The Price of Homeschool. (It ain't cheap)

It's one of my favorite times of the year.....homeschool planning! While I am sure they exist, I have yet to meet a homeschool mom who doesn't get excited about picking out curriculum and planning out the homeschool year. I'm not going to lie though, it's overwhelming and sometimes frustrating when it comes to financing homeschool. Sure you can get gobs of free materials but in our case, I have found that the older Saha gets, the harder it is to find the quality of material I need without paying for it. The addition of Pinterest to the internet has made it much easier to browse for things and find some great freebies out there but I'm not one of those moms who can make an entire curriculum off freebies past about the 1st grade level. For the first time in our homeschooling history, I sat down and made a long list of our homeschooling needs for both kids and priced it all. This included fees for our umbrella, co-op, curriculum, and extra curriculars that counted towards school credit. It did not include basic day to day supplies, field trips, or things like pictures and annuals. I think my hubby nearly had a heart attack when I showed him the bill for 1 year of homeschooling but I assured him that the list was the highest the prices would be and that I would do my best to find the best deals and buy used where I could. The very next day, I got to work at whittling down the prices on the list and began looking for gently used versions of our needed items.


umbrella registration for two kids: $180
Co-Op for the whole year for both kids: $150
Evan-Moor teacher filebox: $70
Education.Com premium subscription: $38
extra Curriuclar (piano, Kindermusik, etc...): $550

Okay, so those are costs that I can't do a lot about as far as getting them lowered. I know you are probably wondering why in the world I am getting subscriptions to Evan-Moor and Education.com. That seems like a luxury, right? Last year, I ended up doing all of Saha's science, geography, history from those sites and added in a little supplements as needed. I felt like it was a perfect fit and have realized that I can use those resources to create almost an entire Kindergarten curriculum for Bot. Plus, throughout the year, you can find great deals for both of those sites.

That leaves me with only one book to buy for Bot and that was the Buddy Book by Write Source. I found it online for a whopping $5. It's in transit so I haven't gotten to take a good look at it yet to see if I need the teacher's guide. If I do, I'm confident that I can find one cheaply. I might do A Reason for Handwriting with him which will cost around $10 for the workbook since I already have the Teacher's Guide,

Now comes the more expensive of the two children. Saha is doing a 2nd/3rd grade split this year.

Math: Horizons 3: She actually started working on this book last year so another one will not need to be purchased until she's ready for 3B. That will cost $18. If she finishes that early, I might add in some Beast Academy but I'm not going to worry about that expense just yet.

History: I bought the entire set of Heritage Studies 3 last year for $60. It was used but with no writing and included the text, workbook, and teacher's guide. We also are supplementing with American Girl Books for Co-op. I usually check them out for free from the library but I ended up buying a few for .25 a piece at a sale last weekend.

Social Studies/Geography: making my own using a combo of Teacher Filebox, Education.com and other resources.

Science: A good science curriculum is hard to find not to mention expensive. I had decided to bite the bullet this year and spend the money on giving MPH a shot but just before ordering I stumbled upon Science Fusion. It's not cheap and since a portion of the lessons require a one year online subscription that has an expiration, I was hesitant. Afterall, I'm trying to save money and if I'm going to spend that much, I want to at least have something I can possibly use later with my 2nd child. The very next day, I happened to see that Homeschool Buyer's Co-op was running an up to 40% off special on Science Fusion. Normally it's $156. I went ahead and bought in at the 10% discount which still was a hefty price. Before the deal was up, it dropped all the way to 40% off which ended up costing right around $100 with fees and shipping. Sure, it was still a splurge but it's both mine and Saha's favorite subject and I'm excited to try something different with her. Plus, if you are going to buy it, you might as well get it when it's on sale.

Grammar: I had never heard of Write Source until I found a copy of the Write Away workbook stuffed in the packed shelves at our local used bookstore. It was $2 so I grabbed it thinking it looked like some good grammar practice for both kids. I got home and began to research it more and found that there was a writing handbook to go along with it. It looks like a solid writing program that will cover some of the gaps that I felt were left in last year's Language Arts program we used (Reading Street grade 2). I bought the handbook, teacher's guide, and workbook all used but like new for a grand total of $15. Still feeling like we need some solid grammar practice, I also purchased BJU English 3 workbook brand new for $23. I do wish I had the Teacher's Guide but I have yet to find a price I like.

Handwriting: We're going back to A Reason For Handwriting but into book T (transition). I'm guessing that will run me anywhere between $10-$20.

Reading: I'm excited to give BJU Reading 3 a try. I bought the workbook for $17 thanks to a 10% discount card at our local homeschool store and a $10 giftcard I had stashed away and found both readers used, one for $8 and one for $11.

Spelling: We are still finishing Spelling 2 from last year but it's not much of a challenge so I don't expect it will be long before Spelling 3 will need to be purchased. That costs $24

Bible: I have yet to purchase a big Bible curriculum. We are still in the Bible story stage and have not yet moved on to in-depth study.

All of the other things like Health, and Art, and P.E. can be done for free thanks to sites like Pinterest.

Our original total for two kids was in the 4 digits. After looking for used books, sales, and only buying teacher's guides when necessary, I was able to get our total down to the hundreds of dollars. Aside from really wanting that BJU English 3 Teacher's Guide, I don't feel like I have had to really make any sacrifices. I do know that as our children age, the expenses will rise but planning ahead of time and making a list like I did this year will help us in preparing our homeschool budget. As my husband said, "It's cheaper than private school". Yep and being able to homeschool my kids and seeing them learn is priceless.