One of the odd things about home education is how many myths surround it. For example, there is often this theory that only the rich can do it, that it’s out of reach of ordinary families as they can’t afford for one parent not to work. In my experience that’s just not true, though certainly life was more luxurious with one child and two salaries 😉
The thing is that much of home education can be done on a budget. And as with everything in life, it depends on your priorities. When we both worked and the then two children were in Montessori school *that* was costing us a fortune. Prior to the school, childcare for Big as a baby and toddler took a very sizeable chunk out of my wage. No call for childcare means that those wages aren’t missed quite so much.
School, even state school, comes with overheads that home education doesn’t. There’s no uniform list for children at home, no expensive PE kit that all needs labels so that it doesn’t disappear. We don’t have to fork out for school trips or holidays which as I understand it can cost hundreds for one child. All of these savings can be offset against the unearned salary, if that makes any sense.
Obviously you can spend as much as you like on educational resources. But you can also use ebay, secondhand books, free downloads and so on. In the past we’ve had national trust membership from Tesco vouchers, I scour charity shops for children’s novels, and many online resources like mathletics do home ed discounts – it’s always worth asking. And I forgot the many free ones – one of the widest ranging probably being the BBC education stuff (thanks Jan), incredible amount of things there. So we do lots of historical outings to National Trust or English Heritage properties to get value for money out of membership, and club together with other families from time to time to pool our knowledge, reducing our need for specialist input.
Other cutprice offerings – worth checking if your local area has a county music service. Big is getting bassoon lessons for £43 a term, plus a bassoon free on loan, definitely not to be sniffed at. And if you’ve any other hints or tips to share, I’d love to hear them.
Ross Mountney says
You’re dead right…and another important myth is that the more money thrown at an education the better it is. Definitely a myth that one! A good education is not dependent on the cost but the result of the experiences the learner has – and some of the best learning experiences are free like care and attention, love and encouragement for example!
Midlife Singlemum says
I know from parents here who home school, that once the children hit high school age they are paying a fortune for tutors in subjects that are beyond their knowledge. I am very interested in following your story as your older progress. I think you said that Small goes to a scinece or physics club but I might have confused you with someone else. Sciences and Languages are the subjects I would think are most problematic – unless you have expertise in these fields.
Jan says
There’s this site and several like it: http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/
http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/
Jan says
And the BBC’s website never fails to amaze me with its wide-ranging informativeness and educationalness (?sp). To say nothing of all the broadcast TV and radio you can get for your license fee.
Project Gutenberg, Librivox…
Currclick’s often got free stuff, http://www.currclick.com/
I might be back later…
Debbie says
How did you sort the bassoon lessons? I have a friend who works for our county music service who reckoned they would help home educated children, but I don’t think the village school would allow her in to share lessons with their children, somehow. Bekah would like to learn the flute, but as we already pay for brass lessons and band we can’t afford another lot of private tuition…
Debbie says
My absolute best resource, used on a daily basis is the library – yup, its that simple! We go once a week (at the moment we have a mobile service visiting the village as the county have stopped funding the one we have here, but from April it will be run by villagers and open almost every day – certainly longer hours than the council supplied).
The children choose books which interest them, I pick things which I think they will enjoy, and we often order in resources we want – not just books but CDs and DVDs as well. I’ve been given me a home ed status on my card so I can order for free and have things for 3 months, though in other places we’ve lived we’ve not had those benefits. The only down side is when I need/want something not held in the county, we have to pay – but thats only happened about twice so far. And I know if I have reached max renewals on an item, (3x 3months!) its probably a book I need to buy. LOL!
Elizabeth says
We spend very little on ‘educational’ stuff–but a small fortune on private music lessons! But music lessons are not essential–so it’s an added luxury.
As to spending a fortune on tutors when the kids are older, there is an old saying: “You just have to stay one chapter ahead of the kids!” To any parent who tells me there is no way they can help their children with their school work, my standard response is: What does that tell you of the education you received? If as an adult you can not do, or can’t even figure out, secondary level course work, that’s a crying shame.
And I second the value of using a library! Best resource ever! And don’t forget–if you live near the border of a neighbouring county–you can usually join both county libraries. We belong to four! We are about 15 miles from a library in the neighbouring counties.