Sunday, March 21, 2010

Curriculum fairs

On Saturday, I went to Homeschooling Works. It is a yearly thing for me. It is the local curriculum fair of us Michiganders. Since Hubs and I have have been buckling down in the budget, I needed to be smart in my purchases this year. Which meant I couldn't go and buy everything I saw that I think I might use sometime. :) I was going to buy what I needed first, and if there was any extra money, then I could buy stuff I wanted.

Well I go there early so I could go to the used book sale first. Since the only thing that I needed was Math U See Gamma, I was free to look at things I kinda needed, but it wouldn't kill me if I didn't get. Cuz if you order the math and they don't have it there, they'll ship it for free. So I could shop for other things knowing I can still get the math. So I made a B-line to the readers. Sassy wanted easy readers and The Boxcar children. Little Man NEVER wants books. So, there were no requests from him. :) He was gonna suffer with whatever I get him.


Well, I hit the jackpot in the used book sale. I bought 20 Boxcar Children, a book about Amelia Earhart, Ben Franklin and a couple of readers. I didn't get sucked into buying things I would never use. I know our local library has all of them, but I want them to be able to grab them and read them whenever they want. It's good to have a home library.

I also got Handwriting without tears Cursive for both of them. And a bunch of other informational books that they can either read or just look at the pictures. The knights/castle one is for Little Man. I also bought a multiplication wrap up for Little Man to use with his math this year. Gamma is all about multiplication, so I thought this would work perfectly.

At first, like every other time Little Man gets something new, he didn't like anything I bought, and told me I wasted my money. But I remained calm and today he told me that did think some of the things were cool. Now I'm not expecting my kids to get as excited as I do when I buy lots of books, but a simple thanks would be nice. Sassy was thrilled with her dot to dot coloring book and all the other books I got.

I love going to this book fair, not just because I get lots of wonderful books, but because I get to see lots of wonderful friends. Some of these people I see on FB, but not in person, and some of them I only see here. So it's kinda like a mini homeschool reunion. :) And the best part of this one, was that I actually had money left over!! That NEVER happens. (insert sheepish grin)

Our curriculum budget, this year, is $500. Since My Father's World is NEVER at Homeschooling Works, I didn't need the entire amount. So I had $200 to spend here, since MFW is about $300 for both kids. Like I said before, I was focused on what I needed. Since I have about $50 bucks left, I can buy a little LA workbook for Little man and a new science or board game for them both. Or I may have to order the addition and subtraction wrap ups instead of the games. After the reaction I got from the multiplication, I think that's what I need to do. :)YAY, more shopping!!!

I can't wait til next year.


5 comments:

Emily said...

Thanks for sharing the link on this. I hope to make it to the summer fair. Sounds great!!!!! Do you ever attend the INCH conference? It is in May this year....

Jen@Scrapingirl said...

We went to INCH last year, but we didn't wanna spend the money on it this year. It was fun. Hopefully next year we can again.

Lisa said...

Looks like you found some great buys! I can hardly wait for our homeschool convention next month. Do you purchase the basic or deluxe package in MFW?

Jen@Scrapingirl said...

I bought the deluxe for Adventures and ECC, but I don't think I'll do it for CTG. I'll never do the art or music activities. :)

LLJ said...

: )
I was there too!
I was the one with the glazed over look on my face! Oh, wait! I think everyone had that look! lol
I too brought home lots of wonderful books! I wish I could have found a better science option for one of my children though.
Nice to meet you, Jen.
Leanne