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Elizabeth
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Okay, so I'm in a budget frame of mind. And, I'm numerically-challenged, so please humor me. How much do you spend per year on educational materials? Include books, paper, DVDs, outside lessons, etc, but don't include things like computers or gardens (though we're learning a whole lot out there).
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Christine
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I think we spent about $800 last year. This was for a child in K, 1st, and 3rd. I currently budget $1000 a year. I know that this will most likely go up as more children are added to the equation.
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cathhomeschool
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I have no clue, and would like to keep it that way! 
Because so much of our schooling is based on rabbit trails, and we can use the library system for most things if we need to, I don't worry too much about budget. We pay for violin, swim team and hockey (which are all semi-expensive) and we do consider "budget" on those type things. With books/dvds/etc, I buy it if we have money at that moment, the library can't provide it, and I can justify the expense. Sorry I'm not much help!  Tell you what, though, the fact that we have a "rewards" type credit card that earns certificates at Barnes & Noble and Amazon makes it mentally much easier to buy books/curriculum.
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MacBeth
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cathhomeschool wrote:
I have no clue, and would like to keep it that way!
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Ditto. 
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stefoodie
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our budget is $200/mo for supplies and books, plus add'l $200 for other things like classes or field trips or museum visits or science kits, but it really varies from month to month. i'm trying to cut down this year by maximizing our library resources, since we have 3 different library systems available to us. and no video buying this year except for Narnia.
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Leonie
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I'm with Macbeth and Janette. 
Really, we buy little in the way of curriculum - we use the library a lot and we do buy interesting books/educational toys - but how much of that is for school or would we buy them anyway? 
My kids also do a lot of extra curricular stuff - but, then again, most of the school kids in thsi area do that too. So does this really count as school - or not?
You see my dilemma? Probably the only offical school budget we have is for the January back to school sales - I purcahse notebooks, pencils, etc at cheap prices then, for the year..
Oh, and this year, I also bought a Maths workbook and two handwriting workbooks - total cost about $AUS25.00
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MaryM
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Leonie wrote:
...we do buy interesting books/educational toys - but how much of that is for school or would we buy them anyway?
My kids also do a lot of extra curricular stuff - but, then again, most of the school kids in thsi area do that too. So does this really count as school - or not? |
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That is our situation also - I don't count things we would likely be doing or buying anyway.
For things that are really school materials some years I spend less than $50 and some years up to $200.
We use the library alot!
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ALmom
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Elizabeth:
You must be going through the same exercise as at our house. Last year we budgeted $1000 for school (books) for the year. This did not include orchestra fees, violin, piano and organ lessons which were budgeted seperately. Nor did it include the fees we paid for a Spanish tutor (we should have finangled a way to dual enroll or been on this message board years before high school!)
In any case, we still went over budget - gladly my dh was very kind and patient with me! We had planned to save on groceries by buying more judiciously and not eating out at all (we didn't eat out but fruits, veggies and gas went up) and were supposed to be done with vision therapy (wish we were). We tried to budget $150 per week for groceries but ended up spending closer to $300 per week. Things got very tight by mid-year!
We are currently in the process of re-planning the budget. This time our goal is to be more realistic in the beginning and really live within it before over-spending starts to really haunt us . The really expensive Music lessons disappear since one dd is off to college so that should help some.
Unfortunately, the library here is of no help to me. They never have what I want anywhere in the system. I have to order all the books we want to read. However, many of these I'd have around even if dc were in school. The only Catholic high school is $10,000 per year (or was about 4 years ago)and that is just tuition - not uniforms, books or other extras. Does that help justify the purchases? .
We'll be looking at others to get ideas on how to be very realistic so we can really live with our final budget for the year and still place priority on school and my needs to have tools to do the job assigned to me.
Janet
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Katie
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My situation is a little different, as I live overseas and have no library system to use. Additionally, I am given an educational allowance through my husband's work in lieu of sending them to the local international school. The allowance is $3000 per child (compared to $14K for the school). I actually find it hard to spend this amount and not overwhelm myslef and the children with too many choices (curriculum) and too much stuff (crafty things and "educational" materials).
Don't tell the children, but a lot of the stuff I buy ends up under the Christmas tree!!
I have pretty free reign with the budget. I pay for ballet lessons for the girls, fencing for my ds. I have purchased some of thos outrageously expensive Montessori materials that I would otherwise never be able to own. I buy tons of books, of course, and also try and include some physical fitness/outside play things into the budget. This year I am going to invest some of the budget into an Altar Kit and other Atrium supplies that I cannot make myself. What else? Craft supplies, paper of myriad types, printer ink (lots and lots), educational games, items for making a FHC notebook, and I'm looking into Right Start math and maybe Winterpromise Animal Worlds.
As you can see the budget means I'm pulled in a million different ways because suddenly I'm tempted to try everything that looks great! This year I've made a spreadsheet and I'm trying desperately to reign myself in, stick to my eduactional philosophies, and not buy too much STUFF.
As far as budgeting goes, you really have to decide if you mean just curriculum, or if you are including trips to the scrapbook store for stickers and paper, printer supplies, netflix membership, clubs and sports, firld trips etc. I spend very little on curriculum, would spend far less on books if I had a library nearby, would include the ballet and the fencing, but would probably happily live without some of the other things I end up purchasing.
I'm not much help, but it has been helpful to me to write this out and hash it through in my mind. Back to that spreadsheet now!
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Donna
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cathhomeschool wrote:
| I have no clue, and would like to keep it that way! |
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Same here. I'm afraid I might pass out if I knew the truth.
Our expenses include violin lessons, art classes, Co-op fees, ever-changing curriculum purchases, and lots of art and lapbooking supplies....oh, and of course, the library books that I want are usually unavailable...so I buy them . I should probably add in all the overdue library fees from the books we are fortunate enough to find, but always forgetting to return.
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Mary G
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Well, looks like we all "budget" the same way - not at all.
I try and keep monthly expenditures of books to around $150 per month -- sometimes more, sometimes less. But this is also becuase with our move from North Carolina to Austria 5 years ago we PURGED tons of good kid books that I have since replaced....
When we move to Austria, we'll need to get monthly shipments of books as we don't have a library I can use there (except the big kids can use the Institute's library, but I don't think my littles are quite ready for the Summa yet!)
We also budget $100 per month for "field trips" or outings. This doesn't include going out for treats or occasional stops at McD's -- it's for admission to parks, or special activities.
$100 per month is for supplies -- ink, paper, crayons (they don't think they can use them if they're broken  ) etc. All the things that are needed to keep this crew stocked.
But all these numbers are "flexible" -- if I need more one month I rob Peter to pay Paul and adjust the overall budget.....
Does that help?
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Mari
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Hi there,
We live in France and do not have the dream library we would like either! My children use the books in the local library but there are not so many that fullfil their needs. We have been to the UK for long holidays from time to time and my dds favourite memory is of the public libraries there!
I would agree with Katie that we would cut our budget drastically if we had access to one...
Our biggest spend has been on beautiful Montessori material...not only buying it, having it on the shelves and using it from time to time, but studying Montessori and applying it 100% in everything I have done with them from birth. For me this approach has multiplied my joy of sharing the wonder of children and understanding how precious and incredible they are.
Last year we tried to put our dds into school but it didn't work out. So we are continuing at home. Montessori material (plus the parenting books, information, curriculum) continues to be our biggest budget along with books.
We only buy basic art things. The results are wonderful. Pure creativity and amazing results all from the children.
Nature provides us with so much. From their "Montessori" attitude, the girls just discover so much more than I could ever imagine.
I am always worried that I am not "showing" them enough but then as is the way with Montessori it is the child who leads the way and I prepare the environment. This has proved to be so true.
So, in total, we have spent about 9000 USD on Montessori materials, curriculum and courses for ages 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 years old (we have to ship them here to France and these materials are really heavy) - but if you average this out per kid per year (divide by 18)it's nothing compared with what they have enjoyed and what I could have spent in other alternatives (including DVDs, plastic toys, etc. to pass the time away...)
The best thing is these materials are of such wonderful quality and are used with so much care by the children that they can be kept for someone else.
The books too. We choose each one carefully.
I teach music to them myself - otherwise I would have budgeted for music lessons. We are lucky to have a piano and they have violins and recorders (these too last for years).
So our budget has been erratic. Loads when we do a Montessori order. In between it is orders for books (from the States or the UK) for about 50 USD per month (remember we don't have a library that meets our needs and we pay a lot of postage). Otherwise there is a small contiunal amount for art materials and stationery.
We don't use printers, and ink etc. I prepare a lot of materials but draw images myself and use basic card, paper and colours. We don't laminate either (this is part of our little effort for the environment).
So the cost of things that can only be used once (well for the most part at least) are art materials and stationery. We also sew simple things like cushions and soft toys but these take a long time to do so you spend relatively little on it.
The Montessori items and books can be used over and over again by so many others....so I don't feel as if that budget has disappeared.
My dds are so engrossed with their world (nature and books and what goes on in their village) that I have not had need for toys as such.
I really feel that your budget should reflect your own personal needs and what you can afford. If we had an unlimited budget, we would not have bought more things (but it would have been easier to decide to buy the Montessori stuff!!! ) If we had less, I would have made more Montessori material myself and cut down our book budget.
I know that if we lived in the UK or in the USA we could have bought everything we have for much, much less and we would not need so many books.
Hope this helps someone.
Blessings
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Mari, mother of 2 loving daughters aged 8 and 10
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lilac hill
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Donna wrote:
| I should probably add in all the overdue library fees from the books we are fortunate enough to find, but always forgetting to return. |
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I believe I have purchased some furniture and a window for the new libary wing with my fees. 
I have been trying to use the computer more to check my account but adding something new to the routine has a long learning curve.
I do use the inter and intra library system quite a bit which saves on books but I cannot get science videos without traveling back to the further library in 2 days. Even after "donating" all those fines homeschoolers do not get the "educators" check out term.
We would pay for lessons whether we HS'ed or not so that is just part of the budget.
Co-op fees, a month of writeguide, MUS, religion books, and non-twaddly books for decent reading, art supplies, short unit studies, Artistic Pursuits...the usual list which grows as I sit here.
To get rid of clutter I have been selling that which we are not using. DD#3 is different from her sisters ( or maybe I have learned to be more attentive to her learning style )and needs a different approach.
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mumofsix
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I am with Leonie, in that the money we spend on activities such as music lessons, fencing club, orchestra, swimming lessons and gymnastics, summer school and retreats, plus outings (aka field trips) and most books, paper and art supplies we would buy anyway, even if our children were in school.
The only things that are specifically homeschool related expenses are the cost of petrol to get to our homeschool group once per fortnight ($30 or so) and the few books that are formal school type books that we would not purchase if they were attending school. These are few and far between now as we follow a Living Learning approach with real books and have a big home library built up now after 10 years of homeschooling, six children and the inheritance of my husband's books! We also use the library a lot, especially the inter library loan system, and buy second-hand books.
Our biggest homeschool purchase this year has been correspondence courses for my dd 16's GCSE exams. We bought courses for four of her subjects at about $600 each, mainly to simplify the coursework validation process. My teacher brother-in-law tells me that coursework will be abolished by 2007/8 at the latest, due to widespread cheating (you can download any grade essay from the internet at a price, and even pay for an essay to be written up in your style!) So this will be a big saving in future years, as without the coursework option, we will be able to prepare the children for their exams with books alone, most of which we already own.
Apart from that, my homeschool purchases have amounted to maths and handwriting workbooks for dd 9, plus the Skoldo French course ($100 maximum).
With the exception of the GCSE courses, which I will not need again, I probably spend less than I spent when they were at school (for uniforms, expensive lunches, snacks so that they wouldn't feel bad/different , money for school trips, petrol to get them to school and back, endless requests for money at fundraisers, etc.).
Jane.
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mary
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our 'budget' is 3K per school-aged child (the cost of the local catholic school tuition). so, i don't keep track but know that i probably spend almost 3K total for all of them if you include sports, classes, books, etc. my books and supplies for fall generally come to 1.5K. my kids are 8, 5, and 3.
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Cheryl
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Last year I budgeted $1500. This was for a 1st grader and 2 preschoolers. It included curriculum, memberships, homeschooling related activities, field trips and supplies (office, art, craft, books, cd's, dvd's). I wouldn't include things like basketball, golf or ballet because we would do those outside of school if they were in public school.
The way I came up with the number is by tracking all of our expenses from the previous year in Quicken. Then I made a month by month spreadsheet and plugged in the numbers. Then I tried to estimate the cost of what I wanted to purchase for this year that was different or above that.
If you are going to budget, I think it's important to be realistic. If you are spending $50/month on books to build your home library, are you really going to stop that? Do you think you'll be going on more field trips next year?
My dh and I have budgeted everything for years, but last year was my first homeschool budget. I have to say that I purchased many things that I didn't REALLY need because the money was budgeted. We are moving into a larger house this year and money will be much tighter. Although I've budgeted $1500 again, I am going to try to purchase only what I really think I need for the year and if I'm under I'll adjust it the following year. Of course, it could remain the same because I'll have more school aged dc. I think the more children you have, the more money you would need to allow in certain areas. (e.g. the Homeschool Gym & Swim fees)
I have justified the spending with the cost of private preschool (over $1000/yr per child) and Catholic schools (over $3000/yr per child). And don't forget all the other school expenses that we don't incur such as uniforms, nice shoes and socks, fundraisers, gifts for teachers and gifts for all the kid birthday parties that we'd be invited to. BUT.....although these arguments are true, it is also true that you could homeschool your child without much money at all.
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cvbmom
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mary wrote:
| our 'budget' is 3K per school-aged child (the cost of the local catholic school tuition). so, i don't keep track but know that i probably spend almost 3K total for all of them if you include sports, classes, books, etc. my books and supplies for fall generally come to 1.5K. my kids are 8, 5, and 3. |
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This is my dh's theory too. Because if we didn't homeschool, the kids would be in our local Catholic school, I shoud be able to spend up to the amount on school supplies/activities for the kids. This includes resources and "education" for mom too.
This said, we can't actually afford the 3000 per year per child for schooling. We've never achieved a balanced budget yet, though we are trying! We have 2 "in school" and 3 youngers. We definitely won't be able to afford that rate in a few years when we have more than 2 school age. I would say that the number is closer to 2000 for everyone together per year, including curriculum, museum passes, zoo pass, activities, mom materials, botched purchases (stuff we don't use after all - it looked good in the catalog, but it's not worth the cost or effort to return and hey, maybe someone will use it one day ) etc. The 2000 is a stretch as well, but I am a book junkie. I feel guilty spending it, but dh's reply is that it's for the kids, and we'd be spending so much more for traditional school.
God bless,
Christine
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Willa
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Our budget is based on what we can afford to spare -- 100$ per month for the whole crew -- which breaks down to about 240 per year per child.
Now that the two oldest have gone through 12th grade we don't have to spend so heavily for high school materials and can use more of the money to buy "fun" books to add to our home library.
The funds are used for any book including homeschool books for me to read, and art supplies and office supplies, but we pull extra-curricular expenses like sports and music from our general fund. We consider those things on a case to case basis.
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Christine
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I forgot to mention that our school budget does not include outside activities. Ballet, swimming and piano/violin practice are budgeted separately and are really an area over which I have no control.
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Sarah
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Probably $1000 on materials with an additional $600/year for sports & equipment--maybe more (wow! I didn't realized until I just now added that up! ouch!)
$100/mo on piano lessons.
$240 on art class.
I don't budget. I buy as I go, although I'm trying to only buy what I think is really good and necessary. When I tried to be a cheap & budget-minded, our school quality suffered. I was always looking for a good deal, which never happended.
We don't use the library anymore because I'm due-date challenged. I now use the fine money to build our own library, only buying books you all recommend--used books mostly.
I forgot cub scouts. $150? Not sure there.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: "school" budget
