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Benjamin Said:

Is homeschooling the most economical way to teach children?

We Answered:

Homeschooling can take many different forms and can have different costs associated with it. There is no easy answer to this question, as it will depend on what your specific objectives are.

With that said, some things you should consider in evaluating the costs of home school.

The cost per student in a public school varies depending on where you live from about $6000/year to about $13,000 year. How the school receives these funds also varies. In my area there are 13 different property taxes plus the state income tax equalization fund that all go into the schools. The rich neighborhoods may or may not have more resources than the poor neighborhood, as funds may be equalized at the district, county or state level.

Most of the costs of the schools goes into personnel costs; i.e. teacher salaries. But a lot of cost goes into facilities, text books, and equipment that can be used for multiple students. There are economies of scale that help to keep the costs lower, but there are political and economic pressure to purchase new textbooks when they aren't really needed.

In a home school setting, there are no teacher salaries to pay, but generally one parent has to be at home with the children to teach, so the family may have to forgo one income stream in order to home school. But this has to be balanced with transportation, child care, and other costs associated with the working parent vs. the stay at home parent, and will be different for each family situation. A 6.50/hr 40 hr/wk job is about $13,000 per year.

Textbooks can be purchased new or used. The rules of Geometry haven't changed in a few centuries, so an older math book probably isn't going to be a problem. There are also a ton of resources on the Internet to work with. The information I have indicates that out of pocket costs for homeschooling are typically between $1000 and $2000 per year, some folks can do less, some pay more. (There are even some ways to get the public school system to buy them for you.)

Very few homeschooling families do all of their school around the kitchen table. Most are involved in 4-6 times as many outside activities as comparable families in the public school system. Costs for these activities and the cost of transporting the children to the activities should be considered. This should include co-op costs, costs for private lessons, and costs for clubs and activities.

And finally, you will still have to pay taxes to send someone else's kids to the public school.

If you would be a stay at home parent anyway, and you are creative in finding ways to teach that don't cost a lot of money, or share resources with others, then it can be cheaper to homeschool. On the other hand, it can be more expensive.

Dean Said:

Made an offer on a home, now all of the sudden there is another offer?

We Answered:

This happens all of the time, I doubt the agent is playing a game, the odds of losing you as a buyer are too high.

Place the offer in time and see what happens. Lose the contingencies if you can, your offer is already really weak because you are not placing a down payment, the other bidder may get the house for less money then your bid because of it.