Great Depression? OMG! Panic!

Image by SavageWave via Flickr

Let me start off by saying I love Glenn Beck!  You do not have to agree with me and that’s ok.  But so far, almost everything he’s said has come to pass.  I’ve heard on tv, his show and some others that have mentioned we could be heading for a depression worse than that of the Great Depression our grandparents and great-grandparents went through. 

What’s a girl to do?  At first thought this might be scary and you might be tempted to hit the panic button, but wait!  As Christians we’re not supposed to live in fear.  Just like the greatest generation was pulled through by God and faith, so we will be too. 

As a girly homeschooler how does this apply to me, to you and our homeschooling friends?  It means we are going to have to pull together to make it though if this does come our way.  We’re going to have to learn some news of doing old things.  You might have to lean on your friends more than ever and them leaning on you in return.  But isn’t that what friends and family are for?   Here are some things we can do to make it a little easier:

1. Share/swap curriculum with friends.
2. Buy used curriculum on the internet. (www.vegsource.com is awesome!)
3. Buy used curriculum at your local homeschool support group.
4. Buy/sell curriculum at consignment stores or start one within your homeschool group.
5. Pray for your curriculum providers/vendors that they make it through this tough time.
6. Do less expensive or free field trips.
7. Instead of buying books, use the library. (Unless you’re like me and can’t return a book to the library if your life depended on it!)
8. Loan (for a fee) out your curriculum if it’s in really good shape and current.
9. Use free or low-cost resources of the internet.
10. Do a one room schoolhouse and use curriculum that branches multiple grade levels.

These are just a few tips and I’m sure there will be more to come or you may have some that we can add to the list.  Ask your girlfriends what they’re doing to save money on homeschooling.  Homeschoolers are a resourceful bunch and I’m sure that if a massive depression comes our way we’ll hit it head strong and survive.  But, you don’t have to wait till a depression to use these tips.  I mean, if  you’ve been living at my house then you’d know that we’ve already been in a depression for the past year.  So, go ahead and start using these tips now.  A girl can never be too prepared!