How to Afford Learning Resources for Your Kids

Whether your kids attend a traditional school, are homeschooled, or learn through another method, at some point, you may find yourself needing to purchase learning resources, such as textbooks, books, or other literary resources. While these things can be expensive, there are a few ways of making sure they will fit into your budget.

Saving Money and Working from Home

Saving money is important because it ensures you have enough money to cover resources like textbooks. Look for ways to lower your monthly expenses so you have more to put toward resources for the kids. One way of doing this is by refinancing your existing student loans into a new loan with the help of a private lender. An Earnest student loan refinance can save you quite a bit of money each month.

Working from home is a great way to continue bringing in an income while ensuring your kids are taken care of. This is ideal if your goal is to homeschool your kids. There are plenty of careers that homeschoolers can fit into their schedules. Freelancing is great because it gives you the flexibility of working around your kids’ schedules. Even a part time, remote job, such as being a virtual assistant, might give you some flexibility. To make your resources even more affordable, look for financial assistance. Depending on your income level, you might qualify for certain grants. Some state-specific organizations might offer this type of assistance, but you will want to check the requirements to see if you qualify.

Taking Advantage of Having a Big Family

If you have more than one child and they are fairly close in age, it might work to teach some things together. You could have children in close grades use the same literature or history books. And make sure that your older kids keep the books in good enough condition to use for younger children who can use them later. This can help build reading comprehension and also includes preventing older kids from writing the answers directly in the textbooks. Have them use a separate notebook for writing the answers out. This also saves wear on the book itself.

Look for Affordable Options

One of the most affordable options is borrowing the materials from friends. However, this is only a good option if you know your kids will take reasonably good care of the books. If they destroy them, like doodling all over the pages, you should be prepared to pay for a replacement. Buying pre-used material is another great option for saving money. Even if you don’t homeschool, you can look for homeschool classified ads.

Many parents on these online marketplaces are just looking to get rid of the materials so they can free up space for new items, so you can often find good prices. Not all learning materials have to be expensive, because there are some free curriculums out there. These are great for homeschoolers or parents looking for additional resources for their kids’ education.

The library is another great resource, but again, ensure your kids will keep the books in good condition.