Educate The People

5 Responses to “Can a single mom home school if she works full time?”

1. By ScoutMom2 on Jun 30, 2009

   Yes, you can definitely homeschool your daughter while working full time. It may take a little creative time juggling around your work schedule, but if this is something that you and your daughter want to do, then go for it!
   You will find it easier than some other full time working parents because you are basically in a home office home so can probably be more flexible and available than parents working outside the home.
   The first thing you will want to do is learn the homeschool laws of your state. (http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp)
   When selecting curriculum, you will probably want to choose something that requires less parental involvement. That should be relatively easy since your daughter is 11 and should be able to learn to work independently with minimal direct teaching from Mom.
   Many homeschool curricula is designed to be basically self study.

   You didn't mention if you were looking for a Bible based or secular curriculum. You can choose from traditional textbooks, (ABeka, Bob Jones, Christian Liberty, Calvert) to WorkTexts (Alpha Omega LifePacs) which are packets of smaller workbooks, usually 10 per subject per grade level that are complete. Each LifePac is a 20-40 page unit of study that contains the lessons read by the student, comprehension questions, quizzes, and unit test. This type of curriculum is especially designed for students to complete minimal parents assistance.

   Alpha Omega also offers a Computer Curriculum (Switched-on Schoolhouse) with is also a great choice for working Moms. Once you install the application disk, set up the school calendar, and install & assign the subjects, the program creates the lesson plan for the year, grades 90% of the school work for you and warns you and your student when they have past due lessons. SOS keeps all attendance records, tells you how long your child spends on each lesson, and can create a wide variety of printed reports.

   If your daughter loves to read a literature based curriculum like Sonlight may be perfect for her. Although a Christian Based curriculum, Sonlight uses mostly books available from your local library to teach core subjects like history, science, and language arts.
   You can just eliminate Bible subject if you do not want a Christian component in your curriculum.

   There are many secular options similar to the above named curricula.
   Another option is an on-line school or correspondence school. These are usually the most expensive option, however the students are assigned a teacher who can provide assistance as well as record keeping services.

   I'd highly recommend using Teaching Textbooks for Math. (http://teachingtextbooks.com/)
   All the lessons are taught on CD-Rom with step by step explanations for all lessons and solutions for all the problems the children as assigned.

   If you choose to homeschool independently without the use of a cyber school or correspondence school, which will keep all the records for you, I would highly recommend investing in a homeschool record keeping program. Homeschool Tracker (www.homeschooltracker.com) is available free and is a good basic program. If you plan to homeschool through high school and will need to created a high school transcript of your daughter's work then you will need to invest in the Plus version. Another great program is Homeschool Easy Records (www.dataplus.biz/HER/0)

   Best wishes as you make this important decision and seek the option that is best for you.

2. By u r s i on Jun 30, 2009

   Forgive me for answering when I don't have any kids, but 'you can do anything you put your mind to'.

   I eat @ a local restaurant here where the mom home schools the children in a meeting room that was added recently; before the room was completed, the children helped out in the business & were schooled when the restaurant was closed between meals or after dinner / supper & I'm sure a little in the morning before lunch. But once the meeting room was finished, the children are schooled throughout the day.

3. By *Patty* on Jun 30, 2009

   I do not have any experience in this, but I admire you, and I know you can do this if you really want to. Good luck

4. By Charlene on Jun 30, 2009

   Yes, you can do it! I am a single mom and this will be my fifth year homeschooling my son, now 12 and heading for 8th grade. I won't repeat the wonderful curriculum suggestions already provided… they were excellent. But I do suggest reading "The Well-Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer. It really helped me to customize my son's learning experience toward something that more matched his personality.

   See, the first three years, we used Abeka DVD curriculum. It was good because I didn't have to think too hard about what lessons he would work on. Out-of-the-box curriculum makes it easy that way; but you're trading some of the real value of homeschooling: freedom to follow the passion of the learner, and flexibility. So after those first three years, I got confident enough to branch out, and so I read Susan Wise Bauer's book and took some time to put together a nice set of interesting work that he can do independently.

   So far it's going great! The only thing I would change now is the amount of travel we do, which really cuts into his ability to be able to join any community homeschool groups. This means he only has a few friends in the neighborhood; so when those friends are busy or on vacation, he has nobody to play with. Then the guilt kicks in and I start to feel inadequate (the moment passes quickly though and I know that my son has an awesome life).

   Long, rambling answer. In other words, YES!! Go for it!!

   Char

5. By Anonymous on Jun 30, 2009

   If they're mature enough to do the work themselves, then yes.

   I've been doing my school myself since 14. I'm now 17, and my mom now has a job, and was still able to do all of my work, and pass the year with flying colors.