It can be as expensive or cheap as you need. My early years were focused around the library and free curricula other than math (I wasn’t confident enough to do that without some sort of curriculum, and this was over 15 years ago in 2004.).
Now, as a large family mom who has been doing this for a very long time, I have slowly acquired many materials. I learned to look for materials that can be reused totally or in part, for younger children. For example, one year I bought an Apologia Elementary science textbook for $25. I can use it for every child over the years, and can flesh it out to be more living with library books if the style doesn’t quite fit one of my kids. One purchase, 15 years of use or more. (By the time child #10, who is 2, graduates our homeschool, I will have been homeschooling for 30+years.)
Truly, if you are willing to use the library, you don’t need to purchase a curriculum for anything, but especially for science, history, art appreciation, composer studies (books and cds are usually at libraries), poetry, geography, literature, and so on. I do prefer having a math curriculum, and they run the gamut in price. I searched for the teachers manuals and dvds used every year until I had all levels from elementary through high school (Math U See), bought one set of manipulatives. Then I just purchase a student workbook each year for the level a child needs. Some people use online programs that have one price for the whole family for math (CTC Math, they have a homeschool price), which can be cheaper possibly.
Also, in the early elementary years, I focus exclusively on helping a child learn to read, learn to form letters/handwriting, and learn to do basic math with manipulatives. They may join in the family lessons if they wish for science or history. They will see the art and hear the music in the home that week. They will spend time outdoors with the family. But their core each day is a focused short lesson in phonics, handwriting, and math. Once they have that solid base, they can read/write/learn so much more independently and easily. And they are older, so they don’t object to sitting for a bit longer for interesting things.
So for this core, I would be willing to spend money. I like All About Reading for teaching a child to read. I bought one copy of each level (and some kids can skip level 4, so maybe wait on that one). I put the activity pages/games/fluency pages into a 3 ring binder in page protectors. We NEVER glue things in an activity, we simply move the pieces where they go, and then put it all away. This means I have had lots of kids use the exact same pieces and readers and pages to learn to read. One purchase price to be used over many years for many children. (Right now the level 1 is waiting for a 5th and 6th children to be old enough to use it. I got my money’s worth and beyond.) However, some people like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons – and that costs even less and is reused for every child.
For math, other ideas for inexpensive/reuseable would be CTC Math online, or Math Mammoth downloads to print for each child when they are old enough for them. Or just get the table of contents for a curriculum like Math U See or Saxon and use that to give you an outline of what to teach next. 😉
