By MarshaShari

Are your children returning to school? Are we concerned about them walking in the hallway, switching classrooms, having gym, joining for lunch,  or going to the school library? I wonder if the mask or the double masks are exhausting or even healthy at all. Let us take a look at what we know so far about this alternate pathway for education.

Homeschooling is nothing new. It did exist in the world as a parallel school education system even in the olden days. Subsequently, its importance has increased manifold since after the outspread of the corona pandemic (Covid-19). Not only the United States of America, but also certain other developed countries such as the U.K., Canada, Australia, Belgium, Norway, and Austria had also been trying to promote the homeschooling system being an alternative educational pathway. However, Germany does not believe in the homeschooling entity and terms the same as an illegal step.

1) Homeschooling Costs

What to speak of the homeschool fee & costs, nothing is free but still, you can easily afford the homeschooling for your kids. Homeschooling is the mediocre way as it is cheaper than a private school, but a little expensive than a public school. Particularly, homeschooling is the best opportunity for your child especially these days when it is safe to stay at home.

Homeschooling fee/ cost is directly associated with the services you choose like the time you need for research on bargains & lessons’ planning.

According to Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the average cost of homeschooling, books, games, and curriculum ranges between US$ 300- 600 per child/ year. Nonetheless, you can try homeschooling free from any charge provided you have practical access for free use of public resources such as libraries, museums, PBS Shows, the broadband/ internet including hand-me-down educational equipment. It is pertinent to point out that homeschooling in the U.K. is more expensive than in the United States. Especially, in U.K., the parents spend between £100 and £500/ week per child or the cost may go up to £40/ hour.

2)Homeschooling Management with Low Income

Do you love your children? Of course, you do. So, you lose one thing to gain the other. Like the case, concerns about screen time and instability of school schedule is something that worries most parents.  This shift can have a lasting effect on parents who are afraid to homeschool.  Similarly, you have to pay something in return for the education of your child whether the same is via traditional school or homeschooling.   Actually, this cost is for securing your child’s future  you can term it as an “investment”.

Homeschooling in America is difficult to track. Secondly,   you may  have to quit a lot of your necessities, and luxuries to manage the homeschooling, if your income is not sufficient. But don’t worry, a day will come when you will retrieve all those things rather you will be blessed with more comforts and more happiness than the present. Maybe you can adopt the following measures to achieve your target:

• Try to move to a  house where you have to pay low mortgage repayments  or  rent
• Instead of keeping a couple of cars, keep one and share car rides to save money on registration, fuel, maintenance & insurance, etc.
• Have a simple, but balanced diets like peanut butter, beans, sandwiches, and vegetables. Don’t buy meat & fish frequently except on X-Mass and other holidays.
• Cut-down expenses on your clothing, shoes, and save more.
• Either get rid of your vacations & holidays or opt for the cheaper ones.
• Surrender memberships for purchasing books and use the library.

3)Homeschooling Offering Quality of Education

Prima facie, the parents start comparing homeschooling with public schools on the plea that their children can get free education pathway at public school in return for the tax they pay. For the most part, they don’t keep in mind that both are different platforms and homeschooling can polish the physical as well as mental abilities of your child.

The experiments show that homeschooling give the best quality of education pathway, especially these days when we have a severe threat of coronavirus and your child is safe as long as he/she is at home. You can, however, keep the homeschooling cost within a limit by getting a free curriculum, but it will not affect the quality of education pathway.

4)One Year Cost Schedule under Different options

• Option # 01: Here we have assumed that you have three children seeking education pathway through a homeschool.  According to Vickey Bentley, the homeschooling cost shall be US$ 2,275/- or even less for one year which constitutes $ 758/- per student/ year, so it is not bad.
• Option # 02: Under this option, we have taken three children ( classes Kindergarten, 2^nd , and 8^th) showing annual fee under different sub-heads  using a satellite program duly supported by a competent teacher:

Curriculum- $350-750	Membership-$ 175	Library-$100
School supplies- $150	Annual convention- $ 100	Art Lesson-$80
Annual tests- None	Miscellaneous-$300Field trips- $100-200	Approx- $ 700-1800/ per student/ annum

• Option #  03 Your child can get an education through homeschooling against the budget of $ 400/- per year.

5) Other Economy Measures at Homeschooling

You can save a lot of money by using the free online resources in a befitting manner such as eBooks, free curricula, printable worksheets are easily available. Especially, the parents can find many books absolutely free of cost by making an online effort. Particularly, they can download the study material and save a lot of money which is not possible in the traditional school system.

6) Social, Moral & Physical Development

Apparently, it seems that the kids cannot take part in social, moral and physical activities, but the fact is on the other way round. They can sign up for extracurricular activities rather it is highly essential to do that. The homeschoolers are taught socialism besides telling them how to work as a team members.

The following extracurricular activities are available for the homeschooled for their physical and social development:

In a nutshell, during coronavirus pandemic, better choose

homeschooling for your children to avoid unforeseen problems and in the best interest of your children’s education

To recap, here are 6 things to make homeschool more affordable.

• Maybe lower housing /living costs
• keep a single car, car pool, share rides
• Cut down clothing expenses
• Speed less on groceries
• Either get rid of vacations or opt for cheaper ones
• Surrender all memberships for books and uss the library

You can also check this recent posts: https://bymarshashari.com/homeschool-without-tears-our-daily-schedule/ https://bymarshashari.com/how-to-homeschool-with-confidence-my-6-low-stress-recommendations/ https://bymarshashari.com/tips-to-encourage-emotional-health-while-we-homeschool-during-covid-19/ https://bymarshashari.com/is-homeschooling-a-need-of-the-hour/ https://bymarshashari.com/an-encyclopedia-on-homeschooling/ https://bymarshashari.com/12-things-to-keep-stress-down-during-the-pandemic/ https://bymarshashari.com/homeschooling-basics-and-my-advice-for-a-worry-free-start/ https://bymarshashari.com/simple-homeschooling-tips-for-beginners/