Homeschool Classifieds

Buying and Selling Used Homeschool Curriculum

Because many homeschooling families are single-income households, purchasing curriculum can put a strain on the budget. Homeschoolers have a reputation for being frugal. There are many ways to save money on homeschool curriculum. Two of the most common are buying used curriculum and selling your gently-used books and supplies to fund purchases for the upcoming school year. 

What to Know Before You Sell Homeschool Curriculum

One thing that is important to know before you sell used homeschool curriculum is that many items are protected by copyright laws. Most teacher’s manuals and non-consumable students books can be resold.

However, it is usually a violation of the publisher’s copyright to sell consumable texts, such as student workbooks. These are intended to be used – or consumed – by one student. Making copies of the pages, having your student write the answers on paper, or other methods of keeping the textbook unused for the purpose of reselling it is a violation of copyright. Some CD-ROMs are also protected by copyright laws and are not intended for resale.

Used Homeschool Curriculum Sales

Many homeschool support groups offer an annual used curriculum sale. Some are set up flea market style with each family pricing their own items and renting a table for display. These may be free for shoppers or there may be admission fee to cover the cost of the facility rental

Some larger groups hosts sales that are set up similar to a consignment sale. Each seller has a number. They mark their used curriculum with their number and the price before dropping off the items. The organizers then group everyone’s curriculum together by subject and track the sales of each consignor. Unsold items can be picked up after the sale or donated. Sellers usually receive payments by mail within a week or two after the sale closes.

Where to Buy and Sell Used Homeschool Curriculum Online

If your local support group doesn’t host a used curriculum sale or you don’t have an active support group, there are several online options for buying and selling used homeschool books and supplies. 

Ebay is a popular source for selling homeschooling curriculum, but it's not always the best source for buyers since the items go to the highest bidder. There are several online resources for selling homeschool curriculum flea market style - meaning that the price is listed by the seller and no bidding is involved. 

Check into these popular, free-to-use sites for buying and selling used homeschool curriculum:

Homeschool Classifieds.com

HomeschoolClassifieds.com is a large site for buying and selling new and used homeschool materials. It's also useful for finding and announcing homeschool groups, activities, and events.

Features include:

• Users manage their own "For sale" and "Wanted" lists
• Renew, reprice, or remove items instantly
• Find by category, grade, or title/publisher
• Search by keyword
• Items include price, condition and shipping information
• Reputation system for buyer/seller protection

The Well-Trained Minds Forum Classifieds

The Well Trained Minds site has a classified section on their forum. You must be an active, registered user of the site with at least 50 posts in the forum in order to list items for sale.
Features include:

• Registered users can list used books on the For Sale board
• Users can post books they're searching for on the Want to Buy board
• A Swap and Trade board is available
• No dealer posts are allowed
• Free to list homeschool classifieds

Vegsource Homeschool

Vegsource is a website and forum primarily for vegetarians, but they also feature an active, popular buy and sell forum for used homeschool curriculum. 

Features include:

• Separate buy and sell boards broken down by grade level
• Users must create a user name, but the boards are free to use
• All transactions are conducted through private email, so a valid email address must be included with each post
• Only 3 posts per day are allowed, but multiple items can be listed in each post
• Paid dealers are allowed to post

Secular Swap Forum

SecularHomeschoolers.com features a forum with buy, sell, and swap pages. Only registered site members are allowed to post.

Features include:

• Free to list and sell your items
• Only secular homeschool materials are allowed
• Most items include photos and all include prices

Aussie Homeschool Classified Ads

Aussie Homeschool is a free online community for Australian homeschool parents.

Features include:

• Free registration is required to use the site
• Users may buy and sell resources

Wherever you choose to buy and sell, remember that on most forums and free sites, all transactions are handled privately between the buyer and the seller. Therefore, you should choose the sites you use carefully and do some investigating to ensure that there haven't been complaints about a particular seller.

Updated by Kris Bales