How much should I expect to spend?

[Southern Ivy]

I know that some of you do a hodge podge of curricula, some choose one curriculum, etc, so I know each person's experience with this will be different. BUT, how much do you spend per year on curriculum?

[Freckles]

I spent around 700 for my will be 7th grader. I ordered the entire 7th grade Abeka student and teacher resources. I also ordered quite a bit from Memoria Press. The cost will vary depending on grade and supplier.

[happypamama]

You can spend any amount you want, LOL! There's everything from very expensive curricula to free.

 

Some things to consider:

-How much extra cash do you have? Don't give up food to buy expensive programs, but if you have the cash, and you find the right program that just happens to be expensive, then so be it. ;)

 

-How much extra time do you have? You will generally pay one way or the other, either with money or with time. I have more time than money (although not much of either, LOL), so I can take the time to put together my own programs from free/cheap resources, or to search for good deals online.

 

-Do you have a homeschooling community that shares books? (We have a lending library at our co-op, so two of my biggest resources for next year are going to be completely free for me to use, which is a huge benefit to me. I do a lot for our co-op, including maintaining the lending library, so I do trade time for that perk, but it's worth it.)

 

-Do you feel that you need some hand-holding in terms of laying out daily/weekly schedules, or do you feel that you can put that together yourself? (Again, may go back to how much time you have.)

 

-How much are you able to get from your libraries?

 

-Will you be able to combine kids in any subjects?

 

-What is the best thing for your child(ren)?

 

That being said, I spent between $200 and $300 total for two kids for next year. The bulk of the stuff was for the older child but will hopefully be used by at least one more child down the line, if not more than one. They have very different math needs, so although the older one's math materials were free, I bought the next level for my second child, as well as the next level of the writing program for him (since we didn't use that one for our older child), but then I'll be able to pass his stuff down to the younger kids or sell it. I have a great public library system, though, too, and that helps a lot.

 

ETA: If you really want all the details, I'd be happy to provide you (or anyone) with my list and how I acquired it, just for example purposes; shoot me a PM anytime.

[Lucy]

I have five children and we spend about 1000 dollars a year. That includes curriculum and supplies. We buy a lot of books for reading instead of using the library as well. I figure each book will get used by 5 kids so it's worth it! And we buy a ton of books on Kindle too. As an earlier poster said, a lot gets reused. So each year I only buy one math curr for my oldest - and just the student books for everyone else. Once you have all four years of SOTW, you just repeat them and history for elementary only has craft costs. When my oldest hits 9th, the cost will go up due to more expensive curriculums and the possibility of online classes. The hardest part with homeschooling over many years with many kids, though, is actually using what you already have and not getting all excited about the "new and shiny" curriculum! The more you switch, the more expensive it gets! :)

 

ETA - I have friends who homeschool for much less than me. They use the library, buy their curriculum used, pick cheaper curriculums than I do, and don't buy craft kits and such. For example, we did a year of little house and I bought all kinds of pre-fab kits for crafts, wheras my friends would do the same stuff with supplies from around the house. I tend to pay for things in order to take planning and chaos and time-consuming stress off my plate.

[scbusf]

For next school year, I am spending about $400 total for a 3 year old, Kindergartner, and 2nd grader. That includes a 1 day a week co-op for all 3 kids.

 

I use a hodgepodge of curriculum, buy most of it used (in excellent condition), use our amazing public library, and do DIY crafts and science experiments. I also stalk a lot of the free homeschool websites, and collect free and clearance priced stuff.

 

Some of my greatest finds have been books at thrift stores!!!! I love it!!!!!!!

[briansmama]

It really varies. We've spent $800/per year for one full curriculum and loved it, and then spent very little this year because we didn't want to use the previous program for 3rd grade (focus wasn't right for us for that year) but still wanted our lessons to be literature-based so went with CM Help.

 

We spend far more on enrichment classes than we do on curricula. If I had a tight budget I'd work off a quality free Booklist for history/literature/science and language arts and reserve the books needed from the library. I'd then use $$ for good art supplies and enrichment classes.

 

 

[katilac]

I don't think knowing what others spend is all that helpful, because it ranges from almost zero to thousands and thousands of dollars. There's also the question of 'what is curriculum?' Some add in the cost of all educational books and games, while others figure that they would buy some of those items even if the kids were in school, so it's not strictly a 'homeschool' cost.

 

When we first started, we used the tuition we would have paid at the local private school as our baseline budget. It was just a way of feeling comfortable with what we spent. It covered every book we bought, every educational game, all private lessons and camps, and field trips. Our costs have gone up as the kids have gotten older, but hey, the private school tuition for high school is also much higher, so we're still coming out ahead!

 

The questions posted by happypamama are a great starting point to help figure out what YOU might spend. She should save it, and then copy/paste every time someone asks this question, lol.

[NicAnn]

About $100 for my 1st grader. This does not include her lessons, field trips or anything. This is just workbooks, teaching guides, etc. for 2nd I anticipate spending closer to $200.

[MeaganS]

I'm spending about $200 for Kindergarten and preK. Most of what I've bought can be reused though, so subsequent years for younger children should be fairly cheap.

[TracyP]

We have agreed on a $1000 per year budget. This does not include outside lessons. My main curriculum has never cost that much so I spend whatever is left over on books, math manipulatives, books, cool science stuff, games, did I mention books? ;) I think this should work until my oldest hits high school. We will probably increase the budget at that point.

[StartingOver]

I have homeschooled for free, many years ago, for several years. I have also spent $1000 -2000 per child per year. The grade didn't matter, I can spend a ton or very little depending on finances for any given year.

[AngieW in Texas]

There is a really large range for this depending on what you count as hs.

 

My 14yo is taking voice and guitar/banjo lessons. Since she would be taking these lessons if she was in school, I don't consider them part of my hs spending. Her voice lessons (1 hour/week) cost $125/month. Right now her guitar/banjo lessons are 45 minutes/week for $150/month. The guitar/banjo lessons are just 10 minutes away, but the voices lessons are 30 minutes away, so the cost is pretty much even when you add in gas and my time. She is going to drop to 30 minutes/week for guitar/banjo for the summer and then that cost will be just $100/month.

 

For this year, I have a 17yo in 12th grade and a 14yo in 9th grade.

 

costs for 17yo - total of about $280

dual credit classes (Chem II, Govt I&II, programming) - free tuition, but textbooks have been about $150/semester

SciFi/Fantasy Literature - course from Teaching Company for $25 and LOTS of scifi that we own

math - Thinkwell Calculus for $125 (or maybe it was $100) because we bought it through HSBC and Calculus the Easy Way purchased used on amazon for about $4.

 

costs for 14yo - $190?

math - MUS geometry - $90

English - Movies as Literature (bust) - $58, but sold it for maybe $20 (don't really remember), regular books and discussion

history - Hippocampus - free

science - conceptual physics text and TM and lab manual with TM for about $40, but also bought some equipment to use for this and for my other physics class that I teach in my home

 

Next year I will just have my youngest. Conceptual chemistry is about $5 and I'll need to buy the solution manual and preferably the powerpoints too and probably the lab manual. I'll need to buy MUS Algebra II. We will continue with just reading good books for English and will probably use Oak Meadow world history that we already own.

[PentecostalMom]

We budget $1000 per year, but we are also buying new Sonlight cores. including LA and Science. I do not expect to have to budget $1000 per year, per kid, because much of SL is reusable. I do expect it to stay nearly the same, if not increase some, as we add dc into our school routine. I am pretty set on what I am using, with some flexibility if needed, so I save things, buy student pages so books can be reused, etc., etc. I do not copy SL LA & science activity pages, they don't cost enough to make me crazy over copying. I do love pdf versions, though! Hmmm, maybe I should suggest that to SL!

[goldberry]

I have spent $1000-1500 each last year and this year. That is high to me, but I do come down on the convenience side, and mostly have never picked a book or cirric just because it was less expensive. I have always picked exactly what I thought would work best. (Except for a couple of online classes that were too outrageous to consider!)

[lewelma]

About $1200 total for 2 kids for books and supplies.

 

I know you only asked about curricula, but that is the least of my expenses. We also spend about $400 for one-time events through the homeschool association including plays, opera, zoo days, science fair, landfill tour, 3-day golf lesson, chemistry labs etc. Plus $1500 for mandarin lessons and $5000 for violin lessons :eek: . Soon we will be needing to budget about $600 for high school external exams. I won't include the cost of gymnastics, swimming, martial arts, and drama because it is not really homeschool specific.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Violet Crown]

About $100/year per child. I've got thirteen years' worth of curriculum now; I don't find a need to spend much more. This doesn't count tuition for outsourced lessons, nor non-curricular books.

[TravelingChris]

I have one left. About 1000 is the best I can say. THat is, if she doesn't do any dual credit, which I do want her to do.

[athena1277]

I average about $300 per year for curriculum, not counting extracurriculars. I haven't tallied the cost for next year, but I'm hoping it's less because dd will be starting the second 4 year history and science cycle and I will be able to reuse the books we bought over the last 4 years. The consumables I will need for ds may bring the price back up a bit however.

[SailorMom]

For 10th grade next year I'll spent about $450. I buy almost everything used and spend a lot of time on school rather than a lot of money :)

 

Chemistry - used curriculum and lab supplies, and Teaching Company course: $130

Spanish - Madrigal's Key to Spanish, plus other books: $45

Algebra 2/Trig - used Foerster texts and Teaching Company: $75

History/language arts/literature/music, arts, etc. used: Trisms Rise of Nations $58, IEW from last year

Additional literature: Literary Lessons from LOTR, new $110 (still looking for it used)

Student study and research skills: Teaching Company $25

 

 

 

[Hunter]

Curricula budgets should complement general spending budgets. If you are thrifty in general, you will be comfortable being thrifty with curricula expenses. If you spend freely in general, you will need a big budget. If you try to keep up with the Joneses for clothing and gadgets, then you will want to keep up with the Joneses when homeschooling and it's going to be expensive.

 

Also to consider-- EVERYTHING you buy that is educational in some way, is not necessarily "school". If your kids were in PS, you'd be buying the children books and CDs and kits and all sorts of things anyway. So if a spouse lists EVERYTHING you buy the children as "school" and then complains about "school" expenses, that is NOT FAIR. I've seen fathers who take their children on overseas trips, and then squeal like a stuck pig over ANY expenses over $100 a year including edutainment computer games and novels. This is NOT okay and NOT fair to the mom who is up all night trying to piece together scraps to teach with. Financial abuse is a form of domestic abuse and often more effective than more violent forms. Moms shouldn't have to put up with this. CURRICULUM expenses should be at least as large as dad's coffee and cigarette habits, and the novel and edutainment and kit budget should again and separately be just as big.

[J-rap]

I rarely spent over $500 year/max. Though I had five children, curriculum often overlapped. That is, we'd often have two maybe three children working out of the same book. I always felt like I had everything I needed, and usually bought new.

 

That doesn't include extra curricular activities or a few co-op and online classes that we took.

[cdrumm4448]

I have no idea what I spend. I don't think I want to know.

[LucyStoner]

We spend about $600 a year on a 4th grader who does some middle school level coursework. $400 of that comes from the homeschool center we use. I am a big fan of teacher editions, so that drives up the price.

 

For my soon to be Kindergartner I anticipate less than $100. Maybe way less than $100.

[SilverMoon]

As you can see by this thread pegging an average would be difficult. Homeschoolers are a varied lot. A better question is how much are you able to spend? Figure that question out, and then ask here for help doing science for $30 and math for under $50 if needed. :001_smile:

[SailorMom]

I don't count extra-curricular involvement that my kids would be doing whether or not they were homeschooled. Boy Scouts, music, soccer, etc - that isn't part of homeschool for us.

I suppose if I added up every activity and extra we paid for, we'd be well over my $450, but people with kids in PS pay that as well....

[airforcefamily]

I have to disagree that people who are thrifty will spend less and those with big budgets in other areas will spend more. I know plenty of people who scrimp and save in order to have a large education budget and many others who live in big houses and drive expensive cars but homeschool very frugally.

 

What I did was to start out without any kind of budget. I looked at materials I might like to use and made lists of possible costs. Then I added in reasonable amounts for basic supplies, field trips, etc. and added it all up. It turned out to be less than I thought it would be. If it had been more than we could spend I would have looked at individual subjects and tried to find less expensive options.

[Hunter]

I have to disagree that people who are thrifty will spend less and those with big budgets in other areas will spend more. I know plenty of people who scrimp and save in order to have a large education budget and many others who live in big houses and drive expensive cars but homeschool very frugally.

 

 

 

You are right. I was making a generalization in response to a newbie that probably is too general. BUT, it's a good place to kinda start looking at putting together a budget for the first year, that mom and dad will probably both be comfortable with. It's a place to START.

[ByGrace3]

I spend about $200 per child plus about $500 in books each year. I hate using the library so this works for us but that is an expense we agree to while we can. This year I have a $1,000 budget for everything.