Help: Listing Homeschooling on Resume

[JumpyTheFrog]

On Monday I am attending a networking event for my college program. I had kids young, so I never had a career and haven't worked in 11 years. I need to update my resume to include homeschooling skills. (My resume is a functional resume emphasizing skills rather than jobs.)

 

None of my previous jobs are related to my major. Neither is the only volunteer work I've done since becoming a mom (soccer coach).

 

Any ideas?

[MegP]

I can PM you what I wrote on mine.

[ThisIsTheDay]

I typically did not include homeschooling on my resume. Ime, there is not necessarily a lot of positivity toward homeschooling from the general public. When I returned to work part time, I put a blurb in my cover letter to explain my time away from the workforce.

 

However, one of my subsequent part time jobs was connecting to a college tutoring center. In that resume, I included the following job:

 

Personal Tutor, Homeschool
â— Independently research and design personalized curriculum based on individual academic needs

â— Teach lessons, continually assess mastery or areas needing modification, identify student strengths and weaknesses, implementing modifications so that student can develop full potential

 

I was invited to interview and through googling learned that the interviewer was very pro-homeschooling (writing newspapers columns about it). I played up that aspect in the interview and landed the job.

 

In a skills based resume, I would play up any kind of volunteer work. You said soccer coach--what activities have you participated in that you can come up with skills? Fundraising, board member, co-op, church, youth organization? Even a one day volunteer stint could provide useful fodder for your resume.

 

 

 

 

[JumpyTheFrog]

I did tutor a little after college and a few years ago, so I can work that in with the homeschooling.

 

I haven't done any fundraising or been a board member of anything.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I will say that I live in an area where homeschooling is popular. I have never heard a negative word about it.

 

The giant gap on my resume is what concerns me. Fortunately, I am not actually looking for work at this time. When they have this event next year, I might be. Also, there are several meetup groups for this field and one or two are aimed at using the skills to help the community. Once I have more courses under my belt, I'd like to join the groups and use them to network and get experience.

[2squared]

I think you need to use the next year to develop resume content. Join organizations, volunteer for big things and take leadership positions. I would expect homeschooling to be viewed as an interesting hobby, except perhaps in an educational setting. Employers want to know what you did/do outside of your family.