Homeschooling and Housework?

Homeschooling is fantastic. I find it much easier than running all over the place, getting kids up from naps for the school run, PTA, fund raising, various activities, homework, etc. I get exhausted just thinking about the schedules that public schoolers keep. We get up in the morning, do our chores, have breakfast, do school. Break for lunch, back to school. No homework, no running here and there all day. We can prepare dinner during the day, whenever needed. We think it is very important to have a clean house. Although I have 6 children, we do not allow clutter or junk on the floor. At 5pm, we have "5 o'clock clean-up" where everyone tidies up their particular area of responsibility before Dad gets home. The children learn to work joyfully. We are a team and we work together. We also play together!
Average costs of homeschooling can vary wildly. It really depends on how much of a boxed curriculum you want. We started years ago, and the oldest always got the new year's worth of curriculum that the youngers used as they got older. We use consummables for handwriting and early math, but the rest is either computer based or I make copies. We read real books, not workbooks about books, if that makes sense. So, we either buy or borrow the books we need. Right now, if I were you, I would research the various methods of homeschooling. Once you narrow down how you want to do it, then start researching curriculums within that particular method. You can even start buying books and other resources now to build your library. And, most states have used curriculum sales. TN has a homeschool organization that has conferences in 7 different areas (I think it is 7, it might be 5) of the state. I highly recommend going to the one near you. You will learn so much, and you will see a plethora of curriculum companies! You can put your hands on them and start narrowing them down now. And, you will hear speakers that will give you ideas on how to homeschool, how to manage your home while homeschooling, etc. It's a fantastic resource. And, there will be people there who can help you understand the law in your state.
We love it. My children thank me every year at some point for teaching them at home. They love the freedom and flexibility that homeschooling gives us. They know that it is a sacrifice on my part to do it with them. I could never do any other thing with their education though, to be honest. We started out as a 1 year try and see experiment. I was SCARED! But, very quickly we decided that we could never do it any other way. There really is no option for us. We love our children too much, and believe it to be the best choice, to do anything else but homeschool. We've been homeschooling for 13 years now. I have one graduated and one yet to start---officially anyway. We have started learning to read, but she isn't registered or anything yet. She's still so young. Blessings!

LOL... the same way that SAHPs of toddlers/non-school aged kids keep their homes clean... EXCEPT that the older kids get the better they get at helping. Meaning that while my 2yo would "vacuum" he did a lousy job at it, at 8yo he does an okay/decent job at it. At 2, I needed to redo it (as in get the other areas that weren't in the 3' square area that got done), at 8yo it's not perfect, but I don't have to redo it!

For our house, we don't start school until 10am. Kiddo has a list of "chores" that he needs to do before he can goof off. They are

- make and eat breakfast (typically cereal)
- wash his breakfast dishes (he also washes his lunch & snack dishes)
- take a shower / wash his face / brush his teeth
- get dressed (except PJ days)
- pick up his room (except he's allowed to leave 2 toys out, so if he's working on legos or something he can leave those out to continue to be played with)
- make his bed.

After that he has freetime to spend however he likes until 10am.

He has other chores that he does in the evenings, and on a weekly basis (like he helps with projects, cooking dinner, etc on a daily basis... and is responsible for washing, drying, and putting away his clothes and sheets on a weekly basis). On average it takes kiddo about 20-30 minutes a day to do all of his daily or weekly chores.. excluding projects, or helping make dinner.

For myself; I get up about an hour AFTER him <grin> (except while he's in growth spurts he wakes up about 730, during growth spurts he sleeps until about 930... I get up at about 830). I do my morning routine (shower, dress, read, eat, etc.). Then I clean off the counters in the kitchen and clean the table, and dustmop the floors &/or wash them (we have a very shedding dog, it really needs to be done every day), and start a load of laundry. Then I make brunch (eggs, pancakes, whatever) and we start school at 10.

((Caveat, in the winter we do school on the mountain spending the days snowboarding and doing lessons during hot chocolate breaks and in the car on the way to and from... our winter schedule is totally different from spring, summer, fall.))

HOWEVER: Just like SAHPs of toddlers, when you're actually home using your house, your house gets messier than for people who are only home in the mornings and evenings. Even cleaning every day the school projects, toys, and housework can pile up. There's a homeschool tshirt I'm rather fond of that reads the following : Homeschool the kids or clean the house, your choice.

Costs vary WILDLY. A person can choose to spend several thousand a year buying a prepackaged or online curriculum all the way to not spending a dime by either creating their own curricula or using free resources (like lessonpathways.com, charlotte mason + the library, etc.).

Most people I know, including myself, fall somewhere in the middle. We budget $100 per month for school expenses & $100 a month for outside classes. Often our school expenses budget builds up like crazy (until we have 5 or 600), other times I'm on pins and needles waiting to get paid so we can buy X (books, games, subscriptions, memberships, whatever). Of course these expenses "blend" because kids in away school are also in outside classes/activites, have memberships to zoos/museums/etc, and have school expenses. We actually find we spend LESS homeschooling (we did preschool & then public K for a year) than we did while kiddo was in away school. In large part because our area has tons of outside classes and activities during the "school day" which come attached with a 25%-50% off discount. If we went back into away schooling, we'd have to spend signifcantly MORE, however, because kiddo is a couple of years ahead of the public school curriculum... which means 15k per year for private school.

To go REALLY long run... do be sure to look into your state's "Dual Enrollment" program. Most states have them, many under catchy names. In WA it's called "Running Start". Dual Enrollement programs allow highschool kids to take community college courses (for full credit/ transcripts) typically for free, + the cost of books. Most of the highschool aged HS'ers I know are in college full time. They either use their CC credits as their HIGHSCHOOL transcript to apply for entry into the Ivies, or they get their transfer degree and enter into their state schools as a Junior.

Gosh, yes you have a while yet! I found it near impossible to homeschool and keep any semblance of cleanliness in my house - but this is mainly because I also had a toddler, and I have a very small house. If you have a dedicated schoolroom, you would get around this.
cost wise, you can homeschool for free, there are lots of free curriculums, we used BJU press which ran about $300 a grade, very resonable when you figure in no gas costs, and all the stuff they make you buy in public school these days.
I will say homeschooling my son for 2 years made him introverted, and hard for him to relate to other kids - the big socialisation debate! for us, igt didn't work, I hated it - you may love it!

MIne are older, my youngest is 9, but we have a strict housecleaning routine they follow daily. I have used it for about 7 years and the lttle ones did participate when they were maybe 3ish, it was more a game then though.
Now it is just habit.
Housework is done after dinner, not during schooltime.
The younger the children the faster the schoolwork takes to complete.
Older ones, 6th 7th graders may even have homework.

You can purchase a curriculum for a certain grade from any of the homeschooling companies. THey will run you about $300-$400. YOu can claim up to $500 on taxes, at least the last two years you could.

I do a hodgepodge of different curriculums. I never worried about the cost as homeschooling was to get my daughter out of the public school. It is much cheaper than a private school. ONe year at a Christain school costs us $5000.

Set up a strictly school area. Have a clean up moment after each lesson, after math, spelling, history, then the kids get into the routine.
We do the big housecleaning on Saturdays.

I don't homeschool but envy those who do. The only thing I can input to this is that I have heard that children learn to do the work that they are instructed to do and the "mom/teacher" does not have to stand over them. I also heard that a true day of school is only about 4 hours long, from 8a-noon b/c school with the public has a lot of lag time, wasted time, etc

Good luck to you!