A couple of weeks ago, I saw this meme on Facebook and got a good chuckle.
I remember being that mom in the vendor hall at the homeschool conference. All of the different books and curricula looked so inviting and wonderful! I wanted it all for my kids and for our homeschool, but I knew that my resources were limited and that I was only going to be able to choose items that gave great value. So I bit the bullet and bought the $100 math program with the textbook, teacher’s manual and test booklet, and the very expensive science program with a lab component so my kids wouldn’t be missing out. I was willing to do this because I wanted my kids to have a good education, but also because I thought that these curricula would pay for itself as it worked its way through my 6 kids and maybe beyond.
Clearly I had good intentions of being economical as did all of the other moms who thought the same thing when they shelled out hundreds of dollars for their families. There was just one little item we didn’t take into consideration … new editions. So while we may have had every intention of using all of that expensive curricula with all of our kids, the reality is that sometimes, that’s going to be beyond our control.
For example, Saxon Math modified its early elementary books. These were first published in the early 1990s. I bought the Kindergarten, First-, Second-, and Third-grade curricula. I also bought the pricy manipulative package. By my estimation, that’s about $400 worth of math stuff. But since I eventually had six children, I thought it would work itself out. And it did. Kind of. Even though the teacher’s manuals remained the same and I could keep reusing the manipulatives, (as long as the kids didn’t lose or break them), the workbooks were consumable. That meant that each time a student went through the program, I was going to have to buy new workbooks for the next child. They are roughly about $40. I managed to do that five more times.
When my granddaughter came up, I thought it was great that I still had all of those math books, until I discovered that I couldn’t get the consumable workbooks easily. (Rainbow Resources still has them though.) So for Miss C., I’m either going to buy the newest edition of Saxon Math, or try out a different math publisher. And here’s the bite – Miss C. is probably going to be an only child. So new books won’t even make it a different student. It’s all full price for one kid unless I can borrow books or get them second hand at eBay or Amazon. .
I also had an experience with Apologia this fall. They updated their Chemistry a few years ago and this year they updated General Science. I have the 1st and 2nd editions for General Science and the 2nd edition for Chemistry. However, you can no longer get the student notebooks that go with the textbooks. If you can find an unused book from a friend, you may be able to buy the copying license for $12 and get it copied yourself, but if you don’t have a discount card like the one I have through the HSLDA, that could be very expensive.
So here is what I would suggest,
- If you put out the money for an expensive set of books, expect that they will be current and up-to-date for about 10 years and possibly a bit longer. Consider dividing your students into the older kids and the younger kids. For example, I have six children. My first three are the older kids and the last three are the younger. The books I buy when I first start homeschooling will be good for the first four kids because there is a 9- year spread. But when the oldest of the younger kids reached 6th buying the newest edition might be a good buy to have for the rest of the students that follow.
- If the spread of your children is greater than that (which it is for many homeschooling families) then start snatching up the workbooks and resources for the curriculum you like before they start to the next edition.
- Make your own substitutes. The Saxon Math curriculum uses a meeting book to teach calendar skills. I skipped buying a new meeting book and just print off a calendar template every month. That costs me just the price of a piece of paper and ink!
- Buy books and things on CD as much as possible. Then you can always print them off even if they do go to a new edition. Calculadder is a good example of something I glad I bought as a CD.
- If you do a lesson you absolutely love with your older children, consider marking it in some way so that you can reproduce it or recreate it with your younger children, even if that book goes out of print or gets upgraded to a newer edition.
- Newer doesn’t always mean worse! The 3rd edition of the Apologia General Science program really has some good new things in it. I like some of the newer experiments and I’m glad they are finally teaching the students how to write a lab report!
- Don’t forget to check used book stores and eBay for older editions that you want to use again.
