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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling -> Homeschooling
Costs of home schooling



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Rikola




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Mar 24 2010, 4:56 pm
I posted this on a local home schooling group I belong to but was curious to hear from you all. Unfortunately finances are an issue in our final decision. DD is currently in public school so saving on tuition is not a benefit for us.

What would you say is the total financial impact of home schooling? This is a subject my husband and I are going in circles over, so I wanted some real-life input. Most of the articles I've read on the subject deal primarily with the costs of curriculum, technology and other costs associated with setting up a school at home. But what about activities, museums, classes - things you might not do on a daily basis if your kids were in school and taking art, music and P.E.? We have 4 little ones and we'd have to pay for 2 or 3 of them wherever we go. (The baby will cost eventually, but probably not for another year or 2.) I know there are so many free/almost free activities around, but realistically I wonder if that's enough. I hope this isn't too much of an intrusive question, my husband and I would really appreciate any feedback.

Thank you.
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BinahYeteirah




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Mar 24 2010, 5:34 pm
Rikola wrote:
Most of the articles I've read on the subject deal primarily with the costs of curriculum, technology and other costs associated with setting up a school at home. But what about activities, museums, classes - things you might not do on a daily basis if your kids were in school and taking art, music and P.E.? We have 4 little ones and we'd have to pay for 2 or 3 of them wherever we go.


I don't spend a lot on things like this. I won't go too much into the curriculum costs, since it seems you have read other articles on that. Every family will decide differently about their involvement in outside classes and things. I mostly do free activities with my kids. There are more free activities out there than I find we can handle. We have a membership at the local JCC, which is, for us, very reasonably priced. They have separate swimming hours, various fun activity days, and a few free (with membership) classes. Regarding museums, generally you can get a membership that allows you to visit as many times as you like throughout the year. They often have free activities and classes. Then there is the park system; they also have free activities. Local businesses and libraries are another source for free activities and classes. A local hardware store here has regular woodworking classes for kids-- free! You can also look around for opportunities to do things like factory tours. The possibilities for free or low-cost classes and activities is limitless.

Of course, sometimes there will be a specific skill or interest you will want your child(ren) to pursue. Especially as kids get older, they might have interests that could require high-quality, regular instruction that you cannot provide. So sometimes it will be worth it to pay for a regular class, but if you budget is limited, often there are ways to allow these interests to develop that don't involve taking a regular class. Depending on a child's age, he might be able to do things like volunteering in exchange for skills learned on the job or doing some work to barter for lessons. Sometimes you can find adults in the community who do not give regular classes, but who love to share their passion for a certain subject.

Even though there are tons of classes and activities out there, don't think that your kids need to have something scheduled every day to have a well-rounded, stimulating education. There are many things you can do at home that will allow kids to develop artistically, musically, and so on. Don't think that they need to be enrolled in art classes, music classes, and several sports, because they're "missing" art, music, and P.E. at school.
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sim




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Mar 24 2010, 6:30 pm
It depends on what you mean by homeschooling. If you intend to purchase a curriculum and textbooks, that could be really pricey. However, by doing your research and using your public library extensively, you can spend very little money. As far as activities, you don't have to do expensive ones often. Getting a science museum membership, or a zoo membership, can give you several visits a year for pennies. State Parks and lots of other things are free as well. Also, for young kids, unglamorous trips can be very exciting and educational -- the subway, the supermarket, the laundromat, Chinatown. Try to think out of the box. Ask in your district if your child can have use of athletic facilities, if that's something you want. Good luck making your decision.
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Plonis




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:17 pm
Also, with science and children's museums, many are part of a group, so if you have a yearly pass to one, you can go for free to ALL of the museums in that network.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:33 pm
We are using the k12 program for our homeschooling. Check to see if it is available where you live. It is amazing. The kids receive their own computers and printers. The entire curriculum is sent to us (books, art suppiles, music cd's, maps, science experiment equipment) We just purchase things like paper, pencils, binders. Material are provided for Math, language arts, science, history, music and art. PE can be anything from a walk around the block to a gymnastics class. They even send a reimbursement for our internet.

Regarding other activities: we are members of a discovery center that reciprocates with a bunch of other museums. For $65 a year, we can go to a bunch of museums. We also attend many library events. The local library even has special activiies just for kids who are homeschooled.
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yaelinIN




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Mar 27 2010, 8:00 pm
I ditto what everyone else says. You could spend a little or a lot depending on what extra-curriculars you want your children doing (and if you can do it yourself). For our family, since we are not paying for three (currently school age children) tuitions, I can afford to have a membership to our area's childrens museum (it could count as a school day if engineered right in our state) and another museum which gives us the ability to go to other museums in another area of the state (and we use it at least once a month!), but in many urban areas, your library may have free passes for such things (Boston and Chicago do). If you have a more open schedule and a car, you should be able to find more free things to do. If you have a lot on your plate and your schedule is tight, then you might want to pay for things to be scheduled as you like them. For example, since I homeschool, my children have the ability to do exotic sports for free as I can take them at odd hours for lessons.

Most secular homeschoolers don't have a dual curriculum though. I can tell you that www.chinuch.org has a lot of worksheets if that is your inclination, although I still buy workbooks and such from Torah u'Mesorah and other publishers. I figure for my two boys (the main schooled children), I pay $3-500 for everything, secular and kodesh (for chol, I Classical homeschool, kodesh, I cobble together stuff to keep up with middle/slightly right wing schools). If I wanted to make up more of my own stuff, it could be cheaper. My sanity is more important!

Hatzlacha and please PM me if you have questions.
Yael
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Happy Mom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 13 2010, 10:01 pm
I'm planning to address this topic at the Torah Home Education Conference in June! Years ago I wrote a detailed article for a national homeschooling magazine on this topic, but they don't have it available online. Sad

Homeschooling is so, so affordable. Yes, you can pay huge sums to supplement every possible offering (and this is what gets most people into trouble who complain about how expensive homeschooling is), but there are lots of affordable ways to do it. Libraries have lots of fun free programs for when your kids are young; community centers also often offer low fees for fun classes. You can get a membership to one science or children's museum and it will be reciprocal with museums throughout the country if it's a participating museum.

If you get involved with a homeschool group, you can attend many 'school' group activities for free. For example, every year I arrange a trip to an expensive kids museum - but I work with the coordinator to qualify my group for an academic grant, so it's free for all participants. Zoos, aquariums, and other places have similar options. If there are certain kind of trips you don't see being offered, get involved and organize them yourself! It's really not hard. Also, if your family would take a trip to the zoo if your kids were in school, the same trip to the zoo doesn't suddenly become a homeschooling expense. It's still in the category of 'family fun'.

Don't make the mistake of trying to do too much, though. I've found that one membership a year is plenty - for that year, that's our place for regular outings; we supplement with trips here and there throughout the year. More time available for activities doesn't mean the time should be filled. But this is something every mother has to learn for herself, since all those fun and enriching activities seem so valuable!

Sometimes you might feel you can't afford something you want, and that's just reality. I've always figured if I needed it, I would get it, and if I didn't, it was a sign I didn't need it! I really wanted my kids to music lessons, but with nine kids and one modest salary, that wasn't happening! But H-shem sent my kids music lessons for free - four of them now take piano, and two take violin. Hodu l'Hashem ki tov! If there's something you're meant to have, you'll get it, even if it seems unlikely or unrealistic - never could I have imagined the arrangements we have now, but we do and I feel incredibly grateful.
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