Think It Over Thursday: Those rich homeschoolers!

While it’s true that most of the homeschoolers that I know consist of two parents, one working outside the home and one doing most, if not all, of the homeschooling, this is not the case for everyone. Many of the homeschooling moms I know make and sell things at fairs or out of their homes, and I know several single homeschooling moms who support their children by themselves. I also know households where both parents work—including my own—either from home, part-time, or with alternating schedules to ensure someone is always with their children.

None of the homeschoolers I know are rich. I do know many upper middle class families who homeschool, but the majority of us are on a budget and do as much homeschooling/unschooling as we can for free. Living in the St. Louis area makes this even easier, since there are so many free things to see and do (plus mostly free parking), but believe it or not, you can even use curriculum for free if you know where to look (and if you want to use it in the first place).

At the Unschool Bus blog, a column I follow and love very much, you will find a family that travels the nation in a bus converted to a home. This is something I would love to do someday, and their recent post about how they make money with various opportunities (and without a regular “job,” so to speak), is really inspiring. I do know several families that grow their own food, barter and trade for necessities and keep costs to a minimum, and as much as unschooling is about trashing your conditioning (I even have the saying on large sticker across my planner), I still have trouble thinking that my family and I could do this—could just live on whatever we make, wherever we go, in order to travel. As a writer, my work is pretty steady but it has plenty of hiccups. Most months I have full-time work and can support my family, but sometimes there are lean weeks, or even months, without large projects. That’s when I’m glad that my husband has steady weekly work at almost full-time hours locally.

I don’t doubt that the Unschooling Bus family can make this work, and I think if we really tried, we could, too. But what about you? Have you ever used finances as a reason for not homeschooling—or thought that homeschoolers must be rich? If so, do you think with some creative thinking you could arrange a schedule to support your family and still homeschool? Or do you think you could manage to work without actual steady employment while traveling across the country?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia