Back to school shopping

It's a nice little perk, for someone like me who hates to shop, that I don't have to go out during the back to school rush to buy supplies and clothing. And it's quite a rush:

According to the findings of the new National Retail Federation's "2005 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey," conducted by BIGresearch, families with school-aged children will spend an average of only $443.77 on back-to-school items. That figure is down 8.2% from the $483.28 expectation found in last year's survey.

Overall, the NRF estimates that back-to-school spending will reach $13.39 billion this year, down from $14.79 billion last year.

Who knew back-to-school shopping was a $14 billion occasion? Another article quotes a JC Penney store manager as saying: "It’s probably the biggest nonholiday rush we have all year."

Just for fun, compare this to what homeschoolers spend on homeschooling:

Another obstacle that seems to be overcome in homeschooling is the need to spend a great deal of money in order to have a good education. In Strengths of Their Own, Dr. Ray found the average cost per homeschool student is $546 while the average cost per public school student is $5,325.

It isn't a perfect comparison, since I highly suspect that most of the money spent back to school shopping is spent on clothing. (JC Penney doesn't sell pens and paper, to my knowledge.) A homeschooler probably wouldn't count clothing as a school expense, so that's not included in the average homeschooling total. On the other hand, when you homeschool, your child doesn't need 5 different pairs of brand name jeans and a $100 pair of sneakers in order to avoid being teased at school. Much of the additional clothing expense associated with going back to school may be necessitated by the school environment.

In any case, I think it's fair to say that homeschooling doesn't cost a whole lot more than what parents usually spend on back to school shopping. If you throw in the busing and sports fees which parents increasingly are asked to pay (e.g. $200 per student for busing and $100 per student for athletics), home education is probably cheaper.