For years we have lived debt free. The closest to describe how we live is Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps. We got off this summer when we had quite a few unexpected things that needed to be taken care of at the same time. We depleted our emergency fund and for the first time in YEARS couldn't pay the credit card off in full at the end of the month. SO - we've been re-evaluating what we are doing.
In looking at Ramsey's budget we have unique factors. For instance - we do have military medical and so don't need as much for health....but we need more as far as percentage for food, clothes, gifts (birthdays/christmas) and we HOME SCHOOL.
Would some of you mind sharing how you budget for homeschooling? You can either share a dollar amount or a percentage of your income amount. Does this include all books, lessons, field trips, supplies or just curriculum? For years we budgeted $100 a month. That covered all curriculum, all music lessons, sports fees etc. Recently, with several in high school and a new curriculum that amount is falling short. We've really not been putting money away monthly for school - just buying books a month at a time. LOL
PS - for those of you on SHS - I realize this is a topic that would be fun to discuss on SHS - but some of my readers do not belong to SHS and I decided they may be interested in the answer to this as well. LOL
UPDATE - it's been called to my attention that my math is off. Our budget was $1200 a YEAR not $2400 a year - so it was $100 a month. That amount included high school students that required things like microscopes etc, computer supplies (paper, ink), family passes to museums etc, all lessons, all sports, all uniforms needed, gas and food on field trips, books, pens etc. EVERYTHING.....in other words I think that there are expenses we counted as schooling that most just don't think about where they will find the money. LOL
19 comments:
We usually set aside a certain amount per year and once that runs out...we're done. Beyond that we trust God for needs. This year our budget was $500.00 for all four children, fairly generous for our circumstances. Having a small budget precludes some curriculum choices altogether, and ultimately (from my heart), I haven't missed the more expensive options, nor the fancy programs, co-ops and whatnot. God provides. I do find myself wishing, at times, (in my flesh)for the extras that I feel my children miss out on...but I have learned to accept God's will. God has not provided a drama class, for instance, that everyone tells me would be perfect for one of my children. He has not provided the math program that seems most suitable for Sam...and Sam is struggling mightily this year as a result, but his character is certainly being built! He has not provided for the fancy Christian Writer's Guild program that would bless Matthew. But, ultimately, God IS providing so much more on a foundational level...so much more important than drama, writing or even dare I say, math. God is good to develop the children's skills and talents without need of such things. So we've learned to stand with Daddy, trusting in his provision and ultimately in God's. Really exciting stuff! ~Yvonne
Well, after much research (since this is our FIRST year), we went with Sonlight, which I am beginning to see is one of the more expensive curriculums. We spent about $650. For one kid. Eek! They say it gets cheaper each year and you can add children by only purchasing consumables (around $50 I think. I have $50 a month budgeted for homeschooling. That is for the extras we need for science projects and "stuff". I realize that account will fall short next year if the curriculum still costs $650. Hopefully it will not. Sonlight is easy and great for first-timers because it is all spelled out for me, but I can see it wouldn't be the best plan for a lot of kids or if you have some experience and can do it cheaper. I try to find free things for extracurricular activities. AND, just in case you are wondering :), I justify myself by saying that it is still much less than private school. And cable. hehehe. So, as long as God provides the funds, this is what we spend.
I don't think we have ever really put a set amount aside. I am not a planner and I just see something on ebay and I tell my dh about it! He actually sets aside about $200 a year for curriculum for all three kids that are in school. Then we decide if there will be an activity for each child and save up the semester before they sign up. We also know what dues for our hs group are and we budget for those in the summer. We don't have any extra in the budget so I make do with the internet and we use the library like crazy. It is working well and I can't imagine spending any more than we do!! LOL Maybe if dh got a BIG promotion I would think diffrently!! LOL
I got spoiled while we lived in Korea (2002-2004) as most of our homeschool purchases including classes (art, taekwondo, ballet, gymnastics, etc) were fully covered by IDEA.
This year in Germany curriculum (books, online classes,etc) is covered for my two high schoolers by NonDoDDs because there is no US high school available to us.
But aside from those three years, I have to admit I haven't budgeted. I know what each child needs and I buy it. Thankfully we've never been in a position to have to worry about finances. We have no debts - no college loans, no car payments, no mortgage and we pay our credit card in full each month. In the past (before Korea) I would hunt for used items to reduce the cost but now I find it's just too time consuming to do that so I just buy new (especially since I have five children and the books will get plenty of use).
I buy curriculum twice a year. We budget it using our two extra paychecks we get each year. We spend about $500 each semester. Sometimes more and sometimes less.LOL This year, we haven't had to buy much but in January we'll have to buy both kids 3-4 high school subjects and it'll be very pricey.
I've never budgeted a specific amount. Probably spend a good deal more in our first few years of HS'ing. I don't know why I'm replying since I couldn't even hazard a guess as to how much we spend. LOL
Keep your input coming.
We've done the "pay as you go - no clue thing" but our family got so large and active that we HAVE to have some sort of budget. We included ALL in our budget before....that $200 a month bought books for 5 students, bought all art supplies, paid for field trips, yearly passes to museums, Sea World etc. and paid for 4 children to have music lessons each week. LOL
Oh yes, Yvonne - God always provides. I've often wished we had more options but what God provides is always what we need for that child or that season.
Jamin actually is paying for his CWG conference and such this year...as well as for Mike to attend. I love them growing up. LOL
Stephanie, SL IS an excellent curriculum....and you WILL use those books again and again. It's a LIVING BOOK, LITERATURE curriculum so it does "cost more" maybe initially but I've continued using those books even though I now use Tapestry of Grace. LOL I consider the high cost of our first cycle through TOG to be the same sort of investment that SL was....
Great topic of conversation, De'Etta. Dh and I are trying to stick to a budget this year but it's difficult. Right now we have $60 a month budgeted for homeschooling expenses but I think that might end up being for things other than Sonlight. We usually stretch out our SL, supplementing with tons and tons of library books.
We do a weekly co-op which is fairly reasonable in costs. I know it's cheaper than the other bigger co-ops in the area where you pay per class/per child/per 6 weeks. We couldn't afford those ones.
We order from Rainbow Resource whenever possible (combining orders with friends in order to get free shipping) and have been blessed to find some things (CQLA and Runkle Geography most recently) used from the SHS loop.
Things that add up unexpectedly are used curriculum sales, books that we need mid-year (a workbook someone finishes early), fun books that call out to me on Half.com or Amazon, and the occasional game or school supplies.
It's a challenge, isn't it Kathy to remember ALL the expenses that we put out scattered here and there and corral them into a budget category.
Wow,I'm so glad your math was wrong. I was feeling pretty pitiful. Any chance you're off on groceries too?
I try to plan the year before how much money I will need for the next school year, so that I can let Ian know by tax time. Ian is hopeless at saving little by little, so I need to give him a dollar amount and say 'I need this by May.' That takes care of all our major purchases. Starting this year, we've decided to make quarterly small book purchases which coincide with 3 wk pay checks at his new job. I can't spend any more than 50 at that time. Stickers, paper, and such come out of my extra grocery money.
So far this year, I've spent about 150 for first grade and pk stuff, but I confess I bought some things several years ago knowing that we'd be tight this year. We did not use any tax money this year, but we for sure will next year.
My biggest help is a wish list that I pass out to our family for birthday/Christmas. I don't include curriculum, but I do include craft kits, early reader books, picture books, and manipulatives. We have too many young children too close in age for them to all get the same toys over and over at holidays. Since my family will buy way too much for them, I try to steer it toward useful products.
Becky, Becky, Becky....remember my budget schools 5 children and buys some pre-school stuff too....you have a 1st grader and you must be doing a bit of pre-school. When our children were little there were years I used Beechick's Strong Start and the library - that's it. Also remember this covers ALL - ink, paper, sports, uniforms, music, crafts, curriculum, microscopes, other science supplies....and a lot of the stuff we buy ends up being an investment - because I never have to buy it again. LOL
OH yeah - and no my grocery budget is not off....in fact according to most I talk too with children our age I'm doing really well....because they have 1 or 2 young men and that's it....I have a big family and big eaters at this point..... I can remember in MT (8 years ago) when our grocery budget was $250 for a MONTH with a family of EIGHT....they began eating as they got older. LOL I have friends who spend $500 a pay period and have two teens....so $600 a pay period for 9 of us is not bad at all. LOL
We also don't have a set amount. We carry no debt either, so I try to be mindful to not buy everything all at once, and it balances out more evenly throughout the year. As (particularly) my dd gets older, Lee's advice sticks in my mind, to focus on the areas that I find difficult to teach. As a result, we decided to go with Rainbow Science for jr. high this year.
Extracurricular activities seem to balance out too. When it gets to be too much $$, we usually don't have enough time to squeeze it in anyway.
Our library was crucial in how our hs worked before we moved. We could never replicate that here. The timing was good; I've switched dd to a curriculum with specific books (Beautiful Feet), and I was able to purchase those.
Just assorted musings . . .
So interesting to read how the homeschool budget stacks up in each family. finally worked mine out and came to $1050 for this year. It was fun to work it out, I would have guessed way wrong, like around $7-800.
Thanks, Jodi....and that includes all your co-op expenses too, right? Four students?
We have a set amount that covers books. Any extras I squeeze out of the household budget or I sell stuff on ebay. :-)
For those of you who have a SET amount that you put aside for school each month or yearly....what is your number based on? Past expenditures, a percentage of your income???? How did you arrive at a number?
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