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Is Homeschooling Cheaper Than Public School? 10 Surprising Costs to Consider

February 10, 2025 | Leave a Comment

If you have children attending a public school, you know it’s not truly free. From activity fees for sports to lunch money, it costs the average American family $750 or more to send a child to public school each year.

With these high costs, you may be wondering, is homeschooling cheaper than public school? We’ll break down the costs and give you the information you need to make an educated decision about your child’s education.

1. Property Taxes

Instead of being funded through tuition like private schools, public schools rely on taxes to operate. You may be surprised to learn that a percentage of your property tax goes to your local public school. Even if you don’t have kids, are homeschooling, or are empty nesters, you are still paying school tax if you own your home. This is one cost you just can’t get away from.

2. State & Federal Taxes

Is homeschooling cheaper than public school when it comes to tax deductions? You may be surprised by the answer. On the federal level, some education-related expenses like activity fees fall under qualified education expenses and are deductible only if your child attends public school. Keep in mind that QEEs do not include necessities like supplies, transportation to and from school, or medical expenses. So make sure to familiarize yourself with the guidelines and only deduct eligible costs.

It is important for homeschoolers to note that the IRS does not allow any federal tax deductions for homeschooling. A few states like Minnesota and Illinois do allow textbooks and educational materials to be deducted for both public school students and homeschoolers.

3. Food

Food is a cost that’s roughly the same whether you decide to homeschool your kids or send them to the local public school. Although school cafeterias don’t aim to make a profit, they still have to cover overheads like food and salary costs. Even though cafeterias get bulk discounts from food suppliers, it could be cheaper for your child to bring a packed lunch to school if you’re a savvy grocery shopper. It’s important to pay attention to food costs and take steps to reduce them whether you’re homeschooling or sending your child to public school.

4. Transportation

Transportation is a huge cost for many families. Unless you live within walking distance of your child’s public school, you’ll have to buy extra gas to get your kids to and from class every day. Factors that can influence transportation costs include the fuel efficiency of your car, the distance driven, and the price of gas in your area. Even if your child takes the bus, many districts charge an added fee for that convenience. So transportation is one area where homeschooling can definitely be cheaper than public school because you don’t have to leave the house.

5. Educational Materials

Is homeschooling cheaper than public school when it comes to educational materials? Probably not. Public schools typically don’t charge fees for basic educational materials like textbooks. However, children often need to pay for and bring their own supplies to school, such as glue and colored pencils.

On the other hand, homeschooling parents have to purchase a curriculum and textbooks entirely out-of-pocket. And they still have to bear the costs of essential school supplies like scissors and copypaper. While the cost of workbooks and other educational materials may be tax-deductible in your state, this is still a significant cost you’ll have to shell out.

You can expect to pay several hundred dollars each year for all of the textbooks you’ll need. However, you may be able to find used materials in homeschooling groups to save money. There are also free resources for teachers online that can help you design your curriculum.

6. Activity Fees

When it comes to extracurriculars, is homeschooling cheaper than public school? Both options are on par in terms of cost. Homeschooled children have the right to participate in any activity the school district offers. If your child is involved in school-sponsored sports or any clubs, they will likely need to pay an activity fee to cover the cost of any equipment.

Likewise, some public schools charge full-time students activity fees for classes or extracurriculars that aren’t required to graduate. You’ll also have to pay out-of-pocket if your student chooses to do extracurriculars outside of school, such as taekwondo or ballet. However, if you’re able to offer your child enrichment at home, you may be able to save money by homeschooling.

7. Tutors and Private Teachers

Both homeschooling and public school parents sometimes hire tutors for their children. If you homeschool, you may need support from a tutor for certain complex subjects, such as math or science. Public school students may also require extra instruction from a tutor, especially if they’re falling behind due to lack of individualized attention.

Tutoring costs an average of $20 to $80 an hour. A shared private teacher that you split the cost of with other families costs significantly more—expect to spend anywhere from $1,300 to $4,000 per month. However, tutoring isn’t a necessity, so you can try to do without it whether you homeschool or send your kids to public school.

8. Field trips

Every student loves field trips, but when you’re homeschooling, the entirety of the cost will fall on you. From museum and zoo passes to camps, be prepared to spend at least a couple hundred dollars each year planning learning excursions. Your local library may have passes available for local museums, which can help lessen the cost of these family outings.

You can also pay for a museum membership to reduce the price per visit, or use discount sites like Groupon to save money. Many museums offer free days a few times per year or even reduce the cost of tickets for locals.

But if you’re wondering, is homeschooling cheaper than public school, this is one area that usually costs more. Public school parents say that most field trips cost them less than $20, likely due to the educational or bulk discounts that schools can get on tickets.

9. Child Care

One area where homeschooling is potentially cheaper is childcare costs. If you don’t get out of work in time to pick your children up from school in the afternoon, you may end up paying a lot for aftercare. On average, aftercare costs between $140 and $500 per month.

If some of your children are too young for public school, you’ll likely pay even more for childcare. The price of full-time daycare can be as high as $1,500 per month, which is a cost that can be completely eliminated if you decide to homeschool from a young age.

10. Your Income

Is homeschooling cheaper than public school? To make that determination, you also have to consider any loss of income from homeschooling. If you can’t find a side hustle or part-time job that fits around your schedule, homeschooling can have a high opportunity cost.

Losing one parent’s income completely could potentially set you behind on retirement and other important financial goals. It’s important to determine if living on one salary is realistic for your family. Sending your kids to public school so you can work could be better for everyone’s future, giving you extra disposable income for investing, enriching vacations, and extracurriculars.

Wrapping Up: Is Homeschooling Cheaper Than Public School?

Trustedcare.com says that the cost of one year of homeschooling ranges from $700 to $2800. Public school, on the other hand, only costs $100 to $1000 for extracurriculars. At the end of the day, is homeschooling cheaper than public school?

Usually, public school is cheaper. However, in certain cases, parents could save money on aftercare and transportation costs by homeschooling. Even if there’s an added cost associated with homeschooling, there are many fantastic reasons to teach your kids instead of sending them to public school. Kids form a special bond with their parents when they homeschool. They also get more individualized attention and a custom curriculum tailored to their interests, which can help support their academic success in college and beyond. It’s crucial to assess your specific situation to decide which option will be better for your family.

Vicky Monroe

Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance writer who enjoys learning about and discussing the psychology of money. In her free time, she loves to cook and tackle DIY projects.

Can You Homeschool and Work from Home?

March 24, 2022 | Leave a Comment

While homeschooling had been steadily growing in popularity, that growth exploded during the pandemic. Two years into the pandemic, some of those families who started homeschooling in 2020 have sent their kids back to school. Yet, many of them found that they enjoyed homeschooling and continue to do so. However, can you homeschool and work from home?

How to Homeschool and Work from Home

With the rising prices of food, gas, and other necessary items, for many families, having one parent stay home to homeschool isn’t an option unless that parent can also work part-time from home. I’m happy to say that you can homeschool and work from home. I’ve been doing so for the last eight years.

Homeschooling and working from home require excellent time management skills and flexibility on your and your family’s part. I can’t say what will work best for every parent who homeschools and works from home, but these are the steps that make it possible for me to do so:

How to Find Time to Work from Home

The first step to successfully juggling homeschooling and working from home is determining when you can work.

Co-ordinate with Your Spouse

My husband’s cooperation is essential. He’s the primary breadwinner, but every weekend for the last eight years, he’s spent his time with the kids so I can complete my work uninterrupted. I work about 10 hours total on the weekend, so I still have time to spend with the family. However, I do the bulk of my work on Saturday and Sunday. If my husband wasn’t willing to spend weekend time with the kids, I wouldn’t be able to work and homeschool.

Get Up Early or Work Late

Another way I find pockets of time to work is to get up early. I typically wake up by 5 a.m., do an hour or so of my work, and then exercise for 45 minutes, all before the kids wake up. Keeping this routine allows me to get another five to seven hours of work done each week.

If you’re not an early riser, you can stay up late. One homeschooling, work-at-home mom I know starts her workday after the kids go to bed. She typically works from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day.

Take Jobs with Flexible Deadlines

I find the best jobs for me to complete while working at home are ones that have flexible deadlines. I am a freelance writer, and I have assignments due on certain days of the week. However, I know the topics well in advance, and I can work on them anytime during the month as long as I get them done by the deadline. Having that flexibility is essential.

I know some work-at-home jobs require that you’re available during certain hours and have a quiet location to answer the phone. While that may work for some families, for my family, I wouldn’t be able to do that because my kids are rarely quiet!

Recognize Some Home Tasks Won’t Get Done

As a homeschooling, work-at-home parent, recognize that you can’t do it all. It’s just not possible. For instance, I think I do a fair job of homeschooling, working, and cooking meals at home for my family. The neatness of my home is a different story. Our house has a lived-in look and is not as tidy as I would like. Although it bothers me sometimes, I know that I can’t do it all. For this season of my life, my house will be messier. I can have a tidier home when the kids are grown, and I’m no longer homeschooling.

You’ll Have Less Time to Relax

If you both homeschool and work from home, your days will likely be tightly scheduled, especially if you have several kids. Understand that you might not have as much time to relax as you would like. I love to read, but I don’t get to as often as I want because of my homeschooling and work responsibilities.

How to Find Time to Homeschool

Once you figure out how to find time to work, you next need to find time to homeschool. Keep in mind, you don’t have to teach your kids from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Since your kids are the only students, you may find that you get more done in less time than a teacher at a brick-and-mortar school who has 30 students she has to manage.

Be Flexible with the Schedule

In addition, be flexible with the homeschool schedule. For instance, if you need to read aloud a book to your child as part of your lesson, you can do that at night when you read to the kids before bed. No one says you have to read it during the school day. Or you could get the book on audio and listen to it in the car while you drive to an appointment.

Have Teacher-Led Activities at Scheduled Times

If you thrive on a schedule, determine when you will work one-on-one with each child. For instance, I work with my middle child from 8 to 9:30 a.m. and my youngest child from 9:30 to 11 a.m. After that, I prep lunch, and the kids do independent work. If we have anything to finish up together, we do that in the early afternoon, and then we are done with school for the day.

Choose a Less Teacher-Intensive Curriculum

If you’re working more than 10 to 15 hours a week, you may want to choose a less teacher-intensive curriculum such as an online program. That will free you from some homeschool time and give you more time to work while your children complete their schoolwork for the day.

Final Thoughts

Trying to homeschool and work from home is not easy, but it is possible. If you need the money from a job or enjoy working, know that you can both homeschool and work from home if you are flexible and well-organized.

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Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

5 States That Offer Empowerment Scholarships for Special Needs Children

February 3, 2022 | Leave a Comment

When you have a special needs child, you face many expenses. Your child may need intensive speech, physical, occupational, and behavioral therapy. While some families find they can receive some of the services they need for their child at school, others find that public schools cannot handle, or provide, the intervention a special needs child requires. If you’re frustrated with the public school system’s response to, and services for, your child, you may want to investigate whether you’re in one of the 5 states that offer empowerment scholarships for special needs children.

General Assistance

Nearly half of the states offer some type of school choice for their residents. (Ed Choice explains the different programs each state offers.) Programs vary from a tax credit, to a stipend to help children attend private schools instead of public, to empowerment scholarships.

States That Offer Empowerment Scholarships for Special Needs Children

Currently, five states offer empowerment scholarships (ESA):

Arizona,
Florida,
North Carolina,
Mississippi,
Tennessee

Who Qualifies for an ESA?

Students who meet certain requirements such as having a documented disability or residing in a school district with an underperforming school can receive empowerment scholarships. Requirements vary per state.

In Arizona, where I live, a student must attend public school for at least 45 days and have a documented disability, have a parent who is in the military, or live in an underperforming school district to be eligible for an ESA. Once a special needs student begins to receive an ESA, her siblings, even those without disabilities, can also receive one if they’ve met the requirement of attending a public school for 45 days.

How Do ESA Programs Work?

In Arizona, a child who has an ESA receives 90% of the state money that would have been used to educate the child at a public school. (The other 10% goes to the child’s local public school even if the child is not attending.)

The size of a child’s ESA funding depends on his documented disability. Children with autism and Downs Syndrome receive the largest scholarships because they typically require more interventions than a child with ADHD, for example.

Every quarter, the child receives a financial distribution in his ESA account. That money can then be used for:

private school tuition,
homeschooling expenses,
therapies,
Educational testing,
Extracurricular activities, and
Other approved expenses

Our Experience with Arizona’s ESA Program

I have three children; each has two special needs. Two have autism, two have dyslexia, and two have ADHD. We became members of the ESA program in 2019.

ESA has been a lifesaver for my children. They have benefited from private Barton Reading & Spelling tutoring to help them with their dyslexia. They have received educational testing, speech therapy, and private math tutoring. I’m also able to homeschool the younger two children and pick curriculum that suits them and their learning styles.

Before receiving ESA for my kids, they received speech therapy through the public school. They had 30 minutes of group therapy with three other kids once a week. After ESA, they received 30 to 60 minutes of private speech therapy weekly. That made an enormous difference in how quickly they progressed and ultimately finished speech therapy.

Final Thoughts

If you have a child with special needs, you know how expensive providing for their academic and therapeutic needs can be. If you live in one of the states that offer Empowerment Scholarships for special needs children, consider looking into the program for your child. I’ve even heard from several parents of special needs children who specifically moved to Arizona for the Empowerment Scholarship and the opportunities it afforded their children.

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Melissa Batai

How Much Does Unschooling Cost?

August 12, 2021 | Leave a Comment

Homeschooling can take many different forms, from essentially recreating school at home by using workbooks and taking multiple tests to a Charlotte Mason method where children derive their education largely through reading living books. There is also the Classical Education philosophy based on learning the classics like Greek and Roman history and language. However, perhaps the most misunderstood homeschool philosophy is unschooling. While detractors say unschooling isn’t really schooling at all, unschoolers see it as a viable educational form. If you’re interested in unschooling, you first must understand what the philosophy is and how much unschooling costs.

What Is Unschooling

Unschooling is an educational philosophy. Unschoolers don’t typically have their children take standardized tests or any other test. They don’t use textbooks or follow a set curriculum. Instead, the child determines what he would like to study based on his interests.

Cooking, gardening, and raising animals can all be part of the school day for an unschooler. Unschoolers also may code a robot, research the Titanic, do a science experiment, or record a new YouTube video all in the name of school. The idea is that unschoolers will learn more deeply because they’re working on things that interest them and that they choose to pursue. Hopefully, this helps the child become a lifelong learner.

However, critics argue that unschooling does not lead to a well-rounded education necessary for adult life. If an unschooler is not interested in math, she may not study it, which could cause problems in adulthood. Similarly, one who is interested in science may not study writing because she’s not particularly strong in that area.

How Much Does Unschooling Cost?

Unschooling costs can vary widely depending on the amount of money the parent has to dedicate to unschooling and the child’s interests.

Ways to Unschool for Free

If you don’t have much money to dedicate to unschooling, that’s okay! You can still give your child a stellar education. Consider these opportunities:

The Library

The library offers many educational items for your child from library books to movies to foreign language learning programs. In addition, most libraries offer regular learning programs such as wildlife experts who bring animals to the library or scientists who teach astronomy. Most libraries also offer activities like chess club and teen time that your child can join.

The Outdoors

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

One of the greatest classrooms is the great outdoors. Give your child ample time to hike and take nature walks. Some children enjoy keeping a nature journal. They can search for animals, observe the seasonal changes, watch birds. . .the possibilities are endless.

The Internet

There are some high-quality educational services on the Internet.

EdX

EdX offers free online college classes from 160 universities including Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and the University of California, Berkeley, to name a few. You can study architecture, math, literature, engineering, food and nutrition, and many more subjects with some of the greatest minds in the United States.

YouTube

If you think of YouTube as a place to waste time, think again. You can find tutorials and even educational lessons. My daughter and I are studying Japanese, in part through YouTube lessons that we find.

If You Have Money to Spend

If you have more money to spend on unschooling, you can take advantage of other academic resources.

Camps

Educational camps offer your child a unique way to learn. There are science camps, sports camps, liberal arts/reading camps. You can find what you need for your child if you have the money to pay for it.

Subscriptions

Likewise, you can also take advantage of subscription services to help your child in her educational endeavors.

Magazine Subscriptions

Magazine subscriptions from National Geographic to LEGO Magazine to Architectural Digest may feed your child’s desire to learn more about their current unschooling interests.

Box Subscriptions

Likewise, box subscriptions can also help spark your child’s creativity. Some of the most popular educational subscription boxes include Kiwi Crate for science and art, Atlas Crate for geography and culture, Tinker Crate for science and engineering, and Eureka Crate for engineering and design.

If your child is more creative, there are I Create Art boxes for budding artists. Young chefs may enjoy Eat2Explore cooking boxes.

For most interests a child can have, you can find a subscription box.

Tools & Learning Aids

If you have a budding scientist, and you can afford to buy a student microscope, your child can spend time creating slides and looking under the microscope.

Photo by Simon Delalande on Unsplash

You might buy a telescope for a child who is interested in astronomy or ample art supplies for a student who is interested in art.

A child who is interested in chemistry might benefit from a chemistry science kit. A history buff may want to take field trips to historic sites and museums to learn more.

If Money Is Available but Limited

Most of us aren’t independently wealthy. If you have some money to spend on your child’s education, but that money is limited, consider handing over control to your child. Let’s say you have $3,000 a year to spend on your child’s education. You can give your child $750 per quarter. Then, she can decide how to spend the money on her education each month.

If you feel comfortable letting her have this control, you are embracing the philosophy of unschooling as a child-lead schooling option. Plus, just letting her choose what to buy and deciding if the items were worth the money is an educational experience in itself. She’ll also learn how to budget the money. If she wants to attend an expensive camp in the summer, she’ll need to save the money from previous quarters to afford the camp.

Final Thoughts

Unschooling is a controversial form of homeschooling, but many unschoolers have gone on to be successful adults. If you opt for this form of homeschooling, know that unschooling costs as little or as much as you want it to.

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Melissa Batai

Best Games to Teach Elementary Students Geography

June 18, 2020 | Leave a Comment

For many of us, we learned geography in school through memorization. We memorized capitals, populations, physical geography. Oh, the tedium. While I liked geography, learning it in school took all of the joy out of it. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can bring geography to life for your student by cooking food eaten in that country and playing games.

Best Games to Teach Elementary Students Geography

There are so many fun games to teach kids about geography!

The Professor Noggins Series

If you’re looking for a quick and educational game, try the various Professor Noggins games. Popular geography titles include Wonders of the World, Countries of the World, Countries of the World II, and Geography of the United States.

These games are good for ages 7+. To play the game, roll the dice. Then, the next player will read you the question. You can choose between student or scholar. A student question might read, “The peninsula of Cape Cod juts into which ocean?”, while a scholar question will ask a more difficult question like, “Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located in which state?” When you’ve gone through the entire deck, whoever has the most cards (correct answers) wins. Because of the two different levels, this game is great for multiple ages. I enjoy playing these games with my kids, especially because I usually learn something, too!

The Scrambled States of America

In this fun game, each player is given a U.S. map and five state cards. Then, you read a playing card such as, “Capital starts with A or B.” The player then looks at their five-state cards to see if they have a card that fits the criteria. If they have one, they put that card aside and pick a new one. The winner is the person who has the most state cards when the pile runs out.

I enjoy The Scrambled States of America because there are two options to play. You can either race (the first person to answer correctly wins the round), or each player can answer and all the players that have it right win that round. The latter version is perfect for younger kids or kids who have dyslexia and take more time to read. The former is perfect for competitive older kids.

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is often a long game. Plan on playing for an hour or so, but it also makes a fun family game. Players choose three cards that represent trips across America. They can choose to keep all of the cards, only two, or only one. If they complete the trip, they get the number of points on the card. If they don’t complete the trip, the points on the card are deducted from their score. The winner is the person who has the most points at the end.

Players learn where the states are as well as what the major cities are through regular play. Our family really enjoys this game.

Final Thoughts

These are just three of the best games to teach elementary students geography. There are many others available. With so many fun resources, why settle for boring lessons? Make learning geography fun instead!

Melissa Batai

What You Need to Know to Homeschool Your Child in the Age of COVID-19

May 28, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Since the CDC recently released their guidelines for schools to reopen in the fall, many parents are considering homeschooling their children. This may be because they fear their child getting COVID-19 or they feel the guidelines are too restrictive. If you are keeping your options open, here’s what you need to know to homeschool your child in the age of COVID-19.

Check Your State’s Requirements

Every state has different requirements for homeschoolers. Some states such as Illinois do not even require that you report to your state that you’ve begun homeschooling. Other states like Pennsylvania have strict oversight. In that state, each year you must keep a portfolio of learning and have a designated person approve it at the end of the year. Some states are in between and require that you just send in an affidavit that you are currently homeschooling.

Consider Online School

Especially if you have older children, you may want to consider enrolling them in an online accredited program. If you are homeschooling simply because of COVID-19, you may find that next year the virus (and all of the restrictive guidelines) have diminished and you’re ready to send your kids back to school. You can do this seamlessly if you’ve had your child in an accredited online school.

Plus, if you’re also working from home, you can be less involved with an online school.

Homeschooling Takes Less Time

What You Need to Know to Homeschool in the Age of COVID-19

Photo by Kyle Gregory Devaras on Unsplash

How quickly children can complete their work when homeschooling is astonishing to many parents. When a child goes to a brick and mortar school, there is a lot of waiting. Waiting for other kids to finish an assignment before the teacher moves on. Waiting for kids to quiet down for instructions or to go to lunch, etc. When you eliminate all of the waiting time and children are allowed to do their work at their own pace, school can be completed surprisingly quickly.

You shouldn’t be surprised if your lower elementary kids finish all of their school work in an hour or two. Middle school kids will likely take three to four hours. High schoolers will need five to six hours. As long as the work is getting done, there’s no need to take eight hours a day like brick and mortar schools do.

Don’t Recreate School at Home

Many first time homeschoolers try to recreate brick and mortar school at home. These parents try to develop a strict schedule and use the same materials schools do.

Please realize that children will thrive in homeschooling when you relax the rules a bit. You can let kids work at their own pace as long as they get their work done for the day. Take the time to find curriculum your kids will love now that you have the freedom to pick and choose. My daughter loves Legos. So, we bought a Lego science curriculum that is STEM-based. You have the freedom to make those types of decisions.

Final Thoughts

These are the basics of what you need to know to homeschool your child in the age of COVID-19. I know the decision to homeschool can be scary, but many, many parents homeschool. Their children go on to become successful adults. If you chose, you can do this.

Melissa Batai

How to Work from Home When the Kids Are Home

April 30, 2020 | 1 Comment

Working from home can be difficult for some people. It’s easy to get distracted and make a phone call or do the laundry instead of working. However, if you have a situation like we have now where kids are home from school every day all day, working can seem impossible. Luckily, you can learn how to work from home when the kids are home. Doing so might not be your favorite way to work, but for now, you can get done what you need to get done.

How to Work from Home When the Kids Are Home

There are several strategies you can use to try to get work done when the kids are home.

Work Early in the Morning or Late at Night

How to Work from Home When the Kids Are Home

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

I work from home part-time, and my favorite time to get work done is early in the morning. My kids generally wake up by 6:30 a.m., so I get up at 4 a.m. and work for two hours (after allotting myself 30 minutes to wake up!). Night owls may prefer to do the reverse and work late at night. The nice part of working early for me is that there are very few distractions, so I get a lot done during that time.

Hire Your Teen

If you have a teenager at home, you may ask if the teen would be willing to watch the younger kids while you work. If you could pay the teen, that would be extra incentive, but if not, just find a way to reward your teen for helping such as treating them to a movie or letting them use the car for a special event.

Give Your Kids Your Time First

You may feel like you need to get to your work right away, but that isn’t always the best decision. Often, if you give your kids your time before you begin to work, they’re happy to let you work uninterrupted afterwards. That’s because you’ve filled them up emotionally, and then they can play on their own. If you don’t spend the time doing this, they may pester you because they want your attention.

Utilize Down Time

Photo by Blake Meyer on Unsplash

While you’re probably spending part of your day making sure your kids are doing their school work, there are also times of the day when they are otherwise occupied. This might be when they’re playing outdoors, on a Zoom meeting for school or tutoring, or watching TV. Use that time to do your work. I save lighter work that doesn’t require as much concentration for these times. Then it doesn’t matter as much if I get interrupted.

Trade Off With Your Spouse

If you have another adult at home, trade off watching the kids. My husband is also working from home right now, so he works his traditional 8 to 5 hours during the weekdays. I let him work and don’t interrupt him or let the kids interrupt him. Then, on the weekends, he gives me time to work and complete anything I couldn’t finish in the early mornings.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to work from home when the kids are home is definitely a learning process. However, it can be done. As you adapt to this new situation, you will likely find working from home gets easier.

Melissa Batai

Single Parenthood and Home Schooling

May 23, 2011 | 1 Comment

Single parenting is hard. If you are a couple with kids, think of how tough it is to lose weight and double this. Single parenthood has its pro’s and con’s.

The upside to being single parent

Its pro’s include absolute autonomy. You do not need to confer with anyone when it comes to decisions making about the kids. You can impart the values you think they should have, teach them what you know, and basically arm them how you think is best. You are not limited by another person’s thoughts or opinions when it comes to work hours, kids of work, how much you get done or not done around the house. You are completely free to think of the best possible path for yourself and your kids.

The downside to being a single parent

The con’s include the fact that you have to do all this on your own and this means it is on you to mold these precious beings into happy, healthy, and productive people when they grown older. It is on you to make sure that they eat at least three square, healthy meals, are schooled properly, are taught what they need to know to function and be independent. You have no help when it comes to keeping house and home, paying bills, or acquiring assets.

Can a single parent home-school?

All this said, it is hard to imagine how to fit home schooling into a single parents plan. I guess it would all depend on what kind of support system the single parent has. I have heard that in other countries, single parents get a lot of discounts and even financial help from the government. For some countries apparently, health care and even schooling is free. I do not know this for sure or as a fact. What I do know is that in my country, single parenthood is hard.

Here, to manage in maintaining food, shelter, health care, and schooling, a single parent needs to either ask for help from better off relatives or have a really good, high paying job, with lots of benefits. Otherwise, single parents work long hours, some with two or more smaller jobs on the side. Some take on night work to make the most of the higher percentages in wages. And almost all who do it on their own have very little time to spend at home. And to think that there is no real day care system in my country so kids left at home are often cared for by extended family or a paid, stay-in nanny.

Home schooling, from what I have seen requires one main element- the parent’s time and presence at home to oversee the educational development of the child or children. How is this to be done when the parent is out of the house? The recommendation here then is to have a guardian, like an aunt or grandparent take over the teaching. Is it as effective as the parent doing it? Home schooling would be a financially lighter and educationally better choice for single parents. It is cheaper to home school and you have control over what your kids learn, how they learn, etc. But can it be done for single moms like me?

In a situation where the parent has little time to spend at home, is home schooling still an option? If so, what is the work-around for the lack of availability?

Catherine

Catherine is a first time momma to a rambunctious toddler. When she isn’t soaking up all that motherhood has to offer, you can find her blogging over at Plunged in Debt where she chronicles her and her husbands journey out of debt. You can also follow her on Twitter.

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To Homeschool Or Not…Part 1

May 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment

If you are a parent, there is one thing for sure you think about from the moment your precious one/s enter the world…how to educate them. This is certainly one of the thoughts that entered my mind and has taken, it seems, permanent residency there. It is just so important to me that my kids get the right schooling, the best schooling for them.

Now, before anyone jumps on me in anger, this is not a ‘Tiger Mom’ post. Far from it. I have neither the years of experience, the certainty, or the guts to let it all hang out there the way Amy Chua did. This is more a post looking at whether to homeschool my kids or not.

Why am I looking at Homeschooling in particular? Of all the approaches, why this? The answer is simple. I have very good friends who espouse Homeschooling and who swear that it is the best thing to hit education since the advent of the textbook. But what is homeschooling exactly? Let me go through a very simplified and brief approach to Homeschooling.

How to get started homeschooling

I am not sure how it is defined or the processes that go into it in other countries but here in Manila, in a nutshell, Homeschooling is the parent or guardian taking responsibility and control of educating their children at home instead of sending them to an institution like public or private school. Here, the parent or guardian signs up of joins an accredited Homeschooling group first. This group must have the proper licenses and must have a curriculum approved by the Department of Education. The parent or guardian must keep in touch with the head of this group and give updates and reports about the progress of their child. There are two main reasons for this; that the parent is able to go to an authority for help should this be needed; and there is some form of check and balance still existing to make sure that the parent or the guardian is keeping up with the level requirements. After this, the parent is left to look at the level curriculum and create their own school schedule for this kids. This should include the subjects and topics in detail, the way this will be taught, the reinforcement, the activities about the activities, the testing. Main testing will be done at accredited centers and exams to certify that the child has passed from one level to the next should be given by the Department of Education.

Here are some Pro’s and cons to Homeschooling:

Homeschooling Pros

Children are taught according to their learning styles and interests.
Parents have more control over how and what their children are taught.
Children can progress slowly or quickly, according to their abilities.
Schedules are based on what the parents thinks is an important distribution of activities.
Flexible schedules allow time for breaks, field trips, vacations.
The cost of homeschooling for a year is about 1/10 the cost of a year in private school.
Parents can transmit their values to children and shelter them from negative influence.

Homeschooling Cons

Parents must help children improve upon their weaknesses and not just cater to their strengths.
Parents take on sole responsibility for their children’s education.
Family crises, illness and lax supervision by parents can interfere with learning.
Parents must purchase own materials and be in-charge of the teaching styles that will best help their children learn.
Parents must search for activities such as sports and music that can be extra-curricular activities or supplements to learning.
Parents must give children increasing independence and a chance to learn to stand for their values.
Parents must be vigilant about ensuring their children still have socialization with their peers.

I have been thinking about this seriously and have had long talks with my friends about whether homeschooling is the way to go or not. I will post again about my progress on this topic.

What is homeschooling like where you live?

Brian

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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