Free Supplies for Homeschooling: Where to Get Materials Without Spending Much

New homeschool families tend to spend too much, too fast. The panic of having just taken responsibility for your child's education drives people to the educational supplies aisle, the curriculum fair, and the Amazon wishlist simultaneously. Three months later, half of it is untouched.

The good news is that most of what you actually need in the first months of homeschooling either costs very little or can be obtained for free. Here is where to look.

The Library — Your Most Underused Resource

Every homeschool family should have an active relationship with their local public library. In the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, library cards are free and give access to far more than books.

Most libraries offer:

• Physical books across every subject and age range. For a child in the deschooling transition phase, letting them wander the stacks and choose whatever interests them — graphic novels, nature guides, joke books, history, anything — is a genuinely useful activity.
• E-books and audiobooks via apps like OverDrive (Libby) or BorrowBox (UK), available with a library card at no cost.
• Digital magazine subscriptions — many UK and US libraries provide free access to platforms like PressReader, giving access to hundreds of magazines including educational titles.
• Museum and activity passes — a significant number of library systems partner with local museums, nature centres, and science facilities to offer free or discounted entry with a library card.
• Makerspace equipment — in larger urban libraries, 3D printers, sewing machines, laser cutters, and recording studios are sometimes available for free use.
• Interlibrary loan — if your library does not have a specific book, interlibrary loan can source it from another branch or library system at no charge.

Curriculum Swaps and Secondhand Materials

The homeschool community has a robust secondhand market. Curriculum that cost $150 new is regularly sold for $20–$40 after a family finishes with it. Sources include:

• Facebook Groups — search "homeschool curriculum swap" or "used homeschool curriculum" alongside your city or country. These groups are active and move materials quickly.
• eBay and Marketplace — particularly for complete boxed curriculum sets.
• Local co-op groups — many homeschool co-ops maintain a curriculum library or hold annual book sales.
• Curriculum fairs — regional homeschool conferences often include used curriculum sales at heavily discounted prices.

The catch is timing: do not buy secondhand curriculum during the transition period. You do not yet know your child's learning style. A complete Charlotte Mason set bought in week three may be the wrong fit entirely once you understand how your child actually learns.

Free Physical Supplies

Art supplies:

• Freecycle and local Buy Nothing groups — artists, teachers, and craft hobbyists regularly post unused supplies. Art materials, coloured pencils, canvases, and craft supplies come up frequently.
• Local schools end-of-year clearing — some schools donate surplus materials to community groups. It is worth contacting your local school's art department or office in late spring.
• Restaurant supply shops and scrap stores — in many cities, scrap stores or creative reuse centres collect industrial and commercial offcuts (fabric, foam, paper, cardboard) and sell them cheaply or give them away. These are excellent for craft and maker activities.
• Office surplus — businesses regularly donate unused office supplies. Paper, binders, folders, pens, and whiteboards often appear on Freecycle or workplace surplus sales.

Science and nature materials:

• Your backyard and neighbourhood — nature study costs nothing. A magnifying glass (often £1/$1 in discount shops), a notebook, and access to outside is a complete nature curriculum for young children.
• Charity shops / thrift stores — microscopes, magnets, measuring equipment, and basic science kits appear regularly in secondhand shops and sell for a fraction of retail.
• University and college surplus sales — institutions sometimes sell surplus lab equipment publicly.

Maths manipulatives:

Real physical manipulatives (base-ten blocks, fraction tiles, pattern blocks) are useful for children who learn concretely. They are also expensive at retail. Options:

• Buy Nothing groups and Freecycle — children grow out of manipulatives and often pass them on.
• DIY alternatives — dried beans, coins, and small household objects serve many of the same functions as commercial manipulatives. Fraction strips can be cut from paper.

Free Digital Curriculum (Worth Mentioning)

While physical supplies are the focus here, digital resources significantly reduce the materials budget:

• Khan Academy — free, comprehensive, self-paced across all core subjects
• BBC Bitesize (UK) — free, curriculum-aligned, particularly good for GCSE preparation
• CK-12 — free digital textbooks across science and maths
• Project Gutenberg — tens of thousands of out-of-copyright books available for free
• Librivox — free audiobook recordings of public domain books

A Note on When to Start Shopping

The best financial decision in the first year of homeschooling is to spend as little as possible until you understand your child's learning style. The transition period — whether that is six weeks or six months — is not the time to invest heavily in materials.

During the deschooling phase, the supplies you actually need are modest: access to the library, basic art materials, outdoor access, and time. The comprehensive curriculum, the manipulative sets, the science kits — those decisions are better made once you have seen how your child engages with the world outside of school.

If you are at the beginning of that transition and want a structured framework for navigating it before you start spending money on homeschool resources, the De-schooling Transition Protocol covers what to do — and what not to buy — in the first six weeks.