Complete Curriculum

So over Christmas the kids received tablets from Santa. I'm looking more towards ebooks because they have their tablets. I came across Complete Curriculum.


First I know it's "secular" curriculum. All these years of homeschooling I've been using things that are Catholic/Christian based and over all I've been reasonably happy with my choices.  I could do what I have been doing and more, but I'm also looking at price.  What appeals to me about the Complete Curriculum you can use any 10 ebooks you want for $29.95 per calendar year.

The books they offer are just core subjects math, social studies, English  and science.  With two kids I could have age/grade material for them for a very cheap price.  I've heard that for the $29.95 fee you get access to the whole book, materials, but they are broken down into 180 lessons and each lesson is its own pdf file. So  for the math material, for example, I would have to download 180 different files to get the complete math book.  For an additional fee you can get the whole book, all the lessons, in ONE file.  Or you can just spend the money for the book, one file, without the membership fee. (Buying each book as one file cost more then the yearly membership fee).

I really don't have anything more to say about Complete Curriculum. I'm wondering if any of my readers have heard of it? Have used it? Or know someone that has? What are your thoughts?

Or do you know of other whole curriculum options that uses primary ebooks. I would want access to their books and teacher manuals/answer keys. I'm really interested in making their tablet more of a learning tool and not just a gadget to play angry birds or watch Netflix!

Ebooks

I've been looking around the net. I have been looking for resources and materials to use next school year. I'm always looking for ways to trim the budget without trimming the quality of the materials used.

One good way to trim the budget is Ebooks. I have access to netlibrary thanks to my local library. My local library has team up with netlibrary so I can check out all kinds of eb00k and eaudios for free. Perhaps your local library has a similar program. If NOT there is always Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is FREE to anyone, not only is it free but they have TONS of material available.

The only downside to this is that my kids DO NOT like ebook or eaudios. They do not like being tied down to the PC. They prefer book/paper. My husband said yeah it's the textile the touch of the material at times that makes the difference. That seem every plausible to me!!! He said I understand the need to cut cost, but I think books are worth it at times. How cool is that!!

Of course, I know many are thinking well just print the pages out. Well believe it or not it will cost us more money to print the material out then to just buy books. This is true for us because of the type of printer we have available to us.

I would consider the TOTAL cost of printing before deciding to go that route. The cost of ink and paper can add up quickly. I know people that have told me that the cost of printing can be more but at the same time they don't have the hundreds of dollars available at one time to just buy books all at once. So there are plus sides too...If you don't have large amount available at one time then printing as you go could be good, but in the end it could cost more. There are pros and cons for everything. What is good for you may not be good for someone else.

I wish my kids would be willing to read the material via the PC, but they just aren't there. (That would of course would be the cheapest route: just read it on the PC) They don't want that. I don't blame them but at the same time it still would be nice. Nice for us and our pocketbook. :) I guess I should be thankful that my kids prefer to be "unplugged" and thankful that I have the $100-$200 avaible at one sitting to buy all the materials I need.