How Much Do You Spend in Homeschool Part 2 of 2 (Mixed and Older)

[J&JMom]

I have always been keenly interested in how much people spend on their homeschool.  So, the social scientist in me set up a poll.  There are 2 of them - Elementary Only and Mixed Ages (Elementary + Older or Older only).

 

To ensure we are comparing apples to apples, please consider the following:

 

- The amount is current.  Figures from a decade ago aren't relevant.  Try to keep within in the last year or two.  

- ONLY the main subjects are considered (Langauge Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art/Music Appreciation (NOTprivate/group Lessons), Religion, Logic, etc.) 

- DO NOT INCLUDE:  Music Lessons, Art Lessons, Gym Memberships, Extra Curricular Sports, Scout Activities, field trips, meals, etc.   

 - DO INCLUDE:  home library purchases, textbooks, workbooks, teacher education books, office supplies, art and science equipment, computers/peripherals purchased specifically for education.

- Try to include the same stuff a public school would in its curriculum. 

 

If you wish to list these items, you may in the comments, but not in the figures above.

 

BTW - What inspired me to write this is some homeschoolers spend less on their homeschool than I spend on paper!  I amazed at how they do it, but don't really want to follow in their footsteps  :)

[Butter]

$2-3,000.  I've got 4 kids and two of them are over 7th grade.  2nd, 4th, 7th, and 11th.  The 11th grader is taking 4 Well-Trained Mind Academy classes and two BYU Independent Study classes.  That right there is the bulk of costs.

[freesia]

It won't let me vote b/c it says I don't have any posts. Whatever. We have 4 children and presently spend btwn 2000 and 3000. It would be less without online classes, though. We *could* do it for less than $1500, but might have needed to put my oldest in school to save my sanity and his and my relationship. I have found juggling high school and early elementary and doing it well very challenging, particularly with a non-driven, laid back adolescent boy.

[J&JMom]

Here is my budget breakdown for my 5th and 7th grader.  

 

[Melissa B]

It is hard to compare apples to apples with the different states. I chose $1500 - $2000 for four children. But, that is because dual enrollment, the state virtual school and individual classes at the local high schools are all free. We utilize all three, especially the free dual enrollment.

[Butter]

Here is my budget breakdown for my 5th and 7th grader.  

 

 

You made a pie chart of what you spend.  I think I may love you.

[MEmama]

Math: Jacobs Algebra text, approx $35-40. Using for 2 years (6th and 7th)

Spelling:AAS 7, $25

IEW theme book: $19

Science: OUP text and workbook, total approx $40-50

History: textbook, approx $7

 

That's the bulk of it for core subjects. Definitely under $200, including the few supplies necessary (notebooks, graph paper, mechanical pencils).

 

Now if you want to add in sports...that will look very different. Thank goodness you don't want those numbers! Lol

[elegantlion]

Last year was ds's senior year. I spent probably $300-$400. I never added up the total cost. A large portion of that was paid for by a private donor to whom I am eternally grateful. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

This year I flipped/flopped around about Science so I purchased things I ended up not needing(will use in future years)..... according to your instructions that doesn't count, yay! 

DD 7th, is pretty independent and mostly does what she wants, specifically for her is:

some TGC DVD's, maybe $100-$150 this year.  Bought used will resale as soon as done for near to price paid.

Lials Pre-Alg with solutions manual, bought for DS so no cost to use with DD.

So, if things go right her curriculum will be $0

 

DS

Still using the same Math as last year so we'll count 1/2 of it=$50

TGC- DVD's total of about $100-$150 but expect net costs to be $0

Spanish- BtB for ipad=$15

World Geography book for ipad=$15

 

For both

We just started WWS 1 and I got the student and teacher books for $20 total but we'll also be trying to fit in all of WWS 2 (not sure what this will cost me but assume under $40) this year as well as creative writer 2 $13=$75 total

 

Vocab was $20.

 

So about $400-$500 but I expect to get back at least 1/2 of that, or more.

 

[happypamama]

I voted $250-500 for three or more children. Let's see if I'm right about that, LOL. (I am not counting the $250 that bought a computer and printer last year, $35 for laminator and pouches a year ago, or $80 for the ProClick and supplies last spring. I'm also not counting the $40 in wall maps and frames because those count as decor and will last for many, many years.)

 

General:

$30 for general supplies (composition books, pencils, pens, colored pencils, scissors, etc.)

$10 pencil sharpener

$23 printer paper which will last me for many years

$15 new whiteboard

$50? Veritas Press cards for a wall border

$10 card stock for various thing

$30 Printer ink

Total: about $170, most of which will be reused

 

To fulfill the law:

$50 Testing for the two big kids

$20 Evaluations

Total: $70

 

8th grader -- about $235. Largest chunk was for WWS2 and TCW. Most stuff will be reused.

 

5th grader -- about $200. Biggest chunk was for Singapore (oldest doesn't use Singapore). Most stuff will be reused.

 

1st grader -- about $30. Most stuff I already had, and I will reuse most of what I used for him.

 

PreKer -- $11 for the same set of workbooks from Rod & Staff (I think) that each of the other kids have had at that age. Nothing else special for him; the preschool activities I make for him are covered in printer paper and ink.

Total: $11

 

We already have a thesaurus, dictionary, Bibles, cuisenaire rods and other manipulatives, atlases, Mr. Pipes, Spelling Power, vocab books, poetry books, and a ton of other stuff on our shelves, so those are freebies. And we have great libraries. My mom gave me a wall timeline and other stuff from her collections, and a friend gave me a bunch of posters and some other stuff. I have and use a lot more than I've actually needed to buy, and almost nothing I've bought has been full price.

 

So I guess my total for the year is a bit over $700, so a little higher than I originally estimated. I based my estimate on what I know I need to spend in two big chunks, one around Black Friday and one around the spring, though, and when I filled out the poll I forgot to count the $50 for testing since I didn't have anyone testing last year, plus I budget a small amount each month for homeschooling expenses, and that covers the occasional book I need to buy, refills on supplies, or field trips. Most of those things are not essential, though, and I could live without them if need be. I spend about $400-500 in those two big chunks and another couple hundred in small increments throughout the year.

 

ETA: I changed my poll answer to reflect reality.

[AimeeM]

DS6 (Grade 1):

Approximately $500 including necessary academic related literature (we are pretty literature based for history)

 

DD14 (Grade 9)

Approximately $600-ish

 

 

ETA: I re-read your instructions. I'll spend about $200 beyond what I listed above in supplies over the year. I don't really understand why we shouldn't include music or art lessons - these are things the children WOULD receive in public school (at least around here), but that we pay for out of pocket, and privately, because we do not have the option of utilizing these public school services as homeschoolers. 

 

[SemiSweet]

I vote $751-1000 for 2 kids, but that's really just an educated guess, I buy throughout he year and I don't really budget for it, it just kind of goes in my general category.

[shinyhappypeople]

2 kids, and I voted less than $250 for this year. Some of it is repurposing old stuff we already have, buying A LOT used from the "pay what you want" shelves at the convention, checking out books from the library and so on. Our big purchases were math (< $100 total for both programs) and Student Writing Intensive A (a bit over $100, but worth every dime).

 

We have to keep things lean because when we include vision therapy, gas to therapy, etc it gets a lot more expensive. Next year I'll be able to spend more if we're still homeschooling.

 

I didn't include younger DD's Shakespeare and Play Writing classes in the total because they're mostly extracurricular -- she takes them because she wants to, and they go along with her voice, and acting classes. But I'm also treating them as part of her academics, because I can :) so... ? That's $25/mo each (I know, we're lucky).

 

ETA I changed my vote to 250 + because we have to get a new printer and speech to text software. Ugh.

[Mimm]

This year for eighth grade we are spending over $1000. Some subjects are very cheap, as I mentioned in another thread. I found a Lial's algebra book for around $35. Some subjects are more expensive. French is outsourced through an online class and the tuition is over $400 and the curriculum was $100. This is not a reflection of how much more I value French than Algebra but a reflection of which is easier for me to teach with the resources at my disposal.

 

Online classes will be over $1000 by themselves. Our co-op is around $300. Yoga classes which are being taken because otherwise she would have had no PE on her schedule (so is definitely a homeschooling expense) will be, ok, wow, $450 for the year. Which isn't bad but I hadn't really added that up. Sooo, I voted wrong because clearly I belong in the $1500 and up category. I paid at least $100 for all the books her online history class required. Add in various other books and supplies and and we're probably looking at another $100-200 by the end of the year. Oh and we paid over $100 for a Raspberry Pi with some other stuff, and a project book.

 

I hadn't really added it up. I just knew it was over $1000. Now it looks like over $2000? :blink:  I have to admit, I'm surprised.

 

ETA: And I voted in the one child section because that's my only homeschooled child. Hope I did that right. I managed to change my vote.

[LucyStoner]

I voted $500-750 with all of your provisos on what not to include. As far as I could tell, you were looking for books, supplies and tech costs so that is about $600 for us- $500 books and supplies and $100 adaptive tech. We don't spend $100 every single year on tech for our son who needs it but we do budget it because then we aren't scrambling if we need to replace a tablet or such (in 2014 we spent several hundred dollars on this, in 2015 nothing).

 

That said, that is a meaningless number to me as it excludes many educational expenses that we only have because we homeschool. Stripping out things like sports, scouts, music and such, we still have a significant outlay of things you don't factor into the cost of homeschooling.

 

For my older son who is in 7th grade, the actual total budget is about $960 OOP this year. That is for adaptive tech, robotics/engineering, and academic lessons/tutors. He also has recieved nearly $3000 in scholarships for math, science, philosophy and writing related opportunities.

 

For my younger son it is about $700 for classes and lessons in our state's core requirements.

 

I also have a $500/yr book/supply budget and a $600/yr one off homeschool classes/workshops and field trips that is for both of them. That money ALL gets used.

 

That's $2760 a year not factoring in scholarships and all the curriculum we get from the homeschool center library. This is on a modest income. When I am making the budget, their 2 instruments each add in another $1920 just for lessons. We will also be buying a new violin as a birthday present in December. ;)

[Alice]

I voted in the $250-$500 range for three kids. But I agree that much of our expenses are things you said to exclude. Music lessons, co-op, other extracurriculars that I consider more important because we homeschool, field trips, etc.

 

Also, I wasn't sure how to include things I didn't have to buy this year for my third child because we already have. I didn't include those. I had to buy very little for her this year because we had so much of the material left over. We also have a very good library system and I really buy no books under the "home library" category. I can take out up to 200 books at a time between all 4 of our cards and have access to multiple libraries all in one system. It's very rare that there is a book about a topic or even a specific book that I want that isn't available to us at the library. We would spend a LOT more if that wasn't the case. 

[Luckymama]

Hold onto your hats, people.

 

$3900 Arabic classes (2 @ 4cr)

$640 AP English

$464 (max, $58/month) AP Calculus

 

$45 Arabic book

$25 Arabic online access

$60 English books

$15 biology iBook

$5 AP Environmental Science book

$15 AP Psych books, 2

$180 AP Comparative Gov and Pokitics book (brand new edition, will resell)

 

I don't need to buy any supplies for bio and APES as we own everything already. Dd is using her sister's graphing calculator for calc.

 

There is no free dual enrollment in our state. We pay full tuition for dd's university classes.

[AimeeM]

Pretty good, actually. As my husband would say - it still costs less than the cheapest private high school in the area, lol.

Hold onto your hats, people.

$3900 Arabic classes (2 @ 4cr)
$640 AP English
$464 (max, $58/month) AP Calculus

$45 Arabic book
$25 Arabic online access
$60 English books
$15 biology iBook
$5 AP Environmental Science book
$15 AP Psych books, 2
$180 AP Comparative Gov and Pokitics book (brand new edition, will resell)

I don't need to buy any supplies for bio and APES as we own everything already. Dd is using her sister's graphing calculator for calc.

There is no free dual enrollment in our state. We pay full tuition for dd's university classes.

 

[RootAnn]

Two twice-per-week online classes and one asychronous online class certainly plays into these costs being higher. Also, I buy a lot of things for eldest that we will (hopefully) reuse for at least one or more later kids. DD#2's art supplies aren't cheap, either.

 

I voted 2 kids & over $2,000. Most of that is for dd#1 (online classes).

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Pretty good, actually. As my husband would say - it still costs less than the cheapest private high school in the area, lol.

Especially when you look at how many college credit hours she could potentially have with all the APs....

[regentrude]

Currently one child, high school age. Under $100 for the core subjects

This year:

Math AoPS precalculus. Book new $50, but split among two siblings - so effectively $25 per kid.

English books. Lots of books. My bookshelf, the library. $0

History: A book $10. 2 Teaching Company lecture courses (66 lectures) bought on audible $13.90. Add books from shelf+library

Science: biology. Used college text $10. Free online videos.

Foreign language: German books from the shelf, conversation, videos online. $0

Previously for a different foreign language, I spent $100 on the complete materials for a 3 year course

 

Elective: Social Psychology, 6 different Teaching Company lecture courses, $41 total on audible

 

 

ETA: our schooling has been similar throughout the years. The only real expense was dual enrollment at university for DD.

 

[Loowit]

For all three of my kids, 1 in high school, 1 in middle school, and 1 in elementary I spend around $1,500 a year.  The majority seems to be for the high schooler, but I can reuse many of the books I bought so it will end up saving money down the road.  It would be a lot more if I included dance classes and other extra curricular activities.

[hollyhock]

I have four in school, one older than 7th grade. I think I spend about $500 a year and probably more than half of that is for the home library. I'm finding I spend very little on actual curricula these days, maybe $150 per year, because I've bought so much reusable stuff in the past and whole series of books (like science for all of elementary at once).

[My3girls]

If I strip out music and sports, we're probably in the $500-750 range for grades 4,5, & 8, maybe less. I buy throughout the year out of the general budget as someone else stated so this is en estimate.

[Carrie12345]

- ONLY the main subjects are considered (Langauge Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art/Music Appreciation (NOTprivate/group Lessons), Religion, Logic, etc.) 

- DO NOT INCLUDE:  Music Lessons, Art Lessons, Gym Memberships, Extra Curricular Sports, Scout Activities, field trips, meals, etc.   

 - DO INCLUDE:  home library purchases, textbooks, workbooks, teacher education books, office supplies, art and science equipment, computers/peripherals purchased specifically for education.

- Try to include the same stuff a public school would in its curriculum. 

 

I don't really know how to calculate within those parameters.  I outsource art and music through what I consider group lessons.  PE for the most part is extracurricular sports, and PE is a required part of our district's curriculum.  Much of our science is done through field trips/extracurricular groups.  I make large purchases some years and not others. I haven't bought a pencil or paper in years b/c I stocked so much in the past. We've given the kids a lot of technology as gifts that also get used for school.
 

I did try to track my spending when we first started out, but it quickly became almost impossible to untangle what was "school" and what was "lifestyle".  I know how much we put aside for purchases/sign ups/memberships over the summer (+/-$3,000, depending on the year.)  I know purchases focus on the middle schoolers since we already own so much elementary content.  I've stopped pretending to want to know how much I spend on ink.

[AHASRADA]

I spend $900 per year for my high schoolers. We use American School, which simply charges my credit card $75 per month until our balance is paid off, which takes about 2 1/2 years. So, half-way through junior year, we're done paying! Since ds is a senior, he's paid up so this year's $900 is for dd in 10th.

 

I posted in the elementary thread that I spent about $350 for my dd in K ($500 minus what I sold in used curriculum), so I guess we're looking at about $1250 for the year total. I have always budgeted about $1500 for homeschool materials, so I'm doing well.

[....]

I voted less than $250.  I have an 8th grader, 7th grader, 5th grader and 2nd grader.

[melmichigan]

DS's math tutor alone is a minimum of $1200 a year.  Four kiddos in WTMA Writing classes $1836.  Foreign Language $1270 (a core class here).  AoPS $880+.  Additional core classes $1,452.  Materials were over $500 and I'm just not willing to add it up right now. I own all the year plans of TOG and all the LG-D already so that isn't included, and multiple subject are repeats with younger children, so there isn't much if any material cost in those.  (This would be for the four oldest.  The youngest was under $60.)