A trip down the lane to home schooling – no packed lunch required

I have been watching some of the testimony to the Canadian National Citizens Inquiry – Jessica Rose, Kevin McKernan and latterly, Roger Hodgkinson.

You can access the NCI website here:

 National Citizens Inquiry | NCICanada - National Citizen's Inquiry - Canada's Response To Covid-19

With Dr Hodkinson’s knowledgeable, energetic and forthright one-hour video here:

Dr. Roger Hodkinson - May 30, 2024 - Regina, Saskatchewan (rumble.com)

He mentioned home schooling – which seems a good way for parents to avoid all the sexual and political grooming, mixed sex bathrooms, school shootings, drugs, poor quality outcomes in educational standards and so on.

Here’s some fun facts. First off, as opposed to fostering children, parents get nada for saving their school districts money by reducing the need for teachers. Not all schools are bad, if I were to generalise, I would guesstimate that inner city schools with lots of surrounding gun violence are the most “at risk” of not being able to educate kids to a high standard.

There will be a few clues in articles like ths one:

Top 16 Least Educated Cities in America [Report 2024] (usabynumbers.com)

Which has this from Dalton, Ca

Dalton is the least educated city in America. Only 30.82% of the residents of this city have a high school diploma, while 35.70% are unemployed, 20% have attended some college, and 13.48% have a bachelor’s degree.

Yikes!

So having said that, let’s dip our toes in.

Looks like heaven. right? Haha!

From here:

Homeschooling Statistics in 2024 (Latest U.S. Data) | Parenting Mode

Homeschooling Statistics

Highlights of statistics on homeschooling:

·        There are 3.7 million homeschool students in the U.S.

·        States with the most homeschoolers are North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia.

·        The top reason for homeschooling is a concern about school environment.

·        Homeschool students outperform institutional school students academically.

·        The highest homeschooling rate is among students with a grade equivalent of 6 to 8.

·        48% of homeschooling households have three or more children.

·        The average cost of homeschooling is $700-$1,800 per student annually.

·        1 in 3 homeschooling households has an annual income of over $100,000.

·        Homeschooling saves about $56 billion of taxpayer money annually.

Data is a few years old – 2020/21.

1,800 bucks per student a year for home schooling? Seems pretty cheap – 36 bucks a week – 7 bucks a day?

How much does it cost in State schools? Here’s a link to just one of many “providers” throw up by Bing.

Average Public School Spending / Student (2024) (publicschoolreview.com)

“The national average public school spending / student is approximately $17,121 (2024). The state with the highest average student spending is District Of Columbia, with $32,577 spent per student. The state with the lowest average student spending is Idaho, with $9,366 per student.”

Holy crap! I must be missing something here. Parents can pay 7 bucks a day to give their kids a better education, avoid physical and mental abuse, drugs and school shootings.

OR

They can send their kids to public school and have their taxes (plus debt for shortfalls) of an average of over 300 bucks a day – where all the bad stuff happens!!!

Let’s go a little deeper on home schooling, bringing it up to 2024.

How Much Does Homeschooling Cost? (2024 Price List) (trustedcare.com)

A teaser to start with:

“Homeschool curriculums cost $200 to $800 per pupil every year. Parents can customize the course selection for each subject or invest in a holistic 36-week package. The cost per student decreases annually if you reuse the curriculum for younger children or share it among families.”

I can sense it getting a little more involved already – is that per subject?

“The average cost of homeschooling a child is $700 to $2,800 annually, including curriculum materials, books, supplies, field trips, and extracurricular activities. Online homeschooling programs vary more, with costs of $500 to $5,000 per child each year. Prices depend on whether kids receive live instruction or self-guided lessons.”

There are some options:

S

Seems like a few neighbours could get together and make sure their home-schooled kids aren’t just using ChatGPT ad Wiki to learn!

“Homeschool supplies prices are $200 to $700 for books, tech devices, and stationery. Creating the classroom setting costs more in the beginning, but annual expenses decrease as these supplies are reused. Printing fees vary greatly according to your home office equipment.”

Uh huh. Care needed with that 50 bucks a week estimate if you want “extras”!

That’s enough to be going on with. Due diligence required to make sure that the costs don’t balloon, but on the face of it, the comparison is - have the “state” pay 17,000 bucks per year per student to provide an unsafe space or have parents and a computer provide a safe space for 3,000 bucks a year.

What would happen to taxes if half of parents decided to home school? They would probably go up to compensate teachers for having to teach to half empty classrooms and the emotional cost of not being able to groom impressionable and innocent minds!

Onwards!!!

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