Homeschooling on a budget — a complete year for almost nothing

There is a version of homeschooling that costs more than private school and a version that costs less than a monthly streaming subscription. Both educate children well. The difference is almost entirely in how much you buy in the first three months.

The most expensive mistake, first

New families buy a complete boxed curriculum in month one, before they know their child as a learner. It arrives, it is beautiful, and by November three of its seven subjects are wrong for this particular child — but you paid for seven, so you persist, and everyone is miserable.

The alternative costs a fraction and works better: buy two spines. Math and literacy. Get everything else from the library for the first year. Most families who do this never go back.

A genuinely free year, subject by subject

Math. Khan Academy is a complete, free, sequenced programme from counting to calculus, with instruction, practice and mastery tracking. Used as the spine rather than as a supplement, it removes the largest line from most budgets. Print free worksheets when you want paper practice.

Reading and phonics. Free structured phonics programmes exist, public-domain readers are abundant, and your library has everything else. The one case for paying is a child who is genuinely struggling — there, a structured literacy programme is worth real money.

Writing. Costs nothing by design. Copywork from books you are already reading, dictation from the same, narration after read-alouds. No purchase improves on this before about ten.

History. The library, arranged chronologically, plus a timeline on the wall made from a roll of lining paper. Free primary source collections online. Documentaries.

Science. Nature journal, kitchen experiments, library non-fiction, free physics and chemistry simulations. Under-ten science needs no purchase at all.

Art and music. Free virtual museum collections for picture study. Free classical recordings for composer study. Paper, pencils, and a tin of decent paint that lasts two years.

Languages. Free apps for exposure, library audio courses, and — much better — a conversation partner found through a language exchange.

PE. Outside.

Total: the cost of a library card, printer paper and some pencils.

What is genuinely worth paying for

Spend where the free option demonstrably fails:

1. A structured literacy programme, if reading is not coming. This is the one place where being cheap costs a child years. An Orton-Gillingham based programme is worth every penny.
2. A math programme that fits, if the free one is not working. Some children need paper, colour, or a different sequence. This is a real need, not a preference.
3. One activity with a peer group. Not academic — social. This is the line item that keeps families homeschooling.
4. A microscope. £60 that gets used for a decade.
5. A good printer with cheap ink. Homeschooling is a surprisingly print-heavy activity, and expensive ink quietly costs more than curriculum.

Buying used, properly

Where: local homeschool buy-and-sell groups on Facebook are the biggest and cheapest market by a distance. Then dedicated used-curriculum marketplaces, conference sale tables, library sales, and general second-hand marketplaces.

When: May to July, when families clear out the year they have finished. Prices are lowest and stock is highest.

What to check: whether consumable workbooks have been written in; whether the teacher’s guide is included, since it is often the essential half; and which edition, because a mismatched edition makes the page numbers useless.

What not to buy used: online subscriptions with single-family licences, and anything you have not first checked against your own child’s level.

Sharing costs with other families

The most underused budget technique in homeschooling. Three families can share:

• One microscope, rotating monthly
• One set of readers, moving with the children who need them
• Science and art materials bought in bulk and split
• A subscription to anything with a family licence that permits it
• A tutor, split three ways for a small group session
• Museum and heritage memberships that admit guests

A co-op formalises this; three friends with a WhatsApp group do not need to.

Where the money actually goes

Worth knowing so you optimise the right thing. For most families, the ranking is:

1. Lost income — dwarfs everything else if a parent reduces paid work, and appears in no curriculum budget
2. Outside classes and activities — co-op fees, music, sport, tutoring
3. Exams and credentials — significant in the teen years, especially as a private candidate
4. Curriculum — usually a distant fourth once the first year is past
5. Supplies, printing and trips

Cutting curriculum spending by half saves less than dropping one paid activity — which is worth knowing before you agonise over a £40 workbook.

Where to go next

• Homeschool cost calculator — your actual number, in two minutes
• Libby and your library — how to turn the library into your spine
• Khan Academy for homeschoolers — using free math as the main event
• The 2026 curriculum shortlist — when you are ready to spend, spend here