How To Budget Homeschool Spending with Free Printable
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One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is planning what new curriculum we will use for the upcoming homeschool year. I think most homeschool moms would agree with me! If there is one thing that all homeschool families have to take into consideration when doing all of that homeschool planning, it’s the cost. Homeschool curriculum can get very expensive, so having a homeschool budget is a necessary tool.
One of the easiest ways I’ve found to keep track of my homeschool budget is with a homeschool budget planner printable. A simple, straightforward printable I can pop into my homeschool planner binder allows me to know the total amount of money I’ve spent so I don’t go overboard!
In this blog post, I’m going to share some of my favorite ways to save on homeschool resources and curriculum, as well as all the other great things that we pay for that go along with homeschooling so you can make your homeschool budget work the best for your family!
How To Plan Your Homeschool Budget
Every family will have a different amount of money allotted for homeschool spending. The homeschool budget will depend on the number of children you’re homeschooling, what curriculum you plan to use, and whether or not you use any homeschool vouchers to help pay for expenses.
That said, there are particular areas you will want to include in your homeschool budget. I always plan to spend money on:
- Homeschool curriculum and resources
- Homeschool Supplies
- Homeschool Field Trips
- Homeschool Groups and/or Extracurricular Activities
How To Save Money on Homeschool Curriculum
New homeschoolers may get sticker shock when they see the price of some homeschool curriculum. If you’re not careful you can absolutely overspend in this area, so let’s talk about how we can save here!
Free Resources
First, I want to mention free resources. Many of these freebies will require printing, but you can save so much money! I particularly love The Good and the Beautiful for their free Language Arts and Math curriculum that you can print yourself.
There are also lots of bloggers like myself who tirelessly give away freebies, so it’s great if you can subscribe to your favorite bloggers’ newsletters so you can catch those freebies and discounted educational resources.
You can absolutely give your child a quality education with free curriculum or digital curriculum you can get at a great price.
Here are some of my favorite places to find free or inexepensive resources you can use in your homeschool.
Also, don’t discredit homeschool collections and bundles. You can snag some amazing resources for discounted prices with these! I love participating in bundles and always email my subscribers when I have a new bundle to offer.
Local Library
Let’t chat about the local library. This can definitely be hit or miss depending on your location, but if you can snag books for your curriculum when you need them, you’ll save so much money! You may also want to inquire about interlibrary loan and see if you can utilize that feature for your homeschool books.
Another great way to use your local library for your homeschool is the community aspect. Many libraries offer a variety of educational programs you can use to supplement your homeschool! Bonus, if they have a recurring homeschool day!
Used Book Sales
I buy a large majority of our books used. New books can be so expensive! I’ve written how to build a frugal library, and all of those tips apply here, as well. I’m a huge fan of Thriftbooks.com, but you can find used books on Amazon and several other retailers. Don’t forget to shop book sales at your library, too!
How To Save Money on Homeschool Supplies
Homeschool supplies can get crazy! Here’s how I get the best prices on our homeschool supplies.
For large purchases, I try to snag those at Amazon on Prime Days. So, if I’m in the market for a new printer, I’ll try to make sure I get the best price on it during Prime Days. Definitely do some price comparisons to make sure you are really getting the best deal.
For regular homeschool supplies like pencils, paper, crayons, etc. I always shop during the Tax Free holiday in my state. Walmart tends to have the best prices and if I can get the stuff I need without paying taxes, that’s a win for me!
How To Save Money on Field Trips
Field trips and extracurricular activities are where homeschooling can get very expensive! I have a couple of ways you can save money here.
First, if there is a particular museum or zoo you enjoy visiting a lot, consider purchasing a membership. If you visit multiple times it will pay for itself. Our favorite place to get a membership was the zoo when we lived near it. There’s so much you can do there from learning and studying various animals to participating in the educational programs offered by the zoo.
Next, look for the places you can visit for free. Here in Northwest Arkansas there are so many free museums and nature centers that we never have a shortage of free field trips available to us.
Lastly, don’t forget about your local homeschool groups. Some groups don’t require membership fees and field trips can be organized so that you can take advantage of group discounts.
Free Printable Homeschool Expense Tracker
Now you know how you can save money on homeschooling, head over to our shop and grab our pretty homeschool expense tracker for free!
