Garga Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 My friend is planning on homeschooling her daughter when her daughter hits middle school. Currently the daughter is in 2nd grade, so she has time to prepare. The problem: my friend works fulltime and would not be able to quit. I told her that I would meet with her this Sunday to discuss homeschooling, so that she can figure out how to homeschool and work fulltime. I would love to go to my meeting with with insight from those of you who work fulltime and homeschool. Here is everything I know about my friend and her situation, in no particular order: My friend makes the money in the household. She makes a significant paycheck. Significant. Her husband will not be able to support them if she were to quit to homeschool. Her hours are traditional M-F hours. She works in an office 4 days a week and at home 1 day a week. Her DH cooks all the food, but I don't know if he does the housework. I have a feeling that he does because his job doesn't require a 40 hour week. He is in a perpetual state of glee that he managed to land a job that pays him for 40 hours or work, but only requires 25 or so. He is a food rep. to health food stores. He both travels and works from home. I have no idea if he is willing to do the homeschooling. A solid education is vital to this family. They expect the daughter to go to college and probably get scholarships. They would want homeschool to be heavy on academics. They plan on homeschooling because the daughter is ADHD and is already feeling bad that her teachers call her "scatterbrained." Her daughter also thinks outside of the box and would very likely be an outsider in middle school. Lovely child, but she's a free spirit. The daughter is the only child, except for every other weekend when my friend's step-son lives with them. Money won't be an issue for this family. They live in Maryland in the Baltimore/Washington area. This means they're around civilization :) and not out in the middle of a farm by themselves. --------- I'm hoping a full time working homeschooler will chime in with advice of what sorts of things I should tell my friend when me meet. Like: What are the biggest challenges? What are ways to fit in schooling around a fulltime job? What sort of curric is best? I'm assuming curric that isn't teacher-intensive. What does she need to have in place or it Just Won't Work? etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 It seems like you should be talking to the father about doing the homeschooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 It would seem like the DH should do the schooling, doesn't it! But I can't assume he will. Originally he wasn't going to be part of our little meeting, but now he will, so, it seems that he's supportive, but hasn't committed to doing all the schooling. I'm hoping that it will end up that it will be a joint effort between the two of them. But I can't assume that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Woods Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I think a lot is going to vary depending on where they are at when she hits middle school. Is there a way to HS her now while she is working FT? Why wait? What are the biggest challenges? My biggest challenges are keeping up with my house and all my other mom duties and just finding downtime for myself. This maynot be specifically related to HS. What are ways to fit in schooling around a fulltime job? Yes. We school year round, in the evenings and weekends. My DD is 7 so school for us will look different then school for a MS aged child. What sort of curric is best? I'm assuming curric that isn't teacher-intensive. We opt for open and go and lots of bunny trails. BUT I teach everything. Again she is 7. What does she need to have in place or it Just Won't Work? Thats something I think only she can answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkd Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Dh teaching would be great. If not, can they share the teaching? If he won't teach, can they do an alternate schedule where the Mom does the instruction but Dh monitors the independent work? She could look for tutors for some subjects. Would the daughter be ready for auditing some community college classes? They could explore coops. Can the one day she works at home be a weekend so she could have a free weekday to do coop or other activities? They could consider a virtual school. We both work full time but we both have flexible schedules. Hth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Why not suggest dh give this summer a trial run for keeping her reviewing skills a la afterschooling? If he hates it, then you have your answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Just to butt in, I'll suggest they come over the SN board and read a bit. I'm kind of scrunching up the eyebrows at the thought of waiting till middle school with SN when you have the *choice*. There's a lot of *foundation* laying between now and then. You walk into junior high with a kid who hasn't had a lot of attention to skills, has fallen through the cracks possibly for years, and what are you going to do, spend a couple years remediating?? It's a LOT easier to build right than it is to rebuild. They must feel their situation is working, so whatever. I'm just saying I'm repeating the fruit now in 8th of all the work I did in the earlier years. You can't come in later and expect that. That's a perspective they wouldn't have, not having btdt. But whatever, not really my business. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 We have always done this and they key is TEAMWORK. Dh and I have always shared the cooking, cleaning and homeschooling responsibilities. As my ds got older it actually got easier because he was able to do online courses, DVD courses, independent study type courses, etc. Then he just needed to be monitored which is not hard. If her dh works part-time then he takes over the bulk of the housework and what-not and if the child is in middle school at that point then I would look into online courses. It can be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Not for anything, but middle school is about 5 years away for this child. It's pretty cocky of your friend and her dh to assume they will still have the exact same jobs and the exact same schedules than as they do now. They assume they will still be healthy and happily married. They assume their dd won't be happy in school. Those are a lot of big assumptions. A lot can change in 5 years, so I think it's a little silly to do any serious planning about homeschooling this far ahead of time. I'm not saying they shouldn't do some research and read some books, and maybe even attend a conference, but I don't think it's practical to do anything more than that until a year or so before they are ready to homeschool their dd. I think it's great that they think they know what they will want to do, but the fact is, they don't. Not yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 A lot can change in 5 years, so I think it's a little silly to do any serious planning about homeschooling this far ahead of time. I'm not saying they shouldn't do some research and read some books, and maybe even attend a conference, but I don't think it's practical to do anything more than that until a year or so before they are ready to homeschool their dd. I've worked and homeschooled the whole way with minimal support, but most of my work is from home and has somewhat flexible hours. Otherwise I could have never done it, and even then, sometimes it drives me crazy. Frankly my family has never "gotten" that when I have deadlines, I need focused time and extra help managing the household. Sometimes I feel like my work is viewed as "Mom's hobby" than "Mom's career." Just the reality there. So having a spouse that may be minimally involved in the homeschooling and keeping things going is going to be tough, although it can be done. She may have to be prepared to shoulder the load on every front. That is more doable with a teen involved, but if the child has never been homeschooled, the transition is going to be hard. Mine have gradually been building up to indepedence, so when I was out of town for several weeks, they pretty managed themselves without me just fine. I think at this point that they'd actually do OK if I was completely gone for 1/2 day every day, but they also seem to still need someone reminding them of deadlines and monitoring their computer usage. So I'm not ready to go there yet. And yes, planning curriculum really doesn't need to be done until a year or so out. And it sounds like something like K12 or a set of online courses is going to be the best way to go if parental involvement is minimal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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