Charlotte Mason on a Budget

There are so many wonderful resources available for homeschoolers. I don’t know any family who can afford all of them. We all have a budget. So let’s talk about how to do Charlotte Mason on a budget. Joining me today is my friend and coworker, Karen Smith. We’re going to talk about budgets.

Sonya: I had a budget with my kids when I was homeschooling. I’m assuming you did too.

Karen: Yes. Money only goes so far when you’re providing for your family.

Sonya: Yes, and there are always choices that need to be made: what you’re going to spend your money on. Let’s talk about some ways that we can help stretch that budget, if you will, ways that we can think about and consider what those priorities are going to be and how to make those decisions. Where shall we start?

Karen: Let’s start with what you already have at home. That’s a good place to start. Do you already have a book of poetry by the poet that you’re going to study this year? Then you may not need to buy another one.

Sonya: Or even if you have an anthology of poetry, does it have several poems by that one poet that you could cull?

Karen: Yes, that’s a good idea. It’s the same with a hymn book. Do you already have a hymn book at home? Or one that you can borrow from your church? Maybe your church has extras that you could borrow and take home to use. That’s a way to do that if you’re doing hymn study. And don’t forget to look at the books that you already have in your home library for topics like history. You may already have a book on, say, the Revolutionary War, and it’s not the exact title that we schedule in our lesson plans, but it covers the same material. You can substitute that book for the one that we’ve scheduled.

Sonya: If it’s done in a living way. If it’s a good living book. We’ve talked about what makes a good living book before. Absolutely, for history, for geography, for literature; there are so many good literature books out there. You could substitute the whole year long if you wanted to.

Karen: So looking at what you already have is a good start for saving money.

Sonya: I’m going to piggyback off of that. It’s maybe not just what you have but also what your relatives have, or your friends have, that you might be able to borrow.

Karen: Or your library has. Check to see if your library has interlibrary loan so you can request from other libraries. And check to see if you have a living-books library in your area. And for some, a living-books library may be an hour’s drive or so away.

Sonya: Oh, it’s worth it.

Karen: It’s worth it. Because we all know that public libraries do not have the same books that they had before. They’ve cleaned their shelves for things that people find more attractive today, whether they’re good books or not. That doesn’t mean that they don’t still have some of the good books. It varies by library, but a living-books library is going to be a good source for those living books.

Sonya: So for those who are not familiar with what we’re talking about, the living-books library, it’s usually one person who has experience with living books and knows what to look for, and has collected, over many years, thousands of these. You salivate just thinking about all of these shelves and shelves of living books on so many different topics. That person maintains that collection and lends out to subscribing families. Usually the families pay a small fee to help with the upkeep of that library and all that goes into it. Because there’s a lot that goes into maintaining one of those, but then the families can come to that library and borrow those living books. If you have one near you, it is such a blessing. And you can find a list of those on the Charlotte Mason in Community website. Just check the little living-books library option and you’ll see all of them listed to find out if there’s one near you.

Karen: And the other thing with libraries, whether it’s a living-books library or it’s your local public library, use your librarians. They usually know the books that are in their libraries. And they love to help people find books that they’re looking for, or at least on a topic that they’re looking for. And they can be so helpful. So don’t overlook asking your librarian.

Sonya: I want to put in one little, I’m not going to say “pet peeve,” I’m going to say “helpful tip,” a helpful reminder to everyone. If you’re borrowing a book, usually if it’s from an organized library, then we are careful to give it back at the right time. But if we’re borrowing it from a person, an individual, sometimes we forget. And I know over the years, both of our libraries have been diminished a little because books that have been borrowed were not returned.

Karen: They’re not returned.

Sonya: And these are like friends of ours who have disappeared.

Karen: And when you’re an introvert, you don’t usually ask people to return them. (laughs)

Sonya: So just a helpful reminder, borrowing books is a great way to help with your budget. But if you borrow them, be sure to return them. And we can even talk about the habit, Charlotte talked about that habit, integrity in borrowed property. It’s a good habit.

Karen: Maybe she had experience with this.

Sonya: Maybe! Now there’s another kind of a tweak on the borrowing part that I want to talk about, and that’s sharing books. I found it really interesting that in Charlotte’s schools, some of the classes could not afford multiple copies of books for the students. And so they worked out a system where they would divide the classroom into small groups. If they only had one history book and one science book and one literature book, we’ll say, one copy of each of those, then this smaller group of students would read the literature book and narrate it in their group. And at the same time, this group was doing that with the science book and this group was doing it with the history book. Then they would rotate. They could share that one copy of the book. I could see that working, especially if there are CM families who live near each other. Maybe they could form some kind of, it would be a little different form of a co-op, if you will, but they are still cooperating to share this book. It’s a little bit different from borrowing because it’s not, “I will borrow it for three weeks and then give it back.” It’s a lot more back and forth.

Karen: The sharing could be in different ways. It could be between families. “This week, we’re going to use the science book while you use the history book. And then next week, we’ll swap,” that kind of a thing, or it could be like in a co-op setting where this group of kids are going to use the literature book for however the co-op is set up for this class time. And for the next class time, they’ll swap books.

Sonya: In a co-op setting, whether it is an organized, big co-op or just two families cooperating together, there are more things that you can share than just books. I remember when we cooperated with another family because she had an eloquence in Spanish that she would share with my kids. And I shared American Sign Language with her kids. Or we did hymns. Whatever talents and interests you have, you can share those.

Karen: That’s a good idea. Use the resources you have, even if those resources are other people who have a talent that you don’t, or an interest that you don’t. They can give that excitement of that interest to your children and vice versa.

Sonya: I also want to mention something that we don’t often think about. In Charlotte’s day, when they were talking about book expenses, they didn’t have options such as: Do you want the hardcover? Do you want the paperback? Usually, paperback is less expensive because it often doesn’t last as long. It’s not as durable. But we have that option. And we have the option of the hardcover, the paperback, sometimes we have an option of an e-book. And the price points vary. So we have more possibilities to choose from than the parents in Charlotte’s day did. Now let’s talk about free things, because we also have the internet, where we can get a lot of public domain books for free.

Karen: Those books that are out of copyright, you oftentimes can find free as an e-book. It may not be your first choice. I know how we all love to have a hard copy in our hands. But a free e-book is a good budget-friendly choice.

Sonya: I would say if it comes down to the choice between getting the free e-book or not doing that particular book or that particular subject, go with the free e-book. I don’t think we have the option to say, “Well, we’re not going to do that subject. My child’s not going to get exposure to that subject.”

Karen: Right, just because I can’t find a hard copy.

Sonya: Or because I can’t afford the shiny new resource. We can still give them what we can find. It’s so important not to limit our children’s potential for making those relations just because of budgetary restraints.

Karen: Right. Limiting that feast of ideas is not going to be fun for anybody.

Sonya: It’s not an option. So, one thing we want to touch on with the free resources, number one: just because something is free does not mean it’s good. We still have to make sure it meets our standards for a living book of excellent quality. And the same goes for music recordings or audio books or anything like that.

Karen: Artist pictures.

Sonya: We still need to make sure the standard is high for those. But then the other thing we need to be careful of is that we’re not unintentionally harming someone else by violating a copyright. It is too easy, I think, for people to unknowingly violate copyright laws, especially with free things online. Just as an example, I have seen videos online that are free where a person will read aloud a book that is still in copyright. That’s harming the author.

Karen: Yes, because authors usually get paid per book that’s sold. And if it’s out there for free, the author isn’t getting paid for that work. And just because something is out there doesn’t mean that it’s legal. That’s something to check and be aware of.

Sonya: There’s something else very interesting while we’re on this topic of books on video. In the book, The Enchanted Hour, by Meghan Cox Gurdon, fabulous book, has a section in there about scientists who did studies of children who were being read to in person, sitting on their parents’ laps or next to a parent, holding a book physically, having this oral reading, live and in person, versus watching a video of that book being read. And what was fascinating is when they were interacting physically in person, live, their brain neurons were just firing all over the place. But as soon as they put them in front of a video, same book, or maybe it was a different book, I don’t remember, but they’re hearing a book read to them and seeing the pictures, so it’s the same basic elements happening here, but it was on a video, their brains just kind of quit working. They went into passive mode. It was fascinating to read about that difference.

Karen: And that makes sense. Because when you read a book with someone in person, there’s a lot more that goes on than just what’s being read on the page. There are connections being made, even if it’s a young child and you’re reading a picture book to him, oftentimes you stop when there’s something that you know your child can connect with, and you’ll make a comment to your child. And there is that physical touch of being nearby.

Sonya: Or you can react to the child. If he’s looking at a picture, you’re not going to just keep going.

Karen: Personally, I would find the pictures in a picture book easier to see if I’m being held or sitting next to the person reading it than if it’s just being held up on a screen as it’s being read.

Sonya: It was interesting. And audiobooks, there are advantages to those, but I think there’s even more advantage to reading them in person if we can. So that’s not to say we should never use the free resources that are out there.

Karen: Oh, we should use what we can that’s available if that’s what we need to do to meet our budget or if that’s the only thing that’s available to us where we’re at.

Sonya: All of us have to make decisions about budget and where our money is going to be spent, no matter how much money there is to spend; everybody has to make those decisions. We can look at what we already have and maybe, we didn’t mention this, but maybe drop hints, and put it on Christmas lists and things, for things you wish you did have.

Karen: That’s a good idea.

Sonya: So, “this is what I have.” Also, think about what you can borrow from relatives, from libraries, from friends, from living-books libraries, interlibrary loans. There are a lot of things that can be borrowed—and given back in a timely manner. There are things that you can share with another family more frequently, back and forth, or in a co-op setting, and it doesn’t have to be just books, it can be music, it can be language…

Karen: it can be artists, pictures…

Sonya: or art instruction even, all of those things. And then also, what is free to us, because so many things are free on the internet now, while being careful in our choices there. But use those as they will help supplement that feast, as you said. Keep giving our children that feast of ideas. Thanks so much.

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