Do you have an advanced degree and homeschool?

Question

I am finishing my PhD in a social science at an Ivy league school now and seriously considering homeschooling my two young children after spending 6 years in graduate school. I would like to hear how others have dealt with homeschooling while keeping their toes wet in their field for intellectual stimulation and to leave open the possibility of a fulltime career later on. Has anyone found a way to make this kind of commitment to their children's education without wasting their degree?

Answer 1

First of all, a degree is never wasted. Learning changes you in one way or another. Hopefully, it has expanded your knowledge and your thinking. Having had to do the research necessary in graduate school, you likely have the research skills necessary to evaluate programs and find suitable things for your children.

Second, you choose how you spend your life. If keeping in touch with what you've studied is important to you, then by all means, keep doing something with it while you homeschool. Making a commitment to your children's education doesn't mean spending ALL your time on your children's education. It's important to spend time doing the things you enjoy, too.

I know parents who work part-time in their chosen fields AND homeschool, not so much because they have to work part-time but because they love that field so much. And as the saying goes: Where there's a will, there's a way.

Answer 2

I have a Master's degree in Biochemistry.  I've been able to stay at work part-time while homeschooling our daughter.  However, I think I would have been happy just homeschooling as well.  It is more intellectually stimulating than I ever imagined, as well as a great social outlet for me.  I never feel like I've wasted my degree, whether or not I make more use of it in the future.

Answer 3

Now let's look at it from a different point of view.

Many of us, including my husband and I, do not feel that our education is/was wasted just because we have chosen to stay at home, educate, and take care of our families.

Your children will be the beneficiaries of your education.

As for your need for intellectual stimulation, consider this, you have to be a professional student to home school, and learn much along side your children.

Other mom's, and dad's, many of whom have also finished college, and put their careers aside. or on hold to home school can be a great resource as well as a source of support.

As for myself I worked in my chosen field for several years prior to home schooling, but have come to the conclusion that is not what I want to do any more.

I will check out other opportunities, even take a class or two, and take it from there.

I am not sure how well the average college instructor will deal with a non-traditional student like myself who questions everything  .^_^.

Home schooling has shown me a thing or two about the vast amount of career choices I had never considered before.

As for staying current,or proficient you can always volunteer, or work a few hours a week.

Home schooling is not a simple task of doing school at home, it is a life style that takes, depending on the person/family a bit of getting used to, and definitively requires a 360 degree turn in the way you may have viewed education previously.

If anything, it may present itself to be a bit of a challenge.

No offense but advanced degrees, or PhD's can at times be a bit of a hindrance rather than an asset, since in the beginning, especially with young children, it is much more important to be able to explain, and break down the material so that the children can grasp/understand it, than it is for the parent to have a teaching, or other degree.

I would recommend, if you have not already  done so, to do plenty of research; attend a home school convention that offers  workshops, and curriculum vendors for new home schoolers; it will help tremendously, and  be a worth while investment of your time.

Some web sites that may help are;

http://www.nheri.org/

http://www.hslda.org/

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

http://www.homeschoolinganswers.info/

Click on the purple box to view the video for free.

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/

Blessings, and good luck.

Answer 4

I have 2 undergrad degrees (one science, one arts) plus I completed a masters level program to get my teaching certification.

My original vocation was computer science followed by a second career (only 4 years) as a teacher.

Now, I am a homeschooling dad and I run a small business that combines the computer science and education and homeschooling to provide educational / child development products and services.

Education, by the way, is never wasted!