I Don't Understand Why They're Not Excited!

Since we have been homeschooling (going into our 7th year), I have never bought anything brand new as far as curriculum goes. I always shopped for the best bargains, which usually meant buying used. I'm totally fine with that. I LOVE good bargains!

But this year, I did something I've never done and oh my gosh was it fun!! We got a really good tax return this year and even though we could have used it all to pay down our debt (which we are doing with the rest of it), for the first time I simply listed what we needed for next year and went to a few different websites and BOUGHT it... ALL NEW! I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

However, when I thoughtfully shared my excitement with my children, who, might I add, are actually the lucky recipients of everything I ordered, they seemed somewhat less than enthusiastic. I don't get it. Don't they understand how FUN this is? Don't they get all giddy when they think of opening a BRAND NEW math book? And the look and feel and smell of fresh, unopened handwriting books and science books and history books! Oh my!

I just don't understand kids these days.

Anyway, I was talking to a very dear friend the other day who uses a boxed curriculum and I have a sister-in-law who uses another boxed curriculum and I am just shocked at how much these types of curriculums cost! Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're bad choices, we've even used some of each of them in the past and like both. However, using them for our entire curriculum was never an option for our family simply because we couldn't afford them. When you have four children things tend to get a bit expensive.

We've always been more of an eclectic homeschooling family anyway. Early on I wrote down the subjects I felt we needed to be covering and then took them one by one and researched until I found what I felt was the best fit for our family. We've had some duds, and some winners we've stuck with the entire time. And every now and then we'll add something and sometimes we replace something else. But we have reached a pretty happy medium and usually stick with most of the same things.

Anyway, here's what I bought for next year and this covers all four kids. I'll share the prices with you as well so you can see approximately what homeschooling costs our family.

*Above and Beyond Five in a Row
Bought from the Five in a Row digital store
$19.00

*Rod & Staff English
Bought from the Rod & Staff website
3rd grade student book
3rd grade teacher's manual
(2) 3rd grade worksheets
7th grade student book
7th grade teacher's manual
7th grade worksheets
$77.50 plus $8.61 shipping

The following items were all ordered from Rainbow Resource:

*Handwriting Without Tears
My Printing Book
Regular double line notebook paper (ream)
Wide double line notebook paper (100 sheets)

*Sequential Spelling
Level 3

*Apologia Science
Exploring Creation with General Science
Daily Lesson Plans for Expl. Creation w/Gen. Science

*Truthquest History
Ancient Egypt/Ancient Greece

*Bible Study Guide for All Ages
(3)Intermediate student pages for lessons 27-52

*Audio Memory
World Geography Songs kit with CD

Total for Rainbow Resource order: $154.45 (free shipping!)


*Scienc Kit
ordered from Home Science Tools
$22.50 plus $7.97 shipping

*Math U See
I haven't ordered this yet but hopefully will be this week. This can be purchased from the Math U See website.
Alpha Student Kit
Gamma Student Kit
Delta Student Kit
Epsilon Student Kit
Epsilon Teacher Kit
Fraction Overlays
$145.00 plus $12.50 shipping
(I acutally AM trying to find a deal on this since it is a tad expensive.)


So all together, not counting the math yet, I have spent a whopping total of $290.03, and that includes shipping, to homeschool all four of our children next year! Not too shabby if you ask me!

So how about you? What does it usually cost you to buy your curriculum for the school year? Do you have a monthly/yearly school budget?