52 • THE GRIFFON • Summer 2017
HOMESCHOOL OPTIONS
www.thegriffon108.com
Homeschooling on a Shoestring By Tracy Klicka MacKillop Director of Development, Home School Foundation
Purchasing homeschooling curriculum for your children can be similar to buying a car for your family.Where I live you can spend about $50,000 for a 2014 luxury Lexus SUV, $30,000 for a new Grand Jeep Cherokee, or if you’re like my family with several children, you can buy a well used but reliable sevenpassenger van for about $10,000. If you have limited finances, however, coming up with even $4,000 for a much older, higher miles vehicle may be more expensive than you can muster. Fortunately, when it comes to homeschooling with severely limited resources, there’s good news.The Home School Foundation, www. homeschoolfoundation.org, (HSF) a nonprofit serving the homeschooling community in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, helps qualified families with the cost of homeschooling curriculum and supplies.They invest in widows, single parents, and families homeschooling children with special needs, and
military families, to name a few. Even if you don’t qualify for assistance from HSF but have limited resources to invest in your homeschooling curriculum, there is still good news. In homeschooling vernacular, expensive is a relative term. While the average cost is about $500 a year per child, this goes down a bit in families with more children, since resources can be shared, membership costs are not multiplied, etc. No matter your income, it’s prudent to count the cost and be prepared. Investing in your core curriculum materials first, then adding other items as your budget allows is a sound strategy for any homeschooler. While it is possible to homeschool with just a library card, most of us will add a bit. Even still, one year, I homeschooled all seven of my children for less than $400 total, by using the library, and a few non-consumable resources and free downloadable worksheets. Here are a few ideas to homeschool on a shoestring budget:
“We are overjoyed with the news of our grant! I have complete faith that God directed this blessing through your organization. With all four children schooling now, this year has already been the most expensive to date.Your gift will not be wasted! A thousand thanks from our family!” — Tommy and Gena C., Military Fund recipients
Save on Textbooks • Borrow or rent books — check with your local support group. • Purchase used books. • Look for public school giveaways. (You may want to
use with extreme caution because of worldview content, but items easily found are atlases, encyclopedias, typing practice books, maps, and more.)