Home Schooling Is Cheaper Than Public School

Being able to home school my girls was a choice I was glad I made. Not only could I see over their education and spend quality time with them, but it was far cheaper than public school. Back when I was a kid public school was free. Each child got their books, pencils, paper, art supplies, and many other school supplies for free. We’d even go on several field trips throughout the year, all for free as well. About the only thing my parents had to pay for was my lunch. Times have definitely changed, especially over the last decade. … Continue reading

How to Make Your Own Facepaint!

Forget the expensive and possibly toxic store bought face paint. You can make a rainbow of colors with homemade face paint for a fraction of the cost. Customize the facepaint for just your own trick or treaters, or create enough face paint for a party or a Halloween event. Ingredients: 1 tsp. cornstarch, 
1/2 tsp. water, 
1/2 tsp. cold cream, 
2 drops food coloring Repeat ingredients for each color of the homemade face paint that you need. The face paint goes a long way, but for multiple children, increase the recipe to make sure you have enough to go around. … Continue reading

3 Ways to Save Money on Best Sellers

Want to read the latest best seller or the book series that everyone is talking about but don’t want to actually pay the ridiculous cover prices on books? Here are three ways that you can still enjoy the latest books and still save money. Have a Personal Book Exchange Thanks to a friend of mine, I am now enjoying several books in a popular series. She lends me three or four of the books at a time. She is also welcome to borrow books from my personal collection as well. When borrowing books from a friend, especially well-loved books, it … Continue reading

Four Ways to Save Money on Children’s Clothing

According to cost of living tables, a family can spend anywhere between $50 and $90 per month per child to cloth him or her. I don’t think my family spends much more than that per year, or at least we try not to. The numbers go up from there for teens and adults. The one exception may be shoes, since the kids tend to go through several pairs in a year, and although I can get the cost of shoes down quite a bit, they have less pricing wiggle room than do other types of clothing. Outlet Pricing Yesterday we … Continue reading

School Supply Shopping

It’s that time of year—the time when all the school supplies are on sale. Pens! Pencils! Notebooks! Glue! It’s almost more than I can stand—I love all that stuff. It’s tempting to run around and put ten of everything in your cart, isn’t it? But for the most part, homeschoolers aren’t all that wealthy (why is that, anyway?) and we often need to shop wisely for the things we need. I encourage you to think about your family dynamics as you make your shopping list. Children who are homeschooled don’t have a daily need for backpacks and lunchboxes, so don’t … Continue reading

Back to School in July

We are in the middle of a heat wave here on the East Coast, with temperatures more than 100 degrees today. The kids are alternating between helping their father do some landscaping on his day off and running through a sprinkler set up on the driveway. It is definitely a scorcher. Meanwhile, I am in the house, preparing for back to school. Yes, that seems strange, and no, we don’t have a year around school here. But now is a good time to get started on back to school, because it helps to save money. Shortly after the Fourth of … Continue reading

Tips for Shopping at Amazon.com

Amazon.com is a frugal person’s paradise, especially when you are in the market for school books or Christmas presents. Their second-hand market is comparable to Ebay prices and if a sale does not go the way you think it should, Amazon.com is glad to run interference… unlike eBay. When there is an item I need to buy and did not pay full price I find that my search often ends at Amazon. From vitamins, to hair oils, to homeschool supplies, and electronics. I have even purchased dressy clothes and formal wear. You can’t go wrong with Amazon.com if you know … Continue reading

Scrapbooking Your Way Through History: Introduction and Materials You Need

This is our latest pet project and I must say that it has worked substantially better for me than has lapbooking. One reason is that everything goes into a binder. At our house, this makes it much easier to store and less inviting for the twin demolition team. Another reason is that the project is not dependent on a bunch of little books–which I find difficult to store without someone getting into them before the project is over. Since it’s a binder, we actually plan to add at least one page per time period, or people group that we study, … Continue reading

10 Reams of HP paper for only $7 shipped

Weren’t computers supposed to usher in a paperless age? Instead, I find myself with more paperwork than ever. Between printing out instructions and audit forms for mystery shopping, printing extra math problems for the children, and keeping hard copy records, we go through a decent amount of paper every month. That doesn’t even count what the kids are using for schoolwork, artwork, Elisha practicing his origami, or just doodling. I’m constantly picking up papers to toss, file, or send with DH to work. I wonder when, if ever, they’ll discover that Daddy’s special file at work for their drawings is … Continue reading