Desperately want to home educate but don't think we can afford to

[Myfanwy81]

Have been wanting to home educate since my son started school last year at 4_years old. I have a daughter who is 2 and do not want her to start school at all. My husband was totally against the idea last year but we have been talking about it lately and he is now not against the idea but doesen't think we can afford to do this. I work two days a week termtime and would have to continue doing this, we were anticipating me going to work full time when our youngest started school. I am heartbroken as would so like to educate my children at home for various reasons the chief reason being that my son struggles socially in large groups and gets worn out by the school schedule. Also we have had some incidents happen at school that make me feel that we could provide a sounder educational and emotional environment for our two .

We struggle already financially even with my part time work so am at a loss how to boost my income without working lots more days as we only have my mum in law who is in her 70s to rely on for childcare. I don't want to ask really personal details regarding income but just wondered if anyone could advise me on a possible way to enable our desire to home educate while keeping our household afloat financially

Could you join with other families who want to home educate and pool resources and skills? There are probably others in the vicinity who also want to do the same as you. They maybe would be able to juggle childcare with you.
You probably have a free magazine where you can advertise.

A 70 year old can be really fit and there are Mother and toddler groups that they can go to so they wouldn't be alone all day with the children.
I am presuming your MIl can drive.
When I looked after my GC I went to Mother and Toddler every day, to break up the day.
Mathsisfun and Khanacademy are good Maths websites. Khan Academy is free.

Home ed is a lifestyle choice, and sometimes it takes a series of other lifestyle choices to make it work.
I know people who work as a childminder around home ed, so they look after their own children along with those of other people.
I know people who work different times of day from their partner so one is free to be with the children.
In our rural area, we get quite a lot of people who have downsized out to the country in order to have cheap rent/mortgage, or who live in a trailer or static, or who put their stuff in storage for the summer and work their way around the festivals with children in tow.
I know lots of families who clothe themselves from hand me downs, jumble sales and charity shops, and who also go to car boot sales for toys and books and things. People wanting foreign holidays do it cheap during school term; the rest of us go camping or visit relatives in the UK. Lots of us grow a lot of our own food.
Might be worth thinking about the whole of your lifestyle, not just the home ed bit, and think about whether there are equivalent lifestyle choices that might work for you?

Thank you so much for your suggestions holeintheheart and ommmward, really appreciate you taking the time to reply x I have last week joined two local home ed groups on Facebook who have been very welcoming and seem to have a lot of members, pooling resources sounds like something to explore thanks for that suggestion and the website links.

Thanks for your suggestions ommmward, really interesting to hear of people who put stuff in storage and travel around that sounds fascinating! Your suggestion of finding a job that is at a different time of day to my husband makes sense. I sound daft but hadn't thought of that! Will explore this further. I am a teaching assistant two days a week at the moment which has been great for the holidays etc but reading your houghts can see that I need to think outside the box a little and consider other jobs maybe Xxxxx

Ommmward thanks for your wise words The decision to home educate as a lifestyle choice in context of other choices makes sense. We are frugal as live in a tiny house and don't go on foreign holidays.

I know a couple - not parents, but where one is a creative artist in a not-lucrative field, and the other has long term health issues (ME type stuff I think). They have a tiny little suburban terrace house, and they have turned the whole back garden into a market garden, with raised beds, and they are totally self sufficient for veg. I think they have chickens too. They are money poor but time rich.

I know another couple, living on a very small pension, who have a larger garden and, again, who spend most of their time working to grow their veg.
The Good Life is coming back into fashion :)

That sounds great with regard to raised beds and growing veggies! I did get an allotment plot but then fell pregnant with my youngest and hubby wasn't keen on having sole responsibility for the plot. Will think about putting my name down again I think. It will be a fab learning opportunity for the children as well as providing us with fresh stuff

I agree that there seems to be a move towards more self sufficiency which is such a good thing! Thanks for the inspiration :-D

Hi Myfanwy, I think the money part is the hardest part of home ed! I am forever trying to come up with ways to keep us ticking over, including some of ommmwards suggestions. We have allotment to grow fresh produce & do volunteer work (kids too!) at a food co-operative who then give us food vouchers. We are considering making a variety of things to sell at the farmers market. I also work Saturday mornings and teach other home ed kids alongside mine once a week for cash.
I have done childminding in the past but it didn't work for me, but this could be a great option for you.
Good luck! It can be done, bit of 'out of the box thinking as you say:)