One of the best aspects of being a homeschooling mom is buying homeschool curriculum. Can I get an Amen? I always have so much fun perusing the homeschool catalogs and filling my online shopping carts. I get a thrill when that box of fresh new books arrives on my doorstep. Who’s with me?
Yes, I am a curriculum junkie.
Nonetheless, after 15 years of homeschool curriculum buying, I have narrowed down my list of the best places to purchase curriculum based on price, customer service, and speed of delivery.
Here are my top choices for where to buy homeschool curriculum.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Amazon
This is sort of a no brainer. Amazon is the largest online book store in the world. Remember way back when Amazon only sold books?! Boy, have times changed. Now you can purchase not just your homeschool textbooks and workbooks, but also school supplies, office supplies, craft supplies, and even dissection supplies for science lessons.
For me, there are pros and cons to buying homeschool curriculum on Amazon, though.
Far and away the greatest benefits of shopping on Amazon are the quick delivery (2-day free delivery with an Amazon Prime membership), and their vast selection of merchandise.
On the other hand, it can be difficult to browse on Amazon because of their huge selection. If you know what you want, you can just search for it by name. Easy peasy. Throw it in your cart and you’re done. But, if you’re not quite sure what you want, the vast catalog of merchandise can be hard to sift through.
Typically their prices are on par with what you would pay elsewhere and sometimes they are even cheaper than other online stores. I also like that so many of their listings have a “Closer Look” feature allowing you to see several pages inside the book.
Christianbook.com
Full disclosure: Christianbook.com is far and away my favorite place to buy homeschool curriculum. Let me tell you why.
One, their prices are almost always the cheapest on the internet. Of course, that is not always the case, but close enough to absolute for me.
Two, they almost always have sales or promotions going on. Christianbook.com runs homeschool specific sales throughout the year, with a massive sale every summer. That is definitely the time to stock up. If a homeschool specific sale is not going on when you need it, there will probably be a free shipping offer going on. And don’t miss their Homeschool Discount section which sells homeschool books and supplies at a deep discount year-round.
Three, (and this is a biggy for me) they make finding what you need so, so, so very easy! You can see their homeschool page here at Christianbook.com . Notice that sidebar on the left? You can browse based on all sorts of criteria. Search by grade level, subject, formats, publishers, and more. You can add as many qualifiers as you want. And almost every specific listing has a very thorough preview for you to see exactly what is in the book or curriculum you are looking at.
Rainbow Resource Center
Rainbow Resource Center is a favorite among the homeschooling community. They almost always have a booth at all the big homeschool conventions. They are a smaller company, thus their customer service is second to none, making them a great option when buying homeschool curriculum.
And their prices? Some of the lowest you will find anywhere. To give you an idea, I have done a comparison shop for you. How fun is that?! Here’s what I found:
One of my favorite elementary school curricula is A Reason for Handwriting. In this case, I looked at Book A in the series. Rainbow Resource Center and Christianbook.com both sell this workbook for $15.95. Amazon, on the other hand, sells new copies starting at $17.95 (though there are third parties selling used copies for about $11).
As you can see, the proof of savings is real.
Though Rainbow Resource Center scores high on customer service and price, their selection is not quite as large as Amazon or Christianbook. That being said, for a small company, they do offer a lot!
Facebook Groups
Another great place to buy homeschool curriculum is on Facebook. You might have some luck using the Facebook Marketplace, but I would recommend searching for Facebook Groups where homeschoolers buy, sell, and trade used curricula among themselves.
Obviously, this can be hit or miss in terms of selection, price, and customer service, but most group admins have strict rules for how to conduct business in the group.
eBay
I have bought and sold homeschool curricula on eBay off and on for years. If you don’t mind buying used, and sometimes somewhat ratty books, I highly recommend eBay.
Like Facebook groups, selection, cost, and customer service are hit or miss. But, it is actually very easy to browse for homeschool curricula on eBay. When you do a general “Homeschool” search on eBay, you can see on the left of the page there is a menu to narrow down your search by subject, grade, etc. If you are viewing this on a phone, you can simply open “filter” in the upper right-hand corner to access more search parameters.
Be sure to also check out these posts:
The Best Homeschool Curriculum for Elementary School
The Best Homeschool Curriculum for Middle School
Productive Homeschooling
When I got tired of buying homeschool curriculum (because, yes, that does happen), I stumbled upon Productive Homeschooling notebook pages. Our homeschool was transformed forever!
With a lifetime membership to Productive Homeschooling you get access to thousands of notebooking pages and the ProSchool Page Generator that lets you create your own custom pages to print.
How did this transform our homeschool? Well, it meant we were no longer bound to textbooks. Instead, my kids can read any book and use notebooking pages for their assignments. It has also made creating our own unit studies easier, because notebooking pages provide a workbook of sorts to document what is being learned.
I paid less than $150 for a lifetime membership about 5 years ago and have MORE than gotten my money’s worth! Hands down the single best investment I’ve made in over 15 years of homeschooling!
Thrift Stores
Many people overlook thrift stores as a place to buy homeschool curriculum and supplies, but I often have luck at my local Goodwill or Habitat ReStore. Of course, I live in a very homeschool friendly area where our homeschool community is large. You would be amazed at how many people just donate their used textbooks to charity and thrift stores!
My town is also a college town, so I find a lot of college textbooks that are good to have on hand as reference books or books for further reading on a subject for my high school homeschoolers. The book section is also a great place to find DK picture books. What can I say? I love picture books.
Tip: I love to buy office and school supplies at thrift stores. We organize our homeschool lessons with three-ring binders and Goodwill ALWAYS has three-ringed binders on hand. They almost always have desk organizers, as well.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com
When buying homeschool curriculum, don’t forget about online options. Schoolhouse Teachers offers online curriculum that never requires physical textbooks. If your student likes to work on the computer, SchoolhouseTeachers.com cannot be beat!
What they offer: As of this writing, there are 425 online courses for Pre-K through High School, but that number is always increasing. They offer courses in all the basics (Reading, Writing, Math, History, Science) as well as Bible, Electives, Foreign Language, and so much more. You can check out their complete course list HERE.
How it works: for one low price your whole family gets access to the entire list of course offerings. Even you, the parent, can take a class if you want. One family membership buys your entire family access. Use only what courses you need.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com was a lifesaver for me when my oldest entered High School. There was NO WAY I was going to try to teach Chemistry! Back then, when I joined, there were only around 50 courses offered. Now, the possibilities and choices are vast.
Definitely worth the investment!
Homeschool Buyers Co-op
Homeschool Buyers Co-op is exactly as it sounds: a co-op, or buyer’s club for homeschoolers. They can offer deep discounts on popular curricula by using purchasing power to buy in bulk. I joined years ago and often find great deals. It is free to join, so there is no risk to you.
How it works: when you join they will send updates on new curricula for sale, or you can just peruse their offerings at any time. They don’t offer much in terms of a vast catalog of items, but they do have the best deals for what they do offer. Many times, what they sell is for a limited time only, but other items seem to always be on their list.
Homeschool Buyers Co-op also has excellent customer service, probably because, like Rainbow Resource Center, they are a small company.
Another bonus: Every time you buy from the Homeschool Buyers Co-op you earn SmartPoints that you can apply to your next purchase. And, they give you 100 free SmartPoints just for signing up! That’s a nice selling point! I have received a few items free from the co-op using my SmartPoints.
Local Homeschool Curriculum Sales
Local curriculum book sales are another great place to buy used homeschool books. Most of these sales are consignment sales or just huge garage sale type deals. Of course, selection and price will vary greatly, but I often find great deals.
Like most short term consignment sales, there’s a bit of shoving and positioning to get in the door first. (I always hate that! We homeschoolers are better than that!) I have had a ton of success selling my old curriculum this way, also. Best of both worlds… I make money off old curriculum, then turn around and use that money to buy new curriculum. Thrifty homeschooling at its best.
To find local curriculum sales check Facebook. If you haven’t already, search for Facebook groups in your area. In my town of around 100,000 people, we have a huge number of homeschoolers and, thus, more than a few local Facebook homeschool group boards.
If you are not on Facebook, you might have luck with a good old fashioned Google search. Also, ask around among your local homeschool friends. If you are extra industrious, you can organize your own curriculum sale yourself, or recruit a few homeschool moms to help out.
There you have it: my list of the best places to buy homeschool curriculum. What are your favorites? Please leave us a comment below.