How much did you spend/are you spending this year?

[coffeefreak]

I had a discussion with another friend who said someone she knows spent $250 TOTAL on 6 kids for next year. Granted, some of her kids will use hand-me-downs, but she buys all her stuff used. This prompted the pollster in me. I was originally slated to spend $1200 on two kids. It dropped and dropped and I ended up spending $411.50! That doesn't include what I sold! I'm way excited about the deals I found.

 

How about everyone else? Finding great deals? Saying,"who cares?"

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[tinkgumby]

It depends on whether you're counting on what I've spent on curriculum to USE this year versus what I've actually spent THIS year. ;) I bought several Sonlight cores at once last year when I was stocking up, so this year I'm just filling in the pieces and having fun.

[MamaT]

I will end up spending (one more order + science lab equipment to order) about $1200 this year. I do have four children, and the high schooler is the most expensive.

[senunk]

Mine is high because I counted that my dd13 will be taking two outside classes that will cost $70/month. But so worth it!

[Garga]

2nd grade and preschool.

 

I've spent about $300, but don't have any science yet. If I buy an expensive science program (which I'm tempted to do because the ds6 needs a challenge in science) it'll be closer to $400.

 

But someone on this board gave me a WONDERFUL resource for science so I'm thinking she just saved me $100. I have to delve into what she gave me just to be sure. (I'm so grateful to her!)

[coffeefreak]

It depends on whether you're counting on what I've spent on curriculum to USE this year versus what I've actually spent THIS year. ;) I bought several Sonlight cores at once last year when I was stocking up, so this year I'm just filling in the pieces and having fun.

 

That's a good point (see how unreliable polls can be :) ) I did buy all the Apologia books, but I didn't count them all for this year because we only use one at a time. If I counted them all, It would bring the total to just under $500.

 

:lurk5:

[Elm in NJ]

My 8th grader is taking 2 Veritas Press Classes and 1 other outside class. These are already over $1500. I just don't want to think about how much we are spending this year.

[elegantlion]

I voted between 600-999 for next fall. Some of those items are for my self-ed, so really it's two students.

[sagira]

I haven't tallied everything, but I think we're around $500 on everything school-related, including readers, paper, bindings and binders. I haven't ordered from RR yet, though, but I know it's around $250. I'm including this in the $500. Very reasonable, considering I was planning on "keeping it to" $800. I do have one son, though, and he's only starting First Year this year :tongue_smilie: I've been getting great deals on used curricula too -- YES!!

 

I'm not including extracurricular such as horseback-riding and piano lessons, though. Thank goodness Daddy is teaching tennis :)

[Wendy in ME]

We will end up at around $1100 for 3 school-aged kids. Most of what we have spend money on is non-consumable so that makes me feel better and it is much less than 3 boys in private school. That's how I sold it to dh anyway.

[LoveBaby]

egads...do I have to add it up?

 

no really, i'm right around $500 for 3 kids. Grades K, 2nd and 4th. That includes $150 for our co-op fee.

 

I have sold/traded for a bulk of that so I'm really only out-of-pocket around $150. The used curriculum sale is soon, and I'm hoping to recoup the rest of my OOP expenses.

[JudoMom]

Well, my yearly budget is just under $1000 for the boys. I usually spend it all, but it includes fun extras, independent reading, books for me, educational toys/games, so it's not all curricula.

[laurad1125]

So far, in 2009, I've spent $500. But I voted 1000-1500 because we'll be puchasing TOG Y2 with lots of bells and whistles in about 6 weeks. We also make purchases throughout the year as the boys finish one book and are ready for the next (Example: even though today is the first official day of 5th and 1st for my boys, the older will do lesson 10 in Latin and the younger will do lesson 55 in math) I don't try to finish books with the change in year since we go year round.

[phathui5]

$600 for 3 kids, mostly on the older two.

[TiaNKids]

Eeek, I'm very afraid to add everything up :001_huh: If I had to guess, it would probably be around 1,000 for 3 kids. This doesn't include the things I have sold though to gain the fund that I need to spend :tongue_smilie:

 

Tia

 

I had a discussion with another friend who said someone she knows spent $250 TOTAL on 6 kids for next year. Granted, some of her kids will use hand-me-downs, but she buys all her stuff used. This prompted the pollster in me. I was originally slated to spend $1200 on two kids. It dropped and dropped and I ended up spending $411.50! That doesn't include what I sold! I'm way excited about the deals I found.

 

How about everyone else? Finding great deals? Saying,"who cares?"

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[lauracolumbus]

Yikes, I forgot I needed to add in CC. That puts me in the stratosphere w/3 kids. I thought I was doing ok. I've always guilty about how much we spend, but if I excluded CC, we'd be in the normal range.

 

Laura

[Zoo Keeper]

I'm right there with Wendy in ME, my $700ish for two boys doesn't seem sooo bad when I consider it would be $3,000+ for private school tuition, then add on all the extra costs of transportation, school clothes, lunches, field trips, sports teams, etc. And none of that private school stuff is reusable or resellable.

Okay, I feel a little bit better about my $700 now; oddly enough, it is my husband who keeps on reminding me how much cheaper homeshooling is in comparison to private school. Hope it stays that way!

Edited June 1, 2009 by Zoo Keeper
typo

[SonshineLearner]

With CC, I think we'll spend under $1500 for the year. About $1000 for CC (for two kids in Foundations and 1 in Essentials) and then some extras for us at home...

Carrie:-)

PS, private school would be way over $7000 a year for two...plus more gas...more time out...more...more..more... :-)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I'm buying as much used as I can. Latin I'll buy new to get the new LfC dvds. If I go with God's Design for Science, I'll end up buying those new because I like the latest version better than the older ones. I also finally broke down and purchased Teaching the Classics which will push this year's budget a bit higher than last year. We should still come in under $500.

[MicheleinMN]

I would be in the under $1000, range if I didn't count the online classes for my high school students.

 

For 6 children: 2 high school, 1 jr. high, 2 in 4th-6th, and 1 in 2nd grade, I don't think it's too bad. The high school classes are definitely what make the cost go up so quickly.

[Ali in OR]

I've purchased most everything for next year and am just under my $1200 budget. Still have room to purchase WWE 3 if I decide to try that with my 4th grader. We have a small used curriculum fair coming up. Usually what I sell pays for what I buy. I don't really need anything for this year, but may find some things for next year or some good cheap books to read for fun.

 

Much of what I buy is books. I think I spent $400 on history books this year. And I had to buy all of the CWP books we will use, so that gets spread over the next 6 years!

[Beth in Central TX]

I include everything school-related in my homeschool budget:

 

Curricula for 2nd, 7th, & 8th grade

Educational magazines (Make, Learning Through History)

Memberships (local hs support group, THSC)

Outside activities (AWANA, choir, field trips, yearbook)

Read-aloud books (ie. History Lives 5-book series)

Standardized testing cost (Stanford, ACT, Duke TIP, prep books)

Supplies (paper, pencils, notebooks, Circa, etc.)

 

I usually spend about $500 per year per boy which is much, much cheaper than private school. After looking at our local Christian private school tuition, my DH is very glad to spend less than $2,000 per year to educate all of our boys.

[SilverMoon]

I spent about $400 for the upcoming year. A decent chunk of that was reading books we probably would have bought anyway.

 

That's primarily for my older three, and a smidgeon for the precocious, already reading 3yo. None of it was used. I do tend to home in on quality nonconsumables that can be passed down through the siblings, and I've had my oldest write his answers on notebook paper to save a book I didn't want to buy again.

[tinkgumby]

Much of what I buy is books.

 

Oh, wait. If I were to count in all my trips to Half-Price Books . . . I'd have to double or triple my estimate. :D

[patchfire]

Ours will be close to the $1500 mark, because I'm including extras in that - Master's Academy of Fine Arts, homeschool band, co-op. If I take that stuff out, we're somewhere between $800 and $1000. Two kids, 4th grade & preK, but the only expenditures for the preK'er are new math stuff and Master's Academy.

[Mandy in TN]

I voted over $1500, but I am including the cost of Community College for my oldest. Tennessee only pays for 1- 3hr class per semester. TN does not pay for college fees, books, labs, or anything for classes above and beyond the 1- 3hour class. Oldest ds will be taking 2 classes in the spring and the fall at the community college. He will also be taking some classes through a tutorial.

 

The 15yo will go to a math tutor for $40/ hour about 4x per month.

 

The 6yo will continue Kumon math through the school year at $90/ month.

 

This all adds up pretty quickly. I am well over $1500 before I even start buying curriculum.:scared:

 

Mandy

[Tree House Academy]

Hmmm...are we counting what I spent at first for the items I re-sold 2 months later and then the price for the ones I purchased after that??? LOL Or just what I spent on what we are using?

 

I spent just over 1K this year for both. We won't even talk about what I spent last year! LOL

[AudreyTN]

$600-$999 ... not sure exactly, probably closer to $700. This is for all 3 kids together.

[Mrs.MacGyver]

I just finished ordering everything today...ugh...$600-999... I am really trying to buy things that I will use again with my two littles, so that hopefully the costs will manage to stay around the same even as we go from 2 school-aged kids to 3 to 4... Maybe it is a bit of a lost cause :confused:

 

A good $200 is on books---our library is not the best, and DD tends to reread everything several times. It is just easier to simply buy most of our reading list books.

[Willow]

I counted what I spent on books...about US$650... but excluded postage. Sadly this is now more than the item in most cases. The Book Depository in the Uk is great as there is no postage, but even so, by the time one has converted into sterling, plus the conversion fee, it is hardly cheap. Books in NZ are extraordinarily expensive. A cheap kids paperback novel is $20-25.

[iamom]

Hoping to stay under $500. We shall see! :)

[TN Mama]

I voted for $600-$999. Right now I'm under $500, but I'm considering a Academy of Science for Kids kit, which is $90.

 

Almost everything has been purchased used.

[Mommy22alyns]

I was at about $500 (budgeted with our tax refund), but I voted at the next level up to account for extra supplies throughout the year.

[kjdkek]

We have 3 kids in school starting 8th, 6th and 1st. Its probably almost $1500. If we counted outside lessons it would be way more!!

 

Erin

[coffeefreak]

I counted what I spent on books...about US$650... but excluded postage. Sadly this is now more than the item in most cases. The Book Depository in the Uk is great as there is no postage, but even so, by the time one has converted into sterling, plus the conversion fee, it is hardly cheap. Books in NZ are extraordinarily expensive. A cheap kids paperback novel is $20-25.

 

 

:scared:

HOLY COW!!!!

 

Why are books so expensive?

[happymomof2]

So far I've spent $175!

I have:

Saxon Math 2 ($64)

SL3 History readers regular and advanced ($100)

MFW Adventures ($0, a friend gave this to me):hurray::001_wub:

Easy Grammar 2 ($11)

 

My dh has been told his job will end in a month, so I'm trying to be very frugal. Praise God for amazing friends!!!!:001_smile:

[Blue Hen]

How about everyone else? Finding great deals? Saying,"who cares?"

 

 

I have a high schooler -- a senior. He's taking AP BC Calculus online -- $640. No deal to be found on that one. Oh, I did find his book, USED, for $100. At least I won't have to buy a new graphing calculator. He can keep using his TI-89, the one I purchased for his AP Statistics course he took this past year.

 

Then there's his online computer programming course through Potter's School; $520. No way around that one either. I don't know what the book for that course will cost yet.

 

I'm taking him through AP Physics C myself. The two books USED were just over $100, plus $125 for lab supplies and the lab manual.

 

He'll take at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 AP tests in the spring at a price of $86/test, or another $258+++.

 

Then there's his US Gov't course and American Lit course. I've picked up used books here and there over the past for these two courses, so do I count the expenses for these courses this year or in the past?

 

He's also building an 18' long wooden kayak, strip-built. He's getting ready to fiberglass this boat and we're counting his building time for his Industrial Arts course. Fiberblass and other materials ~$100.....

 

He'd like to take a Spanish course at the CC but I'm not sure we have any more money for that. At least I only have one high schooler at a time.

 

I also have an 8th grader. For him I've spent just $80 since he'll be using 100% hand-me-downs. At least he'll be 'cheap' for another year or two and then he'll start taking online courses too.

[HeidiD]

For homeschooling this year we'll end up spending between $2,000 and $3,000 for six kids from preschool through high school, and this is with reusing high school math and science texts, Sonlight, etc. A couple have special needs and thus require special material/curricula (not cheap!). Plus SAT prep, graphing calculators, Time4Learning, etc...

 

But still, the cost is relatively cheap. We have a friend with 3 kids in elementary parochial school - cost: $13,000 per year. We'll end up spending around $10 K this year to educate 7 kids - one in college and six homeschooling. Not a bad deal in comparison.

[HFClassicalAcademy]

So far I've spent about $700 on just books for my ds 7, dd 5, and my soon to be ds 4.

 

I am still missing some stuff which I will be purchasing at convention next week. This also doesn't include some summer reading classes which are going to be about $220 for one child.

 

We don't have a limit as to how much to spend although I try to keep it reasonable. I know it will get more expensive as the kids get older...so with 4 kids and 1 on the way, I know the amount will eventually grow.

 

But this is sooo much cheaper than sending them to private school, which would cost about $6000 per child.:w00t:

 

Liz in NC

[Ginevra]

I chose the 600-999 category. I have pre-bought some things, so I am guesstimating those into the figure. I am not including sports, piano lessons or co-op classes. If I teach a class or two at co-op, the cost of their classes washes out with my pay. I am not including umbrella fees as I am trying to just ignore it. ($250.00/year) Some of my included costs are for self-education and some are not strictly curriculum.

 

Generally, I don't hunt for used curriculum. A friend did give/lend all SOTW Modern elements to me for this fall. :hurray: I thought I was getting R&S Grammar free, too, but that fell through. (Friend forgot she already promised it to someone else.) I am homeschooling 2 kids and one Pre-K. I am really beginning to notice the way costs rise as the kids get older. The large portion of the total is for my entering 7th-grader.

[HeatherLynn]

I think because this is our first year it is more. We are at least $1,200, closer to $1,500 after all is said and done. I have had a hard time finding what I want used.

[PollyOR]

Paying for high school = :svengo:

 

I purchased TOGde year one and lots of rhetoric level books to go with it.

 

Plus we're doing biology. Books, DVDs, lab kit, microscope with case.....it adds up VERY quickly.

 

I keep trying to use the "cheaper than private school" argument too. Um, it isn't working and I can guarantee it won't work on DH. Maybe if I hide the microscope he won't know ;). Yeah, right!

[my3starsofthesea]

For all 3 of my kids, I usually spend around $1000/yr. As my oldest gets closer to high school though, that will prob. go up a bit. Although, this year, I am trying to spend less and use more free resources and the library much more.

[2_girls_mommy]

For 2nd Grade and K next year: I did better than last year and found quite a bit used and bought some Rod and Staff during their half price seconds sale. I am also including books for me in this like the new Well Trained Mind and What Your 2nd Grader Needs to Know and the encyclopedias I bought for Science that are not necessarily curriculum, but that are crucial for me to homeschool. So let's see.. I would say about $250 so far. I have not yet bought new supplies like paper and crayons for next year either. But grand total will be around $300 tops.

 

That is not including activity fees (scouts & co-op) for next year or printer ink, which will be monthly expenses.

Edited June 2, 2009 by 2_girls_mommy
I said Prek & meant K... I am in denial!!

[mamato4girls]

Same here- give or take a bit:001_smile:

I will end up spending (one more order + science lab equipment to order) about $1200 this year. I do have four children, and the high schooler is the most expensive.

[briansmama]

I didn't reply because I'm not sure if you're asking how much $$ we spent on curriculum AND enrichment classes or just curriculum.

 

I guess we'd still spend some $$ on the enrichment activities even if the kids were in school, so it's not directly $$ spent on homeschooling. However, we spend the majority of our educational funds on an environmental science class my ds attends 1 day per week (5 hours).

[Brindee]

My I am on the line between two. I have spent around $600 for my two, plus private school for our oldest, but that doesn't count for this survey!:001_huh::tongue_smilie: I got some really good deals, and I sold enough to come out about even, PTL! :001_smile:

 

I agree with what others have said about how much the costs go up once they hit, or get close to, highschool.......ouch!

 

 

The 6yo will continue Kumon math through the school year at $90/ month.

So, you will spend $900 a year on math for a 6yo?:scared: I can't even imagine that! I've heard of Kumon, but I don't know exactly what it is. I'm not trying to be rude, honestly! I just wonder why you decided on that program?

[Haiku]

I am spending less than $200 for second and first grade. This does not include the cost of printer cartridges and paper.

 

I buy everything except ETC workbooks used, and I only use books that I can get from the library. If a curriculum guide calls for a specific book and the library doesn't have it, I substitute for something the library does have.

 

This coming year we will be using

ETC

WWE

Sheldon's PLL (grammar)

RightStart Math B/C (purchased used)

SOTW 2

Elementary Spanish

A Family of Poems

WTM-style 2nd-grade science, substituting books we own/library books as needed.

 

Tara

Edited June 2, 2009 by TaraTheLiberator

[8filltheheart]

My answer was above $1500, but almost all of it goes toward high school.

 

For my rising 2nd grader, my only purchase was 2 Horizons 2 student books for a total of $25.

 

I bought Henle Latin for my 5th and 8th grader to start. So not much there either.

 

I bought Kinetic Conceptual Physics and Hewitt Lightning Lit for my 8th grader.

 

Everything else was for my rising 10th grader. Though next yr is costing us about 60% less than this yr. This yr she took the majority of her classes online through Scholars Online and Regina Coeli. Next yr she isn't taking any of her classes outsourced.

[teacalm]

It's not something to be proud of at all but I spend a freakish amount of change to satisfy my curiosity when a curriculum pique my interest. My kids are enrolled in a charter school and I think they get a good amount of funds, but I still manage to outspend that allotment. To justify this insanity, I do read and study and uses materials to teach my kids. All in the name of the excuse, "What I'm spending is a lot cheaper than enrolling my children in a private school, honey!" Yikes...