We don’t have 2 incomes, and our standard of living is not exactly enviable: I have a 13 year-old car (soon to be 14) that is the newest car I’ve ever owned. My children are much younger than yours; all in school, but none in high school yet. My home was built 80 years ago; no central air or “green” windows, siding, etc.
I’m all ears...
> We don’t have 2 incomes
That means one of you is home, virtually full time. You are ready to home school.
Please read this.
http://www.wiebefamily.org/school.txt
And visit this web site, too.
http://www.hslda.org
> I have a 13 year-old car (soon to be 14) that is the
> newest car I’ve ever owned.
This is what we call a “kingdom kar”. :) If you’re a Christian, you’ll probably understand that.
> My children are much younger than yours
PRAISE THE LORD! The younger you start home education the better!
> all in school
Nobody will love your children more than you do.
Nobody.
Nobody knows them as well as you do.
Nobody.
Nobody will reach them better than you can.
Nobody.
And if anybody can reach them and teach them better than you, they are taking your rightful place in your children’s lives.
We use Christian curricula, A Bekah Books, Rod & Staff, Pathways, Christian Light, et al, and a *LOT* of source material, especially for History and Literature. If you’re not a Christian, there’s a lot of secular material.
The tax-funded, union-run school collective spends $18,000 per year per student.
We spend about $400 per year for all of our kids, except the one in Christian college. We buy books at book fairs, homeschool hand-me-downs, yard sales, roadside bookstores, and library clearances. You wouldn’t believe the gems we’ve gotten for a pittance; Treasures written 100 or more years ago; original works that have been out of print for generations!
> My home was built 80 years ago; no central air or “green”
> windows, siding, etc.
Our house is only 35 years old, but we don’t have central air or “green” windows, siding, etc, either. We are slowly remodelling, but just maintaining the old place and car repair often takes too much money for us to make progress remodelling. We recently did our kitchen, mostly by ourselves, and it took us six months.
We heat mostly with wood, including our water. We have a small hobby farm with chickens, goats and sheep. We have a family garden for veggies, and we do some canning at harvest time.