Home School Tools

Use the Internet to find tools for homeschooling.

When considering homeschooling as an option, many parents worry about the cost. Many assume homeschooling will be expensive; however, it does not have to be costly. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, home-school parents spend about $400 to $599 per student annually. The Internet offers many free tools that allow home-schooling parents to keep these costs even lower.

Used Curriculum

Buy as many used materials as you can to lower the cost of home-schooling.

One way to keep the cost of home-schooling down is to purchase used text books. Often, used books are available for 50 percent of the cost of new materials. You can also make homeschooling more affordable by selling curricula your family no longer needs. HomeschoolClassifieds.com is where home-schooling families can buy and sell used curricula. It is free to join this site, which also has classified ads for home-schooling groups and events.

Math Enrichment

Resources on free websites can help improve your child's math comprehension.

The Internet offers a plethora of free math games for enrichment. Many games make children forget they are learning. PlayKidsGames.com offers a timed math-fact practice that allows kids to improve their speed in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Children or parents can select their skill level, the operation to practice and the time allowed per round. Upon completion of the round, children are given a summary that includes: average answer time, number of problems answered, and number of problems skipped. Parents can monitor progress by having students record this information.

Spelling and Vocabulary

Spelling can be easy and cheap for home-school students.

One resource for teaching spelling and vocabulary is VocabularyandSpellingCity.com. After signing up for free, parents can enter spelling and vocabulary lists and children can learn their words, play games to practice and take tests. Lists are archived, so if you are home-schooling more than one child, you can save lists for future use.

Keyboarding

Learn keyboarding for free.

Don't waste money purchasing a keyboarding curriculum. There are several free options on the Internet. For example, e-learningforkids.org offers a free keyboarding program for children 5 to 12. An interactive program takes children through learning parts of the computer, how the mouse works and how to sit while typing. Children can learn typing lessons while traveling through the bronze, silver and gold arenas earning medals and trophies as they go. With practice, your child can learn to type for free.

References

• National Home Education Research Institute: Homeschooling Across America
• HomeschoolClassifieds.com
• PlayKidsGames.com: Math Fact Practice
• Vocabulary and SpellingCity.com: SpellingCity
• e-learningforkids.org: Keyboarding Skills