The 2006-2007 school year began the 2nd week of July in the Tate household and it has caused me to remember how much time, energy and money it takes to get the “ball rolling” again! Well, most of you already know that AND if this is your first year of homeschooling you too will soon find this to be true. Yes, it takes organization, preparation, research and lots of time, but I can’t think of a better way to spend my time, energy and money! Money – yes, it takes money to homeschool! We don’t like to talk about it, but it’s a blatant fact that we need to spend money on curriculum and school supplies, pay for music lessons, sporting lessons and uniforms, other extracurricular activities and of course field trips! Plus no one has forgotten about the money spent on the gasoline it takes to get them to all these great educational events! Well, I just wanted to reassure you that whatever money you have spent or are planning to spend on your child’s education this year is money wisely spent and compared to the government we all are way under budget! According to the U.S. Census Bureau per pupil spending in PA topped out at $9,979 for the 2003-2004 school year! NJ spent the most $12,981 per pupil! You can check out how PA and all the other state public schools spend in education at www.census.gov/govs/www/school04.html. Yikes! That makes my dreams of taking a family field trip to Australia seem reasonable!