Since it’s almost the start of school in the Philippines, this is one question I get asked a lot: how much does homeschooling cost? In this post, I hope to shed some light to help you make your decisions.
First, if it’s your first time to consider homeschooling, head on over to my quick guide on how to homeschool. There, I explain the different methods of homeschooling, your options for curriculum, and even for your provider (applicable in the Philippine context).
Cost of Homeschooling in the Philippines
When people ask me how much homeschooling costs, I normally don’t give a definitive answer, because many factors play into how much a family spends on homeschooling.
Because my blog is dedicated to the Charlotte Mason approach, I will be discussing that in more detail than other methods, but I hope the basic explanations will already give you a good idea. The main factors that play into it are the following:
Homeschool Provider
When you homeschool, you can choose to go independent or enroll in a provider.
If you choose the independent route, you will not need to spend anything in this area–except perhaps the cost of taking the DepEd’s PepTest the year that you want to put your child back into traditional school. (This is quite minimal, less than P1,000 I think the last time I checked.)
On the other hand, the price range for a homeschool provider in the Philippines as of School Year 2020-21 starts at P18,000 to around P40,000 per child for one school year, exclusive of parent coaching and materials.
For Living Pupil Homeschool Solutions, which I partner with as the Iloilo-based Family Facilitator and Coach, we add a separate optional coaching fee to help new families ease into homeschooling.
Homeschool Method
Next, your homeschool method will also play an important role in how much you will spend overall. Some methods require more expensive materials, while others are more flexible.
For example, if you take the School of Tomorrow PACES approach, you will be paying for your PACES, depending on how fast your child goes through them.
If you opt for the traditional schooling method using DepEd books, the cost will be about the same as the cost of books you pay in a traditional school, since you will be using the same books. Last I heard, this can range from P2,000 to P5,000 per year per child—and this may include consummable materials which only one child can use.
For the Charlotte Mason method, which my family enjoys and which I advocate and coach families in, the cost will depend on what kind of materials you opt for, which I will detail in the next section. But because we use living books, you have a lot of options for second hand sources, and the books can be passed on indefinitely.
Homeschool Curriculum / Books
Next, once you have chosen your method, you will have to decide whether you want to buy a boxed curriculum or make your own.
A boxed curriculum tends to be more expensive, because most of the work has been done for you, and the materials will all be brand new. An example of a popular boxed curriculum is Sonlight: a complete set of materials for a child aged 6-8 years old currently goes for $338.
For the Charlotte Mason method, Simply Charlotte Mason sells a complete curriculum, but you can also pick and choose. For example, you can get a guide for History, for the Enrichment Subjects (also called Riches, which covers Picture Study, Composer Study, Poetry, Scripture Memory, etc), and Individual Studies, for $11.95 to $19.95 each. But, that’s just the lesson plan—it doesn’t include the books that you will be using, e.g. for History and Literature.
In our family, we’ve been using AmblesideOnline for the past few years. A big deciding factor for us was the cost savings: Ambleside offers its curriculum fully free, with a suggested schedule already available. I only needed to find the books—but because a lot of the books recommended are already in the public domain, we’re able to download them for free onto our Kindle.
Just to give you a picture, for my Year 7 (Grade 7) son, I ordered a handful of books (that were not available free) online from BookDepository and ChristianBook way back in December. I think I spent around P5,000-P7,000 for 10 books. The rest of his books I got from Booksale, with prices ranging between P35 to P100 per book. Others, I downloaded free online and sent over to his Kindle.
But for the families I coach, especially in this season of the pandemic where we have logistics issues, I help them create customized Charlotte Mason booklists, making the most of what’s currently available: this includes secondhand books, ebooks, as well as lending out some of the books in my personal collection!
Some families, whom I encouraged to buy Kindles, now have easy access to classic books available online. Others who don’t have Kindles and would prefer to have hard copy books have opted to print out free ebooks and bind them!
Math
I think Math deserves a whole separate section! In our case, we also ordered our Math books for the elementary years online, Singapore Math costs around $15 per textbook and workbook, and each year you can use 2 textbooks and 2 workbooks.
But, somebody gave us several years’ worth of Saxon Math, which my high schooler is now using, and a couple years’ worth of Teaching Textbooks–which I found can cost up to $450 per set! (Since I already have a complete set of Math materials, we lent it out to one of the homeschool families I’m coaching, and we’re happy to put it to good use!)
Another family homeschooling here in Iloilo has successfully used a Math curriculum that’s wholly free on the Internet: Mathematics Enhancement Program.
Homeschool Supplies
Next to books, the next list of items you need to budget for would be your school supplies. Again, this depends on the method and curriculum you choose.
For the Charlotte Mason method, we normally buy the following:
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- Sketch pad and art supplies for our nature journal
- Notebooks for copywork and written narration for older kids
- Drawing book to compile younger children’s drawn narrations in
- Writing paper for younger children’s writing practice
- Handicraft supplies, depending on what handicraft you choose
Other materials you may want to invest in include a Kindle (I would recommend either a Paperwhite or the regular Kindle because of the e-ink technology, which is not in Kindle Fire) scientific tools (like a microscope—we only got a beginner’s one for our high schooler but looking for a second hand source of a better one), musical instruments and musical instruction if you wish, training in dance, martial arts, etc. Again, this depends on your family’s goals!
How Much Does Homeschooling Cost?
So, to conclude, how much does homeschooling cost in the Philippines? My answer would be, it really REALLY depends on you! I would recommend parents who are considering homeschooling to spend the time to research and decide on your goals, as these would really factor into the decisions you have to make on the materials and whatever else you want to invest in.
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