I bet you had no idea how cheap I really am, did you?

Sarah, at Ordinary Days, asked some questions of her home-schooling readers recently and one in particular caught my eye. One of the things she worried about, before beginning to home school her boys, was being able to afford curriculum. So I thought I'd do a post detailing our curriculum this year and give you a taste of just how cheap it can be to home school, if you know where to look.

As a caveat, let me say that you certainly can spend a bundle on curriculum if you are determined to choose one publisher and buy all their stuff brand-new and in every subject. I refuse to conform to normalcy in that manner and insist on cherry-picking my way through the wilds of home school publishing and buying everything possible second-hand or begging, borrowing or stealing (not really, at least I haven't resorted to that yet) it from friends, relatives and neighbors.

Sofi is in second grade, mostly, this year. I say "mostly", because in a few subjects she's doing third grade material, or somewhere in between second and third, and she's reading at a sixth grade level. I know. :) That's my girl!

So here are the subjects she's studying, the curriculum for each, the price we paid and the place we bought/found it:

Math: Saxon (grade 3) $33 Ebay (includes Teacher's edition, workbook and materials)
History: The Story of the World (Modern Times) $33 Amazon (include textbook and workbook.
Latin: Prima Latina $14 Amazon
English: Reading through the Newberry list-- paperbacks at $2.50/ea from GV Bookfair. We've bought five so far. Pretty sure that will last us all semester.
Grammer: Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind (grade 2) $10 Ebay (bought it last year-- includes 1st and 2nd grade in the same textbook)
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears (grade 2) $2.75 Ebay
Science: just doing the co-op class this semester
Geography: Geography Songs (world geography) $9 Amazon (mp3 download)

Grand Total: $114.25

Not bad for an entire year of school! Beats private school, that's for sure :) And the majority of the curriculum listed above is non-consumable, which means we'll be using it for Judah, too, when the time comes.

I'd love to see lists from you other home school moms to compare, and also get a peek at what's on all y'all's school bookshelves this year!