I hate paying full-price for anything. I’m a bargain hunter extraordinaire. Because of that, I usually search for used curriculum. These are my favorite places to look online:
Paperbackswap – This site is actually for trading books, but you can buy credits for around $3 each. One book equals one credit.
Paperbackswap might not the best place for curriculum, but almost all of our literature and art books come from here. It’s always worth a look.
Homeschool Classifieds – This site allows you to list and sell curriculum for free. You can also create a wanted ad. Sellers sometimes search those before listing their items.
Homeschool Talk & Swap at VegSource – This site’s navigation is by grade level, which is harder for me to use. However, the search works pretty well, and this is a very active board.
Yahoo Groups – Join a group based on your location, favorite curriculum, or even educational philosophy. For instance, Spell to Write and Read, RightStart Math and BiblePrinciples each have a Yahoo Group.
What does that have to do with used curriculum? Most groups allow members to post books for sale. All of our major purchases have been made this way.
Please help me pinch even more pennies. What’s your favorite place to find used curriculum?
Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom says
August 11, 2009 at 8:59 amMy favorite book bargain place is bookmooch.com. Seriously, I have mooched some fantastic books. You give a book, paying the postage, and you get to mooch a book from anyone in the system. It is a book trading site. *Love it!*
You can check out my books: harmonyartmom
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Brenda says
August 11, 2009 at 1:45 pmVegsource has been one of my long time favorites. I wish the site loaded faster on the buy/sell/swap pages, but other then that, it’s great!
There is also a forum to buy and sell books on Our Lifestyle of Learning (http://www.ourlifestyleoflearning.com)
Renae says
August 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm@Barb,
I’ve heard of that site. It sounds a lot like PaperBackSwap. I’ll have to check into it.
Do they have a forum for homeschoolers like PaperBackSwap? Sometimes I’ve gotten 3 books for 1 credit because people list specials there.
@Brenda,
Oh, yes. Thank you for sharing. I need to join that group!
.-= Renae´s last blog ..The Light in the Shadows =-.
Brenda says
August 11, 2009 at 5:51 pmBarb,
How cool! Just signed up.
Bren
.-= Brenda´s last blog ..Have you heard about Eeboo? =-.
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
August 11, 2009 at 10:49 pmI got quite a few of the books we are using this year from PaperBackSwap as well. Since we are using Winter Promise, we needed a lot of novels and picture books.
Really though, it’s often probably cheaper to buy credits (I thought they were around $2.80 or so) than to pay to ship a book to swap. Or, maybe I just send out too many big books. LOL
.-= Angie @ Many Little Blessings´s last blog ..Easy, Beautiful, and Tasty "Ice" Ring for The Punch Bowl =-.
Emily says
August 13, 2009 at 7:35 amIn addition to the places you listed, I’ve also got lots of books for our curriculum from Half Price Books.
.-= Emily´s last blog ..The Curriculum Plan =-.
Sassafras says
August 14, 2009 at 10:35 pmIn addition to the ones you’ve listed, I found http://www.usedhomeschoolcurriculum.com/ which is a free site to list and buy used curriculum, books, and resources. Hope this helps.
.-= Sassafras´s last blog ..Getting Started….Choosing Curriculum =-.