Here's another nosy question

[Melinda]

What is your HS budget? Do you do it per child or for the whole family? I have a set budget for each child per month, but I feel like we are probably overspending on HS.

[Mosaicmind]

This year, 3 kids 1st, 3rd, and 5th. I have spent almost $1200 already, but I have yet to finish. I will probably spend another $200 before I am done. We don't set a budget, but I try to keep it under $2000 a year.

[Melinda]

I have been budgeting $200/month for each of the two older kids (this budget includes educational trips and memberships to things like the Aquarium. Oh, and sports they want to do). Is this a ridiculous amount to be spending on HS?

[Plaid Dad]

Ours is certainly less than $1000/yr. (we only have one child) but it is not a regular line item in our budget. We are self-employed, so our monthly income varies wildly. We buy a little at a time, as we are able.

[Trivium Academy]

We

-buy curriculum once a year ($400-$1000 depending on if I buy extras)

-Monthly book budget $50

-buy kits, experiments, etc. as we need them mostly for science. I like to stay within the $100 area for each subject, this happens about every 3 months.

- unaccounted costs for field trips and the like, we do what we can afford

 

 

That's the bottom line, we do what we can afford. If money gets tighter for us, our budget will too.

[chiguirre]

It depends a LOT on if you include extracurricular activities in the amount. Dance, TKD and kindermusik cost a lot more than curriculum or even curriculum plus hs-specific classes. Tickets to children's theater productions, museum memberships, special events, etc. are also a fair amount of money. But, I'm sure we'd do most if not all of these things even if my kids went to public school, so I don't think it's fair to consider them hsing costs, KWIM?

[Baseballmom]

This year my husband put $1600 in an account to do with as I pleased. I have purchased everything for next year, with a little left for fun stuff at our local convention.

Dorothy

[Tracey in TX]

Academics (books, papers, etc) is approx $1200 ($100/mo) for five children.

The sports and music is what radically increases the cost (as I consider an intregal part of their schooling) to $1250/mo.

Field trips are additional $100/mo.

Grand total: $1450/mo or $17,500/yr.

[happyWImom]

The bad news is, we don't even have a homeschool budget!!! My problem is, I buy books & workbooks that look good all year long-Amazon is my downfall. Then, I am constantly looking at curriculum, and everything looks good. So I end up buying much more than I use. I don't even WANT to estimate how much I've spent.:confused: Do I have to?

 

Tammi

[*anj*]

I checked this option:

$100+/month in budget for the family

 

That's an average though. We pay about $100/month for their choir tuition, although the whole amount gets paid at once. I make major curriculum purchases usually in May/June and again in August. Then I make smaller purchases throughout the year as needed, and field trips are funded with hs money as well.

[Stacey in MA]

It's not quite right.... We spend about $1000 on books and supplies each year (for 3 learning-aged kids), but then the CLASSES like gymnastics and swimming and such add another $2000 - $2500/yr into that.

 

:-)

[Melanie]

We just buy what we need when we need it. Sometimes we have to get a little creative in other areas to make up for it though, so it would probably do us some good to make a budget and stick to it. I don't know what we spent last year, but this year I'm going to keep a running tab so I have some sort of idea.

[tinkgumby]

Mine fell in the "something else" category. I am terrible at budgeting - I just don't - so I just buy as I feel like it and make it work. ;)

[Kelli in TN]

We just buy what we need when we need it. Sometimes we have to get a little creative in other areas to make up for it though, so it would probably do us some good to make a budget and stick to it. I don't know what we spent last year, but this year I'm going to keep a running tab so I have some sort of idea.

 

This is the way we do it. I just scrape some of the household budget as I need things. This payday I need to pay for our umbrella school tuition for next year. I have already warned the family that we will be eating beans for the two weeks after that!!

[TraceyS/FL]

I voted for under $1000 - but it's really about $1200.

 

This year we added homesat, so that is $50/month. I have another $10 or so a week in there for books, but I tend to buy mostly at the convention in May.

[Night Elf]

Something Else - I spend what I need to spend to get the things I want.

[Amy loves Bud]

I voted "something else". I buy as needed, I don't really have a budget. I'm guessing it lands around $750 for the year. This doesn't include art lessons or soccer, which I imagine they would do if they were in PS, so I don't think it counts as a "homeschool" cost.

[elegantlion]

We budget 500-700 per year for one. I buy mostly in 1-2 orders about this time of year. We are self-employed as well (aka "the roller coaster income"), so this year we are spreading it out over several orders.

[angela in ohio]

I voted something else, because I spend a larger amount once a year, and then a smaller sum several times throughout the year.

[Hikin' Mama]

I don't have a budget per se, but I try to be frugal with my purchases. I use our public library a lot. I buy some things used, and sometimes I decide I want to buy new. A good friend and I used to trade back and forth, but then she moved. :glare:

 

I try to really think about the curriculum choices I make so that I don't buy stuff we're not going to use. I did this when we first started homeschooling, but I'm much better about it now. When people who don't homeschool ask how I find resources, I tell them that my problem is not finding, but choosing from all the myriad of resources available. :D

[nutmeg]

We set aside $100 per month in our sinking funds for homeschooling materials. Classes, concerts/arts might come out of this too.

[Krista in LA]

Mine fell in the "something else" category. I am terrible at budgeting - I just don't - so I just buy as I feel like it and make it work. ;)

 

Me too.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

When I lived in the US, I was able to home school with very little money because I used the library and other resources. I could do all 3 dc in all subjects for less than $500.

 

Now, I have to buy a lot more books and things, and I have a dd in high school (which is more expensive!). So I spend about $500-600 per year for all 3 dc. I try to use what I have. I plan very carefully so that I don't waste any of our money we've allotted. I try to buy as much as I can used, but, I do invest in newer editions of subjects like Science. I try to plan ahead and keep an eye open for when things I will need are going for cheap.

 

Anyway, that's what works for us!

[Pamela H in Texas]

I don't set a budget. I get what I need regardless. Some years that has been next to nothing price wise and other years it's been quite pricey. Whatever is best for each kiddo matters more than the money imo.

[nmoira]

I voted $2000+, but that includes all camps and classes for 2 children.

[Diane~KJ]

we use a charter school and get $1800 a year, broken into 2 semester payments.

[Liza Q]

I chose the second option - $1,000-$2,000 set aside at once. I buy the bulk of the stuff in the spring. Then I have some leftover and I spend it throughout the year as I see/need things. And I include all outside classes except Ballet. I figure that our daughter would be doing Ballet whether or not she was in school so I don't consider it a school-related expense.

 

This year I think that I will be going over the $2,000. mark. I am working on something for my oldest for French 3 which could be free through the local CC. But if it does not work out she will end up doing an online class or we will hire a tutor and it will just put us over the top. Sigh.

[Kim in Appalachia]

We include the kids music lessons, as well as their swimming in the school budget. This makes it high. As far as what I spend on curriculum/books, my dh attitude is we should get what we need. I am a strict list maker, and try to only get what I think I will need. But sometimes that is expensive. This year my oldest is going to use the DVD from Bob Jones for French.

[Plucky]

Same here. I buy a lump amt. and through out the year as well.

[gardenschooler]

I spend close to $500-$600 a year for curriculum at the most, and another $200 or so per child for a year's worth of homeschool classes that meet once a week. Even with that amount, I am buying a lot of things that just make life easier for me, but aren't really necessary. I homeschooled for almost a decade on probably less than $200 a year!

 

All other costs we would pay regardless of where they were schooled (memberships, etc.) I consider those things luxuries, and we do them as the budget allows.

[cin]

We don't really budget it. We just buy what we need, when we need it. Most of it falls under our weekly cash allotment. Once a year I do a bulk purchase of curriculum for the next year. This past year that was about $400. If I need to change curriculums, we just buy what needs to be bought.

[Tutor]

Ours is certainly less than $1000/yr. (we only have one child) but it is not a regular line item in our budget. We are self-employed, so our monthly income varies wildly. We buy a little at a time, as we are able.

 

We spend far less than $1000 per year for 4 children (youngest will be in K next year, so I only need to buy paper and pencils for him). I will spend about $200 this month on curriculum, handwriting paper, and some lit books for next year for all four. Around Christmas time, we will spend some money on other extra materials that we couldn't afford early in the year. As we have the $, I will buy things like art supplies throughout the year. I also have a wish list on Amazon for our homeschool and periodically family will buy us some items from that to supplement our learning. (Our homeschool regularly receives an Easter basket and Christmas package.)

[Mamagistra]

We don't really budget for home schooling. I simply get what they need when they need it, for the most part. I love to purchase books and art supplies and join museums, but I don't go overboard. IOW, I have a clear idea of what we need/want, and I just stick with that.

 

Clear as mud? :blush:

[H.S. Burrow]

I don't set a budget. I get what I need regardless. Some years that has been next to nothing price wise and other years it's been quite pricey. Whatever is best for each kiddo matters more than the money imo.

 

:iagree: I have no idea what exactly I spent on books for this next school year. When we started to homeschool, I had "extra" money in the budget as we had just sold our house so I purchased all 4 years of SOTW, all the recommended "How Things Work" books for science, all the Spelling Workouts, Vocabulary from Classical Roots and Rosetta Stone Spanish, the 2-year course.

 

Math, Grammar, & Latin are year to year and Great Books are as needed --if the local library doesn't have.

 

I am however looking ahead to highschool and will be saving to purchase textbooks recommended by the College Board for AP classes but those textbooks WILL be purchased regardless of price. We consider that a necessity.

[ereks mom]

We usually get a tax refund each year, and $500 of it goes into a separate account for me to use for books & curriculum, etc. And EVERY year, something else comes up that necessitates NOT spending that money as intended. This year it was our central A/C unit. In an ideal world, I would spend about $500 per year (more if I could get it :)) on books and such for my 2 dc (that's $500 total, not per kid), and would buy more stuff brand new. BUT the reality is that I wind up scaling my list WAY back, utilize the public library EXTENSIVELY, and what I do buy, I buy used -- not sure HOW my kids would react if I bought NEW, LOL!

 

But you know what? I homeschooled ER from 1st grade through 12th, and he finished high school with a 4.0 average, got a 30 on the ACT, and earned LOTS of scholarships, even though I spent VERY little on curriculum over the years. And judging by her work so far, I think EK is on the same path as her brother.

[Mrs Mungo]

I typically spend $1000-$1200/year on curriculum. I don't consider extra classes, museum memberships and such to be part of the "homeschool" budget since we would probably do those whether or not we were homeschooling.

[swellmomma]

I get $700 per child enrolled in school, dispersed 1/2 in the summer for the fall and the other half in February. So $1400 total from that, plus what ever of my own money I can wrangle up to purchse things I need as I go. NExt year when #3 is officially old enough to register that total goes up woo hoo.

[Julie in CA]

I will be spending about $3200 for our educational expenses for the fall for five kids. I budget $800 per month May-Aug. If there are other things to buy during the year, they will be minimal.

The $3200 includes all curriculum for 5 dc, a new computer, as well as college textbooks for my oldest ds.

I've found that many of the resources for high school are extremely pricey, but are non-consumable, so my budget should be reduced for subsequent years.

[OH Kim]

On curriculum, little this year. I have reused my Saxon books, my Easy Grammar books from last year were still half undone, and we pretty much supplement the rest from the local library at this point. I got the Scoring High student editions for my dds for the Iowa tests, and then the tests.

[Niffercoo]

I have $100 per month in the budget, and then whatever else I can come up with by selling my used curriculum.

[Gamom3]

I mostly use what I make off my old curriculum and then add a little in.

For this coming year I spent out of pocket around $300 for 2 dc.

 

I still have to purchase school supplies: pencil, paper, erasers, etc.

Which will add about $100 this year because I need to purchase a GOOD pencil sharpener.

 

We don't do many field trips, unless they are free.

Dc don't want to do co-op next year so that will save money.

They do want to do 4-H..Free

They are in the Homeschool bowling league which runs about $144 per season..if we go every week.

So that will be about $288 for the year.

 

So this coming year will run about $688

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I don't budget, and I don't really have any idea exactly how much I spend. I just research things to death, then buy what I need, then quit researching, and use what I have.

 

It costs more for older dc because I'm buying for the first time. But, most of what I buy are non-consumable.

 

Also, I bought more the the early years because I didn't know what I needed, and I had an infatuation with math manipulatives.

 

I probably spend less than $500 a year on two kids, together. Unless you count museum memberships and dance and piano lessons. That would bring it up.

 

I use the library a lot. That helps.