Its no secret that homeschooling costs can add up and it can get difficult in a single income household.
However there are options, depending on your skillset and if you are willing to put some time and effort in, it is always possible to increase your income.
Firstly if both parents/carers are working full time, you don’t necessarily have to reduce your work hours. It depends on the age of your children, how many you have and what kind of structure/approach you want to take to homeschooling.
If you work from home and your children are old enough, it might suffice to set up a quiet working area for everyone where most of the children’s work and activities are self guided.
How can I continue earning whilst homeschooling my children?
If your children are young and need a lot of care and attention it might make sense for one parent to switch to part time hours or go self-employed so they can work around the children’s schedule.
Going self-employed doesn’t have to mean a loss of income. In fact it’s usually the opposite.
Depending on which sector you work in you can charge an hourly or project rate that is far higher than you would normally make whilst being employed.
This gives you flexibility to work fewer hours and still earn the same amount, or to work the same hours and earn a lot more.
Popular, well paying industries include:
- Freelance writing/copywriting – minimum wage to £100 plus per hour
- Website build/design – anything from several hundred to several thousand per website
- Translation services – £15 – £20 per hour
- Online Tutoring – £20 to £90 per hour depending on experience
- Social media marketing – £15 – £100+ per hour depending on experience
As with anything, if you don’t have experience in these areas, find an online course and build up a portfolio of work, initially you may have to charge a lower fee.
As soon as you build up some customer testimonials and experience, there is no limit on how much you can earn. You can increase your fee every time you take on a new project.
All of the above can be done from home and in the hours that you choose.
How much does it cost to homeschool and what will we need to spend money on.
Its hard to give an exact answer as it depends on how many activities, resources and children etc. as a rough idea it can cost around £50 to £200 per month. More if you will be using private tutors or paid online resources.
The main costs involved in homeschooling fall into a few different areas:
Ongoing small costs: Study books, notebooks, stationery etc.
Large initial costs: Laptops and desks
Activities: Ranging from a few pounds to several depending on type of activities.
Help and resources: Tutors, online subscriptions etc.
The nice part is, its really down to you as to how much you want to spend.
Ongoing supplies are perfectly fine from places like poundland and B&M – especially if your children are young and tend to go through a lot of paper and paint!
Depending on how tech focused you want your children’s schooling to be you can choose a realistic budget for laptops and tablets etc. You can also buy refurbished equipment as long its from a reputable company.
Activities: A lot of activities can be done for free – bike riding, going to the park etc.
For more skills focused activities, like martial arts, robotics, horse riding etc. find out if there are home schooling groups near you as they can often organise acitivities at a lower cost because they have larger numbers attending.
This has been a very brief overview of some options to increase income and what kinds of costs are involved in home schooling. Please do comment below if you have any particular questions and I will do my best to answer or point you in the right direction.