As more parents in the U.S. decide to teach their kids at home, families need to know how much it costs. At the start of the 2020-21 school years, 11.1% of homes had children who were being taught at home. Most of the increase has been linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many families, homeschooling is the best choice for their children's education. Before you decide if homeschooling is right for your family, you need to know what it entails and how you will pay for it. Families who teach their kids at home instead of sending them to public or private schools get tax breaks in only a few states. There are many ways for families to save money and help bring down the cost of homeschooling.

The Average Cost of Homeschooling

When you teach your kids at home, you'll have to pay for many things. Some of the most common expenses for homeschooling families are:

• Syllabus and materials for learning
• Stuff for school
• Field trips
• Co-curricular activities
• Collaboration fees for family members who are part of a private school co-op.
• If your state's rules for homeschooling require regular tests, you may have to pay for those.

How Much Does It Cost To Go To A Private Or Public School?

Let's compare the expense of sending a kid to public or private school against the cost of homeschooling. When their children attend public school, parents are often required to pay for school supplies, clothing, field trip costs, extracurricular activities, and meals. The average family spent $849 on back-to-school shopping for the 2021 academic year, according to the NRF (National Retail Federation). When extracurricular activities such as athletics are included, school fees may skyrocket. Parents spend $693 per kid per year on sports on average, although certain disciplines, such as field hockey or gymnastics, may cost much more.

Music courses, art groups, theatre, and the band may also be paid for by parents. They may, for example, rent a musical instrument or purchase painting equipment. Private education, on the other hand, might be considerably more expensive. Tuition at private schools for grades K-12 costs parents an average of $12,350 per year. When computers, books, uniforms, field excursions, and supplies are included, the average cost rises to $16,050. In addition, parents may be required to pay application fees, lodging, board, extracurricular activities, or summer programs.

Homeschooling Has Hidden Costs

A family could save money by homeschooling their child instead of sending them to private or public schools. But when planning a family budget for homeschooling, it's important to remember that some costs may be higher or at least less clear. Here are a few ways that homeschooling can cost more:

1. Syllabus: You may discover free homeschool curricula online or create your own, but some families choose to purchase one. A single prefabricated curriculum may cost more than $1,000 on the high end, which can rapidly mount up for families with children in multiple grades.
2. Transportation: Even if a family homeschools, that doesn't mean they stay at home all day. You can help your kids learn more and meet new people by taking them on field trips, attending art classes, or joining a co-op with other homeschooling families. But it can also mean that you have to pay more each month for gas or transportation.
3. Supplies: There are more things to buy for homeschooling than notebooks, pencils, and markers. For example, families might need to buy a microscope or other tools for science labs. Or they might need to buy art and craft supplies to make things with their hands. All of these can make homeschooling more expensive.
4. Food: Depending on the rules in their state, kids who go to public school may be able to get a free or cheap lunch. On the other hand, having kids at home all day could mean that families spend more on groceries if they eat snacks and meals together more often.

There's also the issue of money to consider. In a home with two parents, one may be the only one who brings in money while the other takes care of homeschooling. If the parent who is homeschooling used to work, this could mean losing a source of income.

Conclusion

Parents choose to teach their kids at home for many different reasons, including saving money. You can homeschool on a budget, but you need to plan to find ways to save money. When thinking about homeschooling options, you should think about what will work best for your kids based on how they learn and how much time and money you can afford to put into it.