personally, i don't know of any homeschooling families that are wealthy... in my circle of homeschoolers, we are sacrificing much... i set a side a really profitable career in Corporate America to educate our kids at home... our lifestyle has changed dramatically... i remember the days of nice vacations, fine dining, current wardrobes... it is a sacrifice... not everyone can do it... not everyone has the wherewithall to do it... again--it's a huge sacrifice for those of us who are not bringing in the big bucks... some months--i don't know how we make it... would our financial circumstance be helped if i took a job, even a part-time job? yes... but would it be worth it to put our kids in government school? not to us...
so what is it i really want to say here? that we make choices... all are choices... few are forced to put their kids in government school... i don't think a parent is bad for doing that... but it is a choice... and when someone chooses government school, that person gets all that comes with it... and when i hear those parents complain about this and that, i think, "well, it's a choice." and it's the same when i hear homeschooling parents complain about all the things that come with this lifestyle... "well, it's a choice." (and a disclaimer: yes, i realize i'm not using capital letters and formal punctuation... and no i don't teach my broken grammar rules to my kids)...
I was a single mom many years back so I get some folks have to work.
Now I am married and am blessed to have the choice to homeschool. Like you, I can’t do it without some MAJOR changes to lifestyle!
In order to have me at home, here’s what we did:
*Got out of debt (except mortgage) before starting
*Sold a car and got a moped to save on gas
*Cut our utility bill by 60% by stopping using our dryer, turning off lights, not let water run, using a woodstove to heat our home, etc.
*Learned to cook from scratch.
*Started buying everything in bulk, especially when things go on sale. For example, if we find a good deal on say, chicken, we fill our freezer full.
*Found ways to stretch some things, mixing store bought milk with powdered milk (the kids haven’t caught on yet LOL)
*Got rid of satellite TV, trash pick up, home phones (still have cell phone and internet)
*Shop at consignment stores/thrift/ebay for clothing, books, whatever I can find! Anytime we need to buy things we go there first.
*Learned to sew and knit. We repair a lot of things, like socks, rather than run out and buy new like we used to.
*Learned to do handyman stuff ourselves
*Grow a garden plus canning the food
*Started last year raising chickens for eggs, this year we are hatching many more chickens for meat
*Use bleach, vinegar, or baking soda for 99% of cleaning things around the house
Anyway, doing all this we still squeak by. It is a full time job for me - I work harder now than I ever did working 40-50 hour a week job. But what a blessing it is and how worth it!!!
We are definately a no-frills family. You would laugh knowing how preppy we are, or used to be and how nerdy now. My friends think we’ve turned into greenies but fact is, we just became tightwads LOL!
I think... there are some folks who want to homeschool that can’t (finances or other issues), there are some that can and do, and there are some that can but won’t.
Whatever you choose, I personally think everyone should have on hand history and science books that teach truth. I think folks should read what their kids are reading in school, to be able to counter lies and propaganda.