How expensive is it really to start a home schooling program?

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Thursday, 24 July 2008

Home / Family / Parenting / Teenagers

By:Jeff Schuman

Many believe that starting a home schooling program for their
child is much cheaper then sending them to private or public
school. This can be true at times, but it all depends on how
hard the parents are willing to work and how much effort they
want to put into the program. So what exactly are some of the
costs you may wonder? Here is a list of 5 high priced items
parents have to deal with when setting up a home schooling
curriculum for their child.

Research Books

This is not necessary, but many parents opt to buy some kind of
research books to know what they should teach and learn how to
go about teaching their child. Parents that choose not to buy
these books usually research online putting more effort in to
save some money. This cost on average is around $100-$150 per
year.

Newsletters/Conferences

Many parents that begin home schooling programs buy newsletters
to keep up to date on what they should teach and different
methods that work best. This is not necessary either, but is
extremely beneficial to your child’s development. Conferences
are among the same lines, but also allow you to interact with
other parents who home school their children and ask questions
you may have. For many families, this is new to the parents
just as much as it is to the child. These costs average around
$150 per year.

Software/Videos/Audio-Cassettes

Many home schooling parents use their computer to help teach the
child. While the internet and online services are helpful, many
go on to purchase programs to install on the computer to enhance
the child’s learning. On average parents spent around $130 per
year on software. Videos and audio-cassettes are purchased for
a wide range of subjects from history, math, social studies, and
music. These ranged anywhere from $150-200 per year.

Classes There are many classes that homeschoolers take that
are not available to many parents for their home schooling
program. These classes include music, gymnastics, ballet,
Spanish, swimming, baseball, basketball and so on. These
classes are one of the most expensive items on the list running
on average at $1,500 per year.

Text Books

The much dreaded cost of text books is one of the key problems
parents do not like to think about when setting up a home
schooling curriculum. The problem with text books is after a
year or two, more have to be bought to keep up with the child’s
learning development and to keep up with times. Depending on
how many subjects you plan on teaching your child, costs of text
books per year is at $400 on average.

While these are just some of the costs, there are plenty more to
worry about. On average, parents spend around $3,200 per year
to home school their child. While this may be discouraging to
some when they see all the costs they were not aware of, it is
important to remember the reasons you decided to set up a home
schooling program.

Article Source: http://www.dailynewarticles.com

Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his homeschooling information website for the parents guide to running a successful homeschooling program.
http://www.homeschooling-information.com