For many parents who home educate, it does not take long to realize that the more operative word in homeschool is home, as in this is a lot of wear and tear on our home, this school thing means that one of us is primarily at home[i.e., not working], and how are we going to live life past our bills while we educate at home. If you are blessed such that your decision to homeschool does not affect your
household budget, that is a reason to rejoice. For many families, the decision to homeschool means a significant shift in finances as one parent must reduce work hours significantly or quit a job altogether. Even if the actual dollars do not change, dependent upon the age of your children, you might now have more people using lights and water all day, and more people eating at all times of day than you had previously. So, how do you rearrange your monies in order to allow your children to get more than textbooks from the homeschool experience? Read more in my monthly contribution to The End in Mind (formerly Heart of the Matter Online). Blessings, dear ones.

Even though both my husband and I work outside the home, setting a budget is a big deal. We have a spreadsheet we use together to capture expenditures for the month and week. Also, big items we put on layaway instead of purchasing it on credit.
Awesome. We’re not as structured with our budget around here, but I do “hear” you!!