Homeschooling someone else's child?

[FroNuff]

For reasons that I'm not entirely sure of, a family member is interested in homeschooling her daughter. However, she would like for someone else to do it because she works full time and is the major breadwinner. She asked me if this is completely unheard of, and while I don't believe it is, I've never heard of anyone with this arrangement where another family homeschools a child outside of their own. (I've heard of family members HSing other family members.) I read this morning where it's illegal in some states, but I don't think it's illegal in ours -- NJ.

I do have my personal feelings about it, but right now I am just asking if anyone knows anyone who has done this or if anyone here is doing this right now. Thanks in advance.

[mama_kass]

You are correct that in some states it is illegal. First you would have to check the laws in your state. I would suggest going to the NJ homeschool website and joining an email loop asking this question.

I know several families where both parents work full time and homeschool. It can be done successfully.

Wouldn't having someone else homeschool your child who is not a family member be called a tutor?

[FroNuff]

I agree, I personally don't think what she wants to do is homeschooling, and I think she just needs someone to watch her child all day, but I didn't want to tell her that for some reason.

She's in the process of joining several HSing email loops where I think she'll ask this question herself, but I just wanted to get an idea here first.

[lilyka]

i had worked out the details with someone once but they decided to go a different route.

here is what we came up with. I was the daycare provider and mom was the homechooler. I would do all the work, pick the curriculum etc but ultimately (legally and morally) she was responsible for making sure her dd was learning and moving forward as she sees fit. So I would file taxes as a daycare and her mom would have been listed as the person responsible forher education. This would be thecnically legal in every state as long as all daycare provider requirements were upheld.

fees:
we came up with about $400 for curiculum and that would vary from year to year but mostly go down because a lot fothat was stuff that would go from year to year. she woud also have to pay membership fees to the pool, museum, zoo etc. . . and the homeschool associations and any legal groups she was intrested in. (so another $200-$300 a year.) Plus $100 a week for care and feeding and $50 a month for incidentals, school supplies and activities. plus any lessons she wanted.

I think this is a great option for people who believe that schools are not the place for children but cannot homeschool thier children themselves because of time constraints caused by the need to work. I would hesitate taking in more than one kids and I would have to be sure that our philosophies lined up. but I think between the right people it can be very rewarding for everyone.

[FroNuff]

Thanks for sharing how you would have worked that out, lilyka. That looks interesting. May I ask how old the child in that situation was/is?

[wednesday]

My SIL and I have talked about the possibility that she might homeschool my son one day. She is homeschooling her own kids and also keeps my son in the mornings so it may work out. It's just idle speculation at this point. I'm transitioning from WOHM to WAHM and I want DS to be homeschooled down the road but I'm not sure if my workload and personality will fit with that. We'll just have to see.

[gardenmommy]

I was homeschooled for several years. While we were at home, a relative asked my mom to school her daughter (my cousin). My mom agreed, since that cousin was working at the same level in the same curriculum as my brother and I. My cousin worked with us for several months, until she graduated, I believe. I think the reason my cousin came and worked with us, now that I'm thinking about it, was because her mom (my aunt) wasn't really doing anything, so my cousin was afraid of falling behind.

My mom worked out a similar arrangement with one of our neighbor's children.

I think in both situations, the parents and child chose the curriculum and paid my mom a fee.

[lilyka]

Originally Posted by Mom2AliKat

Thanks for sharing how you would have worked that out, lilyka. That looks interesting. May I ask how old the child in that situation was/is?

The girl is 10 and in the 4th grade. we would have had a lot of work to do getting her caugt up and confident in math (one of the main reasons her mom was pulling her out) but otherwise it woul dhave been pretty easy.

my children are 8 (3rd gr. except for math which she is at an early 2nd grade level), 5, and 2.

so this would not only have provided income but also non-consumables for my chidlren since she was just ahead. also she is over at our house for 3-4 hours every day so it isn't like it would have ben that much more work :LOL . We love her so much and she is moving (to a better school district) and we are sad. So it would have been a pleasure, her and dd would have been at the same leel for a lot of stuff, and since she could already read fairly well the really hard work was done. And it would have benifited my children if I was forced to take a more organized methoical approach. I am so lazy about homeschooling. : It is alays god for my childrren when I teach other p[eople kids (I did group classes for a while)

[Crunchier]

I have a few experiences here.

I know a family who has a dd with hearing loss and speech difficulties. She was in ps, but the mother pulled her out and now sends her to homeschooling family so that she can have individualized attention. There are 7 children total, but I don't know how many are hired in. She pays $300 a month for half days. dd2 is 2 yo, and mom is homeschooling her using starfall. They aren't decided as to how they will handle her education.

I have offered to homeschool my best friend's 2 dds. They are 4 and 3 and my ds is 2. She does not have custody of the girls right now, and is not living nearby, but if she were to come here and bring the girls, I would teach them for her. She is divorced, and unable to be home with them. Even if she weren't, she doesn't feel at all confident in her ability to homeschool. Before I learned about homeschooling, we had discussed opening a small private school in my home together. I would teach and she would assist.
besides this particular friend, I don't think I would teach anyone else's child. We unschool, so material fees are not really an issue.

I may be entering the workforce very soon. We only have childcare lined up until November (with a family member), after that time, we will probably have to put Ben in a daycare center for a few hrs a day while dh is in class. If I am still working when reaches school age, we may look for a homeschooling family to provide childcare for him. Ideally, we could find a very loose unschooling family like our own in which one more child would hardly be noticable. No curriculum, no assignments, just cool stuff to do during the day.