How much do you spend on homeschooling per child per year?

[3 ladybugs]

I got into a debate on local homeschool message board and I said I bet I don't spend more then $3000 a year all told with my 2nd grader and preschooler. That is including all "extra curricular activities". The person replied saying that they spend over $8000 a year! I am not sure how to do that even if I wanted to!

 

I am going to itemize it here in a few minutes but I am curious what you spend. 

 

For this please take your total spending for the year and divide it between your children that are school age (pre-K up). I know many reuse curriculum like we will be doing so in the future. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by 3 ladybugs

[strange_girl]

Per child per year, less than $500. Mind you, my oldest is in 3rd, so I'm sure I'll spend a little more as they grow.

[Prairie~Phlox]

I have 3 teens, we don't have a lot of extra $$, I reuse stuff when I can. Less than a few hundred each if that, it was probably more when they were younger.

[Saddlemomma]

We budget for $1,000/yr. After purchasing everything for next year, I have $17 left.  Dd will be going into 8th grade next year.

[staceyobu]

I think even with an expensive Sonlight package where everything comes in a box that you need, you would still cap at less than $1000 per kid. Then, a lot of that stuff would be reusable with kid #2.

 

Extracurriculars can get expensive, though. Our oldest has multiple dance classes a week, plus recital fees, costume fees, etc. She is at a less expensive studio. But, multiple kids in a big city in high dollar dance studios, or on some sort of traveling sports team, or ice skating, could get expensive. I don't really rank that as a "homeschooling expense". If the kids were in public schools, they would probably still have dance and gymnastics.

[3 ladybugs]

Okay I just itemized mine and got $3880 or $1940 per child since I have 2 children. In school year 2017-2018 that will go up by $500 as my youngest can take German then. However we are going to be able to reuse much of my older son's curriculum. So God willing, we will not be paying for double curriculum as he gets older. 

[Jenny in Florida]

I got into a debate on local homeschool message board and I said I bet I don't spend more then $3000 a year all told with my 2nd grader and preschooler. That is including all "extra curricular activities".

 

I'm not homeschooling anymore, but I'll be happy to vote in terms of what we did spend.

 

However, I'm not sure from your post whether you want us to include extracurricular activity expenses or not? I never did when I was couting up my budget, because I figured parents who have kids in brick-and-mortar schools still pay for those extras, too. So, they aren't really "homeschooling" expenses. 

 

I'll vote however you want, but I want to make sure I'm following your guidelines.

[Garga]

I think it was about $900 total last year for both boys. 

 

But next year I'm outsourcing two classes for my high schooler and I'll be spending about $1000 just for those two classes.  (Blah.)  I have no clue what else I'll be spending as I haven't picked the exact curricula yet.

 

I think things add up when you start to outsource or if you count extracurriculars as a homeschooling expense.  My son takes karate, but I'm not going to include the cost of that as my homeschooling expenses.  That's just a normal kid activity that he would do whether he was educated or not.

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Garga

[3 ladybugs]

I am including extra curricular because to me you would have gym class if you were in public school, so swim classes for me, fit the same as gym, same with my son's baseball. He would have that in school so we would likely not be doing it above and beyond. For my children German is extra, but they would probably be learning spanish based on where we live, so german doesn't so so bad then. 

 

I guess if you have a child that is doing something that is above and beyond or you would have them do regardless if they were in public school you could not include that. I included even my Y membership though and that is for all of us. I am not sure we would have that if the children were in public school though. 

 

ETA If I take out german, swim and baseball I drop down to $1900 a year or $950 per child. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by 3 ladybugs

[JFSinIL]

Could have posted less than $500, but then again, upper maths I tended to buy a "teacher in a can" program and that raised the price considerably.

Edited February 22, 2016 by JFSinIL

[texasmama]

With my two in high school, I am at just under $1,000 each this year, but I teach their English class at co-op and dh coaches their bball team, both of which give us significant discounts.  Due to recycled curriculum (and the fact that her classes are free except for materials at co-op because I teach), little dd is at less than $500  per year, including Upward bball.  

[theelfqueen]

I don't know yet, we havent made it through a year and only have one at home now and two at home next year but I'm definitely under $1000 per kid per year. I'm currently not buying any boxed curriculums (except Saxon math but I managed to snag Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Advanced Mathematics brand new for dirt cheap), and I'm not including Clarinet lessons as DS was in those before we pulled him out of public school...I buy most of our books used, make extensive use of the library, bring in free online resources, etc.

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by theelfqueen

[OneStepAtATime]

You don't have an option for $500-$1000 and that is more where we fall, if extracurriculars for the kids and materials/resources/training for me are included.  Without extracurriculars and stuff for me it is less than $500 per kid.

[Jenny in Florida]

I guess if you have a child that is doing something that is above and beyond or you would have them do regardless if they were in public school you could not include that.

 

See, my kids' extras were things that they would not have gotten (or gotten enough of) in school. For example, my daughter took a bunch of drama classes that were quite different from what she would have had access to in school. My son is a serious dancer who, by the end of his high school years, was at the studio between two and four hours every weekday. They both sang with a choir that was made up of kids who were in school--and often sang with their school choirs, too-- but sang with this choir because it was much more rigorous, serious musical training.

 

So, typically, when I added up homeschool expenses, I would include things like language study (a traditionally academic subject) but not classes, camps, lessons, intensives, etc., that supported my kids' passions in ways we would have invested in even if they had been in school.

[Mimm]

This comes up every now and then and there's always discussion about what counts as a homeschooling expense. But we spent somewhere around 2-3 thousand on everything this year for one eighth grader. That would include piano lessons which I would be happy to continue next year when she'll be in public school but after six years of piano, she's decided she's done with it. That also includes online classes, co-op, etc.

 

Your budget sounds very reasonable, and for kids that age you could spend a lot less and provide a good education, imo. Not that I think there's anything wrong with spending what you did. There was an interesting discussion not too long ago on the trade offs between money and time (convenient curriculum is more expensive typically, and you an make up for financial gaps in doing your own leg work) and the limits of what a person can do on a very tight budget.

 

I'm curious what that $8000 was spent on. That seems like quite a bit for young children. Probably much easier to spend on an older child. If that counts all extracurriculars and the child is serious about a sport or instrument or something of that nature, then $8000 seems like not very much. :) It's all relative right?

[Corraleno]

I voted $1000-2000, which includes a lot of outside classes, but not extra-curriculars. I would count something like a homeschool PE class at the Y as a homeschooling expense, but not activities where the majority of kids are schooled and everyone is paying for the lessons (fencing, gymnastics, rock climbing, TKD, etc.).

[FaithManor]

DE - one course per child per year at $1000 each or somewhere close to that though I didn't include commuting costs, and then another $1000 each for texts for the courses I teach since we use mostly college texts so easily $100.00 per book on Amazon and that is often a used price. Sometimes I do better than that, and right now we are renting ds's calculus books from Amazon which saved us a bit.

 

I probably should say more than $2000 though because we commute long distances for SAT/ACT and the occasional AP exam. Those tests aren't cheap, and with the commute costs, does add up to a fair amount.

 

I already voted, but probably $2500.00  per kid would have been more realistic when adding in all of the incidental costs. In the fall, I will only have one left, a junior. We won't see a budget decrease though because money that had been going to high school will simply be funneled to college plus more than that.

[Ali in OR]

My budget was $100 per month (taken from dh's paycheck and automatically put in a separate account), so $1200 per year for 2 kids, so $600 per kid. This did NOT include extra activities as we would have done those anyway (piano lessons, ballet, soccer). We only home school through 8th grade; I would have had to bump the amount to do high school well as there would have been a lot of online and college courses that just cost more. But for the younger years $100 per month was very comfortable; I could buy the curriculum that was a delight to use and we built an extensive home library.

[desiree77]

I can't vote in the poll from my phone, but I budget $3000 a year for 5 kids, grades 3-11. (Eta: that's $600 per kid) That used to cover more curriculum, but now it covers more outside classes now that I'm reusing curriculum. It also covers educational trips to museums or other field trips.

 

It does not cover art lessons, sports, or drama. I budget another $3000 for those.

 

I cannot imagine spending $8000 per kid. Even doing 6 outside classes for high school and three expensive extracurriculars would only cost about $6000 here. I guess you could use the rest for some very nice educational trips but then you'd be working around the schedules of those expensive classes you are enrolled in!

Edited February 22, 2016 by desiree77

[purplejackmama]

Okay I just itemized mine and got $3880 or $1940 per child since I have 2 children. In school year 2017-2018 that will go up by $500 as my youngest can take German then. However we are going to be able to reuse much of my older son's curriculum. So God willing, we will not be paying for double curriculum as he gets older.

$1940 for a preschooler?

[desiree77]

$1940 for a preschooler?

I spent a lot more when I had preschoolers. I was buying all those games and hands-on activities, as well as art supplies and building up my library. I had more money then and I bought a lot new rather than used.

[purplejackmama]

I spent a lot more when I had preschoolers. I was buying all those games and hands-on activities, as well as art supplies and building up my library. I had more money then and I bought a lot new rather than used.

Wow!! Edited February 22, 2016 by purplejackmama

[carriede]

Counting both DS6 and DD4, so divided by two... we budget $600 for homeschooling (including teacher materials). Then there's seasonal soccer fees, monthly gymnastic fee, and other various events through the year.

 

So with extracurriculars, just over $500 per child on average. That probably won't change much as I use a lot of nonconsumables/reproducables. Sports are the most expensive part.

[JustEm]

I have a first grader and kindergartner. Our budget for the year, we start school in January, is $1000 total. I haven't spent any of that yet. We don't pay anything for martial arts because that is dh's job so we take classes for free. We utilize the library and thrift stores for our books. I've been collecting curriculum since my oldest was 3 at the thrift stores for a quarter book. Anything I end up not liking I either sell or hand to someone who will use it. I am set curriculum wise until 3rd grade most likely and have spent less than 100 on those things. Writing supplies, paper, art stuff all comes from that budget but I stocked up big time last year during sales so I'm set for this year. The $1000 budget will be spent on a state park pass, year pass to a local natural history museum, and some classes that the parks and rec department offer.

[importswim]

My budget is $900 for 2 kids for this next year. I will have a 6th grader and a 2nd grader.

 

ETA: So I guess that's $450 each (except that I buy things that I can use with both of them and it's not split evenly)

Edited February 22, 2016 by importswim

[bagel270]

I spent less than $500 for 5 kids prek to 8th. I did find several years of junior and senior high science and math for free. That was a happy day.

[JustEm]

Dp

Edited February 22, 2016 by hjffkj

[DawnM]

I don't count things that I would be spending even if they were in school.  

 

extra curricular like sports and trips we would do anyway, so they don't count.

 

 

[3 ladybugs]

$1940 for a preschooler?

 

No this is what I spend on both kids divided by 2. For my preschooler alone I was figuring:

 

$75 per month for MGT (still deciding but lets say we go for it) - $900

$45 every 8 weeks for swim class - $270

and because I included the Y membership that he benefits from that would be $65 every other month. - $390

Other stuff  - $300 for the year

 

Okay that equals $1860. I guess that isn't much better. LOL However we could get more months of MGT and save quite a bit there instead of every month paying for it. I could divide the Y membership by 4 as there are 4 of us and that would cut that in half. 

[JudoMom]

I spend less than $500/kid.  That includes books & classes, but not rock climbing passes, free reading books, and music (drums & piano) lessons (because they would be out of pocket even if they were in school).  I actually plan on about $1000 for school books and this semester we added an additional $450 a co-op, and that includes viola rental/lessons for 2 of them. So about $300/child. 

I don't think I've ever spent over $300/child, averaged out.  Of course, now the bulk of my budget goes to high school books, with a lot of things being reused for my younger boys (though I do usually change a thing or two with them).

[Arcadia]

DS11, 6th grade total is $8,297

DS10, 5th grade total is $5,930

Total:$14,227

 

That is excluding sports since we have a pool at our condo complex and golf at the city golf course is heavily subsidised for kids. We used to pay about $104 per month per kid for gym year round.

 

ETA:

I did not include science supplies and robotics kits, even though public school robotics kits are sponsored by corporate donors.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Arcadia

[prairiewindmomma]

HSLDA reports that the average is $900/kid. https://www.hslda.org/earlyyears/Costs.asp People tend to spend what they can, and so you see a wide disparity.  What I would find interesting (and I don't know that we'll ever see actual numbers), is how much of a % of disposable income that is for families.

 

I'm not a fan of HSLDA, but I'm grateful for the statistical analysis they do from time to time.

 

My average is about $300/kid. I've got four of them to split the costs as I hand down books. This year I'm spending about $150 on my younger three and the rest on oldest as we buy expensive high school things (lab supplies, I'm looking at you).  I'm not including OT/VT or other medical stuff that I do.  If I were to do so, that would bump me up considerably--but I am paying for that regardless of whether my child is publicly or privately educated.  If we weren't paying for medical stuff I would have more available to spend on books, classes, and activities.

[Hilltopmom]

I've never kept track, I'm afraid to know;)

 

This year will be our highest so far though, outsourcing several high school classes to online providers or the community college. I should try keeping track.

 

When they were younger, it was hard to separate out "school" expenses. Cool science kits or educational games & lots of books I would've bought if they were in school too. We didn't use curriculum until middle school & tried to get most games, puzzles, kits, etc at garage sales or consignment shops or for gifts.

 

Museum memberships, vacations, hobby supplies, dance classes, games, choir fees, robotics fees, lots & lots of books & audio books etc are all part of our homeschooling lives & create a rich educational environment, but not technically " homeschool expenses" I guess.

 

None of our curriculum has been handed down so far- my kids have too wide of learning differences & interests. Hoping my youngest two will be able to share things! And I'm having to re buy all the toddler, preschool, elem stuff since I gave ours away years ago.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Hilltopmom

[Luckymama]

One high school student without extracurriculars (since she would have done the same if attending a high school):

 

approximately $6000, with $4000 being 2 4-credit university classes

 

Yeah, conceivably we could spend less once she's in college for real.

[happypamama]

Less than $500 per kid, but this year, it'll be slightly higher for my oldest because I need to buy high school biology supplies, which including the microscope, might be around $400 more. But I'm spending far less than that on my others. I'm not counting martial arts class for the kids, because they'd do that even if they weren't homeschooled. I'd only count ECs above the norm, like if they were serious gymnasts and spending more time in the gym than they could if they weren't homeschooled. I also have around another $100 in writing and Latin books that I might buy for my oldest for next year, depending on whether she finishes the current levels soon or not. But I've spent less than $500 on her so far for next year, and I am super pleased with what we have. I shop early and am crazy good at deals, which makes it a lot easier to stomach the times when I need to pay full price (I'm looking at you, Singapore Math and AOPS).

 

I'm not even sure how I'd spend $500 per child for my younger sister. Even for my rising sixth grader, I can't imagine what I'd do with $500.

[3 ladybugs]

HSLDA reports that the average is $900/kid. https://www.hslda.org/earlyyears/Costs.asp People tend to spend what they can, and so you see a wide disparity.  What I would find interesting (and I don't know that we'll ever see actual numbers), is how much of a % of disposable income that is for families.

 

I'm not a fan of HSLDA, but I'm grateful for the statistical analysis they do from time to time.

 

My average is about $300/kid. I've got four of them to split the costs as I hand down books. This year I'm spending about $150 on my younger three and the rest on oldest as we buy expensive high school things (lab supplies, I'm looking at you).  I'm not including OT/VT or other medical stuff that I do.  If I were to do so, that would bump me up considerably--but I am paying for that regardless of whether my child is publicly or privately educated.  If we weren't paying for medical stuff I would have more available to spend on books, classes, and activities.

Disposable income meaning after rent/mortgage, food, utilities, insurance and other loans?

 

I think some people (we included in this) we rank our children's education pretty high so it is the first to be funded. However I could see where some people feel that tithing, or charity is just as high so I am not sure that would be considered disposable income or not. I am sure there are others that on paper, can't afford to pay ANYTHING for homeschooling. 

 

This is a long winded way of saying that disposable can be a relative term. 

[Seeking Squirrels]

So are we counting e.c.'s? Because I don't really consider that a homeschooling cost since we would be doing those anyway. I spent about $600 for this year for a 2nd grader. I expect to do about the same for next, plus a few things for preK. But I also end up spending some here and there throughout the year, and sometimes an online subscription, so that probably adds a couple hundred a year by the end of it all.

 

I'm assuming some things will be cheaper bringing my second through them since we can reuse some stuff. But I'm not counting on it, just in case she needs a completely different approach and I have to start from scratch. Manipulatives and logic games will definitely be reusable, so that will at least take some off the top.

 

Now if we add E.C.'s, another 1,000 per child, soon to be more as we want to add piano for DD7.

 

[prairiewindmomma]

Yes, disposable is a squishy term.  Part of what I'd hope to capture is though, is a more accurate snapshot of what both where educational spending is ranked in household spending, and what portion of discretionary spending (outside of rent, utilities, etc) is spent on educational items.   Also, are people going into debt to homeschool (putting it onto a credit card)? I suspect a large number of us have raided the grocery dollars to buy a book here or there, but one ultimately can't decide not to ever eat again or to skip paying the electric bill forevermore in order to put their kid into competitive gymnastics (without serious financial consequences).

 

Just asking the question, "What is your annual family income?" doesn't really capture that---we live in a variety of COL areas, we have a variety of different needs, and we have vastly different family sizes. 

[Carrie12345]

I ball parked my answer, and still don't feel it's very representative.  I probably spend 5 times or more on my oldest homeschooler than my youngest two combined.  So, even if I didn't have the youngest two, I'd be spending nearly the same.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Not even $1000 for 2 kids.

 

 

[Carrie12345]

Yes, disposable is a squishy term.  Part of what I'd hope to capture is though, is a more accurate snapshot of what both where educational spending is ranked in household spending, and what portion of discretionary spending (outside of rent, utilities, etc) is spent on educational items. 

 

It's probably about 1/3 of what I'd consider our disposable income.

[catz]

I haven't done the math but if you do any kind of extracurricular, it does add up fast.  We spend several thousand dollars on music lessons alone per year.  Although, plenty of people doing b&m school public or private chose to do music lessons too.  HIgh school is expensive too even if you're just buying curriculum at home and we're outsourcing some.  So we do not homeschool on the cheap.  We have chosen a somewhat simpler lifestyle than many at our income level to be able to do it though.  It's been a worthy sacrifice.

[AK_Mom4]

Between $1000 and $2000 for a high school student with 3 outside courses (all music).

 

If I only included costs for academic subject - books and materials - it would be about $500

[SKL]

I spend more than that and I don't even homeschool.  :P

[bluemongoose]

About a thousand per kid if you add in the extracurricular. However, the youngest is in PrK and I spent maybe $100 on him, I spent the most on DD 6th, slightly less on DS 3rd, and even less on DS 2nd. Many of the things I spend $$ for DD I can pass down the line, so each kid is slightly less with DD being the most $$. To figure out my number I just added it up and divided by 4 like you said. 

[Arcadia]

There are plenty who afterschool music here. However what my kids do for music is what their assigned public school would have done starting from 3rd grade. I did not included instrument rental fees which I would have to pay even if kids were in school. There are not enough free loaners to go around in their assigned schools.

 

As for cost with respect to disposable income, that would be about 1/3. High COL, below median family income for our zipcode, smallest condo unit in our area and our outstanding mortgage payment is now low. We choose here because I don't drive so I need all essential services to be walkable or a short light rail train ride if hubby is out of town.

 

ETA:

My budgets and informal transcripts are on excel and backup to cloud storage so it is easy to calculate at any moment in time.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Arcadia

[73349]

I only have one (so no reusing) and don't spend the same amount every year. I'd guess around $1k is about right. I'd expect it to be higher for high school.

[Hilltopmom]

Then too, do we count things like a new laptop for teen to use at DE classes?

If so,that raises my total by about $1000

[Hilltopmom]

Ok, this is not for all my kids. But for my rising 11th grader,

I'm at over $5,000 so far: that's 2 online classes, one DE class & fees, a few textbooks ( used) for homegrown classes, Great courses lectures, Bravewriter classes, a summer program he's attending, & a lap top (right now we all share one desktop).

 

I'm not counting his Educational hobbies supplies like Arduino stuff, historical re enacting gear that needs to be replaced, or robotics stuff, or any e/c activities. Or drivers Ed.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Hilltopmom

[TrixieB]

I voted $2000 - $3000.

 

Both of my kids are in high school, and nearly all their classes are outsourced (online or co-op).  They are also enrolled in a "cover school" (like NAHRS, for example) which provides a transcript, so I included those fees.

 

I did not include the cost of private music lessons or youth symphony tuition, because my kids would participate in those activities no matter what kind of school they attend.