Financing homeschooling

 Financing homeschooling

When people talk about teaching their children from home in the

absence of any definite or structured curriculum, it is perhaps 

natural to think that homeschooling is cheap. But this is far from 

the truth. Although homeschooling does not stick to any particular 

text, this is perhaps more of a bane than a boon, when it comes to 

finance. 

When you need to make sure that your children receives 

state-of-the-art education so that they can compete with regular 

school goers, expenses will naturally mount. The actual cost of 

educating a child at home is surprisingly high. Up-to-date 

textbooks, course materials, a library, computing equipment, 

lighting, specially designed furniture all cost money. In this 

case, the cost may be slightly lesser when it comes to 

homeschooling the second child. Add to this any additional tuition 

cost for tutors who come to teach subjects that cannot be handled 

by parents, like higher-level math or science. The total cost can 

be a bit mind boggling. 

If you take another important factor into consideration, 

homeschooling costs may effective triple. The need for having one 

of the parents tied to the house and fully dedicated to providing 

education deprives the family of a second earning member. The 

average homeschooling teacher is usually a lady with a college 

degree. This means that she can easily bring home a pay of $35,000 

or more. It is also interesting to note that most families that 

have more than 2 children do not opt for homeschooling at all.

But, there are those who have been successful in carrying out 

homeschooling at low rates. This is dependent on the size of the 

family, the support group, the type of materials used and the 

availability of the material. When successive children can reuse 

the materials, cost goes down. Much of the course material can be 

got from vendors of homeschooling materials. A membership in a 

public library, theatre, concerts, ballets and other cultural 

events also help in cutting costs. Sometimes, it is even possible 

to barter expertise. For instance, the mother of an 8-year old 

gives dancing classes, and her daughter receives drawing classes 

for free. Support groups allow you to divide the cost of field 

trips, science projects and fairs. 

Whatever the cost, advocates of homeschooling say that the 

benefits far outweigh these considerations. When you are able to 

decide what knowledge your child receives and when he or she 

should be taught and to what extent, it gives you a lot of freedom 

and a lot of power. Both the children as well as the parents 

benefit from this mutually enriching experience.