Friday, I read a post on Examiner.com entitled “Public School Enrollment Increasing Due to Economic Crisis“. Is this true? I don’t know.

Certainly no one can argue that money-wise things have gotten tough and will likely get tougher! Many people, if not fearful, are concerned, very concerned about the economy’s effect on their family and lifestyle. Many  have begun tightening and re-tightening their belts. Tough choices are being made.

The author, in the above mentioned post, wrote that many homeschoolers are considering putting their kids back into public school because the cost of home school is too expensive in today’s economic crisis. She stated she personally knew homeschoolers who are considering public school as an option in order to cut household expenses and to allow the homeschooling parent to get a job to further ease the financial pressures.

For any of you who may be considering the tough choice of putting your children in public school for financial reasons, may I encourage you to take your time in making this decision.

1. Pray. Ask God to show you His desires. Ask Him to reveal to you ways you can either increase your income or decrease your household outflow. Ask Him to show you creative ways to homeschool and to bring others alongside.
2. Consider why you began homeschooling in the first place and carefully, prayerfully reconsider those reasons. Have any of them changed? My guess is, if anything, they have grown stronger.
3. Find ways to significantly decrease homeschooling costs – there are many.
   • Get together with other homeschoolers, locally and/or online. Brainstorm how you can help one another through these tough economic times. Ask for help – you are not alone!
   • Can you share curricula with other homeschoolers you know?
   • What books do you have in your home libraries that you can share with each other?
   • Can you take turns teaching each others kids something you’re good at – kind of like the many homeschool co-ops that have come of age, but do it for free.
   • Consider/research different ways of covering subjects that don’t require a purchased curriculum. Mary Griffith published a book, The Unschooling Handbook, which isn’t just for unschoolers. It’s filled with tons of great ideas that can help you begin to think outside of the box.  Senior High: A home-designed formula, by Barb Shelton, was written especially for the high school years and is filled with creative ways of educating your highschooler.
4. Before you buy anything, check out all your free options first: the public library, your church or other church libraries, homeschool groups that might be willing to loan out books, your friends. Also, look for free online resources – there’s a ton of them, many of which are full blown courses complete with teacher manuals! (If you haven’t already, take a look at my 50 Best Websites for Homeschooling Highschool!)
5. Look at what you’re teaching and ask yourself why? When I first began Homeschool Through Highschool, I posted about the need to be asking ourselves, Why are we doing this? It’s a question we need to ask ourselves, repeatedly and often.
   • Is it because some “expert” says you need to?
   • Is it because it’s listed on some scope and sequence?
   • Is it because someone told you your child must learn this subject or they’ll be doomed for life? Seriously! why are you covering the material you’re covering?
   • Is it peer pressure?
   • Is it because you believe your state requires it? Do they really? Check out your state’s law for yourself. In my state, PA, there are many misconceptions about the homeschooling law and many people teaching subjects that they don’t need or want to cover, only because someone told them the law required it.
   • Think outside the box…how else can you approach a subject be it Science, Math Language Arts, etc., that uses available free or low-cost resources. (See #4) Consider using your Bible as a curriculum – it can cover a lot of ground!
   • Keep your eye on yard sales – you can find some great homeschool bargins.
6. Look for homeschool forums or online groups – they can be tremendously helpful and creative in their ideas of covering different subjects.
7. Look for ways to cut back in other areas.  Econobusters offers some great ideas, as does Robin Sampson from Heart of Wisdom on her Frugal Friday’s tips.

Yes, you do have to count the economic cost, but you also need to consider the “counter-cost” of placing them in the public school environment. My point is, don’t be hasty in deciding to put your child back into public school. If you think you need to put your kids in public school for financial reasons, whether they’re in elementary or high school, but your heart is telling you different – holler! This is a time for homeschoolers to help each other and work through this tough time together.

What questions do you have that we can help you with?

What suggestions/ideas/resources do others of you have.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Home Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.