10 Free Ideas for Homeschooling | no. 18
How can you have a rich homeschool without spending money? Whether you're new to homeschooling or currently homeschooling multiple ages, you've probably been witness to the many curriculums, supplies, posters, toys, and more that are found on social media. While some of these things are necessary and enriching for a homeschool environment, I believe that a rich homeschool environment can come without spending excess money, especially in the early years.
Here are 10 essentials we have found that give us a rich homeschool and cost absolutely nothing! These are things you can do no matter where you live, what your finances are, and how many kids you have. In fact, if you have more children, you're probably already discovering these things work for your child to learn and have fun.
The Great Outdoors
What a wonderful blessing that God gave us the outdoors as a place to explore! Getting your little ones (and yourself!) outdoors is so important for development and mental and physical health. I love the book "There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather." It was a great example of the scientific reasons the outdoors are so beneficial, written alongside personal anecdotes and discoveries.
Here are some of the ways the outdoors can enrich your homeschool without costing anything. Spending time outside
- Improves sleep quality and circadian rhythm
- Gives you the necessary vitamin D
- Increases bone density
- Improves mood
- Increases estrogen in women and testosterone in men
- Allows for large motor skill development that gets better results than climbing equipment and play gyms
- Allows for fine motor skill development (picking up acorns, pinecones, twigs, leaves, flowers)
We love getting outside to narrate stories we read (act out ideas and storylines), play pretend, get exercise, spell with twigs, practice math with natural elements, read in the fresh air, draw things we're learning about, practice taking photos and recognizing wildlife, and more! The options are truly endless when it comes to creation.
Library Books
Books are so expensive, but we LOVE reading and as an attempting classical Charlotte Mason educator, I love adding literature to our daily homeschool and leisure. This has been my routine for the last 3 years to avoid spending tons of money on books that only get read once.
I love living books with realistic ideas and pictures with a beautiful, natural color palette. I'll first screen books in the library and find the books for our lessons. When we get home to read, I'll notice which ones are favorites, which have lasting storylines that can be enjoyed over multiple ages, and save those to my Goodreads list and a wishlist on Thriftbooks. I'll watch for these books to go super cheap ($5 or less usually) and snag them on Thriftbooks every 6 months or so.
We travel so much for work that my purchasing books is more for our future home library and car trips than it is to enjoy right now. That's why I only purchase books that I know will last an entire childhood and utilize the library regularly for everything else. It's perfect for travel in that we return everything before we go and travel home without the extra 30 books we checked out that week.
For books we love, check out THIS post.
Conversation
Engaging your child in meaningful conversation is not only a great way to solidify ideas and bond with your child, it costs nothing and it is possibly the most valuable (except Jesus time, mentioned below). I love having conversations with my daughter. She is especially talkative and has vocalized before that she feels loved when people listen to her talk. When prompted, she will go on for hours (no, really) without interruption from the other party. We're working on back and forth of a healthy conversation and what better way to learn than in a safe environment with your parents?
For some of my favorite conversation starters for little ones, read THIS post.
Helping with Adult Tasks
A rich homeschool that costs nothing wouldn't be complete without children helping with household tasks. Children LOVE helping out, especially when it's something that only adults are doing. Sweeping the floor, washing dishes, wiping counters, washing windows, picking up toys, dusting, vacuuming, and washing the car are all tasks that kids as little as 2 are capable of helping with and love doing!
One of the books that sparked my belief in this system was The Montessori Toddler.
Practicing household tasks values your child as a whole person, strengthens their independence and includes them as a full member of the family. I always like to say, "We are a family. Families work together, eat together, play together, etc." Feeling a sense of belonging is so important and can come through being trusted with responsibility.
Art
We are creative beings. Whether we are more mechanically gifted, visually stimulated with paintings or architecture, or talented writers and speakers, we are all gifted in a form of art. As a mother-teacher, it is my job to provide opportunities and inspiration for creative work to be done. This doesn't have to be expensive! I have a few supplies that I keep on hand to make it simple for art projects to happen.
When it comes to creating opportunities for art, I try to have at least one thing in each of these categories available:
- Building (legos, nuts and bolts, wooden blocks, magnet tiles)
- Painting (watercolor, acrylic, paintbrushes, paper, canvas, etc.)
- Drawing/coloring
- Sensory/sculpting/molding with tools (homemade playdough, kinetic sand, silly putty, dirt, mud, cookie cutters, rolling pin, fork/knife, etc.)
- Natural items (basically anything seasonally available outside)
- Salvaged items from previous art projects/daily life (rubber bands from produce, paper scraps, string, etc.)
Whatever resources you have in your home, experiment with giving your child what you have on hand and see what they can create! You don't always need expensive craft supplies to give your child inspiration and the opportunity to create.
Quiet Time
I find this a great way to enrich our daily homeschool without costing a cent. It's important for children (and adults!) to have time to themselves to reset. I normally need this time around 2-3pm. We frequent the library once a week so I'll give my daughter a large stack of books. She reads while I do whatever I need to do that day to reset.
If your child doesn't like to read on their own or isn't used to quiet time, I would start with just a few minutes at a time. We've been doing the stack-of-books method for a few years now and depending on the day/interest, this will allow me anywhere from 20-40 minutes of quiet time.
Other options I've used when books aren't as captivating are drawing elements, a sensory bin, and possibly the one that lasts the longest - a bin of water with a touch of dish soap, plastic animals, a washcloth or scrub brush, and a towel to dry.
Jesus Time
This time has become a special part of our day and is by far the most important. Talk about a rich homeschool that costs nothing! Jesus is available 24/7 and always improves our spiritual and mental health. I promote this time by providing dim lights, soft "soaking" music, a fluffy blanket and pillow, a journal with pencil or coloring tools, a children's bible, and anything else we have on the subject from school.
It's important this isn't forced but rather encouraged. However much time your child wants to spend with Jesus writing down prayers, drawing what God is showing them, praying, reading the Bible, etc. is good! The other element of encouraging your kids to practice this quiet time with Jesus is for them to see you doing it as well. If you are able to have your Jesus time at the same time, it may flow better and keep you accountable for having time with the Father as well.
Dance
Dancing is such a great form of exercise, large motor skills, and FUN! I love to put on our favorite tunes (jazz, worship, 70s-80s, classic country, Christian rap) and we all let loose for as long as we are able/interested. I love this form of exercise and it's almost impossible to be angry (or stay angry) with dance music. What a great way to change the mood!
Using Household Objects for Pretend Play
Utilizing what you have on hand in your home is a great way to have a rich homeschool without spending money. I find that kids are usually more excited about being able to play with your "grown-up" stuff even than their own toys. Instead of buying more toys, consider giving them the pots and utensils for the afternoon and then help you make dinner. Make use of what you have in your house to create a wonderful memory of playtime that will most likely last longer than playing with toys alone.
YouTube
We are not a screen-oriented family in that we don't watch traditional TV, movies/shows (with our daughter), give her an iPad or devices of her own, and we are very conscious of what she is watching on screens whether it's a social media feed as she looks over one of our shoulders or YouTube.
We do utilize YouTube weekly for our homeschool. It's a great resource for learning and teaching things that we can't display at home. So far we've looked up things like how plumbing and toilets work, what sound fish make (I encourage you to look that one up), how fabric is made, book titles we couldn't find at our library, day in the life of other families with kids (as a recreational treat), someone's trip to faraway places, exercise routines, cooking videos, and more (yes, these are all things my daughter was interested in).
Final Thoughts
It is possible to have a rich homeschool without spending a ton of money on supplies, toys, and aesthetics. We have been managing to homeschool richly while living out of suitcases in hotel rooms for 10 months out of the year. It may challenge you to be more creative and resourceful with what you have, but it is worth the savings and the memories you'll make in the process. I hope this post helps give you some ideas for your own homeschool!