Planning Ahead: Costs of High School.

[LisaKinVA]

So, I've just completed our order list for 2009-2010 for my 3 oldest children. And, I started looking at Jr./Sr. High courses to begin to get my feet wet.

 

Most of the high-quality on-line schools seem to be $6-15k a year to participate. So I started looking at doing some of these things myself. Not including novels we might need to purchase, and including a course or two which would probably be best taught through an on-line school program), My costs (for my oldest, since many of the books, etc. are re-usable) are about $2k-$3k a year.

 

Is this what I should plan for? If so, I think I need to start aquiring some of the things earlier rather than later!

 

If you've been through the Advanced High Schooler route, and have some great suggestions, I'd appreciate them (I take awhile to digest, compare, etc.) My WTM book is MIA (probably packed by dh somewhere!), so I can't refer to that right now either.

 

Things I'm looking at include:

 

VP - Omnibus, SWB's new Ancient History, Jacobs Algebra & Geometry (with the TM, DVDs, etc.), Apologia Science, Spanish II-AP via Keystone Highschool, Abeka Grammar (because I know it very well), Elements of Literature (Holt)

 

Other things I'd like to do on my own include AP World History, AP US History, AP Gov't., AP Economics.

 

Things I plan to outsource: AP English Language/AP English Literature, Algebra II/Trig, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, and one other advanced math class, possibly some electives as well.

[JennW in SoCal]

There are so many options for high school that I'm not sure where to begin. You should start lurking on the high school board to get some ideas of all the different paths people are taking.

 

You can get through a rigorous high school program without using expensive on-line courses. Some kids thrive with those, some don't -- you won't know until you reach that point. Some folks also want some kind of umbrella school that keeps transcripts and issues diplomas, but it isn't essential.

 

About those AP courses. Not every course designated as "AP" is really all that special, advanced or necessary. The ultimate point of AP courses is to take the AP test in the hopes of scoring high enough to earn college credit. I've heard complaints that the courses can wind up being taught to the test, and aren't really all that advanced or deep. As a homeschooler, you want either some AP test or SAT II subject tests to prove to prospective colleges that your student is capable of college level work, so to that end it is worth while. But not every college accepts AP credits, so if you are looking to shave off a semester or two of college tuition by stacking up AP credits, keep that in mind.

 

Another route to covering high school requirements and earning college credit at the same time is to take community college courses. This is the route I'm taking, and the route used by many successful homeschoolers I know (successful as in accepted to good colleges). Lab sciences and foreign languages are often the courses of choice, and sometimes literature or electives like music or art.

 

As far as keeping costs down, I rely on the library quite a bit. Some systems have great collections of the Teaching Company videos, for instance, which is great because those get to be expensive. I pick up classic literature at book sales, even the occasional old text. But, things that seemed like a great choice when my kids were 9 wound up not being the right thing when they were 14 or 15, so don't buy too much now!

 

My one recommendation that wasn't on your list of materials to inspect, is SWB's Well Educated Mind. I have loved using that as a resource for doing literature with my boys. Between that, Sparknotes and PinkMonkey, I've got all I need to tackled great literature!

 

Hope that answered some of your questions.

[threetreasurs]

We personally found high school at home expensive when you factored in online, cc classes, and books.

[Jenny in Florida]

We found high school very do-able and reasonable at home if you're prepared to take a do-it yourself route. As I think I shared on the thread about budgeting, the most I ever spent on homeschooling stuff was about $1200 for two kids (one of whom was doing high school stuff), and we ended up deciding that the two most expensive courses were a mistake.

 

We're lucky as Floridians to have access to the Florida Virtual School, and my daughter did a couple of courses a year through them, which gave her the outside verification of her work and some recognization honors/AP credits.

 

But most subjects we just did at home. I think she cost me about $600 or $700 per year.

 

Edit: I meant to say, too, that you don't need to take an outside course designated as "AP" in order to get the credit. Your students can self-study and then take the test. We didn't end up doing any, because my daughter jumped ship and went to college a year earlier than we anticipated. But, up until she did that, we were planning to have her do self-study AP stuff for that final year.

Edited November 14, 2008 by Jenny in Florida

[Northernmom]

What about a public university based online/distance high school? Most of them are only about $2500 per year for a full year's courses. (ex. U of Missouri, U of Nebraska, Indiana U)

[LisaKinVA]

Of course, some things are bound to change between now and high school, but I feel like I've come up with a workable plan (at least a guideline anyhow).

 

We do school 6 days/12 months out of the year, taking vacations/breaks whenever we need to -- so some of this is going to be spread way out. And, right now we're focusing on preparation to compete for an appointment to a Military Academy (dh was accepted to 5, and graduated from one...), so if this looks intense, it is meant to be.

 

VP Omnibus (I expect that 4, 5 & 6 will be finished in the next 4 years). I plan to really use this for Theology/Philosophy, Literature back-up and History supplement, how much reading we do will depend upon ds' tolerance for it by that time.

 

Chalkdust Math -- The cost is negligble, since I know I'll have at least four more children using it (maybe all using it differently, but certain ones will be repeated by all five). It's no more expensive than the lowest-cost on-line school and a LOT less expensive than JHU/CTY or Stanford's on-line program. And, when you factor in using it for the others, it's no contest. We're going to start 2nd ds in chalkdust 3rd grade next fall to see how it works (at less than $60, it will be a good "test"). I watched the demos, and really feel it will be a good introduction to both a class-lecture idea, and that the concepts are very well explained.

 

Foreign Languages -- Spanish II-AP through Keystone Highschool (or similar program), We'll continue with Latin until he takes the subject exam for that one, which will probably be about 9th grade. Also expect him to take a year of Greek, and then maybe 2 years of an other foreign language of his choice.

 

Science -- Apologia. It appears to be extremely thorough and will be good preparation for anything ds wants to do.

 

Grammar/Composition -- We'll continue with Abeka, I may add some IEW or Writing Strands to the mix, just have to gauge where he is at that time.

 

Literature -- Some Omnibus, some Progeny Press, with a spine from either Abeka or Holt Elements in Literature -- DS has historically done best with an anthology-type of literature program, so I'll probably need to stick with that.

 

History/Gov't Spines -- The American Pageant (Houghton-Mifflin), World Civilizations: The Global Experience AP Edition (Prentice Hall), and Gov't in America (Prentice-Hall), which I used in College :D, Economics -- not 100% certain on spine for that yet).

 

There will be some $$$ we set aside for electives (I expect computers and web design, graphic design to be high up on his list!), some of those we'll outsource. Logic, Rhetoric, Speech & Debate I'll all do (heck, I *should* be able to cover these things, as I spent enough time teaching them, plus I already have most of the books!)

 

Now, if K12 Virtual Academy gets approved for my county as an option for high school, or DS gets early acceptance to U-Mary Washington for some of this, my plans may go completely out the window. But, that is all in the future at this point. Our local community college is 45 minutes away (UGH!), UMW is about 20. But in all honesty, if DS heads to a military academy all he'll get is advanced standing (which would allow him to V-GeP or double major), no "credits" per-se. So, college credit isn't all that important. Now, DD we're hoping WILL go to U-MW, Liberty or William & Mary, so credits may be a lot more useful. My youngest son has already delcared he's going to "Daddy's school," and Lizzie, the little flirt, all too aware of her cute-factor, won't be leaving the house until she's 30! :lol:

 

Since most everything we'd be doing is non-consumable, I'm figuring the costs (less than $2k) will be amortized over 5 or 6 children, it's not too bad :D

 

I'm at least beginning to feel more confident as to where we're headed! Time flies soo fast. I have just 2 years left we can do through K12, and then we have to be ready to start mostly high school courses. The two coming behind our oldest are even further ahead -- so I'm working on ways to "slow them down" a bit (but I'm not sure how much I'll succeed on that front).

 

So, anything that I've really badly missed? I'll be keeping my eyes & ears open during the next couple of years, just in case something changes -- but I always do better in the short-term if I have a long-term plan/goal ahead of me.

[danielle]

Unless you add music lessons! Generally you will want a recommended text for APs, as they definitely are a "teach to the test" situation. I can come up with some horrendous figures if I add in music lessons, sheet music, and the cost of camps for summer, but at books/curriculum alone, I think you're in the ball park. (Last year we spent 12K incl. lessons & a new computer, but this year we're at "only" 5K)

 

Even at our highest figure, we're way less than a good private school (9k-25K in our area), and we'd still be paying for music, camps, etc. My argument has always been the hsing is the most expensive way to go if you add in the salary the hs parent could be earning (altho maybe not if you factor private school tuition for several dc), but by high school the parent might be able to be working at least part time.

Danielle

[Storm Bay]

If your dc can learn from a well written textbook, you can cut costs even further. Dd learns math from textbooks. We've tried a few, but have found Gelfand's & the older Dolciani's written well enough that she doesn't need a teacher or video. We thought that Chalkdust & Video text were too expensive.

 

Same with science. I've been going on the high school forum for months and have gleaned a lot, so I second the recommendation to go there. You don't have to mention the age of your child if it's much younger. Dd is going to do this with used texts (one new, but free) with used CD-Roms. We will have to spring for some experimental things. We bought a great used microscope at a homeschool conference (made in USA to boot, but by a company no longer making microscopes).

 

We will save online courses for just a few things, and may use our local high school for AP courses in subjects we know that it does will with, but aren't at that point yet. The cc's are too far away to be practical for us.

 

fwiw, our budget is much lower than yours as a rule, but we've managed to get some great materials both new & used. We also use our library network a great deal.

[Nan in Mass]

Ours was about 4k average, probably, what with yearly travel for months at a time, a laptop, museum/library memberships, CC classes in 11th + 12th, a laptop, and the tons of books we buy. The earlier years were less expensive, the later years a bit more expensive. Don't forget that at the end you have college application fees, testing fees and travel costs to visit colleges. The next child will reuse textbooks and not travel as much, but he'll have more tech costs, music, CC classes, and probably send out more than one college app. I'm not including gymnastics in this estimate.

-Nan

Edited November 28, 2008 by Nan in Mass

[momsquared]

Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I was at my local thrift store today and saw nearly every play by Shakespeare (the Folger editions which I prefer) for $.50 each. Additionally there were volumns on Shakespeare the person, the language, etc. I bet you could piece some things together pretty inexpensively.

 

Also - could the students take classes at a local community college versus AP? Not sure if it would be less expensive, but they would still receive college credit. I also think AP could be self studied. There are many preparation books out there with practice readings, questions, prompts, etc.

[angela in ohio]

I'm only to an advanced junior high-er who is taking some high school classes but this year was about $1200 just for her. It would have been more, but I decided to wait a year on Omnibus and combine her with younger dd ( he is doing Starting Points instead this year, along with BJU Geography and a study of the Gospels.) It walso would have been much more if I hadn't gotten her algebra (Foerster's) book online for just over $2.00 and skipped the solutions manual, and if I didn't already have a nice home libary (I only had to order a few novels.) I told hd $2000/yr for junior high and $3000/yr for high school, but online classes may bump that up. I plan to teach some of her courses (I can do Latin, history, economics, math, grammar, literature, and writing) out of our home to other homeschoolers to help out.

 

Oh, and I didn't include music and art - lessons, camps, performances, trips, equipment, etc. That's several thousand more.

Edited November 30, 2008 by angela in ohio

[Storm Bay]

Oh, and I didn't include music and art - lessons, camps, performances, trips, equipment, etc. That's several thousand more.

 

I don't include anything I'd pay for anyway even if she'd be in ps, so swim team costs don't figure in. Since we're not super-serious, though, we just pay the boys & girls club swim team fees & next year will pay the high school fee ($150 this year) as homeschoolers are allowed to participate in ps sports, as they ought to since we we pay taxes that support the school!