Our orders for next year's homeschool curriculum are arriving on the front porch and I have been sorting and storing dutifully, looking forward to some time in August when I can look at everything more closely and actually sketch out our daily and weekly plans. I only have a few more things to collect: a recorder for Dino, a Time Line for Sunshine from Sonlight, re-stocking of the art supplies, possibly some thinking putty, and the rest of the titles needed for Circle Time, literature reading, history and geography.
Can we talk homeschool budget? I am totaling my orders as I go and the yearly cost of homeschooling seems more staggering every year. However, after doing some research I find that we would be paying triple this amount if we sent three children to a nearby parish school and seven times more for a non-diocesan Catholic school option. Not that that gives one license to over-spend . . .
One must still economize. Beyond buying used or swapping, I have been looking for ways to save money on the book bill. Sometimes I put credit card points towards an Amazon gift card. Other times I have a little bit of credit from Amazon rewards (the tiny bit of commission I get if you click on a book link and buy it). Barnes & Noble offers a 20% discount to educators. I just heard about swagbucks and will look into that. One great option for me is a local bookseller who offers 27% off new books orders to homeschoolers. I like this option both for the deeper discount as well as the opportunity to support a local business.
Some of the books on the list I delivered to the bookstore last week are intended to supplement 5th grade MODG geography. I was perusing the Sonlight Core 5 thinking about how neat it would be to study some non-Western cultures and I realized that the 5th grade MODG geography is basically a tour of the continents - a perfect opportunity to mesh some Sonlight eastern hemisphere titles with MODG (if we have the time to read them).
I have been hearing from some readers who also use MODG with some tweaks and thought it would be fun to share those teaks. Here are the ones on my geography list - some titles are ideas from Sonlight and others are ideas from searching on Amazon. I am still researching titles and may make some changes. Some titles I have already red lined due to poor reviews on the Sonlight website.
Around the World in 80
Days by Jules Verne
The Twenty-One Balloons
by William Pene du Bois
Europe:
Europe (True Books) by
Sandra Newman
My Tour of Europe: By
Teddy Roosevelt, Age 10 by Ellen Jackson
This is .
. . series by Miroslay SasekRome
Paris, London, Venice, Ireland , Greece , Edinburgh, Rome
South America:
The Secret of the Andes
by Ann Nolan Clark
South America
(True Books) by Libby Koponen
Seven Wonders of Ancient Central and South America by Micheal Woods
Asia:
Asia
(True Books) by Gary Drevitch
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by Rhonda Blumberg
Silkworms by Sylvia Johnson
Seven Wonders of Ancient Asia by Michael Woods
Sadako and the 1000
paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
Li Lun, Lad of Courage
by Carolyn Treffinger
Eric Liddell: Something
Greater Than Gold by Janet Benge
India: The Culture
by Bobbie Kahlman
India the People by Bobbie Kahlman
Mother Teresa by Demi
Teresa of Calcutta
by D. Jeanene Watson
Gandhi by Demi
Arabs in the Golden Age
by Mokhtar Moktefi
Genghis Kahn by Demi
Genghis Kahn and the Mongol Horde by Harold Lamb
Africa:
Africa is not a Country by Margy Burns Knight
Seven Wonders of Ancient Africa by Michael Woods
Journey to Jo'burg: A
South African Story by Beverly Naidoo
Africa
(True Books) by Mel Freidman
Australia:
Australia and Oceania
(True Books) by Mel Friedman
Faces: Australia
Through Time by Carolyn Yoder
Australia: The People by Erinn Banting
Antarctica:
Antarctica (True Books) by Mel Freidman
Escape from Disaster by Peter Larangis
Animals Robert Scott Saw: An Adventure in Antarctica
All for today. What's your favorite way of saving money on books?
