Yes.

Yes. It's a very rural area. The county tried to offer a daycare a few years ago, but it was difficult for people to get their kids there and make it to work on time. For example, if my kids were still young enough for daycare, it would take forty-five minutes for me to get there in the morning. Depending on where I could get work (pharmacy tech in a flooded market), it would take me another thirty minutes to an hour to get to work. So if my shift started at eight, I would need to be able to drop the kids off around 6:15am, and it didn't open until 7am. Most people rely on family or friends-of-family to watch their kids. I hadn't considered offering afterschool care myself.

I'm happy that's an option for some people! But it's not. I have friends with kids in public school. Trust me when I say that many have looked far and wide for afterschool care and have not found it.

Mosr people rely on grandparents or other relatives to act as babysitters. That's not an option for my family because of personal reasons. The other option is to pay a friend-of-a-friend to watch kids. But that's not affordable for my family. The average rate is $15 per hour. As a pharmacy tech, the average wage is $17 per hour. In other words, the math ain't mathing for my situation.

I have known of a school district offering so much! I'm glad to hear that your tax dollars are well-spent. The wage issue only applies if the homeschooling parent would be in the workforce. For me, I don't see that being the case. My husband and I feel that running a home is a full-time job, and I don't need a second one, paid or not. Trying to balance both would be how we got burned out. Also, childcare - affordable or not - isn't available for many people. For example, we don't have any sort of daycare or afterschool care in my entire county or any of the surrounding ones (and that border goes into three states). If I tried to work with school-aged children, I'm not even sure what I would do for afterschool, half-days, snow delays, breaks, etc. I see you're point, and Social Security should definitely be considered. BUT you have to live until retirement too.

I count gas as education expenses when it can be directly related to education. I'm not driving my kids to school everyday, so that is money I'm not spending. As for lunch, sure, they would need to eat, but the cost is quite different between what we spend at home and what they would get at school. But I do see your point that they might just be regular expenses. I mean, for us, we have to budget to afford curriculum. It's a careful month-by-month plan. My kids education is certainly worth the expense, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't just up and buy everything I want in June or July. Yeah, childcare can eat up a second income like little else.

All American schools are different, but, at least locally, we get a lot of fundraisers. This year alone, I've had friends selling chocolate, tiny bundt cakes (overpriced at $5 each), doughnuts, cookies, candy, etc. Selling school/mascot apparel is a big fundraiser too. My grandparents have two themed cowbells "for football games," so I wouldn't be shamed for not selling any. That's another big issue with American schools, at least in my experiences. Often, they had some sort of reward - usually a free day or free half-day, often with snowcones or some other treat - if you sold a certain amount of whatever the latest gimmick was. If you didn't meet that goal, you got stuck in a classroom doing busywork. We ended up with a stand-up deep freezer full of Krispie Kreme doughnuts in third grade, so I wouldn't get stuck like that.

The beautiful thing about homeschooling, at least in my humble opinion, is that it can look like whatever our families need it to look like at any given time.

Yes, exactly! So much is based on what each family would need, and what is available to them. Do they make below the threshold to qualify for assistance? Or do they make say $5000 over, so they really can't afford it but they also can't get help? It's such a nuanced mess that nobody can really answer for anyone else.

The idea of more clothes is a big concern. I know some public schools are requiring uniforms now, and that sounds like a headache. I also know bullying is awful about these things; a friend's daughter was bullied over her winter coat so much that she wouldn't wear it (mom had tried to save money and picked one up at TJ Maxx, thinking it was cute; she ended up having to go on a hunt for the "right" coat that her daughter had asked for before school started).

Well, what our schools offer barely qualifies as an education, and it arguably isn't affordable. But that's another post for another time. I already explained that meals aren't free here. And, no, there is no subsidized afterschool care; I'm sure those programs are available somewhere in my state, but there aren't any programs like that locally. I would have to pay an individual to watch my kids, and that is assuming I could find someone who is willing and trustworthy. I'm being honest when I say that homeschooling is a fair bit cheaper for my family than public school. Anyway, you left this part out of your quote, but I do think she is going to try homeschooling next year.

Homeschooling isn't very big here, so she hasn't really spoken to many people. A lot of what she was hearing was from the other side of the argument: people trying to convince her that public schooling was so much cheaper. I think she's going to give it a try next year (Kindergarten).

Your homeschool sounds pretty similar to ours! I don't think many families would choose to homeschool because it's cheaper. In the case of the conversation I had, a friend was concerned she couldn't afford it, that it would be extremely expensive to homeschool.

Good luck in the job search!

That's a big financial decision you made. Teachers in our district make nowhere that much! I think the cap is about $35,000 for those with 10+ years. Our principals only make around $80,000. Yes, that means most decent teachers end up leaving for better paid districts. We have one private school in our district with academics as bad as any local public school. It's mostly a dumping ground for the misbehaving kids of out-of-towners. The cost for the day program is about $12,000, so it would quickly eat any money I made.

I agree! Our local schools are... honestly, I'm not sure that they're even better than nothing.

Low wages, costs of essentials like workwear (scrubs), and childcare/transportation to-and-from extracurriculars balances it here. ETA there are also the issues regarding childcare in the summer. Most jobs don't give three months off for vacation in the U.S., so finding somewhere for the kids to go and someone to watch them is a big deal.

It's great to hear that you're having such a great experience with public schools - and saving money! Our local schools don't even offer Latin, and there certainly aren't any literature discussions taking place. My goddaughter is in seventh grade, and she says that her science teacher gives them an assignment, then just leaves the room. I've had a lot of panicked texts asking for help. I'm surprised to learn your school offers the Chromebooks for free. Students have to pay an $80 rental fee each year here. All of that was to say, I'm genuinely happy that there are quality public schools available! It's good to have a reminder that they aren't unicorns, just Derby winners - in other words, they exist, even if they're rare.

For me, there aren't a lot of well-paid jobs that I could get (pharmacy tech in an extremely flooded market). That would also require purchasing scrubs, shoes, etc. Gas becomes another major expense, as does childcare/transportation to-and-from extracurriculars. ETA there are also the issues regarding childcare in the summer. Most jobs don't give three months off for vacation in the U.S., so finding somewhere for the kids to go and someone to watch them is a big deal. But that's our situation. It's complicated and different for everyone.

I was recently having a conversation irl with a friend, and it made me think? I've come to the conclusion that there really isn't a universal answer. For example, would your kids ride the bus, or would you take them to school? Personally, our bus schedule is too inconsistent for me to trust them. There is a twenty minute window of when the buses go past our house. If the kids aren't outside waiting, the bus doesn't stop, regardless of the weather. I know a lot of parents who drive their kids to school because of this issue, and I know I would be one of them. By my calculations, that would cost me about $50 per month or $450 per school year. My curriculum budget is $450 now, so in that regard, I'm probably at least breaking even. However, we don't do any co-ops or anything like that (I don't count costs of extracurriculars as homeschooling costs because we would be paying them - or something similar - anyway). If we joined a co-op, that would certainly add costs because we have to pay both the fee and transportation costs. And, of course, if your kids would ride the bus, then gas costs aren't a factor. Another issue is food cost. It's $2.50 for a bottle of water at school. We have a well at home; in other words, water is free. Lunch is usually something like five chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, a whole wheat roll, and a small carton of 2% milk. It costs about $2-3 per day or $10-$15 per week for one meal. I can black beans, rice, salsa, shredded cheese, and a gallon of whole for $15. That can feed my whole family lunch for at least a week, and I would argue it's healthier at the same time. However, more expensive food choices, especially if a family chooses to eat out for lunch, would negate the savings or even cost more. And at the end of the day, if a family was eligible for free lunch, obviously, eating at home is an added cost. Of course, there are many other factors with regards to costs. I chose to highlight those factors because they can go so many ways. At the end of the day, I can safely say that homeschooling is less expensive that public schooling for my family. I can also say that as long as the costs of homeschooling are manageable, I don't think that would be deciding factor for us. But what about you? Is homeschooling more or less expensive for you? Is that a factor in your choice? *** ETA: I want to start by saying that I do feel many people responded here in good faith, and I'm grateful for those who did, especially those who had different experiences! However, there is a portion of respondents by whom I do not feel welcomed. There are some of you who apparently think you know more about the resources available to an anon from parts unknown than the anon herself. Having to defend my daily reality to people who don't know anything about me instead of having a fun and engaging conversation about a fairly inconsequential thought-exercise has had the opposite effect of why I joined this forum. I ask that in the future, maybe consider that other people do in fact live in areas without the resources and amenities that are common where you live.

My husband and I attended different public schools. Both treated PE like any other high class. That's the way our current school district does, and I believe it's statewide.

We live in a state where homeschool graduation requirements are entirely the parents' choice. It's great to have that freedom, but it's also kind of try scary. I'm roughly basing my requirements off of the PS Advanced Diploma requirements in my state. The current plan is: English - 4 credits (AO's literature and Seven Sister's Homeschool MLA and APA) German - 4 credits (DIY) Science - 4 credits (SMH's biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science) History/Social Sciences - 5 credits (world history 1, world history 2, world geography, US history, and US government) Math - 5 credits (Lial Algebra 1 - Precalculus, Holt geometry, and consumer math) Latin - 4 credits (DIY) Health and PE - 2 credits (0.5 credit per year; required in PS and factored into GPA) Music - 1 credit (AO and piano - feels like I'm undercutting the credits) Art - 1 credit (AO and something with watercolor and/or pastels) Trade school - 1 credit in year 11 and/or year 12 *** It feels like too many to put on a transcript, but it doesn't feel like too much work. I don't count hours; I just go by work - ie, I don't care if it takes my kids two terms or two year to get through a math book, when it's done, it's done. School usually takes us about five hours. *** What do your credits look like?

I found a lot of helpful information in the Eclectic Manual of Methods. The suggestion about painting a map of the US and "filling it in" with the timeline was really helpful. I want to try something similar with Europe.

I think the argument about whether or not homeschooling is appropriate is very dependent on circumstances. Locally, the schools don't care. If kids learn, that's fine. If kids don't learn, they're sat next to the kids who knows what they're doing on EOCs with explicit instructions to cheat. The math and science textbooks are primarily the flexbooks from CK12. All math starting with prealgebra is done solely with a calculator. There are no science labs whatsoever. Neither physics nor calculus are available. History and geography are taught by having the students copy something pretty similar to Sparknotes. Spanish is mostly watching Disney cartoons with subtitles. Given what my kids would get at the schools they would attend, I'm going to say that even if I have to give them a less than ideal education due to budget constraints, it's not educational neglect.

Our teeter-totter budget comes from the fact that our homeschool budget is counter to our Christmas budget. So in January, etc., we put aside $25 for Christmas, and in February, etc. we put aside $50 for Christmas. We don't outsource any of our academics, but we do count things like art supplies, music books in our homeschool budget. We don't count our extracurriculars towards our homeschool budget either because we would be paying for them anyway.