What I did the first year I utilized the SCM Curriculum Guide was this. Money was very tight, so I knew I would have to purchase only the things I could not get at the library (or borrow from homeschooling friends), and even those purchases would have to be carefully sought out used books. (If you are planning to purchase used books, search this forum for threads that have links to reputable used book sites.) For those items I could neither find at the library nor for sale affordably, I asked the ladies on this forum for suggestions of substitute books.
The first thing I did was to go through the curriculum guide and select the book titles I expected to use for the year. Being my first year using CM methods, I overscheduled….but you can always decide to drop a book or two for any subject once you get underway and decide you’ll be too rushed if you try to fit in everything! For example, I waaaay overscheduled the number of literature books we would be reading (we used them as family read-alouds, so all three of mine were reading the same literature books–they are close in age). I had to drop some from my list, but then I realized, the literature selections we were reading were listed for grades 4, 5, & 6…..so, I shouldn’t expect to read all of them in one year, or there would be nothing left for the next two years! Plus, you’ll come across recommendations that aren’t on the SCM list that you’ll want to include. So, don’t go wild and plan to use everything listed for each subject when a smaller portion of reading might be enough.
After I decided what books to use for each subject, I typed them out in a Word document (okay, I was lazy and just “cut and pasted” the titles from the curriculum guide), listing them under subject headings. My older daughter had her own set of subject headings for literature and history (because she was near middle school) and my younger two had a joint set of subject headings for their book selections–they are close enough in age to be taught most things together. Then I had a couple of subjects where the entire family would read those books together and learn as a family.
We are blessed to have two large suburban libraries within reasonable traveling distance as well as a county library system with nearby branches. The county system allows me to request items from any of its branches and pick them up locally, plus I can request items through a statewide interlibrary loan that often helps me to acquire older, out-of-print materials. So, I looked up each of my desired book titles in the libraries’ online catalogs. If it was available at a given library, I noted that with a 3-letter abbreviation after the book title on my Word document. I also noted if they had an audiobook copy. I put an asterisk just before any titles that were not available in any of the libraries, so I would know to ask other moms about possible substitutes or look into purchasing those books.
Then I printed out my list and took it with me anytime I might pop into a Goodwill store or a HalfPrice Books store…..or garage sales, used book fairs, etc. If I kept it in my purse, it was handy if I just happened to run into a bargain on something I needed.
It was a little bit of work to prepare, but in the long-run it made that year’s materials affordable for us. It’s a little tricky to time things right within library borrowing periods, but most of the older books we used didn’t seem to be very popular (how sad), so as long as there were no holds on a book, we just renewed it as many times as we were permitted to do so. As I said, a little tricky, but it worked out okay for us.
I would love to have shelves upon shelves of great books in our home (and some moms on this forum do–they’re savvy budgeters!), but we have made good use of local libraries and are blessed by them. My kids are getting the kind of education that will leave a lifetime imprint on them, and it’s not what they would have gotten in public school. So, I’ll spend the extra time and effort to make it happen. If I had more disposable income, I would invest in decent, readable copies of good books before upgrading our home furnishings or buying extra shoes and accessories or eating out more often. So, to answer your question about purchasing curriculum, if you have the budget to buy a lot of the books you’ll be needing, by all means do so. If not, don’t get discouraged; just see what other options (such as the library) might be available to you.
Sue
