Any other curriculum junkies out there?

[Canada_Mom]

How do you sort through all the great curriculum (and super advice from these boards) and just settle on one thing for each dc?? Anybody else like me just LOVE shopping for curriculum?- and buying!! ahhhh. I end up buying tons, loving it, using it- and probably overwhelming my poor dd in the process!

Now I've got one in preschool too and it's even harder to not want to buy this science workbook or this craft idea book.

Am I the only one? What to do??

[AudreyTN]

I hear ya... lack of money helps :rolleyes:

[GVA]

Seriously, when money wasn't as much an issue (I guess it's always been an issue for us to some extent), I used to wait a month before buying anything and I never bought more than a year ahead. A homeschool friend who was a missionary and then a widow gave me that advice.

I also don't change things unless they really aren't working well. The latest and greatest may not be an improvement at all.

[MelodyInTx]

I LOVE looking at different curriculum. I go to the local homeschool store often. I enjoy looking and buying.

[Jeanne in MN]

I love books and curriculum shopping too! I try very hard to manage the money carefully, though and do not buy impulsively. What I buy I have been researching for months or years. I read reviews, ask quiestions, pay close attention at the MACHE conference for current and for the future, see if anyone I know has it to peruse, scour the ILL for whatever curriculum they might have or related books I'm looking for so I can see it first hand. I truly spend hours and hours researching until I'm certain it's what I want. Very, very seldom have I not liked what I got. Thankfully I enjoy researching this kind of thing!

[AudreyTN]

I used to wait a month before buying anything and I never bought more than a year ahead.

I pretty much follow the same kind of rule... EXCEPT (there's always an exception, right?;)) if I find it used and it's an AWESOME deal!!

That's another thing. I don't have a place where I can thumb through homeschool books, so usually I'll buy used Teacher Guides to see if I actually like it... if not, I resell it.

Another thing that I forgot about (where is my mind:confused:) I keep a wish list at Rainbow Resource. I look at it over a few weeks... and stuff gets dropped.

[kalanamak]

I have a list of everything I'm looking for and I only get something for more than a year ahead CHEAP. I've found some real deals. Digging through goodwill isn't ritzy, but I feel so lucky when I come home with haul.
Any time I have a real itch, I'll scratch around amazon or craigslist for *just* exactly what I want, settling for a reasonable price and *just* what I want.

This is my inexpensive way of dealing with junkihood.

[Ann in IA]

The first year is always the worst! :p
But even in my 3rd yr I'm still a browser and pick up waaayy more than we'll ever need/use.

I thank my lucky stars for thrift stores, used curriculum boards, and a local used curr homeschool store. I pick up so much for less than $1 or so that it's worth it to me to buy and see what I think about it. I purge 2x per yr and resell to other hsers or donate it. I figure I come pretty close to breaking even most of the time so it doesn't break the bank.

I do buy new sometimes (love that rainbow Resource!) but only after major amts of research. But that's part of the fun for me.

I figure some people collect trinkets or things that can't be used. I collect things that my kids can learn from....not such a bad hobby :cool:

[ArwenA]

I'm a junkie!:D
I've found that thinking about my kids has helped. I'm not them so I can't know exactly what they want but if I think of their learning styles, their strengths and weaknesses I can get a fairly good sense of what would work best for them.

[melissel]

Ugh, totally. Once I've decided on a curriculum for whatever subject, I'm no longer allowed on the curriculum board here (or the sale and swap board, or Vegsource, or TheHomeschoolLibrary, etc.) until the first stuff is truly not working for us anymore. Seriously. I will ALWAYS find something I want.

[shanmar]

Why do you think I am opening a curriculum bookstore?!!!!!

Actually, I've never gone completely crazy actually purchasing it, but I sure do like to window shop.

Now that I can buy everything I can find, because somebody is *going to buy it* I am like a kid in a candy store. And I can finally justify to my dh those hours and hours I spent online looking at it.

[umarider]

I found a friend who is also a junkie... as luck would have it, our kids are the same ages. So we can share stuff and only buy half as much! Or so the theory goes! (Doesn't help when she calls me to let me know that she's at the Scholastic Book Fair and how they've just gotten a shipment in and there's LOTS more stuff than when we'd been there together a couple of days prior!!!! Needless to say, I was at the warehouse within half an hour!)

[Faline]

Ohh--me, me! A serious curriculum junkie here! But right now I am actually taking a break from *looking* all the time, and just concentrating on using what we have now. Yes, really...I am!:D

To be honest, I feel better about focusing that time/energy on actual schooling, and I am finding myself enjoying this break from planning, planning, always planning. Of course, I am about to start planning for next year, so..here we go again!;)

[Bee]

If it worked well for oldest dd then I re-use it with younger child.I research and make lists.I do most of my buying in the Spring.I can make nearly anything work for us in some way and if I can't,I give it away.Mostly I just stopped worrying about what was supposed to be best and now I try to use what works for my children and me.

[Baseballmom]

I have been homeschooling for 8 years and I am still a curriculum junkie. I really want to open up a homeschool store too, but I can't seem to find the time (maybe someday.) I am doing better, using what I have until we finish it, but then I just have to look for something different. I think my kids would benefit better from just staying with one thing. We have jumped around so much that I feel they have huge holes.

[Andie]

My name is Andrea, and I'm a (recovering) curricaholic.

It's been just two days since my last purchase, BUT! that followed a three month fast from any buying, and the child had finished the previous course.

I'm sending off a big box to The Book Samaritan (http://www.booksamaritan.com/) tomorrow, because I will never in a hundred years have the opportunity to use all. this. stuff. I've gathered and collected (and probably hoarded).

I've written out a plan, found the things that plug in to make that plan work, and I'm using them without always looking for *absolutely positively perfect*. There is probably something better out there, but at some point, good enough simply has to be good enough.

[Night Elf]

I used to be a curriculum junkie. I still have a tendency towards doing it but am much better about controlling it. The thing that helped me most was choosing a curriculum that has nearly everything included, i.e. box curriculum. When I was shopping for each subject, I had an excuse to look for and buy many things. It was also much easier to drop something that bored us and find something new and exciting.

I have been currently struggling with my dd9's program. I chose Sonlight for her knowing it would be a light year. Unfortunately, I underestimated just how light it would be. The Core is great but the LA is just super easy. I have a few boxes of curiculum and pulled out a couple more things to add to her program. But I'll confess I've been curriculum shopping. My DH nipped that in the bud quickly when he found out though. I was just about ready to buy a whole new curriculum to add to what we're doing. It's so easy for me to fall back into the habit of hunting & buying. I'm going to focus on what we have and hope that the next program she gets, whether it's Sonlight Core 3 or K12, is enough for her so I don't have to think about curriculum anymore!

[sweetTN]

Books have always been a passion, so homeschooling just fuels the fire! Thank heavens for thrift stores, libraries, and the very understanding lady at the local homeschool store who gets worried if I don't show up to "browse" on a regular basis.:)_________________________

Gwendolyn

wife of 29 years
mother of 3 grown (ds, ds, dd) and 1 dd (8 yrs)

[Stacey in MA]

I am a little bit.... With me it's more about finding one set of books, or style, or author, or publisher that I LOVE, and then going nuts buying all that I can in that category!

But what stopped me lately is simply time. I don't have TIME to shop, and I don't have TIME to get through stuff we have (which I do like).

It is easy for me to do it though - go shopping-nuts - b/c I have 4 kids (w/ only the older 2 officially "schooling"), and I always think "oh, the younger ones will use it if I don't get to it with the olders!".

Funny thing is, I am NOT a home-library person! I hate owning "reading" books - I prefer using them from the library. But I LOVE having curricula and reference books around. Weird, huh?

Anyway, keep yourself busy and your (and your kids) schedule full, and you will have less reason to go out looking (and fill that obsessive shopping nerve!) hee hee! Good luck!

- Stacey in MA

[chiguirre]

Being a curriculum junkie has served me well this year with ds's reading. Just when we hit a wall with one curriculum, we can pick up another and move forward. We started with LLATL and got through blends, then we did a bit of ETC and Bob, picked up Calvert 1 which helped a lot with fluency. Now we've just started Pathways pre-primer and his fluency has improved a lot in a week. Sometimes having a lot of stuff on hand is a GOOD thing.

OTOH, we have stuck with R&S 1 for math and haven't strayed to any other curriculum this year. After using 5 different things last year, we finally found the one that works for us!

[Jenny in Atl]

Ow, ow!! Me... I am :eek:
Things are better now since a fellow CJ friend of mine moved across the country. ;)
Can we start a recovery group for this?

[prairiegirl]

I am in my fourth year of hsing and I still have a serious problem with buying curriculum, books and supplemental things. I thought it would be over after my first year. Uh-uh. The problem is alive and well. I try waiting a month or so before I purchase but then I usually find more books in that month and end up adding it to my order. :D

One thing about my addiction, though, when I need a book, I can just go down to the school room. I don't have to wait to order it from the library. That's the nice part of it.

Julia
mom of 3(8,7,5)

[Lady Katherine]

Um... ALL of us?? :D

[amyable]

Serious curriculum junkie, but also a serious declutterer/simple living wanna be. It's like there's a constant war in my brain - buy the books! Don't buy the books! Buy the books! LOL :o

[Shaner]

Serious junkie - so many options, lots of great posts and it seems theres something for everyone! DW is always concerned when we get another UPS package...:rolleyes:

[GLOWAcademy]

I hear ya... lack of money helps :rolleyes:


I hear ya on that one.Audry:)

[Rich with Kids]

I, too, am a junkie. I fell off the wagon just yesterday and purchased JAG, AG, SOS Spanish, HWOT and Jump In. I just abandoned CW 'cause I'm not smart enuff fer it. http://easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-confused-smileys-304.gif (http://easyfreesmileys.com/)

[Krista in LA]

And I have shelves full of unused books to show for it. I love them all which is why I can't seem to part with them. I just don't have the time or energy to use them all and well, it would be overkill for my poor kids if I tried. Someday I will begin to part with some of it. As my younger one outgrows things, I will part with them, used or not. Of course there are some exceptions like SOTW books which I will probably keep forever.

The other day I even took home some school literature textbooks that the library was giving away. My ds likes reading the ones at his level just for fun and the jr and sr high ones actually had some decent selections in them. I will never use them for school though, I just know it.

[King Alfred Academy]

I love researching and buying curriculum. Now if I would only use it :p!
I have no advice except to sell what you don't use so you can buy more!:D