This is sort of like asking how much does a computer cost? Do you want to support a moon landing? Play super 3-d video games in real time with incredible graphics? Write e-mails once in a while?
I was playing around with last year’s check book register and sorting things. I did not include the college savings program (It’s small, but I have to start somewhere). I may not have included all the costs of field trips, my Mom bought us a membership to the science museum last year, and I suspect that some of the mysterious cash withdrawels in the misc category were for field trips. I forgot to include $20.00 member fees for Eagle’s Wings co-op, and many of the things I’m using for M were bought originally for B.
This only includes money spent by my family for two children being reported as homeschoolers.
PS the library category? That’s overdue fines. I call it the”Homeschool Curricula Club fee.” Maybe next year it will be smaller because I will have learned to use a calender.
Don’t hold your breath.
How funny– I ran the numbers for a friend last year, and I was within $60 of you. And again, most of it was music lessons, sports, etc. Thanks for your transparency! It helps me so much to see how others do it– and still homeschool. =)
I always have trouble trying to calculate what we spend homeschooling vs what we’d spend anyway. For example, music – my kids take piano, which isn’t typically offered in a government school setting. Now maybe we’d have picked something else if we’d had the choice. But not homeschooling wouldn’t save us anything on piano lessons.
Similar question with books. Our book budget varies wildly depending on if we’re living in the US or not. Even a marginal library of English books saves me hundreds if not thousands a year on reading material. Right now we’re a couple streets away from a new branch of a great system. In just three months I’ve probably saved a thousand dollars on books.
I’ll have to see what sort of figure I come up with.
There are also the educational gifts from Grandparents – besides the museum memberships, books, games, block sets, lego, science kits, trips to concerts…homeschool blends into life in the budget too.
But playing with my spreadsheet was still fun.