Crafting a realistic budget is important when homeschooling. Finances are usually tight for homeschooling families and it makes sense to work on a shoestring budget. The beauty of homeschooling lies in the freedom afforded to the homeschool parent in picking and choosing the resources that are used in the homeschool classroom. It’s important to keep sight of the main goal, which is to ensure that your homeschool students get a good education. It’s not necessary to get all the most expensive boxed curriculum sets in order for them to learn well.

Outline Your Expenses

Do remember that by expenses we are not speaking of merely the study material that you need to use in the homeschool classroom. Make a comprehensive list of everything that you need to buy in a week, a month and a year. Include heads like food, clothing and other resources that you spend regularly on.  Every single place you spend money on, needs to be accounted for in order for you to be able to have a realistic, workable budget.

Know Your Revenue Sources

While having the salary of the working parent is an important chunk of the change that you have to spend, it is always possible to create alternative revenue sources. This will allow the homeschooling family to have extra money available to allocate in the budget. It may also provide occasional windfalls that are not expected. Even if you can not count on a steady revenue from these sources, you can ease your financial situation by creating the possibility of extra inflow of money.

Make Mid-Course Corrections

No matter how carefully you plan out your budget, it is always going to need monitoring. Budgets have a tendency to be derailed by unplanned expenses. By being vigilant about these expenses, you can still juggle the funds you have and stick to the budget. Make adjustments for each head of expenses. Some may not need all the funds allocated to them, while others may need more than you catered for. The next time you create a budget you will have a much better idea about how to make it realistic.