FT working mom seriously considering home schooling my upcoming 6th grader...

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who works full or maybe nearly full-time but she is part of a homeschooling co-op, a small group of parents with similar goals and values. I don't exactly how they work it out but she has all the kids one day per week and just her own one day per week also manages. The other three days her kids are with other parents and she goes into the office and puts in longer days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't get the logistics of having the bulk of the child's day spent playing second fiddle to mom's work. I'm reasonably agnostic about home school v not, but I really don't see how this schedule would be anything but isolating and miserable for this child.

Actually, I am not quite agnostic: my relatives who did school-of-the-air (Australian homeschooling for rural kids) didn't do as well as those sent off to boarding school (non-elite ones, so it really is apples to apples.)

I don't know about OP's case, but most homeschoolers I know don't choose this (parents working full time and trying to school child in around that) as an ideal circumstance. They choose it because public and private school is a really bad option -- child is being bullied, for instance, and can't afford private; or child has behavior issues or mental health concerns or serious learning disabilities that just aren't being addressed well in the school. So parents pull child out and just try to figure something out as they go along.

[Anonymous]

I totally second what the previous poster is saying. Many of the people I know who home school do it out of desperation. Schools (sometimes both public and private) have failed their kid and they don't know what else to do.

[Anonymous]

I don't think this is a very good idea. My ex's kids were being "home-schooled" by their full-time working mom and he was constantly frustrated because they were completely behind and had no real supervision. He thought they should go to public school. There is a reason that homeschooling moms tend to be SAHMs.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

Thank you so much to the helpful posters with suggestions, encouragement, and empathy!! Makes up for the smart ass non helpful responses; I guess these folks are freakin everywhere!

My full time work can be done 50 percent in person and 50 percent from home (at night when kids are sleeping). If I didn't have this kind of flexibility I wouldn't even think of homeschooling; probably look into distance school or other options.

We can't afford private school and public school (at least where I live) do lack in our assigned middle school. Our elementary school experience has been good but my oldest had a terrible time in MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the way, any parent having trouble teaching math to their child might want to check out some of the free videos on Kahn Academy:

http://www.khanacademy.org/

I find these video's quite disjointed and hard to follow.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live in? Sometimes there are tricks to get around your assigned middle school...

[Anonymous]

I live in Silver Spring...what tricks???
If there were anyway to get around going to our assigned middle school I would try each one. Your insight would be so appreciated PP!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I don't know MontCo tricks. Hopefully somebody else can give you advice on this for MontCo. (but there is always the trick of renting the cheapest apartment you can find someplace else and using it for studying for a few hours after school). That is probably cheaper than private school.