How do you manage?

Question

How do homeschooling parents manage, both finacially and time-wise? Where I live, everyone comes from a home where both parents worked...it almost seems inconceivable that one could stay home full-time, just to teach the kids. And then recently, I mentioned homeschooling to my mom and a friend of hers (offhandedly, in the course of conversation) and they both immediately said that it was better to send kids to a private school (which they felt would be more cost-effective anyway).

Also, I always assumed that even if you could have one parent stay home, the other would necessarily have to go to work...but it looks like some of you are single parents. How on earth do you manage?

Note: I am 25, I do not need to be homeschooled, I do not need advice on how to get my mom to homeschool me, I'm just curious...maybe for my future children?

Answer 1

Time-wise, home-school doesn't have to take all day. It can take an hour or two. If both parent's have to work, the older children can teach the younger kids. Financially, you can get a lot from the library and internet for school so you don't have to buy so many text books and notebooks are cheap.

Private school, in my personal opinion, is not better than home school.

Answer 2

Sorry but your Mom has given you advice based on her own presuppostions (without research or personal experience).

My Husband and me made a decision 13 years ago, that I would stay home and educate our children, and live below our means if necessary (which we did) to concentrate all efforts on their education. Private school is extremely expensive.

A bit of advise - please do not begin homeschooling unless you intend to complete it!! Unless you are totally dedicated to it!! Please do extensive research first...

I will give you a few sites in order to research on your own -

http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/ (this is the site for molecular biologist (scientist)  who designed the homeschool software that we used as our primary source of teaching). And he taught his own 8 children. It is rigorous though - I did not follow ALL of his suggestions -

http://www.youcanhomeschool.org/starther...

http://www.home-school.com/

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/

These will get you started- One must have a solid reasons, goals, visions before beginning homeschool. It is much easier to shuffle them out the door everday not really knowing what they are learning..Take the time to research

Answer 3

Simple we make many sacrifices....

I am the one who stays home. My husband works full time. I on the other hand have a small part time job every other weekend. I also have a prn position on call for the weekends I am off.

We do not eat out much.  We watch are money closely and always look for a way to save money.

That said.....there are wonderful things about homeschooling..

I have seen every "first"  her first steps....to when she first read on her own....YES I taught my child how to read, write and do arithmetic. She will nver be left behind because I know EXACTLY what she is doing in school.  I know all her strengths and weaknesses.

Answer 4

I am a stay at home mom myself and homeschool mom of two boys.  How we have done it is just to cut back on things.  We only have one car and I use a lot from the Library for curriculum.  I do have some curriculum I have bought but I get it from www.rainbowresource.com which has things a little lower price.  We live below our means but for us it's ok because we aren't in need of anything then what we have now.

Answer 5

My husband works more than one job and we live simply. We don't eat out much, we pay next to nothing in rent, and our cars are paid for. It is a sacrifice, but it is worth it. For us private school is not an option. 1. It is expensive. 2. The teaching methods are the same as public school and our child has a different learning style. 3. All local private schools are religious schools. (We aren't of their religion.) Homeschool meets all of our requirements.

Answer 6

Well, if you make plans in early adulthood not to get into debt, that helps.  My DH and I were married right out of college.  We never counted on my income when purchasing cars, a house, etc.  We always purchased what we could afford on my salary alone, in case something happened to DH and he couldn't work.  We used my income to pay off our school debts quickly.  Then when we purchased our first home, we purchased a home at half the price the bank said we could "afford".  So rather than pay ridiculously low principal payments for 15-30 yrs, we made huge payments and had our house paid off before we were 28 and 30.  It was one month before our first child was born.  So we were completely out of debt.

We always knew I would not be a working mom.  I worked for 7 years with my B.S. degree, then quit my career to be a mom.  That's been a bit over 10 yrs now.  When I quit work our expenses were cut a LOT.  Our car insurance went down, our taxes were cut in half, I saved money on clothes, and we didn't eat out as much.  The first year I was off work, I had DH figure the income taxes for the year based on if I *had* worked.  Then I added in very minimal day care expenses, extra insurance and gasoline and clothes.  Do you know what I would have netted for 40 hrs of work a week for a year like that?  $2000 on a $30K salary.  Not quite worth it.  While it may seem you're making a lot, it costs to work as a dual-income family with kids (especially ages 0-5).

We spend about $3000/yr on HS'ing.  That's easily found since we have no debt.  We just paid off our second home.  So now we are debt free again.  We've never carried a balance on our credit card.  We still take vacations, eat out, and have fun.  We're just very frugal.

I'm curious why a private school, at a minimum of $3000/yr, and typically much more, is more "cost effective"?????  If I would do that and work, I would have NEGATIVE money at the end of the year.  So NOT worth it!

Anyway, the transition from SAHM for 5 yrs then to HS'ing mom was easy.  I'd already been in a "working" role for 7 yrs, then a mom role (which is worth a LOT) for 5 yrs.

Answer 7

That is a very good question!  I am a homeschooling mother of 2.  My husband works full time to support us, so we have to be more careful with our expenses that many dual income households.

We forgo vacations & dining out.  We keep close track of our spending.  For family gift giving occasions we encourage relatives to give clothing or educational items (bookstore gift certificates are a BIG favorite).  We purchase clothing on sale & only when needed.  

We raise a garden in the summer, since the kids & I are home, it's a big one.  Because we are fortunate enough to live in the country we raise chickens & rabbits.  Also, my husband hunts to fill our freezer in the autumn & winter.  These all ease the burden of increasing food prices.

I know of dual income families who have their work hours adjusted & make use of sitters, but still homeschool.  It's important to note that homeschooling does not have to occur at the same time or even on the same days as public school.  Since the education is one on one (or close to that) the amount of time necessary is much less that that required to settle & give a coherant lesson to 30 children.  

Over all, it is a matter of what income is necessary to live the lifestyle you prefer.  You don't have to farm & hunt, as we do, but you don't have to burn the candle at both ends.  One parent can work part time, more companies are looking into allowing employees to perform a portion of their hours (or even all) by telecommuting from home.

For the most part, homeschooling requires some adjustment & sacrifice no matter what you earn or how.

Answer 8

Like others have said, we live simply.  I also work part time in addition to the homeschooling.  It is important to us, and just like most things, if its important enough you find a way to make it work.

For single parent's it might not always be possible, but they often find ways to do it.  If kids are older they can stay home alone for at least part of the day, but if they are younger then some help will probably be needed.

Some parents babysit so they can stay home also.

Its just a matter of priorities.  You don't have to have a large home and two brand new cars... you don't have to eat out, you don't have to do a lot of things people usually do.

Answer 9

We are so blessed in America.   I know that there are some real financial needs but of all the 'hard time' stories that I hear in person, I look beyond what they are saying to exactly what the people possess.   I've heard mom's say that they cannot stay home with their children because they have to work.   They live in $200,000. home and drive $50,000 cars.  They continually buy clothes, jewelry, electronic gadgets, bigscreen tvs, gps systems, etc.   I know this is not the case with everyone, but most of us (me included) can live on much less than we actually spend.

We are a 2 income family with a teen that we homeschool.   We work for the public schools and  both of us have the same schedule of hometime each morning.  

We do not use a boxed curriculum but use online resources, used textbooks and the library so our cost is minimum.  

I would love to spend more time with our son but we do what we can with the time available.

He did not learn in public school.   Our nights were spent 'tutoring' him.   We stopped the insanity 3 years ago and he is learning at home.