Opportunity Cost of Homeschooling

Homeschooling is a trend thats growing in the United States. Many parents are choosing to teach their child at home instead of sending them to regular school. It's considered an improvement by some. Children get one-on-one lessons instead of being lost among a classroom of thirty students. Also, when adding up all the cost of sending your child to school, even public school, homeschooling can seem cheaper. However, many people don't realize there is a significant opportunity cost of homeschooling.

The most impactful is the loss of income. At least one parent has to say home everyday to teaching their kids, and it's a big commitment. Any parent that decides to homeschool their child will probably need to quit their job, meaning they will be giving up however much money they make. Making less money may also result in having to adopt a more economic lifestyle, which can be stressful. Whatever cost you associate with happiness may also go up.

The cost of sacrificing time to teach your children yourself instead of sending them to public school can also extend to personal opportunity cost. Having no time to yourself can be a mental burden, and whatever you have to do or buy to make that up is also an opportunity cost.

This makes homeschooling sound pretty bad, but if you think it about there could be similar opportunity costs to sending kids to regular school. The important thing is what you'll have to sacrifice in terms of an income. Though I doubt anyone reading this will be thinking about homeschooling vs regular schooling anytime soon, is homeschooling worth it in terms of opportunity cost?

Work Citied:
http://www.homeeddirectory.com/articles/1_feb10
https://www.wahm.com/articles/the-cost-burdens-of-homeschooling.html
https://millennialmoneyman.com/cost-of-homeschooling/