Help me spend $

[craft_media_hero]

I have a budget of $1600, and I'd like the materials to cover grades 3/4/5

What would you get? I am pretty set on math and writing curricula, everything else is game.

[moominmamma]

Unless you already have kids at the 3, 4 and 5 levels, I would buy nothing. I would wait and see what they needed when the time came. In my personal (and vicarious) experience, there's no better way to waste homeschooling money than to buy a whole lot of stuff ahead of time. My local homeschool network is full of posts that start it with "Have the following two grade levels of ___ to sell. Bought the whole set a few years ago and used it for a while, but it turned out not to really be right for us." 

Miranda

[Red Pajama]

What about a microscope?

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Unless you already have kids at the 3, 4 and 5 levels, I would buy nothing. I would wait and see what they needed when the time came. In my personal (and vicarious) experience, there's no better way to waste homeschooling money than to buy a whole lot of stuff ahead of time. My local homeschool network is full of posts that start it with "Have the following two grade levels of ___ to sell. Bought the whole set a few years ago and used it for a while, but it turned out not to really be right for us." 

Miranda

The money expires from my charter program. It seems like enough to me to get set up with general resources for a few years. We might be independently hs'ing next year, so it woud be great if the materials could work over a range of time.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by craft_media_hero 


The money expires from my charter program. It seems like enough to me to get set up with general resources for a few years. We might be independently hs'ing next year, so it woud be great if the materials could work over a range of time.

Okay, gotcha. I agree with the microscope suggestion. We've spent that sort of "use it or lose it" funding on general resources that we figure a few people will likely use at some point over the years to come. We've bought quality art supplies, Rosetta Stone 2nd language programs, stop-motion animation software, a better-quality digital scale, a graphing calculator, digital camera, DVD series like "The Day the Universe Changed," "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet," a globe, a large world wall map, reference books like a large dictionary, the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, a world atlas and nature guides, SnapCircuits, a stockpile of laser toner cartridges, binoculars. Also sports equipment like Speedminton, snowshoes, fitness equipment for at home. 

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Miranda

[SandyBeachBums]

Delta science and math in a nutshell kit. (our VA has us return items, but consider these consumable). We got a worm bin from them this year, too!

Queens Language Lessons workbooks

Art supplies from Paper Scissors Stone...lyra pencils, paper, stockmar crayons, their brand of paint in the big bottles, chalkboards and their chalk is awesome

Dover Coloring books

Story of the World Audio CDs

Bill Nye DVD's

artist sketch pads or main lesson books

Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedias

printer ink from encoreink.com

printer paper in white or color

history odyessey timelines

history scribe notebook pages

Big wad of watercolor paper

bulk pack of watercolor brushes

Waldorf seasonal resources like All through the Year

Clay, fimo, beeswax modeling clay

gluesticks, student scissors

teaching with the movies

foreign language resources if you are learning one

card games...Rainbow Resource has a bunch of history and art ones.  I think one brand is Noggin.

uncoloring books

If you don't have to return books, I might take a look at sonlight to see about getting a little library going

[OTMomma]

Things I have actually used for those grades and liked as far as curriculum goes:

Spelling Power, book and the card game and little notebooks to go with it

Story of the World, book and activity book

Books for the parent to read:

Writing with Ease from Peacehill publishing

variuos homeschool fun ideas books

Then I would get lots of good unabridged versions of classic literature I wanted us to study, and various other books for our home library.   A good dictionary for this age, history encyclopedia, and thesaurus would also make my list.  

And then I would add on some science kits and music CDs or a simple instrument like a drum.  

[craft_media_hero]

Okay, great suggestions!


Has anyone tried those GeoSafari globes? Would that be worth the $? Or the constellation projector?

I'm thinking we need an easel and desk or craft table--we do everything at the kitchen table. Is there an online supplier that anyone can recommend?

[JavaFinch]

Not sure if an iPad is something you might use, but we have several apps we use and also we use sequential spelling and they have DVDs of their lessons that I've copied to the iPad so my son can do his spelling using it at the table.  With the new iPad 3 coming out soon, there are rumors the iPad 2 might still be sold but will go down in price ... might be worth looking into in a month or so if you still have the $$.

[zebra15]

I would look at what memberships you have and see which ones you can renew and prepay or buy multiple years of. I know I can buy 2 years of my zoo membership, 2 yrs of the science center etc.  What activities are your kids in?  Can you prepay for some of that stuff?  (again, if they really like it and want to continue for a session or 2)  I wouldn't get 'lesson' materials as much as filler type stuff.  For example getting SOTW then finding out your kids HATE IT is just a waste but getting good quality art supplies is almost always a sure thing.

Somethings my DS loved from ages 7-10 or so and that would be great now (he is 11).  His OWN Nook/Kindle/Tablet. (I am probably going to get him one, just not sure when).  He has his own laptop and I just shelled out $120.00 for a graphing calculator.- He is taking Algebra1.  So if you are thinking ahead and may not get funding again those are things your kiddo will probably need.

The quality art supplies.  Derwent colored pencils, Prismacolor pencils and markers, sketchbooks, journals.

Books, I looked at the Newbery Award list etc and picked from there

FWIW, my son is totally in love with Rosetta Stone.  The homeschool edition covers all levels and has an extra parent disc.  You can find it 'on sale' for about $425-450 and its been the best thing in a long time that I've purchased 'school wise'.

[mattemma04]

 I would get science supplies and a Y membership.

[ednkirstin]

Ooooooohhhhhhh!  Sounds FUN!  Some ideas:

• Math Shark for facts practice (it's fast, fun and portable - sure beats flashcards)
• All About Spelling - worth every penny IMO
• Work on building a library
• Beautiful Feet History (I love all the books)
• Art Supplies - my kids really love the Draw Write Now books
• Is anyone interested in music?  Could you purchase an instrument?

[greenacresmama]

I would get fine art brushes, many types of papers, fusion papers, watercolor papers, colored pencils, prang ambrite colored chalks, white chalk (alpha quartet sp?) desk/table easels, like a book stand on a table..something like this a company like Levenger may have it. I would get suitable chalk boards with a small board at the bottom to tilt out from the wall a little bit and a basket to hang chalks. I would get "The Waldorf Poetry book" and all the season Waldorf lesson books, and "All in a Year." My friend just showed me her "Nature Book" and that might be the title and it is basically a nature book that tells about the species, but goes into detail about the uses and even often will have a story about them - like an old cultural one, it sounds neat. I would try to look into celebrating other cultures and religions for children, kind of books. A book about celebrating your background ethnicity for children kind of book too. Origami type books maybe with pull outs, paper airplanes, kites, paper folding anything kind of books. I would get a few nice drums and large glockenspiel and a smaller one or a lap harp. If you had about $700 left, I would get a microscope for sure. I think Rosetta is a really awesome investment too, but I find it tricky to pin down which one right now. An iPad sounds tempting just as a route for a DVD player in the car :), but we drive sometimes far, far away.. tempting, but we also drive just about 1 hour away and I like to feed and talk to the kids a lot. We have a free museum place (DC) but I agree if you live close to them - zoo (if not a real hell), aquarium, art, science, play. 

[craft_media_hero]

You all are giving me such great ideas, thank you!

I am going through the Enasco catalog with a marker right now.

What about audiobook sets or downloads? Any tips on essential audio or video resources?

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by ednkirstin 

Could you purchase an instrument?

Unfortunately, no because we didn't specifically write music into our learning plan and it wasn't required. Next year!!

I love hearing everyone's favorite resources for music too, though.