{"id":10727,"date":"2021-01-11T23:56:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T04:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparketh.com\/?p=10727"},"modified":"2021-01-28T11:10:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T16:10:01","slug":"is-homeschooling-too-expensive-8-ways-to-save-money-in-your-homeschool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparketh.com\/is-homeschooling-too-expensive-8-ways-to-save-money-in-your-homeschool\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Homeschooling Too Expensive? 8 Ways to Save Money in Your Homeschool."},"content":{"rendered":"

Is homeschooling too expensive?<\/em><\/p>\n

If you homeschool, this thought has likely crossed your mind. Maybe you’ve had trouble figuring out how you’re going to make this new school year fit into your family’s budget. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say something like, “I thought about homeschooling, but I can’t afford it.”\u00a0 Did it make you wonder if your lifestyle was too much for your wallet?<\/p>\n

Here are some of the reasons many people think<\/strong> that homeschooling is too expensive.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. With homeschooling, you have to pay for all the coursework, for all subjects, for all children. This is not cheap.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Many (not all) homeschooling parents have one parent who stays home, meaning that many homeschool families are single income.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. You’re already paying for public school with your taxes.\u00a0 Paying extra to homeschool when you have a “free option”\u00a0 may be considered a waste of money\/resources.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Cost of Homeschooling<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    It’s true that homeschooling has unique expenses, and it can be<\/em>\u00a0costly.<\/p>\n

    While the exact cost can vary immensely, the average homeschooling family will spend about $500 on curriculum and supplies (per year\/ per child) to homeschool. Many homeschooling families also spend more than this average on extracurricular activities, such as: art classes, sporting groups, and social clubs.<\/p>\n

    The time that parents spend with children is also part of the expense. After all, a qualified adult’s time is worth money, and no one is paying you to homeschool.<\/p>\n

    Therefore, on the surface, it may seem that these things make homeschooling a pricier option.<\/p>\n

    So I did some digging into the cost of homeschooling versus the cost of public\/private schooling, and I want to break down some numbers for you.<\/p>\n

    The Cost of Private and Public School<\/h2>\n

    For instance, those who choose private school (which arguably has some of the same benefits as homeschooling) will pay, on average, between $10,0000 – 15,000 a year per child, just for tuition<\/a>. This doesn’t even include uniforms, supplies, or special events\/school activities!<\/p>\n

    And while everyone knows that private school isn’t cheap, public school actually has many hidden costs, as well.<\/p>\n

    Parents with children in public school are expected to help stock the classroom with necessities and purchase school supplies for each student. Unlike in homeschooling, children from the same family aren’t able to share supplies, so parents are required to purchase all items for each child’s list.<\/p>\n

    Additionally, kids who are in public school often feel more pressure to keep up with the latest fashion trends (or are required to purchase uniforms) and tech.\u00a0 This all costs more than you might think.\u00a0 This year’s survey<\/a> found that the average American family planned to spend almost $700 to get their child everything deemed necessary for a new schoolyear. That’s for\u00a0public school —<\/em>“the free option.” Yikes!<\/p>\n

    Time is Money<\/b><\/h2>\n

    One of the main reasons that people assume that homeschooling is more expensive is because one parent in a homeschooling family often stays\u00a0 home during the day.<\/p>\n

    However,\u00a0\u00a0according to recent data,<\/a>\u00a01 in 5 parents stay home anyway, whether or they are homeschooling or not.\u00a0 If you take this percentage and apply it to ten households (each with two involved parents), it would indicate that 40% of such households have one stay at home parent.\u00a0One reason for this is that public and private school lets out between 2 and 3:30 p.m. in most places. Parents with young children often choose to stay home (or work part time) because a conventional 8-5 job wouldn’t allow them to be home when their children are.<\/p>\n

    (This would look different for single parents, but this is just to give you an idea).<\/p>\n

    It’s also unfair (and inaccurate) to assume that homeschooling parents can’t or don’t bring in any income.\u00a0 Homeschooling parents are not confined to teaching a typical 8-3 school day. Often, homeschooling takes less time than that because it is more personalized. Therefore, if a homeschooling parent needs (or wants) to maintain a remote, part-time or full-time job, they can often make a way to do so.<\/p>\n

    There are Many Ways to Save Money in Your Homeschool<\/h2>\n

    Ultimately, the conclusion that I reached when comparing costs and factoring in the above data was this: education your children can be pretty expensive, no matter how you do it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Furthermore, while homeschooling can<\/em> be expensive, it’s not necessarily more so than the other popular forms of schooling. Homeschooling also has the advantage of being incredibly flexible in many ways, including the amount of money you spend. If you need to save some money in your approach to homeschooling,\u00a0 there are a ton of ways you can do so!<\/p>\n

    8 Ways to Save Money in Your Homeschool<\/h1>\n

    1. Use the Buddy System<\/b><\/h2>\n

    There are many, many ways that having homeschooling friends can be helpful in your homeschool life. One of them comes in the form of cutting costs. When you are looking for ways to save money in your homeschool, talk to your homeschooling friends (who are probably also looking for ways to save money.)\u00a0 There may be a way you can help each other by using a \u201cbuddy system.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0For example, is there a particular subject that you are knowledgeable in, that your fellow homeschooling parent is not (and\u00a0 vice versa?) Consider utilizing your personal skill sets and teaching each other’s kids for certain subjects. If both of you only pay for curriculum for the subjects you teach, then neither of you has to pay for everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you can\u2019t come to a good teaching arrangement with a fellow homeschooling parent, you can simplify this idea by seeing if you have any homeschooling friends who would split the cost of a more expensive curriculum or supplies with you, and share them (either dividing it up certain days of the week or by semesters). Though not all curriculum is costly, some of it is. It\u2019s up to you to decide which curriculum is worth spending the extra money on. Luckily, there are ways to share even this cost with your homeschooling buddies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Buy Used\/ Sell\/ Trade<\/b><\/h2>\n

    One way you can definitely save money while homeschooling is by not buying brand new books. You may also consider trading or selling your gently used ones. Check with <\/span>homeschooling friends, groups or <\/span>your local co-ops <\/span><\/a>to see if there are people who are interested in buying\/selling or trading course material. If you live in a larger city, you may even want to check with your used bookstore (or see if you happen to have a homeschool bookstore in your area).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Don\u2019t forget that online booksellers can be a wonderful option for buying used books or selling yours.\u00a0 Amazon is, of course, a good option. The Homeschool Bookstore<\/a> is another resource for buying and selling homeschool curriculum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    3. Protect and Conserve<\/b><\/h2>\n

    \u00a0<\/b> If the idea of being able to resell, or just re-use, curriculum appeals to you, then it\u2019s a good idea to figure out a system for protecting your workbooks. By protecting and conserving your resources, you can save money (and save paper, too!) <\/span><\/p>\n

    Reusing educational games, toys and novels is a good idea. Another tip is to teach or practice with a dry erase board and dry erase markers, when possible (dry erase markers are often more fun for kids to use, anyway!)<\/span><\/p>\n

    To this end, one of my favorite tips comes from <\/span>this article<\/span><\/a>, which demonstrates how you can use sheet protectors and fine-point dry erase markers to make your curriculum less destructible and more reusable. Essentially, this involves:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n