Can I home school my daughter even though I work outside the home?

Question

I'm concerned that it I will not be able to give her what she needs if I'm not availabale until after work.

I'm also overwhelmed by all the on line choices and if they are reputable or not.

Answer 1

It can be done.  If she is under 16 I would recommend that you have an adult that she could be with during the day to keep authorities from questioning whether you are doing anything or not.  Also there are programs that are on DVD such as BJU press.  And as long as your daughter is reading there is plenty that she could do during the day without you.  I have been homeschooling for 11 years, with four kids and I don't sit with each one all day long they have to be able to do some on their own and they do.  You can do it.

Answer 2

there are great answers here already, im here in support of the fact that although it can be hard at the beginning, it will start to seem easier  once you get used to a plan that works for you... if she is old enough then you can make daily target/goals, then you can just check on her after work.. if not, you can have somebody monitor her through the day, perhaps be there for her on weekends or on your rest day. it could be a daunting task given your situation, but if you could set up a plan and if you could make it work, it could both be a rewarding and enriching experience for you and for your daughter.

Answer 3

I know several families that have home schooled with a full-time working mom.

On mom that is homeschooling in our town right now works at a public school during the day and many nights takes college courses. Her son is in eighth grade. She has a list of what he is to get done by the time she gets home. She checks over his work and answers his questions if he didn't understand something. Anything that stumps the both of them, she brings in other people that can get him the answers. He loves it and is learning far more now than he did in public school.

Another mom worked full time and hired someone to work with her son several days per week. The tutor's job was accountability, explaining concepts that he didn't understand, and grading his work. He graduated early and entered college at 16 and was quite successful there.

One enrolled her son in an online school. I cannot remember which one right off hand. He had the online instructor to turn to for help, accountability, and scoring work.

The key thing is to be sure that the curriculum she works with is well done so that most if not all the content is understandable and prepares her adequately for college. Some methods of content delivery will fit her learning strengths better than others. If she doesn't retain information well that she reads, then look for curriculum that delivers the content in more than just text form. If she doesn't remember as well what she hears, avoid recorded lectures as a primary delivery method. You want the delivery style to fit her learning strengths and style.

Have a plan for who will be available to help her if she doesn't understand something. That can be you, a homeschool family that is open to jumping in to help now and then, a tutor, or an online school instructor. When a student is studying as independently as your daughter will be, accountability is a must. It is too easy to begin getting lax if no one is watching.

As far as the online choices go, it is nice that the problem is overwhelm rather than scarcity. :0) We have used online methods extensively for one of our sons. He loves to incorporate anything computer into his studies. I can tell you that there are many 'flavors' of online classes.

Some are nothing more than text to read on-screen, print out a pdf, complete it, and send to an unseen instructor to grade. It is basically a correspondence school online. Boring and lonely!

Others, have content delivered with rich online multimedia. The content is lively and interactive with lots of simulations and hands-on virtual manipulatives. Some of the online schools with this type of instruction are Time4Learning and K12. I haven't used Time4Learning and I am not sure if it has a high school level. I did see their example activities and it was very interactive and media rich. The K12 we used from 4th to 7th grade. My son loved it!

Others, have lots of interaction with the instructor and other students in a live, virtual classroom. We have been working for several years developing an experimental online home school co-op with this model. It is going well and it has been fun having kids from all over the US, Canada, and now even a family from Brazil as classmates. This has been his favorite online method so far.

Here are a few links that I have gathered from online classes that looked worthy of note:

Online anatomy and physiology class taught by a home school dad and professor. His description sound wonderful and the summer anatomy camp at the college makes me wish I was a student and could go. I am saving the link for after my son finishes general biology and have him take this as an advanced biology. Here is the link: http://www.homeschoolscienceacademy.com/

We haven't used the high school levels of K12, but I really liked the levels we did use (4th to7th). K12 now has an international academy that sounds pretty interesting. It is accredited, if that is important to you. The web address is http://www.k12.com/int/.

Our experimental online home school co-op is at http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/. We are still small, so we only have a few concurrent classes at a time, but I think the idea will catch on and we will get more volunteers and therefore more classes as the years go by.

Answer 4

Hey. I was homeschooled. I doubt that you will get the exemption required to homeschool because you're working and there's no one to supervise her learning. It'd be her more self learning which is okay if she's in her teenage years but you won't know where she is, what she's doing etc. In my teenage years my mum used the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. It's pretty good - it has its gaps though.

Answer 5

It really depends on the age of your daughter, and what she would be doing when you aren't home. You can do the teacher guided portions on the weekends and evenings, leaving the independent work for while you are at work if she is in high school. If she does not drive  yet, she'll need transportation to homeschool group field trips and activities.

Answer 6

It depends on her age.

We began  homeschooling when our son was in 8th grade.  

Yes, it would be better if I were here to oversee and guide his day, but that has not been an option for our family.  

Even with the challenges and limitations of leaving him alone for several hours a day, homeschool has been the best choice for our family.     He is learning more than he did in public school.

Answer 7

I have with both of my daughters, middle and high school. It is hard! But very rewarding and they learn so much more!

Answer 8

Yes, it is possible; although obviously it is easier the older (and therefore more independent) your child is!

It also helps if you have a strong support network, family and friends (both yours and your daughter's), around you.

My mum has 7 of us learning at home whilst running her own (award-winning) stud business (horses) and helping Dad to run the property and our family's cattle business; I would never say it isn't hard work but it is certainly possible although you need more organisation and self-discipline than a fulltime stay-at-home mum might need to make a success of home-ed.

Incidentally, the poster who said they doubted you'd get the necessary exemption is almost certainly misinformed; in the US and most other countries, it is your right as her legal guardian to educate your child at home. The only country I know of where a parent needs 'permission' to homeschool is Scotland; and that is more of a formality with approval given automatically on application rather than a hoop for prospective home-educators to try and jump through!