When my three children were young, I often thought of home-schooling them. My daughter seemed to fit in more with the “traditional’ school setting, but I think that my two sons could have really benefited from learning at home. (Ironically, I was at home for ten years doing home daycare, as I had left my job and decided that I wanted to be at home with my kids during the day when they were younger).
There were a few things that held me back from taking the home school route. First of all, my husband did not even want to consider the idea. He had lots of misconceptions about home-schooled children and he did not think that it would be in their best interests. Secondly, I did not personally know anyone growing up who had been schooled at home, and as an adult, I did not know any other parents who home-schooled their children. So basically, I did not have any real knowledge about home-schooling and I did not have the support to follow through with it.
When my kids entered middle school and high school, I started working at at Air Force base, where I met lots of families who schooled their children at home. As you can imagine, being part of a military family and having to frequently move, home-schooling actually worked well for many families. (Children in military families usually move quite often and starting school halfway through the year in another state can be pretty hard on the entire family).
While working at the base, I ran a Parent and Child center, so I actually got to know some of the families quite well and I learned a lot about how the home-schooling families went about their routines. Many myths and lack of knowledge about home-schooling still seem to exist today.
I used to picture home-schooled kids sitting up to their kitchen table for eight hours a day, without any social interaction with other children. I have since learned that situations like that really don’t exist in today’s home-schooled families. In fact, homeschooling actually tends to take much less time than public schooling does. When you home-school, there is no “average” school day length, for a variety of reasons.
Home schooling is more focused, has fewer students, and does not have to allow for transportation time, that when they involve 25 or 30 kids, can take a lot of time. Depending on your curriculum and the number and age(s) of your children, you can actually spend as little as 30 minutes formal teaching/learning time each day and still be doing a thorough job. That sounds pretty amazing, but I know families who home-school and actually do have “school” days that are that short. Some days may be longer than that half hour I just mentioned, but time spent studying will depend on several factors, including subjects covered and learning strengths and weaknesses of the students. Also, the fact that you are able to squeeze in a “lesson” here and there as your family goes about its normal routine is much of the reason that the more formal teaching/learning time can greatly be reduced on a daily basis.
For these reasons, as well as others, home-schooling can be very do-able, even for a parent working outside the home.
Here are a few tips for handling the time-crunch if you are a parent who both home schools and works outside the home:
1. Choose a curriculum that is not too complicated or involved. Look for curricula that are based on short, daily lessons that cover one or two subject a day. You don’t have to have lessons in every subject every day.
2. Work errands in with your commute to and from work. For example, you could pick up a collection of books from the library on your way home. from work. (Some libraries even let you call ahead and ask for books to be set aside for you, saving you even more time). Or, you could stop by the art store for supplies after you leave work.
3. If you work during the day, find out if your kids’ daytime caretaker can do some lessons with your kids. (When I did home-day care, many of the things we did during the day were hands-on learning experiences that easily covered many different curriculum and learning needs).
4. Remind yourself that there need not be “normal” school time hours. It’s fine to home school in the evenings, whether you work outside your home or not. In fact, that’s basically what a large percentage of parents who have their children in a traditional school setting find themselves doing on a regular basis in the evenings, as they help their children with home work. Sneak in “teachable” moments, such as reading bedtime stories or doing math, as you measure out the ingredients for cookies. (Especially reading. Academically, I don’t think there is anything better you can do for your child than to encourage them to be readers).
5. It pays to spend some time preparing/organizing. Plan ahead and make a schedule each week so that you don’t waste time trying to plan lessons at the last minute.
If I had know then way back “when” what I later learned about home schooling, I think that I definitely would have home-schooled my kids, at least through the elementary years. Because I had such a quality home day care, I don’t think it would have been hard to more than fulfill any requirements needed to teach my kids at home. When I went back to work, my children could still have continued learning at home. All I would have needed to do is rotate my schedule.
It’s too late for me to benefit from this article regarding home-schooling my own children, but you may be in a position where you can think about the possibilities. Come to think of it, I visited with an “old” high school class mate last week who had home-schooled one or more of her grandchildren.
Mmm…I don’t even have grandchildren yet, but the wheels are already spinning in my head!
Have a great day!
Jayne
photo courtesy of photopin/creative commons
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