I Don't Believe in Paying Retail

One of the big benefits for us when we decided to homeschool was the fact that we would be saving a bundle of money in tuition bills. Ella was in a private Christian school before we started homeschooling and it was a good size bill every month. Money wasn't the biggest factor in our decision to homeschool, but it was definitely an x in the equation.

However, once we decided to jump in to the homeschooling pool, I quickly discovered that you can spend a lot of money on homeschool stuff. A lot. The good news with the growing homeschool movement is that there is a huge choice of homeschooling resources available. In a whole range of prices. So, being the cheap...uh, I mean...budget-conscious mom that I am, I immediately started looking for discounts, freebies and ways to save money on homeschool curriculum, resources and manipulatives.

These are some of the sites that I have found to be very helpful. There are certainly many, many more thrifty resources out there, so feel free to send some suggestions in the comments.

Christian Book Distributors I love this site. Their prices are usually the lowest to be found for new books, curriculum or dvd's. And they carry a lot of things amazon.com doesn't carry. Their shipping can be pricey so it's worth it to sign up for their catalog because they will occasionally include free shipping coupons in the catalogs.

Homeschool Classifieds Love, love, LOVE this site. Did I mention that I love it? Cause I do. This is a site where homeschoolers can post new or used curriculum or supplies for sale. They have an excellent search feature so you can easily find just what you need. The prices for used items are usually really good, but some of the new items can be found cheaper at Christian Book Distributors so you want to compare prices. And most of the sellers include shipping in their prices so that's a bonus. I've bought numerous used books and curriculum through sellers listed here and every transaction has been great. I've even sold some used items and that was great too.

ABC Teach has a ridiculous amount of resources for just about anything you can think of. This is a paid site so you have to become a member to get access to everything.

There are a ton of free resource websites too. I get a lot of Ella's math worksheets from The Teacher's Cafe. They have a large selection of free games, resources, worksheets and more in a wide range of subjects from Preschool all the way to High School.

So that's just a snippet of money saving options. Please, please, please send me your best money saving tips and resources in the comments.