As for homeschooling, my family is on board. I’m not just talking about my children and Darling D, but I mean my mom, dad, sisters, brother, aunts, and uncles; my whole family. I don’t think they ever challenged our decision, which would have made for great debate, but wouldn’t have made any difference. Darling D and I had prayed about our decision and our minds were made up. We were going to homeschool our children.
Up to this point, I have managed to put together a decent curriculum for the children with a minimal amount of funds. There is too much freebie out there to not take advantage of the resources. Plus, many of the ideas are more creative and promote learning better than a textbook ever could. {Make your own magnetic pom poms.}
With the way we have chosen to homeschool, we don’t receive any stipends or financial assistance for academic material or extra-curricular activities. Our childrens’ education is not only dependent upon our genius knowledge, but also the size of our pocket books. Although “making” kids smart is expensive, I’ll go to the poor house for the continued privilege of teaching them at home.
On the other hand, I don’t think I would enjoy living in the poor house (been there, done that – it’s not fun), so my genius wheels started turning I started thinking. Everyone is always asking me if the children need anything and I often end the conversation with, “I can’t think of anything,” only to remember minutes and days later my mental list of everything they could use for school. There is truly something to writing things down on paper. Since I’m a list maker, I decided to do what I do best. I made a list of everything school we needed.
Since so many of you have already started or will be starting your school year in the next few weeks, I thought I would share what we will be doing for our school and as long as we continue to homeschool. We started a homeschool registry. I mean why not? We create one for when we get married, when we have children, so it only makes sense to have one for the educating of our children.
I am sure you are probably thinking that isn’t fair to the children. What child wants a printer cartridge or a laminating machine for a present? Don’t worry because if your parents are anything like mine, then your kids are still going to get the toys and clothing they really want.
Earlier this summer, I shared my registry with my family. Orders for the items I needed then were placed the same day and I excitedly waited at the door every morning for a UPS delivery. Boy, was that a lot of fun.
Since beginning the registry, I have added a few more things as plans for our school are still being made. Starting the registry has also helped in making me a little more organized in my planning as well as accountable for the materials we buy. I take more time when deciding exactly what we are going to use in school and tend to not shop “willy-nilly.”
If you’re in the process of still trying to figure out what curriculum to use for this upcoming school year or for future grades, then you might want to pop over to the Not Back to School Blog–Hop. I’m learning about so many resources and school material I never knew about. I have seen a few items that I will be adding to our homeschool registry.
Jennifer,
I am loving this idea. I have a wish list going already. I never thought to ask for school supplies. I do have things like my son wants to learn guitar can you help us out with buying one or my daughter wants to take ballet would you help with paying for classes?
I was wondering if the Not back to school blog hop was going to happen this year. I will have to check it out.
You know this is a fantastic idea! I too find myself telling people oh we are fine then wondering if I can stretch my budget to purchase something else. Next year I plan to go about my spending for curriculum completely different. This year I make a rookie mistake I purchased so much that I am not sure if I like. Then I find myself purchasing other things to supplement. Anyway I will make my list and keep it on the fridge where I can see it so the next time someone ask I will be ready with a response.
What a smart way to get the tools your kids need for their education instead of mindless junk that will be tossed not long after the wrapping paper is torn off. Some other great ideas for your registry are memberships to museums, zoo, Homeschool association, online homeschool expos, etc, as well as subscriptions to magazines and online educational resources.
I guess they do that because the tax payers in that county fund the libraries so they decided that users from other areas should have to pay. I have used the Memphis library system since I was a child (still have my mom’s name on my account! LOL ) and when I lived in Memphis each of my children had their own library card. When we moved into another county near Memphis and I had to pay a membership fee per card, we dropped their cards and made mine an “educators” card so I can borrow more books. My kids do have cards for the library in our county and they love to go there. I continue using the Memphis system because they have more that I need and I can reserve my books online and pick them all up at one branch. That makes my life easier.
As a busy homeschool mom who has a home daycare runs a virtual assistance business and does a lot of volunteer work, anything that saves me a little time is good. 
Update! I made a list this year and when my mom asked what I needed for the year I pulled the list off the fridge and gave it to her. I did not give it to her expecting her to purchase everthing on the list. However she purchased every single item on the list. What a blessing. I still did over purchase somewhat this year because I tweaked my year some but I spent a lot less and next year it will be even less.
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