Budgeting?

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Hi Mama;s! We are currently making our 2009 budget for our family and Im curious what everyones yearly budget for homeschool is?

 

When buying for next year I'll be buying for 1st and 3rd grade and a PreK... We use Sonlight Core and Science and 2 LA's for the bigger kids. Pricey I know but worth it when you consider that we have no library with in reasonable distance.. Anyway please share. :)

[nukeswife]

My yearly budget for the past 3 and for next year will be $1200, I currently have a 4th grader, 1st grader and a 3 year old. So next year I'll still only be formally teaching the older 2. The year after that we'll probably be bumping that amount up to $1500-$2000 for the 3 kids. Part of that is because of the 3rd child starting some formal things, but the big thing is that we found some classes for the kids to take for gymnastics and karate and for all 3 of them it's about $700 a semester. The 2nd semester is usually a xmas gift from the grandparents, which leaves us to pay for the 1st semester on our own.

 

At least I finally start having some things that are reusable. My oldest was in PS for K and 1st so I had to buy all new for the past couple of years.

[RoughCollie]

First, I decide what goes into the homeschool budget. For example, are karate lessons or a museum membership included? Not in my budget. The year we went to a co-op, the fees were included in the budget though.

 

Second, I decide which subjects I will teach and which curricula I will use. I add the cost to my budget. I spend a lot of time researching curricula so I get the biggest bang for the buck. When I used Sonlight, I bought the books elsewhere because they were cheaper than Sonlight sold them for, for example. I usually pad the budget here in case I make a mistake. The year we used Sonlight, I hated their language arts program and ended up buying something else to use instead. Plus, sometimes I buy things we never get around to using. This is my 9th year of homeschooling, and I finally managed not to buy too many materials for the kids to work through in one school year.

 

Keeping your personal foibles in mind is a good idea, unless you are more decisive and correct in your decisions than I am. I have a real hard time resisting changing my curricula choices based on what I read on these boards -- and in the past I have purchased the latest, greatest curricula after I've already paid for another set of materials in the same subject area. I still wish I'd tried the Robinson curriculum, and many others, but it is too late now. See what I mean about personal foibles -- mine is that I want to try everything, and I want to try it NOW. My self-discipline in this regard is mainly due to the size of my wallet because the grass is always greener on the other side of the curricula fence.

 

Third, I look at all the curricula and determine what I need to buy to make it work. In the past, I have purchased additional things like dead frogs, a microscope, a telescope, science kits, books and math manipulatives. I research where to buy these things, and add the costs to my budget. This year, the cost of lab supplies for high school biology was significant and I listed everything we would need, researched prices and shipping costs, and ended up buying the supplies from two companies.

 

Fourth, I determine which school supplies I will need and add the cost to my budget. This is a huge cost -- the first time I went shopping for supplies for four high schoolers (2 in hs and 2 in ps with a ps list), I spent $450! When the kids were younger, my costs were lower, but I had a hard time not buying every art and craft supply in sight and had to take that into account. I eventually had to reign myself in because I'd read about high quality materials on this board and feel that I had to have them -- whereas the kids didn't really care if they used Crayola brand crayons, markers and colored pencils instead of much more costly brands. I'm a big believer in high quality everything, but sometimes it really is not necessary.

 

Fifth, I add shipping charges where applicable, and then increase the entire budget by 10%-20% to account for price increases and potential changes.

 

Then I figure out how to pay for it all. I am fond of reminding my family, for example, that the price of a meal at McDonald's will pay for X (about $40 worth of X, in fact). Right now, baking my own bread saves us about $1,000 a year. Our income has decreased, so I can't swap bread savings for homeschool materials, though, and that factor has to be kept in mind. The only way saving on one expense will work is if income has not decreased. Families whose income has been reduced have to decrease discretionary spending to make up for the shortfall before they can count on expense reduction to help pay for homeschooling.

 

RC

Edited November 12, 2008 by RoughCollie

[joannqn]

I expect to spend under $600 for two kids (5th and 3rd) combined for curriculum and supplies next year.

 

I didn't count classes in the community, such as my son's taekwondo classes. Our virtual academy pays for it. If we weren't using the virtual academy, my son wouldn't be taking taekwondo. So, either way, we don't pay for them. I would pay for the curriculum and supplies with or without the virtual academy though.

[TammyinTN]

I do A Beka DVD and everything including books/teachers books are included in my $1000.

[dymphna57]

Before I had high schoolers I stayed under $1000 including school supplies but not music lessons.

 

When I first realized that I would save over $2000 by not sending my highschoolers to this practically perfect classical high school, where most of the teachers were close friends, only ten minutes away , I stopped worrying about it. We actually didn't have that all important $2000 even adding the money from summer jobs, and the tuitiion went up.

 

We splurge the $1000 on online discussion at greatbookdiiscussions.org and it is worth every penny of it. The boys, yes I did say boys, work hard to study their ancient greek and roman authors so they can participate in the weekly discussions. They write papers and have an oral exam. If I was richer I would go for the college credit track as there is more support, assignments and it would look cool on the transcripts.

A lot of the books I have bought in the past are non consumables , I bought a microscope last year and some other science supplies which used up the second $1000 mostly because shipping to Ireland is pricey.

I think all the extras help me avoid burnout. Let's face it if I go down we all go down. ;)

 

We now have a better library than our local public library, which wasn't really challenging. I have loads of ebooks to supplement the shelves and at least 50 audiobooks on my hard drive. The audio books are school items because of my very dyslexic son but I am starting to think that he is not my only child with that problem. In the spirit of adapting the curricula to the child's learning style I tned to forget to evaluate if this falls into the normal range. oops

Please, please everybody beat my total so I don't feel so extravagant. I work part time during the summer to help pay for this as well as plane fare for older children in college in the states. They mostly pay their tuition.:o

[Renthead Mommy]

I don't have a budget. I just buy whatever we need for that year. If I can find a good copy of something used, I'll get it, otherwise I just buy it new. I don't have problem with used at all, I actually really like being able to recycle things rather than have to deal with shipping and packaging, but I do have an OCD type thing for other people's highlighting and folded corners (I've actually tried ironing corners of book pages before!) and things. Just bugs me. I'd rather get new books than have to deal with that.

 

But I don't have a set budget. That's not to say I won't decide somethings are too expensive. There are somethings that just aren't worth paying that much money for a 1st grader, or we won't get enough use out of it to make it worth while.

 

After I'm all done shopping, I do total it up, mainly just to see how much I spent. But in the end, it is what it is.

[Quiver0f10]

When we first started home schooling I spent @ $1200-$1500 a year for 7 or 8 kids. Now I spend quite a bit more than that but we are using a few different curriculums that are more expensive. In a few years I should have eveyrthing I need purchased and only need to purchase a few items a year.

[Jenny in Florida]

. . . at least not in the sense of deciding what I will spend and then looking for materials that fit into that scheme. Instead, I research and decide on what materials I think are best, then look for the best possible price on those.

 

For the last two years, I've come in right around $500 for my son. When I had two here, I generally spent about $600 for both combined (as a result of some shared resources, I guess). My most expensive year was about $1100 for the two of them, and the most expensive items turned out to be mistakes. So, I learned that lesson.

 

Here's what I think so far about next year:

 

Math - FLVS (free)

Science - FLVS (free)

Plus extra Thames & Kosmos kits ($130)

English - Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings ($115)

Plus books for supplemental reading (5 @ $7-ish = $35)

Spanish - The Learnables, 2 books ($140)

Greek - Hey Andrew ($35)

History - Still a wildcard, but something home-grown using stuff

we've already got as a base. Might need some

additional books. ($30-ish)

 

So, that's a total of just under $500.

 

I don't count dance lessons, choir, music lessons or anything like that, because I figure people who have kids in school pay those as extras.

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Thanks so much ladies! I have a lot to chew on.. From my estimates with out included mistake room we will be at $1200 and I didnt add in Preschool materials for my youngest. Seems to be in the middle of road... :)

 

I would love to hear more experiances. :) Thanks!