Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Total annual cost including lost income
$28,600
Direct out-of-pocket cost
$3,400
Opportunity cost of reduced work
$25,200
Average monthly direct cost
$283
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One click, a permanent link with your numbers baked in.
How to use this
- 1Enter curriculum & materials ($).
- 2Enter co-op / group class fees ($).
- 3Enter extracurriculars & sports ($).
- 4Enter testing & supplies ($).
- 5Enter parent work hours reduced per week.
- 6Enter parent's forgone hourly wage ($).
- 7Read your total annual cost including lost income on the right — it updates as you type.
- 8Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Homeschooling costs range from a few hundred dollars using free curriculum to five figures with private tutors, co-ops, and specialized materials, and the biggest cost for many families is foregone income from a parent stepping back from paid work. This calculator adds direct costs across curriculum, co-op fees, extracurriculars, and testing, then layers in the opportunity cost of reduced work hours so you see the full annual price tag, not just the receipts.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Curriculum & materials: 900 $
- Co-op / group class fees: 1200 $
- Extracurriculars & sports: 1000 $
- Testing & supplies: 300 $
- Parent work hours reduced per week: 15
- Parent's forgone hourly wage: 35 $
Results
- Total annual cost including lost income: $28,600
- Direct out-of-pocket cost: $3,400
- Opportunity cost of reduced work: $25,200
- Average monthly direct cost: $283
What each field means
Inputs
- Curriculum & materials ($)
- The curriculum & materials used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 900 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Co-op / group class fees ($)
- The co-op / group class fees used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 1200 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Extracurriculars & sports ($)
- The extracurriculars & sports used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 1000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Testing & supplies ($)
- The testing & supplies used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 300 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Parent work hours reduced per week
- The parent work hours reduced per week used in the calculation. Starts at 15 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–40.
- Parent's forgone hourly wage ($)
- The parent's forgone hourly wage used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 35 $ so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Total annual cost including lost income
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Direct out-of-pocket cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Opportunity cost of reduced work
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Average monthly direct cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why include lost income if it's not a real bill?
It's the largest real cost for most families and skipping it makes homeschooling look artificially cheap compared to paying for private or public school plus continuing to work full-time. Even if you'd have stayed home anyway, use $0 here to compare purely direct costs.
What's a realistic direct-cost range?
Free-to-low-cost curricula (library resources, free online programs) can run under $200/year per child. Boxed curricula with co-op and extracurricular add-ons commonly land $1,500-$4,000 per child per year, and specialized programs (online academies, tutors for specific subjects) can exceed $6,000.
Do co-op fees vary a lot by region?
Yes, significantly. Some co-ops are parent-run and near-free aside from supply costs; others hire subject teachers and charge $50-$150 per class per semester, which adds up fast with multiple children taking multiple classes.
How should multiple children be handled?
Curriculum and testing costs scale roughly per child, but co-op and extracurricular costs sometimes get sibling discounts. Run this once per child for curriculum-heavy costs, then add a single shared lost-income figure since that's a household-level cost, not a per-child one.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Homeschool Annual Budget Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/homeschool-annual-budget
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/homeschool-annual-budget" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Homeschool Annual Budget Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Homeschool Annual Budget Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/homeschool-annual-budget) (2026).