The Costly Curriculumn Question

I believe there are homeschoolers who like to look at curriculumn for their own home education and consider purchasing those that come with plans so it will help iron out their own home schedules. Teaching is one thing but planning those lessons is another. I know I'm one of them who has that trouble.

There is one question, out of very many, and we do worry about the cost of the curriculumn. Homeschoolers generally live on one steady income, so spending bundles of cash on curricular that may not suit the child is a precarious decision.

One consideration would be to look out for curricular with flexi-payment. It sounds a lot safer than churning out USD500 worth of books and stationery, only to find that the blackboard and chalk are what made the kids tick. There are some programmes with flexi-payment as their only option, but there is a down side to it. These are mostly web-based programmes, that function alot like games. NickJr Boost (USD7 per month) is one of them. The other two I have found are T4L (USD20 per month) and IXL (USD10 per month).

I believe there are plenty more, but these are just the few that have that monthly installment schemes and if you're not into web-based educational fun (not poking fun at anyone here, it's just what I call it) but are more into books and workbooks / exercises then you wouldn't want these programmes as your core curriculumn. But NickJr and T4L have worksheets and not to mention progress reports (which also simplify administrative matters), though bear in mind their curriculumn only caters to the younger age group.

But if your kids are in the younger age group (as catered to by these sites) it may be worth a look. You wouldn't end up risking a large payment, but may lose at the most USD20++ depending on how much you feel goes to waste. You can cancel anytime, so it's a less risker option when considering a home curriculumn. There are loads of upsides. I like learning on the net, and so do my kids - it's an inherent part of their generation, and boy, do they learn quickly.

Personally, I haven't subscribed to any online programme, but it certainly is in the works. I'm testing out some sites and charting the responses of the monsters. If it works out, I'll definitely subscribe to one of those sites with worksheets. I love worksheets and exercises, so it sorts of hits a balance. Of course they are still young and as ans when their learning styles become more apparent and their interests grow deeper in certain subjects and they show promise of consistently following a certain syllabus, and when I have more disposable income (inshaallah), I'll invest in those more complicated but comprehensive programmes. I would love one of those too.