Single Working Parent Homeschooling Part II

Part II: Is homeschooling right for you and your child(ren)?
Few single parents homeschool. Even fewer single parents who work outside the home do so.
There are a number of reasons working single parents face challenges homeschooling.
1. Lack of Supervision
2. Lack of Time
3. Unusual School Hours
4. Lack of Money
The primary issue is lack of supervision. Unless you have sufficient money to hire a nanny or governess for your child, homeschooling isn't an option unless your child is old enough and responsible enough to be left home alone.
Although most states set the age of 12 as being old enough to stay home alone, most 12-year-olds are not emotionally mature to do so for more than a few hours. In addition, most 12-year-olds are not mature enough to manage their time effectively.
Most likely, you'll come home from work to find your child engaged in a video game, World of Warcraft or fast asleep.
A responsible ninth-grader, or 14-year-old, is likely to be more responsible. Even then, it's important to be able to call once or twice each day to remind the child.
As a single parent, lack of time is always an issue. In the past, when a traditional 9-to-5 employee was at work, the kids were at school. When the parent is homeschooling, the formerly relaxed evenings and weekends will be opportunities for the parent to review the day's work, address any difficulties, work on projects and document work.
Initially, I spent more than 40 hours setting up a homeschool curriculum and finding good educational Web sites. It takes me about two hours to set up each child's weekly homework and another two hours correcting it. Working with a child to ensure he understands the work can take as little as one hour a week up to 20. Required documentation to the county board of education only takes about a half hour each month.
Your child, no matter how responsible, will spend many evenings and weekends that used to be free time working on difficult concepts or correcting work.
If you have some kids who are not homeschooled, they may feel resentful. In addition, you and your child may not be able to participate in certain evening activities, such as organized sports or charitable organizations.
Quite frankly, I've found that the flexibility of homeschooling actually works for us. If my son or his brothers have an evening activity, we work on the weekend.
We can also work during what was formerly wasted time. For example, when we were studying maps, I had him find the number of miles from one town to another as we were traveling to his grandmother's house. I also had him use the legend to discover historical sites, national highways, rivers and lakes.
Lack of money can be an issue if you use a purchased or online curriculum. Prices can range from $19.95 a month at Time 4 Learning to $500 a year at a virtual academy or upwards of $1000 to purchase books and accredited curricula.
Just Google "homeschool curriculum," and you'll find plenty of information on the options.
Many states now offer accredited virtual schools for free. These are excellent options if you want a structure curriculum.
I'll cover homeschool options in the next section.

Single Working Parent Homeschooling Part I

Part I: Advantages of Homeschooling
I didn't always homeschool. The first time I homeschooled was when my then-11-year-old was about to flunk out of school.
This child, although extremely bright, had some medical issues the school system couldn't or wouldn't work with. So far, he's been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, oppositional defiant disorder and ADHD.
Even after his father and I had met with the school to ask them to take certain measures to inform us, the school failed to do so.
So I pulled him out and homeschooled him for the rest of the year.
Instead of purchasing an expensive curriculum, I followed the school's regular curriculum. It wasn't difficult to find plenty of educational sites online to use instead of a standard textbook.
Although it was difficult and I sometimes believed I spent more time on creating and grading his homework than he spent on doing it, it was a success.
The one-on-one tutoring he received helped him learn. I was able to tailor the curriculum to make it more interesting. Instead of him reading "Little House on the Prairie," he read one of the Harry Potter books. When discussing economics, we used examples specific to our lives instead of abstract examples in textbooks. And, sometimes, the entire family would join in on his school activities.
We could be more flexible, too. For example, if he'd had a rough night and been unable to sleep, he could take a break in the middle of the day. If he felt like working on a Saturday, we did. And if he was sick, he could still learn.
Another advantage of homeschooling included exposure to my values, not those of his school mates. Now, three years of homeschooling later, the ability to keep my son away from drugs and violence in the schools is very important to me.
Studies also show that homeschooled students do as good as or better than traditionally schooled students.