Funding.

[Misfitless]

If you home ed. do you get funding? Would somebody mind telling me how much funding is.

Also, and how informed do the authorities have to be about what your children are learning, and what resources you buy etc (if you do get funding.)

No funding.

OK. Thanks Weekends

So how is it affordable?

Do you have to have a large enough income for one parent to always be at home, then?

There really should be some funding. I'm shocked! You're effectively saving the LEA a fortune!

My DCs are/will be educated at school in the conventional way, but I lurk on here sometimes because I admire you home ed-ers in many ways and am really quite envious but couldn't do it myself

I don't home ed I've been looking into it for quite some time hence I know answer - most home ed families I know have at least 1 SAHP.

There are lots of groups etc who organise things.

One of the reasons I'm not doing it is cost - but I'm rural to have to factor in petrol as well.

Hello OP.

We H.ed and I am a sahp. Not everyone is though, some people use cm while they work and H.ed at other times. Some parents share and work alternate shifts, there are many variables.

There is no funding because basically when you H.ed you are saying no to the state system, so basically on your own.

You don't have to follow any prescribed hours or curriculum.

Some people are completely under the radar and never inform the authorities. However, if your child id registered with a school you have to deregister, a letter to the school, who then by law have to inform the LEA.
You can deregister one day and never go back again, if you so wish.

You are asked to provide an annual report stating answering some basic questions including a list of resources. This is anything at all you have used.

I hope this helps a bit.

One could argue that people opting to send their children to fee-paying schools also save the DfE a fortune... don't see anyone arguing for them to have a funding handout.

(Money for children in school comes from central Govt, not LAs)

I was going to say the same as HanSolo: state school, like other universal services such as NHS healthcare and rubbish collection, is on offer for all those who want to use it. Those who don't use it are expected to bear the full cost of whatever arrangements they make for themselves.

The direct costs of home education can be as much or as little as you can afford and want to spend. It can be negligible: books from the library, educational resources on the internet, etc.

As you point out, Misfitless, the main cost is usually childcare: paid childcare, or the cost of having a SAHP or a parent working fewer hours than they might otherwise. But some families are not rich and would be in this situation anyway, and for them it makes little difference financially. For example, the parent may be disabled or a carer, or looking after younger children, or it may be a two-parent family in which parents work different hours. There are lots of variations.

I live in a very mixed area, with some quite well-off households and some very poor. The home ed population in my area includes people from all backgrounds. Somewhat skewed toward the middle-class I would say, but not as much as you might expect.

Thanks for all the replies. It's fascinating. I really wish I had the guts and patience to do it myself in some respects, but my DCs who are in the state education system are all happy and love school. Once the novelty of not having to be up and out for 8:45 am had worn off, I think they'd be begging me to go to school .

No Funding. I guess many people either have one high earner, or learn to live on not a lot.

And as you say - HE saves the LEA a fortune. Particularly irritating when it comes to exams - where you have to pay through the nose and get no help in finding out where it is even possible to do them. Would be nice if the friendly people at the LEA could compile a list of which local schools do what - and maybe even encourage schools to be more helpful in allowing external candidates to sit exams.

Hansolo also has a point about private school parents saving tax payer input into their child's education.

And many home educators would not want there to be finding, anyway. Him as pays the piper calls the tune.

We home ed, DH is on 24k, not a big income at all. We have one child, one car 2 holidays a year, in tearm time so cheap.
We have a small house morgege of £450 a mouth.
I know family's that down size to make it doable, some work opposit shifts, some work from home and others just live very frugerly.
Think how much it costs for a free education, school uniform, holidays at peak times, book day £1, school fairs, school trips, breakfast club, after school club holiday club.
Add all this up and then ask how you fund sending your child to a state school.

We do it by still working - hubby works as he always has, I childmind and we both foster a child. We can only afford a small house, 1 holiday plus some camping each year, 1 car (which has to be big because of childminding= costs 109 for a full tank), we food shop in the main supermarkets, we use carboot sales and charity shops, we manage to have sky tv, have only paid for one course (electronics), I teach the rest.

That's interesting maggi- do your FC maintain their school places when they come to you? Or do you HE them? (perhaps they have many barriers in place to accessing m/s education in any case?)

I think of all the people I know HEing, probably 80% are down the lower end of the socio-economic scale, 15% middle, 5% well-off.

One earner here, I was on incapacity benefit till a couple of years ago so I have no income of my own and we rely on dh and DLA for ds. Mortgage paid which helps a lot, we have a small car, one very cheap holiday a year. Most of our money goes on HE or is linked in some way, ie higher heating costs because we're home more.

Exams make a huge dent, especially if you include the materials. We employ tutors too but we get university students who are cheaper than qualified teachers (and, IME, better suited to the task).

Ds will start college Sept 2015 and I won't know what to do with all the money we will have . At last we'll be able to decorate our manky and neglected house!