Weighing in the costs of homeschooling, literally

I admit, I haven't been asked this question too often lately: "Doesn't homeschooling cost more money than sending (junior) to public school?" It certainly was a topic discussed with friends in our early homeschooling years, so I must have answered it pretty well to not warrant any further investigations.

Actually, how DO you answer that question? There are so many choices as to how you homeschool that will determine where the literal dollar is invested. Most homeschooling families are only on one wage, so a careful analysis of the home budget is something that will need your time.

All government subsides aside, lets take a raw look at those things that you need to consider. What are the basics you are going to need?

I think it would be pretty obvious that a basic set of stationery would be a need. The items you choose can be as simple as a pencil case with a couple of lead pencils, a pen, eraser, sharpener, ruler, and coloured pencils should get you started. Then there would be the paper, lined and/or unlined, coloured project paper, maybe an exercise book, or a binder for the loose pages.

I kept our earliest stationery costs to a minimum by purchasing a craft pack from Homeschooling Supplies. It was designed to have all the required bits and bobs a 4-7yr old would need to get the phonic craft projects done, with some to spare. Purchasing a pack like this was certainly a lot cheaper than having to buy bulk packs of paper, glitter, special cards, etc. In fact, I've gone back and purchased those packs independently of the phonics books so that we had that 'minimum' array of stationery and craft materials on a rainy day. (Look up "Phonics - Kit Parts" and you'll see two art packs available.)

Our stationery 'wants' have also played a part in our expenses, especially as the children grew older. Some of these items were small whiteboards per child, with the accompanying markers. I also bought a comb binder for our book making. It's been very handy for me in binding up all those free books I get online, too. Finally, I also bought a laminator.  From this I've made up my own flashcards, calendar for the children to practice 'making' the date, protected reusable pages such as the handwriting guide and number board (yes .. a future post here), and some games I've made up.

Okay, so we're set up with stationery, but we still need to teach our children. From what do we teach? "Well, books!" I hear most of you say. Choosing a curriculum can be daunting when you start out, so just start slowly. I think if you can get hold of some good fiction and junior non-fiction from the library, you can have literacy, copywork/handwriting if you take sections of what you or the child is reading each day. Better still, you can use that selected piece for copywork to highlight some pointers on grammar too.

Maths is one subject that will most likely be a first priority as far as looking for a text, unless this is a talent you have and you can adequately break the learning into smaller steps quite easily. Don't underestimate the library again, here. For the junior years, there are copious books written on counting, sorting, ordering, etc. If living books are your choice, then don't overlook the Living Math site for lesson plan ideas and their wonderful list of books per learning area.

Math manipulatives can be quite simple in the beginning. I kept small tubs of bottle tops, pegs, buttons and a number board I printed off showing the groupings in tens (from 0-99). A set of cuisenaire rods and base ten blocks weren't purchased until we were doing groupings (around grade 2).

The other subject areas could be done through library books also, that is to select a theme and then write up some of the highlights learnt, in the form of a unit study. Science, history and geography can all be done that way.

But what if you are looking for an actual curriculum? Why do people like myself choose a more expensive program like Sonlight?

Well, for starters we homeschooled with the basics as I've described above. Unfortunately I didn't blog about our homeschool happenings then, but yes, that's what we did. Then I purchased some very basic books from Homeschooling Supplies. These assured me that we were 'covering our bases' and it was my real first point of contact with another homeschooling family (yes, we started out not knowing any other homeschoolers, but that's another story.)

As my circle of homeschooling friends and knowledge increased, we began to realise there was a whole other world out there. There actually were books for homeschoolers, and in many different flavours for learning styles. Okay, I'm going on a bit of a tangent here, but that really was a factor that began to influence where the money got spent. This was where we had to do some serious budgeting, because over the course of the next few years the question WE were having to ask ourselves really was "Will homeschooling now become the more expensive option?"

We liked the literature that Sonlight offered, but knew that most of the books weren't available in our Australian libraries. We'd have to buy them, somehow. We had to budget carefully after doing research on purchasing and resale values.

I highly recommend the following points in planning your homeschool budget:

- Keep a list of books or courses that you find may be of interest.

- If you can arrange it, meet with others who can show you some of what they are using. The homeschool forums are great for this. Ask questions! Meet new people and you'll most likely find that many will be most willing to share.

- When you're quite adamant about the books you'd like to use, shop around. I keep an Excel spreadsheet of suppliers and do cost comparisons. Some places I like to check out regularly are Book Depository and Christianbook (check their 'Homeschooling' page often for weekly or monthly specials). If you're after a really good price comparison on new books, then Booko is worth checking out (for those buying in Australia primarily). It compares Fishpond, Amazon and many others. Realise, though, that it's not an exhaustive list of suppliers.

- Then contemplate how many of those things can you source secondhand, on loan from a friend, or even better, for free? Op shops often have a very high turnover of educational books, so ask if they can hold an encyclopedia set, or music books, for you. Libraries usually need to turn over their stock, too, and we've acquired many free books from the librarian who is looking to give them a new home. Again, too, don't overlook asking for "Wanted to Buy/Borrow" through the TRP homeschool forum, or check the list of classifieds on AHS Classifieds. You may also choose to sell on any books you've already decided you no longer need, for no advertising cost on either of these sites.

In my left sidebar there are lists with links to homeschooling forums, homeschooling links and sites offering teachers helps and ideas (many of which are free). I update this if anything in particular does grab my attention (remember ... I use my blog as a bit of a reference tool too, so if I want to find something later, it'll be there!)

One thing I haven't yet mentioned are those 'extra curricula' activities. We have dancing and music lessons. I know this an extra expense, but I've put the income I receive from helping to make the dance costumes and my singing students into the picture here. If your family does do a sport or another hobby, this needs to be considered also.

Well, I don't know if I answered the question of price comparisons, really. I don't know if I can give a blunt 'yes' or 'no' as there are so many factors involved. To do an absolute comparison, you would need to find out the fees a school is charging, the number of excursions in which they participate/cost, uniforms and shoes, and any other supplies that may be needed for your child.  You won't need to sell your books for each child so as to acquire the latest edition, either. What I can say is that homeschooling can be tailored to fit into your budget quite well. It doesn't NOT have to cost that much, without compromising on what you will help your child learn. Making use of the free resources around you first is a good way to start, especially if you're trying to find your feet. It's most likely that you'll be investing time researching either way, which is absolutely the best way to go before spending.

If you'd like to read input from others who are sharing their advice on the cost of homeschooling, jump on over to the Homeschool Blog Cruise.