by Lorinda K. F. Newton

Asking how much homeschooling costs is somewhat like asking how much a family spends on groceries. A grocery budget is determined by a family’s income, family size and what they like to eat, and the time and preferences of the cook.

Some families live cheaply on PBJs and mac ‘n cheese. Others prefer meat and potatoes, and those with bigger budgets feast on steak and salads with baby greens.

Some families stick to prepped foods because they are faster to prepare. To follow a healthier diet, others cook from scratch, but this method takes more time. Many families mix and match by using packaged foods on busy days, and on other days, they cook from scratch to save money.

Needs Shape Homeschool Budgets

Like food, some curricula come packaged with all the lesson plans written out with a script for the parent. These tend to be more expensive. Others require more lesson prep but also allow more flexibility to accommodate a child’s learning style. Some families use a mix of packaged and less structured curriculum.

The type of curricula a family selects can also depend on their season in life. When a baby is in the house, mom needs lessons ready out of the box. A parent may have more time to create lessons when the children are older. When the students are teens, families may want to use self-teaching curricula that have video instruction.

So, how much you spend on homeschooling can vary by budget, age and number of children, your teaching style and goals, and the time and the desire you have to prepare lessons.

Budget Examples

The Home School Legal Defense Association lists these example budgets:

• Tight budget: $50 to $100; no enrichment courses.
• Moderate budget: $300 to $500 would include a few enrichment classes, tutoring, or online courses.
• Large budget: $500 and up will allow multiple options.

To be honest, I find these amounts to be quite low.

Time4Learning, an online educational service, offers a more realistic example of a homeschool budget.

• Curriculum: $350–$750 (hard copy, digital, online).
• Materials: $150–$300 (notebooks, pencils, scissors, glue, etc.).
• Field Trips: $100–$250.
• Extracurriculars: $100–$500 (music lessons, Little League, etc.).

This example totals $700–$1,800 per child per year and seems more realistic.

Mom Blog Examples

The author of the Organized Homeschooler blog, Jennifer, published her homeschool budget for the 2018–2019 school year.

• Curriculum: for a 5th grader and an 8th grader, each totaled $596.
• Supplies: about $80 for items bought for particular lessons. The blogger didn’t keep track of supplies such as paper, pencils, and glue sticks.
• Field Trips: $420. This family’s spending is high because it included a family membership to a museum and a trip to Colonial Williamsburg.
• Activities: Jennifer found this tough to calculate.
  
  “What do I consider a cost to homeschool? What counts as a homeschool activity and what counts as just a parenting or family expense? After all, we would still enroll our children in sports if they were in public school. We enjoy doing things together as a family and I can’t imagine that being different if my kids were in a different school setting.”
  
  She chose to include activities done during traditional school hours (rock climbing and art classes). These cost $165.

2018–2019 grand total: $1,261 for two students.

The Smart Money Mama blog illustrated the range in curricula prices:

• Peaceful Press: $49 (digital download), plus the cost of supplies and books (She found most of the books at the library or on YouTube). This is a Charlotte Mason curriculum.
• Sonlight: $300 on average, but this arrives as school-in-a-box with an extensive teacher’s manual. Personally, I’ve used only the history and literature portions and bought most of the books used. This Christian curriculum was initially designed for missionary kids and ex-pats and has an international emphasis.
• Timberdoodle: $500 This secular curriculum includes everything.  Also, this company offers some wonderful extras and gift ideas as well.  In early elementary, my son loved their Thinking Putty.

Expenses to Budget For

Curriculum and Materials

• Books and textbooks.
• Technology: computers, software, and printer; streaming services, videos, and online subscriptions.
• Science equipment and materials.
• Art and project supplies.

School Supplies and Resources

• For students: general school supplies and a box or basket to store them in.
• For mom: lesson planner, a record-keeping method, and a cup of coffee or tea.
• For your school room: whiteboard and dry erase markers or chalkboard and chalk; shelves for books and supplies; globe, atlases, and wall map; and hard copy dictionary and thesaurus if you’re old school.

Outside classes

• Co-op classes.
• Home Education Extension Programs. Many families that make the decision to homeschool benefit greatly from the professional help and expertise provided by programs such as the one offered through Academy Northwest. Certified teachers help guide and support parents in thier home education journey through teaching classes, helping in choosing appropriate curriculums, offering testing services, and accredited transcripts and official diplomas.
• Online courses.
• Community classes (sports, music, art, drama, AWANA, etc.). Many homeschool families consider extracurricular activities as part of their regular curriculum. We listed my daughter’s gymnastics and taekwondo classes as her PE.

Field trips

• Museums and historical sites.
• Plays and music performances.
• Factory tours.
• Membership to a museum or zoo.

Additional expenses

• A babysitter to watch younger children while you work with older children or when you work at your job.
• Therapies for special ed students.
• Membership fees for a co-op or homeschooling association.
• Assessment or testing fees, if required by your state.
• Travel expenses if you live in a rural area far from educational programs or field trip locations.

Cutting Costs

Multi-level Curricula

If your children are close in age, you can save money by using the same curricula, especially for history and science. Some multi-level history programs cover all ages. I’ve used the following: Sonlight, Biblioplan, and Mystery of History. Cathy Duffy also lists Science in History Series, All American History, and My Father’s World (K-8). Unit studies adapted well for multiple ages, too.

Discounts

• Buy books, curricula, and supplies on sale.
• Watch for free or low-cost educational events in your area.
• Find places that offer teacher discounts, such as an office supply store or book store. They will often allow homeschool families to have these discounts.
• Research curriculum before your buy to avoid making bad purchases.
• Check Groupon for discount passes to events, museums, or zoos.

Buy Used

• At the end of the school year, homeschool groups often hold curriculum sales when families are finished with their curriculum and other school-related items.
• Garage sales and thrift stores.
• Online homeschool groups sometimes sell used items.
• Bookfinder.com. I’ve used this website for years to find deals on used books. It has a 1990s look and no mobile interface. Still, this fantastic tool searches all the major used book sites on the internet and ranks them by price, including shipping. Clicking on the link takes you to the seller’s page.
• Used curriculum stores. In the Seattle area, we have Homeschool Potpourri, a consignment shop. I/ve bought and sold items there for over a dozen years. They now have listed some of their inventory on their Amazon store and Instagram page. You can also email them with a list of books you’re looking for, and they will tell you what they have in stock and ship them to you.

Freebies

At Home

• Life skills and home economics: Give your kids regular chores and have them help in the kitchen and garden. Teach older kids basic car maintenance and personal finance.
• Explore your own backyard as a nature field trip.
• Ask family members to give educational gifts such as an annual pass to the zoo or science museum for birthdays or Christmas.

Community Resources

• Use your local library for books, videos (keep track of due dates to avoid fines!), and free classes, presentations, and story hours for the little ones.
• Free local classes (through parks, colleges, local businesses, restaurants, and more).
• Free museum days and free local landmarks.
• Nature hikes and journaling. National parks have the Junior Ranger Program. The online portion is free. At the national parks, you can purchase guide books and other items.

Online Curricula

• Khan Academy has adopted the Core Curriculum standards. I don’t know if they’ve added the 1619 Project. So, use with discretion. But Arrow Academic Center recommends its math section for students struggling with a math topic.
• Typing.com. My daughter learned to type with this free online service.
• English Grammar 101. My son used this website to review English grammar in high school.
• Giant List of Free Unit Studies reviewed by Cathy Duffy. Unit studies are great for younger children.
• Freedom Homeschool: I found this gem while researching for this blog post. This site contains long lists of free curricula curated by a homeschool mom. I didn’t know so much free stuff was out there. The blog offers informative posts as well. See Cathy Duffy’s review.
• Ambleside Online: For Charlotte Mason fans. I had a friend who used this for her homeschool. This complete K-12 curriculum draws heavily on older books that may bore some readers.
• Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool. I’m unfamiliar with this one; however, Cathy Duffy listed it on her 102 top picks. It offers a complete curriculum from preschool through 8^th grade. They have a separate site for high school.
• Cathy Duffy’s list of free homeschool resources.

Online Supplements

• Sparknotes for literature. This site offers overviews of classic literature, including themes and character descriptions. I used the quizzes to check my kids’ comprehension. The site provides writing props and instructions on how to write a literary essay as well.
• PragerU has free videos on various cultural, historical, and political issues of the day from a conservative point of view. Although geared toward adults, they are appropriate for teens. PragerU PREP ($25 annual fee) provides resources for educators and parents. Now they offer PragerU for Kids with books, magazines, and free videos. See Cathy Duffy’s review.
• Gameschooling
• These categories have too many items to list: documentaries (see YouTube or your video streaming service), podcasts, virtual museum field trips, and YouTube tutorials.

Conclusion

Just as the choices in homeschooling curricula and activities are diverse, the amount of money spent on homeschooling can vary significantly from family to family. How much your school costs depends on your budget, your needs, and your educational goals.

Lorinda K. F. Newton began homeschooling her children in 2004, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview at Lorinda’s Ponderings. ©2021 by Lorinda K. F. Newton.