This month I have been thinking a lot about being frugal and wise managers of the resources (time, money and skills) God has given us. A fellow homeschool mom mentioned a fact on facebook about how much money she had saved the taxpayers by home educating. Here is what I determined when crunching our numbers.
Where we lived for the first three years of school (2 chiildren) it was 10,000 per child. So that means Here in VA (also 3 years for 3 children) it is 14,000 per child so we have already saved taxpayers $186,000. The first year we spent around $800 on curriculum. The next 5 years we have never spent more than $500 (Counting yearly internet bill). So we spent approximately $3300 for15 years of school total for all children). AND my children were excited today because we have finally gotten to the 16th president in history so they could study Abraham Lincoln. LOL
What I mean is that our girls still enjoy learning even though we don't spend a great deal of money on it. I am sure if we had more money I would spend more because I love books and educational field trips to historical and scientific sites. However, since my husband is the pastor of a small church, it generally means having a modest salary, though the other benefits often out-weigh a large salary!
What ends up happening in the public school system is you pay for the system more than the education. You pay for busing, and food programs, and tutoring special needs, and many other expenses that the average student just doesn't need. If their parent drives them to school, they pack their lunch and they don't need special tutoring, then they could be educated for so much less. Paying for insurance in schools is another big expense as well as tenure to keep the best teachers. Again the homeschooler doesn't have either of these expenses.
This is why I wish that homeschoolers would at least get a small stipend from the state or federal government for saving this money! I could do so much more with just 3% of the 15,000 the county would have paid which equals $450. It is really kind of funny to compare my homeschooling budget with our food budget.
Food and household supplies $600 per month.
Education $50 per month ( for 10 months)
I must say that I am very thankful for AmblesideOnline.com which is a curricula that was developed by other homeschool moms to keep costs free or extremely affordable. The education is excellent! Thank the Lord for these moms who do not seek to be rich from the gems they have discovered!
Now off to prepare for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's school! :) Blessings, Eva
Very good post, and so true!:-)
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