Name: Great Homeschool Conventions (Columbus)
Start: 2025-04-24T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-04-26T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Columbus, OH

This topic has 16 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 10 months ago by chadandangela.

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April 18, 2010 at 8:51 pm
morgrace
Participant
How much money should I be expecting to spend on a CM education? How does this method compare with other homeschooling styles in terms of cost? I am not new to budgeting, but I am new to homeschooling so I don’t know the dollar amount to put aside for the year. Would someone give be some ball-park prices ranges for a first grade year? I am assuming that the reading/writing/math areas would be the first subject areas to spend money on. As a whole which subject areas that are harder/easier to improvise on? (should mention that I am horrible at math myself)
I am not concerned about how to budget as i’ve had some practice with our household money in that area, but since I don’t have any expeirence homeschooling I haven’t a clue as to how much is realistic to spend for a year and what I could cut corners on by borrowing from the library…. etc. (I am starting “officially” next year with first grade – and may be buying some early reading material this year as my son is wanting to learn to read right now) Thanks in advance!
April 18, 2010 at 9:15 pm
suzukimom
Participant
This can be pretty hard to calculate, as people do things differently.   I am doing a CM education (not necessarily following the SCM guide), and have kept costs fairly down.
There is a FREE math program that is great called MEP – read more on my blog http://maplehillacademy.blogspot.com/2009/06/math.html (and other math topics on my blog)   This is a quality program as good as any that you must pay for.    http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm
I get most of the books we are using from the library, or used book stores/garage sales. A few, we read online.
I have also gotten a few things free from Book Samaritan.
A lot of people use Paperbackswap to trade books to get their books (in in the States) and I’ve recently learned there are a few similar things for those of us outside the states.
I did buy a few books for mom on doing CM – For instance I bought the “Planning your CM Education”, “Pocketful of Pinecones” and a few other books on CM.
For Writing I bought “Cursive First” which cost us about $15 if I remember right.
For Reading, I bought a book on teaching your child to read, and I recently bought an old Dick and Jane reader…. otherwise I’ve mostly used the library. Oh, and I got and printed a reader (by Treadwell and Free) for my son before I found the Dick and Jane book.
I just recently (ie, Today) found a FREE resource that looks great for teaching Foreign languages to the Elementary Age – and it assumes the teacher doesn’t know the language. (I’m thrilled!) They have Spanish, French, and German, and my quick look at the first level looks great. It has online videos. http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm?offset=0
For learning to draw, I’ve taken out library books again.
So, I’m thinking that so far we have spent maybe a total of $100 this year, with me trying to do things for as cheap as possible (while still trying to get quality) – some of the books for mom were bought last year…..
But how much to budget for? I’m sorry, I just don’t know. It really depends on what you are going to do, and how much you are going to buy pre-planned resources, and how good your library is, etc.
April 18, 2010 at 9:17 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Just thought I’d add…. if this makes you feel better…. apparently in one of the school divisions in my city, starting this last year, from 6th grade up a “Laptop computer” (with certain specs) is on the required booklist.   I’m trying to imagine sending a 11 or 12 year old child to school with a laptop…. kids aren’t going to be beaten up to steal their lunch money anymore!
April 18, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Des
Participant
I agree with suzukimom, people do things different so the costs are different. My 2nd grader is using what is older brother’s and sister used a few years ago so reusing helps keep costs down. I was gifted a math program for him that covers grades 1-6 that I willl be using and we’ve found most of our books used online or at Goodwill for about a $1 each. I will use the library or substitute the rest.
April 18, 2010 at 10:16 pm
morgrace
Participant
Yes, as you both have mentioned – I’m sure different approaches = different costs in homeschooling the same way grocery shopping and birthday party costs can vary. (making your own bread vs. buying it from the store, buying a secondhand toy at a garage sale vs. a toy store) I’m glad to hear about free or low cost sources for materials, it’s good to hear it doesn’t have to be expensive!
I’d still find it helpful to have some sort of idea of price ranges, even if they are rough estimates… it sure would help me to have some idea of what I’m aiming for and then at least I could adjust the amount lower or higher based I what I want to do and how much money we have to spend.
On a side note, for those of you who have built home libraries over the years… I am assuming that buying quality books (at low prices) that you’ll know you’ll use later saves money in the long run? Right now I buy children’s clothing in good condition at garage sales for .25 even if they won’t use it for 2 or 3 years. Since I check through the boxes I have and make a short list of what I need every year before garage sale season starts, i’ve been able to save money pretty well here, even if I do goof and buy a duplicate i haven’t lost much money this way. This approach would work with books – right?
April 18, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Renelle
Participant
Hi Morgrace,
Sounds like you have it all sorted!
We started CM from scatch this year with our first child ds8. We spent approx. $50 on subject guides/tools such as LANGUAGE ARTS Primary Language Lessons, HIST/GEO/BIB/ART/SCI Ancient Civilizations, Australian Studies, NATURE STUDY Wonderland Of Nature,
I was blessed with Pocketful of Pinecone, Blackberry Inn, A Charlotte Mason Companion, The Three R’s at Christmas.
I also bought for myself You Can Teach Your Child Successfully $10.
Literature I have probably spent about $70 over the last 2 years of favourite I’ve wanted to keep in our library and I love looking in op shops & 2nd hand sales. But really if you have a library close by you could get all you need from there.
I also subscribe to the CM organizer which is well worth it, $100/yr, which is my greatest expense.
So all up , and I’m being generous in my estimation it has cost us for our first year HS, about $230, but I have more than I need.
If you click on my name above the photo it will take you to our blog where we list lots of free resources as well.
Have fun planning it’s an exciting thing thinking about what you’ll be doing!
Blessings

April 18, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Richele Baburina
Participant
Hello, morgrace. I know you are probably looking for a $-figure but it is so subjective that you find it easier to just set a budget and stay within it.
I spend so little on books, only purchasing those that I want in our collection and getting the rest from the library. I love that the SCM Bible/History/Geography handbooks remind you in advance which book is coming up in case you need to get it from the library.
On the flip-side, I may spend more on high-quality art supplies than most.   I also take the kids to a museum and out for lunch during exam week.
I love that CM’s methods do not require expensive equipment or a contrived atmosphere. This is only a guess but I would say that I spend about $300 a year.
Best,
Richele

April 19, 2010 at 3:10 am
Jimmie
Member
Access to a good library makes a huge difference. We must buy every book we use, and have it shipped (or brought) overseas. So we spend well over $1000 a year.
I am going to buy a Kindle and hope to use it for more of the free classics that my daughter can be reading now that she’s middle school level. I hope it will save us money in the long run.
If we had a library, our costs would do down dramatically. I imagine we could get by with a few hundred dollars a year.
April 19, 2010 at 3:25 am
thepinkballerina
Participant
I try to get what living books I can from the library, if not used books from amazon, other homeschoolers, or library books sales. I definately purchase spines for all subjects (i.e. Genesis-Exodus, Ancient Egypt, Math U See, Handbook of Nature, English for the Thoughtful Child, Spanish program, Character training/Keeper’s at Home club). Or I ask grandparents to buy literature as gifts. For music and art definately use the library as a resource.
All in all so far our first year doing SCM and also estimating our costs for next Fall, we spend up to $200/year at the most. I’m homeschooling a 1st grader now, so my prekers are using stuff from older sister right now (Teach Your Child to Read. This fall I’ll be purchasing math for my soon to be Kindergartner.
I try to cut corners where I can!
Tara
April 19, 2010 at 3:41 am
lgeurink
Member
I put together a wish list each Feb/March with all resources I want. I usually have a “bonus” item in case I catch my husband on a particularly generous day! I tell him the amount before tax, shipping, or looking for sales and deals. This year I told him $430 for 2nd and K plus a 50 dollar bonus item. He said the total, including the bonus (yeah! Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book 1) was. Then I looked for deals and got everygthing I wanted for $427 including all tax and shipping. Shopping is one of my greatest talents! We may still invest in Rosetta Stone for Spanish this fall so that will put us WAY over budget, but we will pray and save for that. The total is very subjective though, and I am a book buyer over borrower most of the time but find tons at garage sales and thrift stores.
April 19, 2010 at 3:52 am
my3boys
Participant
I only have a minute (maybe I’ll add more later), but I wanted to give my .02. Since we have been slowly converting over to the CM method I can honestly say that we have spent far less than we would have doing a traditional method. We come from a more *school at home* method tweaked over the years to suit us, but still more workbook, field trips, textbook type education and that is much more expensive. When you figure that with the CM method your kids will/should be studying some of the same topics at the same time then you don’t have to have separate supplies or very minimal. That right there is a huge savings. Utilizing the library (especially if you get your books returned on time), Goodwill, garage sales, free resources online (this site has provided many resources on the forum and home page that we are using), the outdoors, globes, etc. then you really are saving a bundle.
We have so many resources that we have acquired over the years that I never would have spent the money on had I understood this method (hsing for over 4 years now). They have been pretty much a waste of money. Live and learn, right? So, for our future we are choosing specific items and sticking close to our plan. Oh, gotta go. Last words of the wise: Less is More.
April 19, 2010 at 4:34 am
Rebekahy
Participant
Oh – I love this topic and actually I asked a similar question last year. Here’s the link
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/cost-of-implementing-scm#post-6001
Now – be forewarned – this includes the cost of EVERYTHING buying BRAND NEW, not getting ANYTHING from the library and it’s considerably more than any of the numbers mentioned so far, BUT if you’re good at budgeting, I think you’ll appreciate this as you can look at it as a top of the line, maxed out budget and start paring down from there. Perhaps I’m a bit spendy, but I don’t think there’s anyway I could personally get my school budget down to $200 – for Math alone we’re over $50 and that’s WITH me finding the teacher portion used. I’ll try to get together a list of my expenses from the first year and get back to you, but definitely check out the above post as there was lots of good feedback with ITEMIZED specific spending.
Blessings,
Rebekah
April 19, 2010 at 1:08 pm
kimofthesavages
Participant
Because we have a baby due the end of July, we will be starting school early this year and so I just finished ordering everything. I have 3 children that will be 7th grade, 4th grade, and 2nd grade. We are getting as many books as possible from the library, I’m putting each child in their own history rotation, I had to purchase a higher math and science for my oldest, I include costs of those everyday school supplies like pencils and such, *and* I tend to spend a lot on art supplies (quality paper, prismacolor pencils, paints, brushes, etc)… my grand total with tax and shipping is 600.00. I’ve come a long way from the almost 3000 I spent on Abeka boxed curricula when I first pulled them out of school. :o)
April 19, 2010 at 2:47 pm
LindseyD
Participant
It is hard to tell you that CM costs such-and-such amount because we all buy different books. I also have a 1st grader, and we’ve been hsing for nearly 2 years. Just guessing, I would say that I’ve not spent over $500 for one school year. I also get nearly all of our books from the library. I’ve said it on here before, and I’ll say it again: make your librarian your best homeschooling friend, and you will be set! I don’t even have to go into my library to look for books anymore; I simply e-mail my librarian a few days/weeks ahead of time with the resources I’ll need, and she always gets them for me. Anyway, here’s what we’re using this year to give you an idea of what I’ve spent:
Bible: Child’s Story Bible (purchased on Amazon for $18) and my personal Bible (free!)
Poetry: A Child’s Garden of Verses (found used for $2)
Composer and Picture Studies: I check out CD’s of music from our library as well as coffee table books of art, so those are free. I did buy several of Mike Venezia’s books about artists and composers, and those varied in price because they were on Amazon. I bought 8 of those books for a total of about $20.
Math: Math-U-See…this is where I spent the $$. We started w/ Primer and that was a total cost of $85, and we finished that in 4 months. So, I then bought the next level, Alpha, for $65. I’m glad it’s taking us longer to work through Alpha!
History: Module 1-Gen. thru Deut. (We haven’t started this yet.) $9.95. I have already checked w/ my library about the suggested books, and I will be able to get all of them, so those are free!
Copywork: I buy lined paper from Mardel for $5.99 per package. We’ve gone through 2 packs in a year and a half.
Geography: Me on the Map (from Amazon, $3) and a wall map w/ labels on sale for $5.
Beginner Reading: We finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons almost a year ago, and that was $21 from Mardel. Now, we’re doing the Pathway readers Days Go By and More Days Go By (each $6). Other books we get from the library (Little Bear, Frog and Toad, etc.) My son was also given the Biscuit books for Christmas. I consider them twaddle-y, but he loved them because, at the time, they were easy for him to read on his own.
Literature: We’ve read Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte’s Web, and Mr. Popper’s Penguins, all of which I got at the library. Free! I have joined Paperback Swap, and recently acquired Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Black Beauty, and others. Those, of course, were free, except my cost of postage to other swappers. I did buy the Blue Fairy Book off Amazon last summer for $7, and we used it for one term. We did not enjoy it at all, so I recently swapped it on PBS.
Science/Nature Study: 106 Days of Creation Studies ($9.95). The suggested books I found at my library for free. I recently acquired an American wildflower book and an American bird book from Paperback Swap to aid in nature study. I have the Handbook of Nature Study on my wishlist. I also bought My 5 Senses by Aliki on Amazon for $7, but it didn’t take us long to get through that one!
Handicrafts: I’ve probably spent about $20 at Hobby Lobby for crafts for the kids to work on. My dd loves to paint, and her Prang watercolors were gifts for Christmas and birthday.
There are probably other resources that I’ve bought and not included, but this is pretty much it. I hope it’s especially helpful since I also have a 1st grader. My dd is almost 5, and she’s using many of the same resources. I will have to buy a new Primer in Math for her when it’s time for her to begin Math, but that won’t be for a while. And I’ll eventually need to buy more manipulatives for Math when it’s time for them to share.
Does that help?
Lindsey
P.S. I know someone who’s used Sonlight in the past, and she spent nearly $800 on that! CM is way cheaper!
April 19, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Sharity
Member
You mentioned building your home library. Yes, do that the same way you’ve been buying clothes. Yard sales and thrift stores are good for this and I always check Half Price Books clearance section and can usually find really good books for under $3. When I find them I snatch them up even if it will be a few years before we will use them. Sadly, it seems like they are always getting rid of the good classics. – Sharity