To ask how much it costs you to home school and how do you do it?

[ChaosAndToast]

Hi all,

I'm just exploring my options with SEN children.

I was wondering on average how much it costs you a month to home school and how do you do it?

I was thinking of looking into tutors for English, Maths and Science and then looking at facilities like museums, activity clubs like drama and stuff and whatever else I need to do.

However I don't even know where to think about starting.

(This isn't coming from a place of privilege or anything. It's a last resort if a suitable school isn't agreed for DC)

Start by making a list of all the resources you'd need e.g. technology, stationery, books, textbooks, website subscriptions, resource subscriptions .Then the things that you would like to do and go to with them e.g. swimming, annual passes for national trust, English heritage etc. Then add tutoring costs. Extra for food and bills as you'll be at home more. Then add on your salary as that's a cost as you'll no longer have it unless you can work outside of home school hours.

How old are you children? I've been on the edge with home ed for a long time. I've looked at twinkle subscription which is 8.99 a month ish I think. BBC bitesize is a great resource and bits free.
Ds attends a drama club which is £30 pcm and I looked into forest school which for two children was £15 ever other week.

It's as expensive or as cheap as you make it really.
I wouldn't say a tutor is required until secondary level give or take a few years because if your child is struggling with school because of SEN then a tutor will look a lot like school for them at a young age which is essentially what you're trying to get away from.

There is also a lot of free learning in every day activities such as Lego is coordination, engineering and numeracy.
Baking is literacy (reading) and life skills as well as feeding the family.
Playdoh is muscle building in the hands and art and design.

Once you get on the home ed train the ideas tend to flow and so it can be as cheap as you need it to be one month and then more costly when you have the funds.
Places do home ed sessions at a discount too like swimming, trampoline centers and museum sessions

I 100% believe that school is not childcare, but you can't be in 2 places at once so don't forget you will lose your own income before you even start spending money on resources, tutors and social groups.

Everyone is different.
Grandson HE.
Daughters runs one HE group a week ( free room in a safe space cafe as long as they buy snacks_ drinks). Kids take laptops / tablets etc.
So just cost of travel n snacks @ £5 max.
They attend another HE group.. when weather permitting its outside in various parks.. .£5 max.
Then swimming once a week.. pay for Grandson carer goes free .. free bus bus pass and carer.
£2.
Museums/ libraries etc usually free or cheap with carers pass. ( Bus free).

Other things she teaches at home
Gets books from The works/ charity shops.
They do crafts and baking too.
No tutors!
He's 10 and way above his peers.
Eldest Grandkids were HE too.
Eldest is at Uni.
Other two at college
All ASD .
There will be HE groups near you .
Look on Facebook.
Good luck.

I home educate my daughter and costs vary depending on what's going on that month.

But costs that generally stay the same each week:
Local 'after school' club £1
HE dance £10
HE gymnastics £6
Brownies £14 (monthly)
Non HE dance £17

So about £100 a month.

Then on top of that there are HE days at various attractions that we buy tickets for, or sometimes we go to a HE meet-up at a trampoline park or bowling or somewhere.

But none of that is necessary. We could just stick to free things like parks, the library, beach etc.

I home ed (not home school) a secondary aged child.

40 a month on subscriptions to twinkl, ed place and Ixl

spent about 30 on the cgp books for the Igcses he's doing

£250ish for each exam he does - but not for another year

that's it really. we don't pay for tutors, and our LA gave us a free gym membership for him.

it works out cheaper than school!

We've home educated all three of our DC (it's called Home Education in the UK despite what the rule makers in the government would like to call it 🙂).

Eldest two are NT, youngest has SEN. Like a PP said, it can be as expensive as you'd like it. The biggest financial consideration is how it impacts your own/your partner's earnings. We opted for me to not go back to work once eldest was born but I could have continued to do the self employed work I used to do, around HE.

Clubs and activities are only probably as utilised as much as you would for a schooled child. For young children it isn't remotely expensive because the goal is to keep them engaged. It would be daft to fork out for expensive online resources for a 5 year old when 5 years olds are very likely to get bored quickly.

We used Reading Eggs in the early days and various 'fun' and free other resources like BBC bitesize , conquer maths etc but mainly we read to our children and they learnt so much from the world around them. Crucially it was VERY child led. We kept it fun and therefore they enjoyed it and learned from it! Anything boring, they switch off and learning doesn't happen.

Once our DC got closer to GCSE age, there was no burn out and boredom, they were excited to pursue new things and those a GCSE or two to do. This was around the age of 13/14. Gradually and staggered over the next few years, they achieved the necessary GCSEs that enabled them to go to college/sixth form. All self studied.

GCSEs obviously cost money and this varies across the country and is exams centre dependant. How much you spend on prep is also personal and varies. Much of our DCs prep and revision (for subjects like maths, geography) was using past papers which is the cost of printer ink and paper. Also buying text books.

To make an important point, my eldest is using the printer as much now she's at sixth form as she did when she self studying at home for her GCSEs! And needed a textbook recently suggested by one of her teachers which cost nearly £50!!

Uniform costs and the back and forthing costs are less with HE too.

You're a facilitator, you're not and don't need to be a teacher or recreate school. Children have been learning since the beginning of time. School is a relatively recent concept. The key for us was keeping children engaged and learning never becoming a chore. This we believe we achieved without the possible trauma of school.

Surely the biggest cost is always going to be the salary you aren't getting, if you'd otherwise be at work?

Not relevant to my circumstances but thank you everyone, I really appreciate the comments and help offered.

How old are they? In general, the direct cost can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. There are lots of resources online. There will always be families whose kids do pony riding and go on foreign educational trips, but your children can get a perfectly decent education without those things.

GCSEs are where it really adds up. For each exam, you have to pay the exam fee, a fee to the exam centre, and whatever you use to prepare the kids for the exam (tutor, online school, books for self-study, etc). Most home ed kids sit fewer exams than they would at school - hardly anyone actually NEEDS ten subjects - but it's still significant. If that's in your children's future and will be difficult to afford, you might start setting aside money towards it when they are young. Alternatively, you can see whether local colleges offer anything suitable, either before or after they are 16. That is the only free option.

One of my kids has special needs, and GCSE costs aren't relevant for her. On the other hand, many mainstream activities don't suit her, and so I spend more on the few which do suit her, and we travel farther to them. I used her DLA/PIP money for that.

My other child wanted to do a million activities as a teen, some of which they financed through part-time jobs. Home educated kids tend to have more time on their hands, so that can be viable. Unusually, that child didn't want to do the usual number of exams at the usual age despite being capable of them, so cost us less than expected. They ended up taking a different route to university.

Local home educators can help point you toward opportunities in the area. Sometimes there are brilliant free things, but you have to know about them!

For instance, in my area there's a big museum with a Saturday programme where teens can do original research alongside scientists, for free. There's a free carpentry course at the local college, and a free drama programme for teens with learning disabilities. But such things are unusual, and you'd need to be well networked in order to find them.

Most home education groups are on Facebook these days. Go onto Facebook and into the FB search bar, type "home education" followed by your town or county or nearest city. If you can't find anything near you, feel free to drop into the Home Ed board here on Mumsnet and someone should be able to help.