> Anecdotally, I've met people who homeschooled because they thought it was cheaper than their other options. This almost, but not quite, matches my anecdotal

> Anecdotally, I've met people who homeschooled because they thought it was cheaper than their other options. This almost, but not quite, matches my anecdotal experience. Basically, from what I've seen, it's not that it's cheaper[1] to homeschool, it's two things: 1. They don't trust the childcare they can afford. You can hire a 16 year old to care for your kid for minimum wage, but a trustworthy adult costs more. 2. The work they could be doing does gain them some net income, but the net income isn't worth the effort. I.e. if you can work for $30/hour for 8 hours with a 2 hour commute, and childcare is $20/hour, that's $30 * 8 = $240, $20 * 10 = $200, $240 - $200 = $40, $40 / 10 = a whopping $4/hour. It's not cheaper to homeschool, but it's not worth it to work for $4/hour. [1] I'm interpreting "cheaper" to mean "cheaper in terms of money"--if that's not what you meant, my apologies.