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  "slug": "global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026",
  "shortTitle": "Cost of Learning",
  "title": "Global Homeschool Cost of Learning Index 2026",
  "deck": "A decision-grade framework for understanding direct spending, shared resources, public support, and the time economics of learning at home.",
  "category": "Household economics",
  "geography": "Global framework with selected country and United States evidence",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "pdfFile": "global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.pdf",
  "status": "Published",
  "publishedAt": "2026-08-13",
  "updatedAt": "2026-08-13",
  "nextReview": "2027-08-01",
  "methodology": "Desk research and a reusable cost-basket model. Published prices, public support rules, and credible expenditure evidence are kept distinct from illustrative family scenarios.",
  "limitations": "No single global average is asserted. Currency, purchasing power, family size, learner needs, public support, and opportunity costs make household totals non-comparable without context.",
  "ledger": "COST-OF-LEARNING-SOURCE-LEDGER.md",
  "figures": [],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "IW-CL26-C01",
      "label": "Cost principle",
      "text": "The cost of home education is a basket, not a universal price tag.",
      "classification": "Ivy Waters synthesis",
      "sourceScope": "Household spending, price, and support evidence",
      "figure": "iw-cl26-f01",
      "canonicalAnchor": "https://ivywaters.com/research/reports/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.json#IW-CL26-C01",
      "evidenceNote": "Use the report's inline citations and source scope; do not present an Ivy Waters synthesis as a directly measured statistic."
    },
    {
      "id": "IW-CL26-C02",
      "label": "Measurement finding",
      "text": "Direct spending and the value of caregiver time should be reported separately.",
      "classification": "Methodological synthesis",
      "sourceScope": "Economic and household evidence",
      "figure": "iw-cl26-f02",
      "canonicalAnchor": "https://ivywaters.com/research/reports/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.json#IW-CL26-C02",
      "evidenceNote": "Use the report's inline citations and source scope; do not present an Ivy Waters synthesis as a directly measured statistic."
    },
    {
      "id": "IW-CL26-C03",
      "label": "Planning finding",
      "text": "Shared resources, reuse, libraries, co-ops, and public support can materially change a family's effective cost basket.",
      "classification": "Practice synthesis",
      "sourceScope": "Public programs and family resource models",
      "figure": "iw-cl26-f04",
      "canonicalAnchor": "https://ivywaters.com/research/reports/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.json#IW-CL26-C03",
      "evidenceNote": "Use the report's inline citations and source scope; do not present an Ivy Waters synthesis as a directly measured statistic."
    }
  ],
  "editorialStance": "Ivy Waters measures the infrastructure of home education, not whether one family's educational choices are superior to another's.",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://ivywaters.com/blog/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026",
  "jsonUrl": "https://ivywaters.com/research/reports/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.json",
  "pdfUrl": "https://ivywaters.com/research/reports/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026.pdf",
  "sourceLedgerUrl": "https://ivywaters.com/research/sources/COST-OF-LEARNING-SOURCE-LEDGER.md",
  "correctionsUrl": "https://ivywaters.com/research/updates.json",
  "citation": "Ivy Waters Research (2026). Global Homeschool Cost of Learning Index 2026 (Version 1.0.0). https://ivywaters.com/blog/global-homeschool-cost-of-learning-index-2026",
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