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Homeschooling While Working

2K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  featherstory 
#1 ·
There have been a number of new bills proposed to kick kids out of school with exemptions. If they pass the only option to educate my dd will be to home school.

My dd is currently in public school now (and doing well) about to enter second grade. She also needs a lot of socialization and peer pressure to force herself to learn but things like camps will be out of our reach if the new law passes.

So far the only thing I have found that doesn't require exemptions are some theater classes. Play groups haven't been a good option for us since they typically meet during work hours.

I was hoping I could get some ideas on how homeschooling could be done with divorced, working parents. It's not like I can stay home to teach my dd during work hours. Also school is being used for child care most of the year so I'm also trying to figure out ideas for affordable child care as i can't afford a nanny or f/t baby sitter.

Has anyone worked out a solution or have ideas?
 
#2 ·
Homeschool during nights and weekends. HOnestly HS takes much less time than traditional school. If you join a homeschool group you might be able to find a family to provide daycare for DD and take her to those field trips etc.

Also start a park day on weekends, just because its not happening now, doesnt mean it can't happen!
 
#4 ·
Homeschooling groups don't have to be formal groups that homeschool together- they can just be people who all chat to each other about their kids' homeschooling experience (and if they need an "exemption" for that- yikes). You can still see if there are any other parents in the area who homeschool who'd be willing to watch your daughter while you work. Or even homeschool-supportive SAH parents. If you can't afford any money for childcare, you can find other ways of barter. There are definitely options, but you have to make them for yourself.

By the way- what do you mean by exemptions? I just haven't heard it in this context before.
 
#8 ·
yes, you can day care your DD then you can work and home school. You can also take care in the education of your DD in the weekends. That is not an issue. If not Day Care keep a nanny at home. This will be much useful. My kid is being home schooled from last 4 years and i'm working, he manages the studies by himself. As the kids grow they can manage themselves and will get a command over education and style of education. So you train your child to accept the education with interest and he should not feel boredom for that.
 
#10 ·
I am concerned about homeschooling while working from a different angle. I am a newly single mom and have been homeschooling my kids through preschool and K. Now one is in first grade and the other is starting kindergarten. However I don't know if I can keep homeschooling as a single mom unless I find a way to balance homeschooling and working.
 
#12 ·
I also work FT, mostly from home but still need to be available for my cases that need me. I've looked into my state requirements and grades 1-3, need 4 hrs a day/ 20 hrs a week of homeschooling for 180 days a year. It goes up from there. Anyway, 52 weeks a year and 2 days per weekend is only 104 days. Add 9 holidays and we still come up short if we only use the weekends and holidays. I'm not sure if the state allows for double time on the weekends or if it is counted by the day (again I'm new looking into this). I've considered asking for a half day every other week and adjusting my work hours on some days to allow for evening school hours. I've looked into tutors (geez they make good money!) and can't afford one for the whole week let alone a day every week.
My issue is that if I have another family look after my son during the day, I'm afraid he will be bored with just "playing". I also worry about how his time will be spent. I don't have family close by so I can't depend on them. If I homeschool, I want to be able to make it to play groups or sporting activities so he can have social time. I also want him to look forward to outings, field trips and such. I'm looking into umbrella schools which I'm still trying to wrap my head around- it sounds like groups that report as private schools to avoid some reporting requirements yet they still require health forms and all that jazz :dizzy
It is overwhelming to look into when all the answers are scattered about.
 
#13 ·
need 4 hrs a day/ 20 hrs a week of homeschooling for 180 days a year.
The thing is, though, that homeschooling isn't just "what looks like schooling" with a teacher-parent directly instructing a child who is sitting at a table. Education in a homeschooling context can be much more self-directed and integrated with life experience. When homeschooled kids are young, much of their play, conversation and daily life is educational. As they get older, they grow into fabulous self-teachers.

When you start counting the hours it becomes really clear. My youngest dd is currently 12. She's spent today reading, walking the dog, writing in her journal, practicing the violin, looking up election and politics resources online, setting up Sunrise calendar to interface with Google Calendar on her cellphone, working through a bunch of math problems, programming a robot, watching a classic movie, cooking lunch. I was directly involved with her for about 20 minutes but by the clock she spent about 6 hours on educational activities. So far.

When she was 6, she logged similar hours. She played with her siblings figuring out jokes and how to tell stories and how to co-operate and resolve conflicts, she ran around outside, she listened to audiobooks and music, built giant constructions out of K'nex, played on the computer figuring out how to edit photos or how to say "dog" in Japanese, messed about with magnetic poetry or cuisenaire rods, listened to "The Wind in the Willows" as a bedtime story, played Blokus or Checkers with her brother, helped me roll out biscuit dough for dinner, chatted away about big numbers or why horses have hooves but bears don't... direct parental instruction/facilitation time was rarely more than half an hour but her learning hours were endless.

This may sound like cheating, to count walking the dog in the woods, making lunch and messing about with an Android app as homeschooling. But here's the thing: because my various kids have attended school on and off over the years I know that this stuff counts in school too. Kids have hiking in PE and science field trips to the forest, they spend time on "personal planning," learning to use digital technology to assist with learning, organizing and goal-setting, they take electives in Foods and Film Studies... and you can bet that part of those classroom blocks are spent on stuff that is equivalent to housecleaning and finding the HDMI cable so you can get Netflix on the big TV. So I have no qualms counting similar stuff in a homeschooling setting.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that it has to look like a classroom to count as homeschooling.

Miranda
 
#17 ·
Childcare co-op...just one or more parents who can watch your kids while you work, you watch their kids while they work, etc. Then you do school with your kids when you have the time. It doesn't have or need to be anything near formal at all.

You would be surprised at what's available out there when you go looking for it. I know there are others in your area looking for the same or similar solutions to what you need.

Also you can afford very affordable childcare with either a live-in nanny if you have the space, who will either pay nothing in rent in exchange for childcare or some combination of them paying reduced rent or you giving them a small stipend. Since your children are school-aged and don't need a lot of care, this is very doable, trust me!

Lastly homeschool teenagers are a great resource for very affordable childcare, and your kids could probably get some learning in being in the presence of a mature homeschooler.
 
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