The Governess Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 It costs me more to use the library than to just buy books...I rack up too many fines! :iagree:I have a serious problem returning books to the library. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 :iagree:I have a serious problem returning books to the library. :glare: Yeah, I did too, long before kids. Stopped me from using the library. But, I tried again starting a couple years ago, now with kids. Our library system emails me everytime something is due, and allows renewals online. Haven't had to pay a fine yet. :hurray: I just made my spreadsheet for next year, and my initial cost (for curriculum) will be $319, plus a yet to be determined religious studies cost. I do amortize things like the total cost of Miquon over the number of years I expect to use it. So, my actual expenditure is higher than that number. After working up my initial figure, I doubled it and then knocked it back by $100. I think we'll come in at the end of 1st grade around $500. My goal is to be under $1000 a year. I compare against private school tuition, since I'm not really competing against a public education. Depending on the school I'm ahead about $6000-$16,000, even if I go over budget! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubermomto5 Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 we also have joined a charter this year that 'gifts' us with 3600 per child each year and all i have to do is have a teacher come visit us every 20 days. in years past, we have been funding, and it has been less than $300 (for 3 kids). i did everything free and what i couldn't, ebay. honestly the only difference this year is that we do a lot more field trip/activities and the school is paying for ballet classes (prepoint 5 hours a week) which i would not have counted as 'homeschool' when we were paying ourselves. also, i buy a lot more quality art supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn1129 Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 LOL. Okay I am an idiot! FOund my list tucked in my WTM book! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 LOL. Okay I am an idiot! FOund my list tucked in my WTM book! haha :lol::lol: Glad you found it!! I can imagine the panic (BTDT). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine in al Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 We try to think of it this way" private school costs for a private school education" It's the lessons, piano and TaeKwonDo, art and pottery, soccer and equipment, that eat us alive. plus: cover school 110.00, computer printer ink, paper, pencils, dryerase markers etc. 200.00 year lessons cost more than curriulum here. ~c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Wow, I feel like a cheapo:) I might have spent $200 for this year's materials, if you don't count my one-time expense to set up a school room (chairs and bookcases). I intend for it to be about the same for next year. It will have to go up over the years, as the kids get into higher grades and when I'm buying for all three of them. I'm very thankful for an awesome library though! They recently changed their policy and I had to pay $50 to renew my card (out of county resident). It seemed like so much... until I looked at the stack of books and movies we were bringing home - they would have cost me at least $50 for just that one stack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Honestly, I really don't know or care to know. At least not yet. We spend about $1400 just on CC. I know as a I get smarter it will go down. As for library fines, my sister just informed me that she has never, ever paid a library fine in her entire life. I told her our library is building a wing and naming it after our library fines. Just $12 yesterday for overdue videos from Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Honestly, I really don't know or care to know. At least not yet. We spend about $1400 just on CC. I know as a I get smarter it will go down. As for library fines, my sister just informed me that she has never, ever paid a library fine in her entire life. I told her our library is building a wing and naming it after our library fines. Just $12 yesterday for overdue videos from Christmas. Does your sister ever go to the library? :confused: I really try not to have library fines (kinda takes the free out of it), but I always manage some each year. We use the library liberally for pleasure/bunny trail reading, but not for curriculum. I'm really trying to build a family library for my dc. I also boycott the library after a particularly after a bad spell (such as Christmas break). That would be problematic for school. I'm hoping it gets easier to return our books on time once the library opens across the street from our house next year. Yes, it's a hsing mom's dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 That was very kind of you to leave the cap at $1K and not distinguish after that. The really interesting thing is who spends 2-3K. You know they're out there... It's VERY easy to spend $1-2K when you're homeschooling an only, because you're not getting the value of re-use. To me it's the books, the real books we use for history and literature, that add to the cost so much. Sure programs are expensive and add up, but those orders to amazon and the marketplace... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelouis75 Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Wow! We'd be deep in debt if I didn't use the library! We get loads of books each week! We would be, too. Our library is our second home. :thumbup: As for the poll, we spend about $300 on books and supplies. I was not including field trips. I expect the number to go up (but not much) as my ds gets older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 We go to the library every Monday. We pick up our hold books (usually supplementals per SOTW), peruse the shelves for 'fun books,' play on the kid computers... Not only does it give us an outing for that day, but it cuts down on the number of overdue books! Our library just started charging fines in October, 15cents per item per day. Once you hit $5 in fines you can't check anything out until you pay. I've probably paid out $1 in fines, and that has only happened on the few occasions where we broke our cycle and visited the library on a day other than Monday. I need structure! Can you tell??? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 (edited) On curricula I spend about $800 for my son, but when I add everything else like supplies, additional books, private lessons (art, music, swimming, gymnastics), field trips, trips, lab equipment and supplies, etc., it comes to $4,000 to $5,000 every year. It's still a lot less than private school. Edited January 10, 2010 by tdeveson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I voted 700-1000; it won't always cost that much because I am still in the process of purchasing non-consumables (like all of the TOG books...that is a huge chunk of change each year, and I only own years 1 and 2 so far). I didn't include extra-curriculars in that amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I'm way over the $1000. I am schooling three kids and I've found in general that the older my kids get the more I spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I've found in general that the older my kids get the more I spend. Oh great......:glare: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaHappy Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I voted $500-700, but I'm really not sure exactly. I figured for this upcoming school year (2010-2011) I will spend about $500 on actual curriculum materials and then there's always the extracurricular stuff like swimming lessons, co-op dues, etc. So I bet we're getting close to $700. And that's not using the library for curriculum at all. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetbaby Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I spend less than $1000/yr (total) for all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I spent probably about $1500 or more this year and last. My oldest is getting college textbooks now. I just spent $258 for books for two classes for him (in addition to his homeschooling materials). Next year (for the younger three anyway), it should be less. It will be the first year I'm not buying a Teaching Textbooks course (or two!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 It seems like it varies depending on what people include in what they consider the price of homeschooling. For us, we would have the internet and new computers and such because of our business (IT company run from home). We would have a zoo membership, a childrens' museum membership, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, swim lessons, and Scottish Highland dance lessons (DD) regardless. I would have bins full of art supplies and would be buying pencils, pens, crayons, notebooks, etc., for PS anyway.... Wow, I've never thought of including all of that in my total and it would be scary huge if I counted any of that. I'm an art supply and office supply junky, I go to Staples and Michaels regularly, but that just gets taken out of disposable income, I don't add it in to my hsing total. We have memberships to the science museum, zoo, and aquarium, but those are "family fun" expenses. Dh and I love books and we regularly go to Barnes and Noble and everyone in the family gets a new book or two, and we don't count it as a hsing expense. I also use the library because two of my kids read so voraciously that I can't keep them in books- my dd got around 15 new books for Christmas and has read them all already. So we have to round it out with the library, the same for dh and I- we read a lot. So maybe I should consider library fines a hs expense as well, because I almost always have a fine. Then there are educational movies and such I buy, and I could even count Netflix as a hsing expense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s.z.ichigo Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 For third grade I think we spent around $550. Over the course of the year we probably spent another $100 or so on various reading books, school supplies, and overdue library books. Fourth grade should be about the same cost, or slightly less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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