How to Teach Homeschool History on a Budget

Once a homeschool mom gets the hang of how to teach homeschool history, the rest is cake. Fifteen years’ ago all of this seemed very daunting to me. I grew up going to public school. Homeschool was not something I was familiar with at all.

My usual quest for knowledge began with research. Learning all about homeschool, the various types and what would work for us. We tried them all. I attended conferences to learn more. Curriculum was bought and used. Over the years’ I learned that my homeschoolers’ did not want to do a lot of memorizing or worksheets. Here is how I set up our homeschool learning on a tight budget:

Create Your Curriculum from the Library

Libraries allow so many books to be checked out for personal use. Therefore, it is only fitting that this should be the first place to go to for “free”books. If the library doesn’t have the book you want, they can order it. Times have changed so much since I was young visiting the library.

Online is the best place to research books needed for an upcoming study. Finding books needed for a particular event is much easier with their search engine, and it saves time. Homeschool moms do not have a lot f time. What’s more is they send you a message when the books are ready. Errand day is our day to visit the library and pick up books.

Use Living Books Not Textbooks

Are you studying the President’s? We are! The library has so many books on them. I fifteen years’ our living books have expanded. Everywhere from Half Price books to garage sales is on our shelves. Books are everywhere. Using living books to teach homeschool history is easier, I think. No answer key is needed.

At convention every year I visit two places. First I go to Simply Charlotte Mason. This booth never disappoints. They have an amazing music and art section. Everything is always well written and they have a lot of living books to tie into history units. The second booth that I visit is Queen Homeschool. She writes great science books with easy to complete activities included.

Do Narration and Skip Worksheets

My sons’ do not like worksheets. We have done them, and do them, but they are not fond of them. My use for worksheets is to bring home a topic, lesson or theory that I want them to remember. After we have read it, worked on it, then we write it. Narration is our go to way to dive into books.

We do read aloud time each morning. After we read our daily chapter in the current book someone narrates. Asking a lot of questions doesn’t always go over well, so I limit my questions to one or two. All of this depends on how well they answer the one or two questions.

DIY Projects, Timelines and Games

Incorporate Notebooking into the Schedule