Homeschool Preschool on a Budget

Union County Smart Start Resource Center = A Homeschooler's (with no Education degree or expirence) Dream! A friend of mine who does in-home daycare/preschool told me about this great place! I've nicknamed it the "Toy Library" for my kids. That describes what it offers...you can check out educational toys for a 2 week period. There is an annual fee of $20, but that is well worth it. Here is what I got on my visit yesterdy: -Melissa and Doug Lacing Cards -Sorting Shapes Apron -Snap Lock Beads -98 turtles for sorting and counting -Books about your body, going to the dentist, and seasons (all topics that are a part of our next few weeks Letter Of the Week curriculum) -Lakeshore Learning Flapjack Math -Little People Pirate Ship -Bean Bags -Bible Story books w/ Little People-like figures (Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and Jesus Loves the Little Children) Those items themselves would have cost well over $100. But I can "rent" them for a 2 week period, and then go and get other things! They have tons of Lakeshore Learning and Melissa and Doug resources. Those are both "hot" (and expensive) items used in most preschools. So they don't have to "miss out" on not going to an out-of-the-home preschool. We can get access to tons of educational toys w/o having to buy them! Thank you Union County, NC!! In addition to it being a great cost-savings for me, it's also a great creativity motivator for this BA Business degree holder! ha! :-) I never thought I would homeschool my kids! and we just taking it one year at a time and praying Levi is as receptive to learning from Mommy as Wyatt is! I love Confession of a Homeschooler, but she seems to have quite a bigger budget for her homsechool resources than we do. So I view her ideas and then request the books she recommends from my library, and look for the manipulatives at the Resource Center! I also add certain books to my "cart" on Amazon.com and save them for later! I recently started using something called Swagbucks (heard about it from other blogging/money saving friends). Instead of using Google or Yahoo for my search engine, when looking up things like "how do you know if it's a concussion"...but intead of those sites, I use the Swagbucks toolbar to type in what I want to search. It randomly gives "points" for searching. And when you get enough points you can redeem them for gift cards to Starbucks or Amazon, and lots more! and it's legit. I have already redeemed 2 gift cards! If you want to earn free stuff too, sign up! and if you sign up w/ my referral , I would get some points too. But even if you don't sign up under me, just sign up. I mean for NOTHING you get free stuff from Amazon or Starbucks! this post is getting long! Will share more book recommendations later! here's a pic of Levi sorting uncooked black beans to keep him busy while I was cooking. Yes, a mess was made, but well worth my uninterrupted 20 min!!