The economics of homeschooling

It’s that time of year again, when we pause to consider how the kids’ education is coming along and whether they’d be better off at home (like the younger three) or in school (like their big sister, who’s finishing up her sophomore year at the public high school down the road.)

Cost has never been a big factor in these discussions -- so far -- but homeschooling is definitely intertwined with our family’s frugality. The most obvious way homeschooling cuts costs is by eliminating the need for a closetful of trendy clothes for each kid. (Rowan, who was homeschooled through eighth grade, continues to create most of her funky and often-complimented wardrobe out of garage sale and thrift shop finds.) It’s also cheaper to feed kids at home than at a school cafeteria. (Though Rowan usually takes her lunch, and would qualify for 40-cent reduced-price lunches if we ever got around to filling out the form.)

These savings can easily be balanced out by the expense of buying textbooks and other educational materials, but not necessarily. A library card and a little ingenuity can go a long way toward a child‘s education.

When I think of how homeschooling intersects with the natural thrift philosophy, though, those aren’t the factors that strike me. It’s not the cost savings so much as the economic efficiencies.


In a real-life learning laboratory, you can unleash kids’ curiosity and creativity on actual problems that need solved. Like learning how to construct a rain garden to fix a backyard drainage problem, a project that fascinates Colleen. Or designing a bridge over a small ditch that can accommodate not only a wheelbarrow but a garden tractor, a project that Ben will take the lead on. Cassie’s interest in losing weight has led her to keep a Weight Watchers-style food diary, an important health project that’s also improving her math and spelling skills.

And when it comes to art, we’re always considering function as well as form -- there are always birthday cards to make, rag-rug style potholders and pan hooks to construct and clothes and pillows to recycle into new pieces of wearable or usable art.