes back to resourcefulness and creativity and customizing the program to fit your own family’s needs, but it is so helpful to have a starting point… at least for me – hoping others don’t find it to be discouraging, as I know that cost can be an intimidating factor for other “packaged” curriculum where they put it all together for you. I think the beauty of CM is that there really are no “consumables” so families with multiple children can use whatever they acquire over and over AND many things can be found at the library or used for a fraction of the cost.
Thanks again for the time and energy both of you ladies spent to help answer my question. It is SO greatly appreciated and will be very helpful to me as I compile all of our goodies for next year.
Blessings,
Rebekah
Hi Rebekah,
I also have just recently found the SCM curriculum and have decided to go with it next year when my oldest is is first grade! I have everything written down as fas as what I want to buy. And it came to about $250. Which I think is awsome. All the books listed in 106 days of Creation, I can get through interlibrary loan from my library (except the few I already own). I also love to buy books but have decided that I must try and make the $ stretch as far as we can this year. (My children would be going to a private lutheran school if I wasn’t home schooling)
This is what I plan on getting:
Planning your CM Education $17
Math – I am going to try Miquon Math ($39) next year (my sister used it) and it is very cheap. So I saved alot there.
Pathway Reader Series $34 for first grade
Genesis – Dueteronomy & Ancient Egypt $15 (not sure if I really need this for first grade though)
True Story of Noah’s Ark (can’t find at library) $4 on Amazon
Boy of the Pyramids $13
Growing up in Ancient Egypt $25
the rest my library has.
Geography: Uncle Josh’s outline Map Book $16 at rainbow resource
and maybe a first grade map skills series for $6 from CBD
Child’s Book of Chracter Building $8 at Amazon
106 Days of Creation Studies $15
Hours in the Out of Doors $13 (I am big on science and so already own my own tree, bird and flower field guides)
Music Study: from Love To Learn – Meet the Masters 1 set for $22
Picture Study: Discovering Great Artists $15 and $6-$7 for each set of postcards.
My daughter loves to draw so I have to add 2 or 3 drawing books to our schedule. We use Draw Write Now which costs $11 each or less on Amazon or ebay. Almost all of the books they list as go-alongs with the lesson can be found at the library.
I’ve realized that I can’t buy every single book that we are going to read, so I have started being more choosy. Like I’d rather buy A Child’s Garden of Verses which we will be using in first grade rather than 10 of the others.
There is always more that I’d like to buy of course but that about sums it up!
That total comes to: about $268
I already own my own Bible and Hymn book and the field guides as I mentioned abouv.
Hope this helped! It’s nice to know of others that are in the same “boat” as I am!
Kristen
Kristen,
Thanks so much for your post – that’s very helpful to me. I’m starting to look for specific books through my library to see what’s available and (having just moved to Omaha) was very excited to find out that I can check and renew books for up to 15 weeks!!! So I’m planning on borrowing just as many as I can and then from the ones we’re really liking – I’ll select which ones I have to add to my collection. Also just found out about a website called swaptree where you can swap books you have for books you want, so I’m going to sort through my huge library and pull out a box of duplicates and unwanteds and see if I can trade them for something more valuable. Also – just picked up a GREAT composers book from Borders on their sale rack with cd for $15 – it has 50 composers in it so that should cover virtually everyone and save me from having to borrow from the library. When I get my list together I’ll post too – in case others find it helpful.
Blessings,
Rebekah
I just found this thread! Great information. The library isn’t an option for all of our books either. We live in a rural area, so trips to the library might be an option for extras; but I would really like to own most of our living books.
Cindie,
We live rurally and over the years have built a great library b/c the local library was limited. Imagine my excitement when I found Yellow and Pink at our local library!!! 🙂 Not only that but the Kind Arthur book recommended here by the many. I could not believe it!!!
We are starting on Aug 24. I’m so excited!!
Pam,
Good to hear someone else is building their own library! I think that’s what we will do, too. I am very new and am looking for any tips, advice suggestions!
I am hsing 1st time this year with a dd10yr and ds 8yr. I found great deals on ebay for math u see, beautiful feet, pearables and LLTL. I have also obtained great works of literature and some of the required books for 106 days of creation this way. I checked with my library for sources first and made a list of what is available and then searched for the rest on ebay and amazon. Oh, I almost forgot, I bought Considering God’s Creation with two student workbooks at significant savings and they are like brand new! It’s been Christmas every day for a week as the post woman brings new curriculum to the door!
Leighann,
Are there any other resources you have purchased from SCM other than 106 Days of Creation? Are you using the SCM Organizer? How did you get started?
I have ordered Gensis through Deut. I have the all day seminar, planning your charlotte mason education, and laying down the rails, all which I can’t recommend enough. I will get the on-line organizer once all of my resources are delivered and I can figure out how many days per week to use them. I chose a different spelling program because my dd needs remedial help with spelling, reading, and comprehension.
I have done a lot of research based mainly on what has been posted here. You can put in a subject to search for in this forum (love that!) and then read what everyone has posted regarding what materials and programs work for them and which seemed to fall flat. Many times a link is included to the company so that you can research it for yourself.
Don’t forget to use Amazon as a way to read opinions and help determine if a book source is right for your family. And ebay is a great place to pick up used or new material.
I would also suggest putting the various companies in your favorites bar so you can access them quickly when comparing one to another. There is a cm curriculum called five in a row or FIAR that you may want to look over. I do not know anything about it but have recently seen it mentioned here.
good luck and sorry I got so long-winded
Leighann,
Long-winded is what I need right now. My poor dh! His 40th birthday is the 23rd of Oct., and he is willing to drive to Longview with me that evening to spend the night in a hotel so we can go to the All-Day Seminar the next day! I think I might just order the DVD like you did so I can have it to refer to over and over.
Okay, so I need the All-Day SCM Seminar and Planning Your CM Education for now; is that right? Oh, and BREATHE.
Thanks!
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