10 Obvious Reasons to Use Digital Homeschool Curriculum

I’ll be honest. I love real, paper books. I have shelves and shelves of them.

I’m always on the hunt at thrift stores and yard sales for items to add as supplementary material to our homeschool.

Why, when I’m so partial to hard copy books, have I also fallen in love with digital homeschool curriculum?

 Here are 10 great reasons to use digital homeschool curriculum:

 

1. It’s cheaper than books.

Because the publisher is not putting forth the cost of printing and shipping the curriculum, they can offer it digitally at much lower prices.  Anything that saves money is a win in this household!

(Speaking of lower prices, if you shop the Build Your Bundle sale this week, the prices are discounted even more.  I’m talking up to 95% off!)

 

2. It saves space.

I just purchased 2 more bookcases for my school room.  We live in a tiny house.  I could purge things from my collection, but I only purchase things in the first place that are hard to find and valuable enough for me to keep them in my house.  Buying additional curriculum means I have to find a place to put it, but if I buy curriculum in digital format, I can keep buying those hard to find books and leave the other curriculum off my shelves.

 

3. Use it immediately after purchase.

When I have those “I really need to start my child on a new writing project…today!” moments, I can just download and get him started immediately.  No need for me to try to come up with something while I’m waiting for physical books to ship.

 

4. Take it anywhere.

Post office, bank, grocery store – we all have places we have to go sometimes.  Rather than interrupting your homeschool day because you don’t want to drag your expensive books along in the car, you can just grab the tablet and continue on with your lessons while you run errands.

 

5. Print only what you need.

Want to skip a lesson you feel is unnecessary?  Just don’t print those pages.

 

6. Use for multiple children.

This is perhaps my favorite reason for using digital curriculum.  You need to double check the copyright permissions first, but most digital curriculum will allow you to print as many copies as you need for home use.  This saves SO much money instead of buying new consumables for every child.

 

7. Easy to organize.

When I pick up curriculum at thrift stores or have things given to me, they go in a box and then it’s hard to find what I need when I need it.  I have even purchased things again because I could not find the first copy.  With digital files, I can keep them stored neatly in files on my computer and they’re exactly where I left them.  No digging around in the attic necessary!

 

8. Don’t worry about it getting torn up.

My kids are very…shall we say…childish?  They don’t always treat books with as much respect as I would like them to.  And then there are the times I get up to go to the bathroom and the two-year-old attacks my open teacher book with a pen.

With digital curriculum I can easily print replacement pages and I don’t have to hyperventilate when I see a child carrying a glass of milk into the school room and set it down next to their work.

 

9. Take advantage of free curriculum and living books.

There are so many free supplementary activities floating around in blog land, as well as old and out-of-print living books that we can load onto our tablets.  There are just so many resources to take advantage of!

 

10. We’re more likely to make use of interactive resources.

When a hard-copy curriculum has a link to a game or video for further learning, I’ll be honest and say that most of the time I do not look it up and take advantage of it.  (Because – you know – we’re 10 whole steps away from the computer at the school table!)  But if we’re already on the computer or tablet doing a lesson, we can just click it and begin watching the video or playing the game right away.

 

As you can see, there are some obvious reasons that even the most nerdy of book-loving nerds can still find room in their heart for digital curriculum as well.

What’s your favorite?

 

Have you browsed the Build Your Bundle sale yet?  There is a boatload of digital curriculum available for up to 95% off!  This is only available through May 14, so now is a great time to prepare for next school year or for summer learning while you can get materials at such a discount!

If you need help choosing appropriate materials for your students (there’s a lot to look at!) I’m happy to be your personal shopping assistant.  Just shoot me an email or post your needs in the Christian Homeschoolers Facebook group and I’ll be waiting to help you!