If homeschooling isn't expensive why do some on here claim they can't home school because of the expense?

Answer 1

I must have missed the question where someone claimed they couldn't afford it, but I think it is affordable, especially when compared to private school. The one thing I will say is that it is difficult to do if you must work full time, since some families need two incomes, I guess it might be too costly for them. It is however, all about priorities, if homeschooling is important to a person, they can usually find a way to do it. Perhaps they don't need the fancy car, the big screen TV, or the big house. (Please don't think I am applying this to everyone, I know there are plenty of people who have none of these things and still have to have two incomes to get by.) Perhaps a relative can help with the kids or one parent can work from home. It might not be possible for everyone, but many people can make it work if they are creative and try hard enough.

Answer 2

I went back and perused the archives looking for some of the questions where people said they could not homeschool due to the expense and found only one person that made that claim and it was a child looking for info on grants because she had heard that it was very expensive in her state. The answerers of course, gave her wonderful information on how that claim was just inaccurate.
I don't recall any questions, or answers for that matter, where anyone has said they really wanted to homeschool but was unable to do so because it cost too much money. In my personal life, I have never run in to someone making that claim either. I have heard it offered up as an excuse as to why they don't want to begin homeschooling, but never as a reason as why they couldn't when they wanted to.

You will find, however, that "how much does it cost" is one of the first questions people will ask about homeschooling, when they are considering it as an option and that even if it is not the first question, it is on the list nearly 100% of the time.
As others have pointed out, it can cost a family in lost income. When I "retired" to stay home with my children, we lost half our income and benefits. We recovered, but it is still a struggle at times.

As mentioned many times, you can homeschool for free if you are resourceful enough, or you can spend close to $2000/yr.
Homeschooling is one of those areas of life where you can control the cost.

Answer 3

Homeschooling is not expensive. I think some people claim they can't homeschool because it is so expensive, because they don't know the resources available to them.

As a single parent who homeschools, I would say the big "expense" comes in me not being able to work outside of my home on a full time basis. Since November 2006, I have homeschooled while doing contract work from home. It has been a major sacrifice and somewhat of a struggle to keep food on the table, bills paid, etc. This coming year, I will more than likely work part-time outside of the home and part-time inside the home along with homeschooling.

If I move to another city where my family lives, I will have more support. I may very well work full time along with homeschooling as I would then have the help and support of others in my homeschooling efforts.

The above can be done, but it takes a lot of discipline, commitment, and sacrifice. This is why most two parent families have one parent (usually the mother) stay at home and the other parent works in order to homeschool. This is also a sacrifice for them as they must live on one income. However, with multiple children, it may be just as expensive for a mother to work outside of the home and pay for day care, before and after school care, etc.; staying at home may be better, because after all the child care expenses, the mother usually brings home very little money anyway. I know this firsthand from being a single parent whose son was once in daycare, private kindergarten, etc. Because of this, I brought home very little money, although I made about $40,000 a year. My childcare expenses were as much as my rent/mortgage.

If you or someone else is interested, there is an online group dedicated to those who work along with homeschooling:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WORKandHOMESCHOOL/

I hope this is helpful.

Answer 4

Some people don't feel they can homeschool without a complete curriculum which CAN be expensive. Some people think you have to sign up with some online school and those can be expensive. Some people, once taking the pay cut for having one parent home, don't have anything left to pay for extra-curriculars or even a few books.

There's also the aspect that 'inexpensive' and 'expensive' are relative terms. To a poor or money-strapped family, paying $100 in one shot for curriculum is too much. To a well-off family, paying $2000 for a complete curriculum might not seem expensive--sometimes because they just spent 5 years paying $6000 a year for a private school.

Answer 5

I think possibly because they just assumed it would be, and were never really motivated to look into it try to figure out if they could.

The concept of homeschooling can be so foreign to a lot of people who have never done it. People make a lot of assumptions-- "I can't afford it" is, I think, right up there with "my kids would not be socialized" and "I can't teach my kids."

A lot of people are unaware of just how flexible homeschooling can be. A person who thinks they can't afford it probably assumes that they'll have to shell out hundreds and hundreds of dollars per year for curricula and materials to match what a school would offer a student. This is simply not true.

There's nothing wrong someone saying they just don't want to homeschool. However, if someone were interested in doing it, but was afraid of some financial limitations, I'd offer them some advice.

Incidentally, we're a fairly low income, working-class family, we homeschool on a budget, and I have even homeschooled while working. Yes, it can be done, it's not that hard and it doesn't have to be that expensive, especially if you're using the library and the internet as your primary resources instead of pre-packaged curricula.

If someone really wishes to homeschool, they should do some research and explore their options.

If they don't want to homeschool, they shouldn't throw out any excuses based on assumptions-- just say you don't want to, that's good enough.

Answer 6

Some may say that they can't home school because of the expense is because sometimes that are single parents that need to work. Although, I know of some people on here that are not only working singles parents, they also homeschool their children. Some people are able to make a home bussiness and homeschool their children. I don't think that homeschooling needs to be a lot of money. I paid $985 for my highschool courses, and I, on a personal note, don't think that that is a lot of money. Remember, what could be a little for me could be a lot for others.

Answer 7

Most who homeschool have one parent who isn't working full-time. Many people think that they can't manage that. Those of us who have managed it know that it can be done if priorities are altered. It means getting creative at living within a tighter budget. We chose to live in a home that isn't as fancy as many of our friends, drive older, smaller cars, shop at thrift stores, rarely eat out, use Freecycle.org, rarely turn on the AC, hang laundry on a clothesline to dry, etc. We live simpler and love being able to spend more time with our kids in return. But it does require a change in values for many people.

Others manage to homeschool while working part-time or even full-time, but it does take some juggling. Some work at night when the other parent is home. Some have jobs where the kids can come along or have a job that they can do from home. Others have family or friends who'll watch the kids and oversee their "schoolwork" while the parent works or run a family business and involve the kids in it for part of their education. But this takes a lot of planning and will; it isn't easy.

Also, some people also think that they have to pay a lot for books and such. You *can* pay a lot for books if you buy expensive, pre-packaged stuff brand new. Or you can buy used stuff. Or get older, used books free or at a low cost from school districts' discards. Or not rely on textbooks and use the free resources available online and in public libraries a great deal more--but that requires some creativity and a lot of self-confidence, and usually ends up giving you a much better educated child.

Answer 8

It isn't true that homeschooling is too expensive and that one parent has to quit to do it. I'm a single parent, work at night and homeschool during the day. There are so many resources available for free on the internet and through libraries and resource sales that materials shouldn't be a problem. When I've found that it gets expensive is when you try to use a whole program by one company. Which to me is trying to make homeschooling like public school. Use the ability you have to draw from many resources and not compartmentalize your homeschool program. It can be really fun and you'll learn alot, too.

Answer 9

The folks who say this either haven't done their research or aren't willing to give up any material things to "afford" it. The biggest "expense", if you will, for us was the loss of my income. Homeschooling itself doesn't have to cost much, in terms of materials, books, etc. We get most of our books from the library - literature, science, history, even some math. We don't use any type of writing program - the kids just copy from great books or narrate the story back to me, until they're old enough to do dictation and write their own papers. Grammar is covered within their writing.

It's not that we can't afford to buy materials and textbooks. I've just found that either we don't really need the drivel mass-merchandise publishers produce, or that it's not a good fit for our family. I can do just as well as the (failing) public schools, and generally better, using "real" books instead of textbooks.

Answer 10

I missed that claim too. I think sometimes people who are thinking of home school look at curriculum thinking that they must do a complete curriculum from one source. This may be true in some states and it may be true if someone doesn't want to put the time into creating a curriculum.
In our state, it does not have to be expensive.
I researched home schooling before we began and basically had our style pin pointed. Our style is relaxed eclectic. This works for us. I find resources everywhere and they are free or cheap. If we start something that does not work for us, we simply redirect and are only out a few dollars and a little time.