Financing homeschooling

When people talk about teaching their children from home in the
absence of any definite or structured curriculum, it is perhaps 
natural to think that homeschooling is cheap. But this is far from 
the truth. Although homeschooling does not stick to any particular 
text, this is perhaps more of a bane than a boon, when it comes to 
finance. 

When you need to make sure that your children receives 
state-of-the-art education so that they can compete with regular 
school goers, expenses will naturally mount. The actual cost of 
educating a child at home is surprisingly high. Up-to-date 
textbooks, course materials, a library, computing equipment, 
lighting, specially designed furniture all cost money. In this 
case, the cost may be slightly lesser when it comes to 
homeschooling the second child. Add to this any additional tuition 
cost for tutors who come to teach subjects that cannot be handled 
by parents, like higher-level math or science. The total cost can 
be a bit mind boggling. 

If you take another important factor into consideration, 
homeschooling costs may effective triple. The need for having one 
of the parents tied to the house and fully dedicated to providing 
education deprives the family of a second earning member. The 
average homeschooling teacher is usually a lady with a college 
degree. This means that she can easily bring home a pay of $35,000 
or more. It is also interesting to note that most families that 
have more than 2 children do not opt for homeschooling at all.

But, there are those who have been successful in carrying out 
homeschooling at low rates. This is dependent on the size of the 
family, the support group, the type of materials used and the 
availability of the material. When successive children can reuse 
the materials, cost goes down. Much of the course material can be 
got from vendors of homeschooling materials. A membership in a 
public library, theatre, concerts, ballets and other cultural 
events also help in cutting costs. Sometimes, it is even possible 
to barter expertise. For instance, the mother of an 8-year old 
gives dancing classes, and her daughter receives drawing classes 
for free. Support groups allow you to divide the cost of field 
trips, science projects and fairs. 

Whatever the cost, advocates of homeschooling say that the 
benefits far outweigh these considerations. When you are able to 
decide what knowledge your child receives and when he or she 
should be taught and to what extent, it gives you a lot of freedom 
and a lot of power. Both the children as well as the parents 
benefit from this mutually enriching experience. 

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