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How much does it cost to homeschool?


Crumbysmom
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Thinking about homeschooling and have bought some books. Seeing the lists on the sale board of all this material people have bought makes me scared because it seems like a lot of money. So I am wondering what you spend yearly to home school? What has been the most you spent in a year and why? And what is the most reasonable range that I will probably spend homeschooling a 1st grader. Library isn't great where I live so much of the material will have to be bought.

 

Thanks.

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It's hard to get anybody to answer this. It's like asking "How long is a piece of string?" or "How much does a shirt cost?"

 

You can get a shirt free from a charity. You can pay $$$ to have one designed just for you. It depends on what you're looking for, a lot of people will say.

 

Some claim that one can hs for free. That depends on what is meant by free, but of course there are less expensive routes. Less expensive than what? Well...the homeschooler next to you!

 

For a general guideline? Someone's going to argue w/ this, but look at a couple of box companies that include everything--Abeka on one end, maybe, & Sonlight on the other. Abeka's 1st grade box is just over $200. You can do it cheaper if you must. Sonlight's 1st grade box is nearly $900. You could always spend more!

 

Beyond that, you use your own philosophy & budget to guide you toward one end of the spectrum or the other, financially speaking. If you don't have a lot of $$ but you tend to like pricier curric, you'll consider buying used, look for sales, & think about the library (which I realize you said wouldn't really work for you). You compromise & make things work & probably end up falling somewhere in the middle. :001_smile:

 

What do I spend? I really don't know. I have a curric list I'm working off of--things I've used & want to continue, things I want to try, & I tend to buy/sell off & on all year w/out keeping track. That's mainly because of very tight finances. This year, I had to sell some stuff I would have ordinarily kept in order to buy the books I'd planned, but since that meant that that $$ didn't come out of the budget, it was more like 3 & 4-way bartering, so...I don't know! :lol:

 

HTH!

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It can cost as much or as little as you want. I know that is not helpful, really, but it is true. Last year (kindergarten) I spent less than $100. This year (1st grade) I have spent $500-600, but some of that curriculum is to be used over several years. The biggest chunk (Classical Conversations) will be used for years per child and so far we have 2 that will overlap by 3 years. That is $250 for nine years = $28 per year :) I also have What Your First Grader Needs to Know and text books for Singapore Math, Real Science 4 Kids, and Shurley English. When DD is ready for these books, I will just need to purchase new workbooks. (I could copy them and not have to purchase again, but they are only a few dollars each and my time is worth a lot more than that.)

 

Some of that money has also gone to purchasing a few things I found on sale that I want to use in the next few years, or for PDF downloads that I can reprint for DD in a few years.

 

Does your library have and inter-library loan program? Our library is not huge; it is pretty good, but not a huge city library. I can get almost anything from one of the other 8 or 10 libraries in the system. Google also have free books you can download, quite a few great reference books!

 

The internet is also a wealth of information! You have to learn to judge what is good and what is inaccurate, but you can do a lot from online encyclopedias.

 

If you are really needing to keep costs down, get What Your First Grader Needs to Know, a math curriculum, and some cheap workbooks from Walmart. You can use the science, history, and literature from the First Grade book; then find what your library has on each topic and read, read, read. Then find a cheap or free lapbook on the topic (or make your own up) and call that a unit. We did that with What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know last year and we found so many wonderful geography books that we spent 2 months on the continents and oceans! DS loved it all. We studied the globe, looked at maps, and he learned to read at the same time.

 

Even a small library will have some great children's books that you did not know were there!:D

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Thinking about homeschooling and have bought some books. Seeing the lists on the sale board of all this material people have bought makes me scared because it seems like a lot of money. So I am wondering what you spend yearly to home school? What has been the most you spent in a year and why? And what is the most reasonable range that I will probably spend homeschooling a 1st grader. Library isn't great where I live so much of the material will have to be bought.

 

Thanks.

 

there are free or lowcost solutions.

http://www.amblesideonline.org/?

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/

http://www.milestonesacademy.com/Site/Welcome.html

http://clickschooling.com/

http://www.classicalcurriculum.com/ - more a spine with suggested materials, though similar materials are availabel for free if you look.

 

are just a couple - there are more. I know there should be threads about homeschooling for free. I think there is even a book out there about how to homeschool for free. depending upon your library, you can get books that would work there.

 

cheers

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Does your library offer interlibrary loans? My library will access the other libraries nearest my county, and then if it still can't find the book, will search the statewide library database. Ask the children librarian who to speak to about placing orders for books.

 

As far as cost, it depends A LOT on the program. For example, with Math. Moving with Math is a manipulative-based program for math, and it costs about $150 for grade 1. In contrast, Singapore math costs under $40. That's a pretty significant difference.

 

I am also trying to homeschool as budget "efficiently" as possible. I have seen great printable resources in many different threads on this forum, and lots of links to free curriculum as well. I have these books on my Amazon wishlist to get to look at other thrifty homeschooling resources- I have not personally used them- so maybe another person on this forum would be better able to explain or review them?

 

- Homeschooling on a Shoestring: A Jam-packed Guide by Melissa Morgan

- Homeschool Your Child for Free: More Than 1,400 Smart, Effective, and Practical Resources for Educating Your Family at Home by LauraMaery Gold

 

I am also interested in hearing about how much it costs for 1 year of homeschooling supplies. :)

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Perfect post. :iagree:

 

It's hard to get anybody to answer this. It's like asking "How long is a piece of string?" or "How much does a shirt cost?"

 

You can get a shirt free from a charity. You can pay $$$ to have one designed just for you. It depends on what you're looking for, a lot of people will say.

 

Some claim that one can hs for free. That depends on what is meant by free, but of course there are less expensive routes. Less expensive than what? Well...the homeschooler next to you!

 

For a general guideline? Someone's going to argue w/ this, but look at a couple of box companies that include everything--Abeka on one end, maybe, & Sonlight on the other. Abeka's 1st grade box is just over $200. You can do it cheaper if you must. Sonlight's 1st grade box is nearly $900. You could always spend more!

 

Beyond that, you use your own philosophy & budget to guide you toward one end of the spectrum or the other, financially speaking. If you don't have a lot of $$ but you tend to like pricier curric, you'll consider buying used, look for sales, & think about the library (which I realize you said wouldn't really work for you). You compromise & make things work & probably end up falling somewhere in the middle. :001_smile:

 

What do I spend? I really don't know. I have a curric list I'm working off of--things I've used & want to continue, things I want to try, & I tend to buy/sell off & on all year w/out keeping track. That's mainly because of very tight finances. This year, I had to sell some stuff I would have ordinarily kept in order to buy the books I'd planned, but since that meant that that $$ didn't come out of the budget, it was more like 3 & 4-way bartering, so...I don't know! :lol:

 

HTH!

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Also, don't forget to ask your library to order materials. I know many are having budget cuts, but it's worth a try. When I plan a unit, I search my library first. I then look at Amazon and see if there are any great resources, and if it isn't out of print, I ask my library to order it.

 

I spend money on math, grammar, spines, etc., but most of my other resources come from my library.

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I'd say we could homeschool for less, but we spend money on good books to build our library since I have four dc. I could probably check out a lot of these from the library, but I like having them to use when I need them.

I'd also say if you use a traditional textbook curriculum (like BJU or Abeka) it will cost less than a living book based curriculum (like TOG or Sonlight or even WTM) b/c these require more books. I agree with pp that buying used will save you a lot of money but takes a pretty decent amount of time, so then you have to ask if your time or money is worth more.

HTH!

Steph

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I'll give you some numbers. When I just had one child and he was early elementary, I spent about $200. Now I have 3 children, one in high school wanting to study physics and math in college. Last yr. I spent approximatley $1,000 for all three kids. This yr. it will be about $1,500 - $2,000 (including group memberships, etc.)

 

You can spend much less than this or much more. I went a bit crazy and bought pieces of 3 different writing/lang. arts programs for my kids. I am experimenting this year. For my oldest, lab kit was $150, Thinkwell AP American Govt. & Politics class is $170, and so forth.

 

So far, I'm coming closer to the $1,500 amount because I've been fortunate enough to find many of dc's books used and cheap.

 

I hope that helps you.

Denise

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The first response received to your inquiry is my favorite so far because it is SO true. On that note, here are a couple of sites that may help you supplement whatever homeschool curriculum (or curricula) you choose:

 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com (Great for worksheets and activities for the K-3 set, and some great info for the olders, too)

 

http://www.donnayoung.org

 

http://www.doverpublications.com (Get on their email list for FREE clipart, etc, sent right to you email.)

 

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com (Lots of extras, study guides, audio files, etc.)

 

HTH!

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A lot less than private school! And maybe even less than some PS options (book fees, fund raisers, school clothes...) There are lots of options out there for making things work. I've had years where I had more time than money and homeschooled for very little. Local used sales, sharing with other homeschoolers, online used sales...you can make it work.

 

Merry :-)

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Ditto what the others said. To keep costs down, I buy things used, both curriculum and supplemental books. Places like Half Price Books, Homeschool Library Builder and Amazon are gold mines for supplemental books at much lower costs than buying new. The For Sale boards here are usually good places to look, and there are a number of free resources, for example, phonics and spelling, math, handwriting, and life science.

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A lot less than private school! And maybe even less than some PS options (book fees, fund raisers, school clothes...) There are lots of options out there for making things work. I've had years where I had more time than money and homeschooled for very little. Local used sales, sharing with other homeschoolers, online used sales...you can make it work.

 

Merry :-)

 

Oh yes. Especially for high school. Private schools run from $4,000/child - $15,000/child. In some of the bigger cities, private schools can cost over $20,000/child. My dh reminds me of this when I start to fuss about the cost of the materials we buy.

Denise

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Ok, real #s...I just ordered P3/4 for my littles from Sonlight. That core is $279.99. I spent just over $27, but $7 of that was to get free shipping (on orders of $25 or more). What happened to the rest? I either already own the books or they're avail at the library. We haven't always lived near a good library, so I really, really get that that's not always an option.

 

I've done NOEO for 3 years in a row now. The first year was Chem I, & it cost $165.22. :svengo: The 2nd year, I combined Bio I & II, but it still cost a LOT less because I already owned most of the books used. This year, my mom bought Phys I for us. If I continue to use NOEO (I've looked ahead), there are future years that will cost as little as $20 because we already have the books used.

 

I used SOTW the first 4 years I hs'd. That's cheap: about $16 for the text & another $20 or so for the AG. It seemed expensive when I started out, lol, but I had no idea how much more stuff could cost. BUT I rarely had my kids do the extra reading suggested because it was too hard to find the books I needed at the library (in time), & the list seemed too long to just buy them all. I did, however, take the list w/ me to 1/2 Price & library book sales whenever we went. When I was sick or pg or otherwise laying around on the sofa, I'd get up to a year's worth of extra reading & make a chart of what I liked & didn't, to save time & $ later. (Not that this is a good idea--it's rather tedious, but it meant that when I saw a good deal somewhere, I had the book list MEMORIZED, lol.)

 

Over the years, I've come to believe that good curriculum costs good $, & that's reflected in what we use & how we spend. Some people would argue that our curric choices are extravagant...maybe they are, but sometimes the cheaper choices are a waste of $ (to me) because we don't use them or they don't work well.

 

Also, it's hard to give a clear # because...what counts as school? Would you have gone to the zoo anyway? Is that entertainment or a field trip? What about school supplies? Maybe you'd need them no matter where your dc go, but the $ you shell out at back to school time is still real $. What about printers & computers & ink? Gosh, ink adds up fast!

 

I've always bought books. I actually might buy fewer now because we own so many, & it's too much trouble to haul everybody up to the bookstore just to look, BUT if I spend $$/mo on books out of habit, does that count toward hs'ing? They're all books we'll USE for hs'ing, but it's also something I'd do anyway. If I had to count that toward my total cost, I'd be in trouble. :D

 

I think we spent about $400 for all of our dc this year (mostly just the big 2), but that's just on curric, not supplies, not activities (we don't do any because of $), not on my book habit, etc. The cost is always the highest for the oldest; youngers can reuse much of what you buy for the bigs, but highschool books/classes are just more expensive than preschool. So my oldest is entering the logic stage this year, & I felt like we needed to beef some things up, & we had to find something new for subjects that ended w/ the elem stage (SOTW).

 

Trying new things is expensive. I bought a brand new Saxon box for #1 his 1st grade year ($100+, I don't remember). Why? It was rec'd in WTM, & I didn't know I could get most of it used. :lol: I ended up switching to Singapore, which was only about $36 for the whole year. (Of course, I didn't know about anything but the text & the wb.) When #2 came along, I reused the text, & she did 1st g math for $18!

Edited by Aubrey
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really depends on how young your kids are--how much you can spend varies--you can find some very inexpensive very good curriculum....and then there are the more prices ones...gotta look around and see what curriculum/ study stuff fits your needs...I think this will be our most expensive year--zach's books will be around $250 this year-but then I"m switching things up.....

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For us, this year, I've broken it down to about 50-60 bucks a month. That's for 4 kids. I have a ton of 1st grade/2nd grade/K stuff left over, so we reuse a lot of things.

 

As far as homeschooling for free...if I absolutely HAD to, I'm pretty convinced that I could homeschool for "almost free" using the library- you'd still have to buy paper and pencils, etc.

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I think it's hard to do for free, but it's easy to do it in the $200 range for a year for elementary school at least. Of course you can spend more, but that's a choice. Sometimes it's a question of spending more money (for something perfect with all the bells and whistles) or you can spend time (tweaking, doing it yourself, tracking it down used).

 

I think you have to consider that many of the expenses people lay out for homeschooling are things you would likely buy even if your child was in school - educational games and toys, music or dance lessons, books to read, museum or zoo memberships. Homeschooling can ramp those up, but the non-homeschooling families I know all spend money on those things too.

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I wanted to add that you might want to consider your time as a "cost" also. It can take a considerable amount of time to hunt down, adapt, schedule, and print all the free resources.

 

One example: I spent ages searching for just the right pictures (copy, paste, crop, label, organize) for dd's American Revolution project -- time at the computer, rather than with dd. Then I decided to buy Homeschool in the Woods American Revolution study -- and I spent more time actually working with dd.

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It'll totally depend on what approach you take - boxed, all-in-one curriculum with minimal supplements and supplies or piece-meal, subject by subject choices with or without additional supplements and supplies needed.

 

In addition to your curriculum, you'll want to consider activities, membership fees, program fees, driving costs to get to things, field trip costs and any materials you'll need to do those too.

 

You'll want to factor in your supplies for record keeping, files, copying, etc. Then there is just basic stuff you'll need, pencils, paper, markers, crayons, binders, etc.

 

If you'll use the internet, factor in cost to maintain your connection, any sites you join with fees (ie. Discovery Education streaming+, etc.) and if you're using an app tablet, the cost for various educational apps.

 

Depending on your library situation, you can rack up a ton of money going into books for your own library over the years.

 

And then there are the things you'll find, day-to-day, that you hadn't budgeted for, but ooooh, look so good - if you opt to buy, you've got more expense with those things!

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Only thing I'll add is that I believe most hs'rs overspend their first year (including me :D) -- so many choices.... :lol My advice would be to focus on the core (3Rs and read-alouds in history) for the first term. Once you know your "style" and have picked those materials, add in more subjects.

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Aubrey's response was perfect!

 

We've homeschooled with a $100 budget and a $1000 budget. For first grade we spent about $175, but that was several years ago.

 

Before considering budget I would consider the different methods of homeschooling and find one that resonates with you.

 

If you're not sure you could cover the basics and start small. You don't have to have a fancy packaged program for any subject.

 

If I were doing first grade over again, I would use something for math, reading, spelling, and handwriting. Science and history would come from library books on whatever. We would incorporate more nature study, art time, and music time. And we would spend a lot of time on the couch with me reading to ds.

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There is such a wide cost range for programs. On the recent thread about the new Life of Fred elementary series, one of the posters started a comparison list of the cost to purchase new various elementary math programs. They ranged from super-cheap (like Ray's) to pretty pricey (like Right Start). The same exercise could be done for any other subject.

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Well, that's all relative. If you are comparing it to private school (which I am doing this year), it's minimal. It can seem "expensive" when you are buying all of the curriculum, but really, in the whole scheme of things, for a quality education, it's not that expensive. There are so many wonderful resources available now online, that weren't even available 6 years ago when I last homeschooled. It is truly blowing my mind!

 

Just this morning, I have so far spent $775 online ordering curriculum for my 2 children. I still have to deal with history and science, but I feel I've purchased the main things I need for the 3 Rs. I'm kind of choking on that, but until this past June, they were in Montessori school and it cost a whopping 18K a year for 2 children. Christian school would have been 6K each. I'm trying to tell myself that though today "hurts"..it's WAY less than private school!

 

When I homeschooled dd, I usually spent about $1000/year and that included the homeschool convention, memberships etc.

 

When I first began homeschooling my oldest dd in first grade, I was so overwhelmed and WAY overspent. If I could do first grade over again, I'd use a simple phonics program, something like FLL, and a math program. Then, I would read wonderful living books, and I would have FUN and with all of the resources online, I'd make up my own units.

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You will also be saving money by not buying a school lunch everyday, school clothes, supplies that will be shared with the whole class, endless fund raisers, over priced school pictures and all of the other things the school will ask you to send money to help with. Then there are some things you would most likely buy even if your child was at public school, like some art supplies, books, learning toys and puzzles.

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When libraries are not great, sometimes the library in the next town, even if tiny, is willing to do LOTS of special ordering for free. The librarians in the neighboring town were happy to special order several books/videos a week for my boys. They often took the books out themselves after we brought them back, and said they all loved to see what would be arriving for us.

 

I am empty nest and divorced now and self-educating myself. When I was homeschooling, part of that time was in severe poverty and while ill, and one of my children was a highly/profoundly gifted aspie. My husband refused to provide me with any curriculum at all some years, but I found ways to squeak out pennies here and there that added up. I found creative ways to accomplish things. And as I said, I found some librarians willing to help me.

 

Online people and free lesson plans were helpful sometimes...but if I look back...I would have been better off having spent less time online and have spent more time just USING the resources I had.

 

A homeschool mom, who is trying to raise a child into a different social/financial circle by homeschooling, is going to feel much more desperate about feeling like she cannot afford to homeschool. If she is trying to provide an education where she is at, it's pretty easy.

 

If I had PLANNED for my gifted aspie to attend the local junior college, I wouldn't have felt the panic I did. People told me I owed him more than that, and I almost killed myself trying to provide that for him. I remember trying to teach calculus to my 15 year old son and myself, with yard sale books, literally while handwashing clothes in the bathtub. Dumb! I was holding the book, with my pants rolled up over my knees, swishing the clothes around with my feet, in a house that was barely 50 degrees, and faint from illness and lack of proper food.

 

I didn't owe him that. I owed him a stimulating learning experience and room to learn, but not a private prep school type curriculum and whatever else it took to gain direct entrance into a selective 4 year school. No matter how gifted, he needed to start where people of our social circle sent their kids and then WORK his way to another social circle on his own steam, if he was willing to do the workĂ¢â‚¬â€œwhich it turned out that he wasn't.

 

Homeschooling doesn't have to hurt, unless you want it to :-0

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THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!! The tips, book suggestions and websites are really apperciated!!! And it does seem to be a wide range of costs depending on what program you use. We will be on the low end if we go this route but it's good to know that I can get everythig I need without spending a ton.

 

Our library isn't that helpful but i am going to try to mine every resource they have.

 

Haven't read Well Trained Mind. I just found this site so I will have to put the book on the list. :)

 

Hunter- You sound like a great mom. Your story reminds me a lot of my mom. I am sure your kids will look back on everything you did as a single mom for them and be so thankful for having such a wonderful mom. :)

 

Thanks again guys!!!

 

:grouphug:

Edited by Crumbysmom
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You can do this if you just take it one step at a time. Yes, we look ahead and pick a direction to move in, but then, we immediately start concentrating on just what is in front of us, to obsess over. Before you need to worry about the costs (or lack of costs) of high school, you have many years to read and experiment and learn. You can do this!

 

I stayed married until My youngest was 18 and had completed a year at the junior college, before I left. Children of single moms appreciate their moms far more than children raised in a home where they watch their mom being abused, and the surrounding community condoning it. They learn to think of her as subhuman and less worthy than others, and to be expendable. No matter what she accomplishes and sacrifices, it is NEVER enough, because they don't see her as human. My oldest keeps infrequent and almost secret contact with me that reminds me of a grown man raised on a plantation, sneaking out to the slave huts to visit his Mammy, but whose allegiance is to his white parents. I haven't had any contact with my youngest in years.

 

My primary care doctor says that sacagawea's son went on his way when grown and never made contact with his mom again, and that is sometimes the way it is with men :-0

 

But life moves on, as an empty nester. I'm learning I am not subhuman, and learning what it actually means to be intrinsically worthy. I have memory loss issues to constantly remediate as the seizures erase more and more of my memories that must be attended to, but...after that...I'm exploring this wonderful world with new eyes, childlike beginners eyes, eyes that are not obedient robot eyes, but human ones.

 

I study, because I love to learn. I live on a very, very low income, but I spend most of my income on books and educational supplies. I sleep on nothing but a piece of foam shoved in a corner, but I am surrounded with book, gorgeous books of every kind. Once you begin to desire books, they will become available; through gifts, lucky finds, hitting sales at the right time, links to free stuff. It works itself out.

 

You can do this! :-) When we want to learn we always have the oppurtunity to learn. When we want to learn the exact things that will allow us to jump into an unfamiliar social/financial group...then...it can get a LOT harder. But at 1st grade, you don't have those worries yet :-) So just jump in and play and explore for the pure joy of it. The world is a beautiful place! :-)

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!! The tips, book suggestions and websites are really apperciated!!! And it does seem to be a wide range of costs depending on what program you use. We will be on the low end if we go this route but it's good to know that I can get everythig I need without spending a ton.

 

Our library isn't that helpful but i am going to try to mine every resource they have.

 

Haven't read Well Trained Mind. I just found this site so I will have to put the book on the list. :)

 

Hunter- You sound like a great mom. Your story reminds me a lot of my mom. I am sure your kids will look back on everything you did as a single mom for them and be so thankful for having such a wonderful mom. :)

 

Thanks again guys!!!

 

:grouphug:

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Only thing I'll add is that I believe most hs'rs overspend their first year (including me :D) -- so many choices.... :lol My advice would be to focus on the core (3Rs and read-alouds in history) for the first term. Once you know your "style" and have picked those materials, add in more subjects.

 

:iagree: I wish someone had told me this before starting my first year last year

 

Lots of money spent and wasted :glare:

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This varies incredibly from family to family. You can ask, "What do YOU spend to homeschool?" and get some better answers that way. I think we are spending around $1000/year for our oldest, but it will work out to less for our second daughter because we have more on the shelf to pull from for her :). We live rurally so our library is tiny, we have to buy everything for the most part. That being said, I do buy used whenever possible. We also like to buy a lot of books to read together and individually. That bumps the price up quite a bit. I think textbooks are cheaper generally, but I can't get into them for content subjects, I much prefer to teach those from a spine and living books.

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Dear Hunter,

 

You inspire me.

 

:grouphug:

 

Your avatar inspires me! :-)

 

I have found that I can get a free library card from any library in my state. I collect them :-) Once I have a card I can access all their free downloads and subscriptions, from my home computer. I have access to a LOT of stuff! WorldBook, brainpop, worksheet websites, audiobooks, ebooks.

 

I'm downloading a book for my ipod right now. I don't sleep. I just close my eyes and lay down for awhile when my eyes stop working, till they start working again. I need something to keep my brain busy while my eyes are closed.

 

City libraries, and libraries in tiny towns, both have different types of free downloads and subscriptions. You will really want to check out a variety of types of towns/cities.

 

Brainpop is an AMAZING resource. Do NOT stop till you find access to brainpop! I love, love love brainpop! :-)

 

Check the websites of the nearby libraries, to see when their booksales are scheduled. One of our city libraries has a sale every 2 months and people travel in from the suburbs to attend it.

 

Collect encyclopedias. Old broken sets are okay, when you have enough sets to overlap. As you get newer and more complete sets, use the older volumes as clip art for reports.

 

Yard sales often have super cheap copies of college basic math textbooks meant to be used for remedial work. They start with a review of addition and 1/2 the answers are in the back. Lial, Bittner and Aufmann (I'm not sure of the spellings) are ones I often see for just $1.00 or less.

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It really depends.

 

Homeschooling will cost as much as you want it.

 

The first 2 years of homeschooling I did the "free" route and don't want to EVER go back to that point! It was ALOT of time preparing the materials and it wasn't that fun to teach and I can imagine not so fun to learn.

 

Finally after finding TWTM Forum and took on the advice we found the love for LEARNING and TEACHING again! Yes it came with a price. The price wasn't as large as some but it wasn't the "free" route. I purchased only 1 of student wb's so I could make copies and have all my children use the wb. I did cut corners where I can.

 

Now going into our 5th year of homeschooling we've settled into what it's going to cost to homeschool our children. This is based off their learning style and my teaching style. This includes the fact that I prefer open and go! I also prefer hand-holding when it comes to lesson planning, I like currciulums that pretty much have it laid out for you. I don't have the patience to do this as well as the authors do. I do plan what we do through-out the school year as far as what part of history we'll do this week and the next. I however lose the freshness and enjoyment in a subject if I have to sit and plan it for the entire school year. Then my teaching lacks because the drive is gone. Weird I know! So our final cost of homeschooling is what works for us!

 

Our homeschooling costs us approx. $800 a year, give or take a little. This is for curriculum for all the children, ink for the printers, paper, school supplies and school academy registration. I spent more last year and we ended up dropping 2 of the subjects and switching out for something that ended up costing less and working for us much better. Just because something costs more doesn't mean it's better!

 

We don't put the cost of activities outside the house into our budget as we do those as a family and don't consider that as part of our homeschooling journey, even though it is.

 

You can peek at an overview of the cost per subject if you're wanting a deeper look of what we use. This is for CURRICULUM & SUPPLIES needed for the entire year.

 

Handwriting: $50 *Writing with Ease* Level 1 & Level 2

Penmanship: $25 *Handwriting without Tears* Grade 1 & Grade 3

Language Arts: $45 *First Language Lessons* Level 2 & Level 3

Reading: $75 *Hooked on Phonics Master Reader & Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading*

Spelling: $70 *All about Spelling* Level 1 & Level 3

Math: $35 *Math Mammoth Light Blue Series* Grade 1B & Grade 3A-3B

Geography: $60 *Road Trip USA*

Science: $97 *Elemental Science: Biology for the Grammar Stage*

History: $70 *Story of the World*

Art: $140 *Mikes Inspiration Station*

Edited by mamaofblessings
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The first 2 years of homeschooling I did the "free" route and don't want to EVER go back to that point! It was ALOT of time preparing the materials and it wasn't that fun to teach and I can imagine not so fun to learn.

 

 

Looking back on times I had very little to spend, compared to times I had a lot to spend, It definately is more FUN to have money to spend! You clarified that for me. Thanks! :-)

 

But when money gets tightĂ¢â‚¬â€œlike this week I had to hold back on buying something I really wantedĂ¢â‚¬â€œI get forced to be creative and...THINK...and in the long run I think I have learned something CRITICAL.

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[quote=A.Balaban;2939450

 

As far as cost, it depends A LOT on the program. For example, with Math. Moving with Math is a manipulative-based program for math, and it costs about $150 for grade 1. In contrast, Singapore math costs under $40.

 

Okay I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said. But I did want to add if cost is an issues to check out and see whether you state may offer cyberschooling as well. Its public schooling yes. But its homeschooling as well. You recieve a computer, printer and curriculum at no cost ( you have to return them if you decide not to continue with them) but it can help if things are tight and you want an all in one curriculum. Some states offer this and some do not.

 

I also wanted to say to the poster that mentioned Moving with Math. What a blast from the past for me!!. It was the very first math program I had found online when I first learned about homeschooling 8yrs ago!!!

All I can say is " Wow, the price REALLY went up and their website isn't as user friendly as it used to be either. I was wondering if it was still around.:D I ended up going with Bob Jones math at the time.

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Not with the books I use. It states in the front of each of the wb's that for MY OWN FAMILY use ONLY that I am able to copy the pages. I can't use them with other children other than my own or share them with anyone else. Also SCHOOLS and CO-OPS are not allowed to photocopy. We aren't doing it for schools or coops or anyone else but our children. :)

 

I follow the laws :) Oh and most wb's I purchase are PDF and I buy them because they do allow copies to be made within your own family. I do have to purchase brand new workbooks for handwriting without tears and Kumon though.

 

Writing with Ease (Before the CONTENTS page it states this)

Math Mammoth PDF format states this as well

Elemental Science: Grammar Stage - All PDF files state this very thing too. For your own family use.

Edited by mamaofblessings
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I have spent a lot on curricula/ supplies over the years. We have 2 levels of Rosetta Stone, 2 full grades of SOS plus a lot of electives, the full Veritas history line, and two sets of MFW. We also spent a year enrolled in a correspondence school. For the most part I've been glad for the investments and we've had a lot of "hand me down" use between books and curricula. The only real waste was the correspondence school, even though the cost wasn't too bad. I would give a rough estimate that I've spent about $6000 over 10 years of homeschooling (excluding a number of computers which we would probably have bought anyway)? A lot of the expensive stuff I justified by seeing how much cheaper it was than private school tuition (about $9000 a year). We've never done private or even group lessons because they are so expensive where we live, and we have lots of kids.

 

However I think it can be a crutch to race to a new curriculum when things stop working or a child doesn't like a particular book. I've actually considered trying to only buy math WBs this year, as needed. It would be possible to homeschool almost for free, with a very motivated student and access to a good library.

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