I home schooled my kids all the way through high school and it was a GREAT experience for all of us. I am now a retired home schooling mom 🙂

Are you looking at beginning homeschooling or prepping for just in case you need to home school?? Either way there are lots of websites with free curriculum to download and buying used is the way to go. Ebay or homeschooling sites of programs you are interested in are a great place to start. Home schooling is something that requires a fair bit of planning for the long term and if you are just going to use it as Plan B then it's a lot of work and information to assemble. If that's the case I would simplify by keeping my eyes open for BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS. Buy books on different subjects that would be interesting to kids and start your own library. These will never be wasted. IMHO - school textbooks aren't worth much except for math - the rest are usually pretty dry and boring and of course there's the issue of truthful subject matter.

Look for homeschooling groups in your area and watch for home school sales - families trade or sell used curriculum a good prices.

Of course I think if you're interested at all you should look into home schooling your kids anyway 🙂 It was one of the best decisions we ever made. My kids are well rounded. My newly engaged daughter owns her own business and my son works with me on the farm. We did lots of practical hands on things that were prepping and homesteading related over the years so they both can cook, bake, handle animals,finances and power tools... ha ha - (that was a joke)

For what your child learns in each grade there are many lists available on the net - google is your friend. The problem with lists is that every child is different and trying to keep up if they are not developed in that area can cause mom and child to become stressed. It's not a race - trust me - they will learn!

If you have any other questions fire away and I will try to help.

I hit sites where I could download what I want for free, and I have some unconventional preps for it.

One, spray paint that turns a section of wall or board into a chalkboard.
Two, I have contact-paper covered sheets of notebook paper and (I use as much as I can over and over, so sit down...) chunks of pasteboard from cereal boxes and stuff of the sort that is pressed so the plain cardboard from inside is facing outward. I can use map pens, grease pencils and dry erase markers on them now for working problems (my post-grad stuff, too, although I usually need the big board 'cause I is jarhead) and keeping score during games.
Three, typical school books but also topic oriented books on husbandry, growing, planets, history, various cultures and religions, U.S. goverment and Constitution as well as international and historic governing methods, astrology, geology, and classic lit and some of the authors who changed the way historic and modern writing is perceived and promoted. Plus, music. Books about music and art to go with it, but I have tons of "fun" music as well as instrument instructionals (I pray we never need them; somebody might not make it through the learning) and some of the simpler instruments.

I discovered while reading Marco Polo as our bedtime and breakfast book that sometimes fiction is a great way to end up in a really good discussion with even little kids and the adults present about other facets: the trade routes, what's considered fair trade, the Crusades, the military organizations in play, how paper money used to work and how it works now, how maps change and why names change even when borders don't. I'm truthfully terrified of losing the internet and fast and easy answers. 🙂

Thanks ladies, some great ideas here.