One of the things that I find most difficult about homeschooling is narrowing down our choices each year. There are so many products and websites and curricula available that it makes it next to impossible to choose only a few. These guidelines help me decide if the product is worth the investment (in time, money, or both).
- Is this something I think the children will enjoy (or is it more to my liking?)
- (Conversely) Is this something that I won't dread if they need more than cursory help?
- Is the monetary, or time investment something that I feel will fit into our schedule or budget? For example: I'd love to purchase Rosetta Stone in 6 languages, however it's not only cost prohibitive, but who has time to learn six languages at once?
- Is this something that I'd be proud to put on our transcripts, or is this more for fun? If it's just for fun, it doesn't necessarily exclude it, but I take a harder look at costs and time constraints, and maybe put it aside for summer.
Even following these guidelines, sometimes I make a purchase that just doesn't work for us. It's unfortunate, but it does happen. That's when I'm most thankful for Ebay. I have sold so many homeschool items on Ebay and once my item fetched twice what I paid for it! Each student, each family is different and what didn't work for us, might be someone else's answer to a problem.
Finally, if I don't use it and can't sell it, I offer it to the families in our homeschool group. So even if I lose money on it, at least I'm wracking up the Karma points.
Photo by PAVDW
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I so agree about "mistakes," we all make them! But there is something about homeschool materials that don't work for us leave us feeling guilty!!! One of the hardest things with buying curriculum goodies is when you make a complete error of judgement. As soon as you realize that you have something that isn't going to work for you just get rid of it: sell it, gift it, pass it on, whatever… or these products will take up valuable space on your school shelf and make you feel guilty every time you shuffle them to and fro. We have made mistakes over time and for years climbed through math manipulatives to get to our workbooks that we use every day… Finally I got rid of the mistakes – wow, talk about decluttering and making space for the things we do use. It wasn't just the physical decluttering it was a cloud of guilt staring at us everyday was removed – lovely!!! Now I get rid of our odd mistakes as soon as I discover them and don't let them build up!!!
This is an excellent point. I have several "mistakes" and I just need to be real about it and purge. We'll have less clutter and more room for the things we do use.