How much does homeschooling cost?

What homeschooling costs with us

School in a Box, our full plan, is $149 a month for one child. It covers up to 12 active subjects at once, from kindergarten through 12th grade, including custom electives we build on any topic your child cares about. Over 12 paid months that is $1,788 a year.

Family pricing applies on its own as soon as a second child is on School in a Box, and every child moves to the lower rate:

• Two children: $125 each a month, $1,500 each a year.
• Three children: $100 each a month, $1,200 each a year.
• Four children: $85 each a month, $1,020 each a year.
• Five or more: $75 each a month, $900 each a year.

Single Subject is $49 a month for one subject, $588 over a year, for a child who needs one course, such as math or chemistry. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and billing begins only after it ends.

The rest of a homeschool budget

Some costs depend on what your family already owns and what your child does outside lessons, so they vary more than any curriculum price. It helps to split them into what you buy once and what comes back every year.

Mostly one-time

A computer or tablet for each child who works at the same time, and home internet. A printer helps if you like paper copies; lessons and reading checks can be printed from Grade 3. For kindergarten through 2nd grade, add pencils and paper for handwriting, since a photo of the page goes into your child's work.

You do not need to buy textbooks or teacher guides; the lessons are the readings, and the Library's Free Read shelf holds classic books with the mentor beside them.

Recurring

Activities replace what a school bundles in: team fees, music lessons, clubs, outings, and the travel to them. Science at home can mean a few household supplies for a project.

Testing or evaluation fees come back each year in some states. North Carolina requires a standardized test every year. Pennsylvania adds testing in grades 3, 5, and 8 to a yearly portfolio review, Georgia tests every three years from the end of 3rd grade, and Florida asks for a yearly evaluation by a test or an evaluator. Test and evaluator fees vary, so ask the provider before you book.

Parent time, the cost most estimates leave out

For many families the largest cost of homeschooling is not money spent but income given up. Work out your own number: the hours of paid work a parent would give up each week, times the hourly pay, times the weeks in the school year.

A parent who cuts 20 hours a week at $25 an hour for 40 weeks gives up $20,000 before taxes. That is an illustration, not an average.

That number can be much smaller. Because we teach, grade, and keep the records, homeschooling does not need a full-time teacher at home. There are no live class times, so lessons fit around a work schedule, and the mentor is there when you are not.

Young children still need an adult nearby; a teenager can run most of the day alone.

Costs that come with high school

Most high school costs are outside exams. AP exams are $99 each for the May 2027 exams, plus $40 per exam when it is ordered after November 13. A homeschooled student takes them at a local school that gives AP exams, and that school may charge more to cover its own costs.

The SAT and ACT have their own registration fees, paid to the College Board or ACT.

Dual enrollment, college courses taken during high school, can be free or full price depending on your state.

Florida exempts dual enrollment students, home education students included, from registration, tuition, and lab fees; Georgia's program covers tuition, mandatory fees, and books at participating colleges; and North Carolina's Career and College Promise is tuition-free for eligible juniors and seniors from registered homeschools. Our dual enrollment guide covers each state.

The courses themselves are part of School in a Box: our 40 advanced courses built on AP frameworks, SAT prep, and ACT prep cost nothing extra.

State money that can pay for homeschooling

A growing number of states pay toward homeschool costs, through an education savings account (ESA), where the state deposits money for approved expenses, or through a tax credit or deduction.

We are an approved vendor for four programs, so families there can pay for our plans from their account balance: the Arizona ESA, Alabama's CHOOSE Act, and New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account through ClassWallet, and Utah Fits All through Odyssey. Our ESA payment page shows how.

These are the larger programs open to homeschooled students, with the amounts each program publishes for 2026-27. Each has its own eligibility rules, approved expenses, and application window.

Read the rules before you take the money. In Arizona, ESA students are a separate legal classification from homeschool students, so joining changes your child's status. Our tax credits by state guide covers every state, and the reimbursement directory lists local programs too.