How much do you spend on homeschooling in addition to the basic stuff that kids would need in public school? We would have to pay for paper/pencils/glue/crayons/etc... anyway, but above and beyond that, how much do you figure you pay per year or per month?
Per year? I spent about $175 to put together all of the Core A Sonlight along with their Langauge Arts level 1 and readers for Rylee and Reagan. I spent about $5ppd for the Core Knowledge What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know to cover art, music and science (I also spent 5 for the 1st grade and 5 for the books to build on). I spent about $100 to collect all the Funtastic Frogs books, the balance scale, several sets of frogs and a set of logs for math. So I'm doing a combo K/1st year for under $300, and really the SL was not planned, I added it after I decided to use the CK stuff. For Garrett I think I have spent about $300 or $400 for 7th grade. Now I buy books constantly, and most of those books fill a specific subject (history or science or whatever), but I buy them used at thrift stores and yard sales... I may spend another 100-200 a year on them, but I would buy books like this even if we didn't homeschool. I also could homeschool pretty for free minus ink and paper and the basic school supplies.. though our library is pretty crappy and I would have to buy most books we want to read or spend the money on gas (and in my truck it's cheaper to just buy used books!) to drive to another town to get books to read. I wanted to add too, that I no longer have to spend $500 a year on clothes for each kid so they fit in, I no longer feel obligated to buy $20 boxes of crappy candy for fundraisers, I no longer am obligated to buy packages of pictures that start at $47 for 5 pictures (yes I'm serious, that is what it was when Garrett was in 1st grade, 6 years ago!), etc.
Well it really depends on what I am doing with them. Last year I was using dollar store workbooks alot and used a lot of printer ink for lapbooking, worksheets etc..This year I purchased my first 'real' curriculums and it cost a fair bit. :/ But I am hoping that will balance out. In reality you can do if for free if you know where to look. But that also takes a lot of time to organize. And I for one am looking forward to at least two subjects being simple because some else put them together
How much is "a fair bit"? I have absolutely no clue how much I should realistically expect to spend as I've never "homeschooled". We always just took advantage of our journey so didn't spend anything over what we normally would have.
For this year I have a 3rd grader, and 2nd grader and a kindy. I spent a little under $300 for all three of them. I try hard to buy books/curriculum that can be reused for the other kids. So all but our math is reusable, and math is about $30 per kid. I go to Rainbowresource.com and pick out my books and then see how much they are. I find that buying them new with free shipping is sometimes cheaper then used + shipping. Because you have to pay shipping for each book, as opposed to getting it all at once with free shipping. I have to buy ink for prints and such. Price will depend on how much curr. that you need or want to buy. You are used to doing things on your own, so you can continue to do that with things like history, science, etc with the only cost being supplies and maybe library books. Or you can buy a whole spine such as sonlight and that is a ton more expensive.
Well we use Sonlight so it gets a little pricey. I think this year I spent just shy of $1,000 on curriculum. We spent $45 for our hs group's annual membership. We will probably spend any where from $150-300 for a variety of co-op classes (higher end if we do two sessions of art with the professional instructor). Gym/sports runs us about $200-300 a year for swimming, gymnastics, soccer or whatever else dd does. We then spend about $100 year for field trips (theater shows, events...) We also belong to several local museums. So I guess a rough estimate would be the minimum of $1500 for the year. Now I do end up reselling alot of my curriculum so that helps keep the out of pocket down and the cost of curriculum is sometimes reduced if I find a bunch of things used.
I generally spend about 300.00 on curriculum and supplies at the beginning of each year. Then throughout the year I spend a little bit here and there on books, and other odds and ends that probably adds up to about another 200.00. Some of that money I'd spend anyway, so really only about 300.00 of that is directly related to my homeschooling, and the way I figure it I would spend at least that much if they were in school between fundraisers, additional classroom/materials fees, additional groceries to pack lunches, uniforms/school clothes (in addition to what I normally buy for them), field trip costs, and all the other "stuff" that PS would charge us for. Ultimately I figure that I spend just about the same on homeschooling as I would for PS.
Mine's pretty expensive, actually, but most of it is reusable, and I try to buy things used or on sale when possible, though. Mystery of History + audio is about 100 (reusable) Latin for Children set is about 100 (most is reusable) Math (miquon) was about $60 for the 3 year set (not reusable), so that's about 20 per year Math (next year, for younger, Life of Fred) will be about 35 per year on top of 20 for Miquon supplement Science is Apologia (and I've just decided to add the notebooking guides, too), so two books a year (reusable) is around 50 and next year will be 4 guides per year (not reusable) are 100 Handwriting works out to around 40-50 per year (a couple of workbooks for each kid from either Abeka or HWT) Spelling is reusable and about 20 per year (combo of AVKO membership and sequential spelling) Reading is a couple of different things from EPS (not reusable), so it'll end up being about 50 per year for both kids I already have all the explode the code series for the younger... that set was around 100, and it'll probably only last 2 years, tops Art is usually Abeka and/or Kumon, so that's about 40 per year R&S English is reusable, and its about 25/yr Writing strands is reusable, and I already have that one (used) for around 20 R&S Bible is around 30 per year (not reusable) What I have listed is around $600-700, BUT I bought a lot of that stuff already, and it's reusable, so that was just a one-time investment, AND I'll be able to resell a lot of it. My actual yearly cost for both kids works out to around 300-400/yr. My hubby wanted the kids in preschool, which was costing us $700/mo. That was NOT my idea at ALL, and it was a total waste of money. He told me to see if I could do the same or better at home with 700/mo (activities, etc.). :roll: Yeah, he was clueless. When he found out I could do all this, plus museum memberships, etc. for 700 a YEAR rather than a MONTH, he was all for it. :lol: Our other option was a gifted private school an hour away that costs $22k/yr. That's totally not an option at all. Public school won't work for our needs. We see homeschooling ... even this expensive ... as a good investment of our time and money, and we've cut a lot of other things to fund it.
I am spending about 500.00 this year on curriculum for a 2nd and 8th grader. My high schooler is using a charter so we'll save some money there. I haven't bought any 'extras' in a long while so this year I'm spending about 200.00 on games, kits and such. I usually have hand-me-down curriculum to use, but not this year. Been through everything I had. So total, about 700.00 for 3 kids.
I spend around $500 for both girls. This year, I may be able to save. I have had some 5th grade given to me for this year so that is a blessing. My 9th grader is what is costing me!
This is my first year, so I have bought a few things that won't be repeated every year (dry-erase board, electric pencil sharpener, globe, maps, etc) For actual curriculum, I have spent about $550 for two children 3rd and 9th grade.
I have a 1st grader and pre-K'er. This year I'm using My Fathers World 1st grade and K curriculums. I try to buy used when I can, so I got most of the 1st grade deluxe curriculum package on ebay for $100. What that didn't include, I purchased from the company for an additional $75. I was able to borrow MFW K curriculum from a friend. I will have to buy additional student materials (wkshts, etc) which will probably be another $30. So with purchasing school supplies, I will spend about $250. Also we did purchase children's museum and botanical garden family passes for the year, so that's an additional $140. Last year I didn't buy a complete curriculum but bought various resources on my own...I believe I spent about $200. The nice thing is that I can reuse whatever curriculum I buy with my younger kids. Also, many people resell curriculum when they are done with it.
I think you will find great variability in the amount spent between one family and another. There are so many different factors involved. Someone could spend less than $100 and another family might spend over $5K. Some people count memberships, sports, music lessons, co-ops and that is where major costs come in. Family income can greatly influence what can be spent too. I'm sure you will find many families would spend more on curriculum/sports/etc if they had it available. Also homeschooling philosophies can greatly impact on what is spent. Some philosophies are more light-weight economically and others are more demanding. But you can homeschool and spend very little. You can homeschool and spend a lot.
Bought most of mine via sales online, thrift stores, garage sales, used curriculum sales, etc. Price listed below is for 2 1st graders total, not each. Math U See--$50 Rod and Staff Reading--$15 ACSI Science--$15 History for Little Pilgrims--$5 Christian Light Language Arts--$60 Art 2 & 3 by Rod and Staff--$3 TOTAL PRICE--$148
I didn't keep good records of what I spent, but I am pretty sure it was less than $500 a year for two kids. Less than I am going to be spending per month at the private school they will be going to this year at $350 a month each. But different decisions are rigth at different times.
I combine my kids on as many subjects as I can. So History, Science,Bible are done together with Heart of Dakota which cost around $250-$300. Vintage text books are a really good bargain. Our 1934 Math book covers 3 grades and cost me less than $20. I was really blessed to be given an entire set of McGuffey readers for free. I try to be frugal, but somethings are just worth the money.
This is our second year homeschooling. I will say last year I spent well over $1000.00 setting up. I bought a whole curriculum for 2 children. Then it wasn't working out and i couldn't figure myself out. So, we went back to the drawing board and bought something else. It would have been a lot less if I had someone around here that I could lean on and ask questions too. My kids were in 4th and 5th grade. So, I felt I had to do it "right" This year I am combining the kids education because they are so close in age. The curriculum I bought for this year I spent about $400 for both. Now, that does not include the math. I do have all the saxon that they need. My children are really good in math and are getting over my head. So, I have scrapped them as well and have switched to Teaching Textbooks, I don't make any mistakes. They are pricey as well but I did buy most of them on e-bay or I am loaning from a friend. I am willing to go without so my kids will get the best education I can provide. Plus, my husband wants a accredited program or they are going back. So, right from the start we knew it was going to cost a more than the average person. Plus, I work outside the home so I am always looking for things with the leg work to be done for me. Unfortunately, they make you pay for that!
I kept track with receipts and post-it notes, but I don't want to dig them all out right now. :lol: I'm sure I spent around $200 combined for my two kids. We use a lot of free resources and gifts from friends and family. I have found many, many college textbooks at yard sales to use as part of our high school subjects. You may not have the TMs, but if your child reads and reports on the information contained in the text I figure he has a better understanding of the subject than I do. We don't test on subjects like history and literature. IMHO, those subjects are for the betterment of your intellect and I would rather my children glean what is important to them and remember it forever than waste our time on teaching to a test. With that being said, we use TM's for subject that require it and we save money by reusing them for our youngest and then selling them when we don't need them anymore.
