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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

Homeschooling and working full time

37 replies

Vexed80 · 05/03/2023 16:59

My daughter is currently in Year 7. She does well academically but has struggled emotionally with the move up to high school. We have talked for a while about the options for moving school or homeschooling. She’s now leaning towards homeschooling but my husband and I both work full time. I’m really looking for any advice from anyone who homeschooling while working full time.
TIA

OP posts:
custardbear · 05/03/2023 19:35

Try not fine in school for advice on Facebook - my friend homeschools her older child and it's hard as she also works full time and the child
Doesn't really have motivation. My DD hasnt been in school for a year because of ASD and issues surrounding and we're getting tuition through the school mainly at home (not easy to get!). She couldn't do it on her own though

2ndGenerationHomeEducator · 05/03/2023 19:52

My children aren't secondary school aged yet, but I can share my thoughts from my own experiences.

Some 11/12 year olds are definitely capable of doing independent work.
I was home educated, from around 8 years old I would have a daily assignment checklist my mother would make a week in advance. Back then it was workbooks from WHSmith, Tutors, BBC Bitesize and a search engine. Lots of curriculums available now although mostly American. From around 8 I started to transition into more independent work. I would be given a list and I would do it. My mother was there to support me if needed, and checked my work.

I would consider an online school such as interhigh because it will take some of the pressure off you in terms of planning and checking work.

Inkpotlover · 05/03/2023 19:53

Wasn't trying to derail the thread in an AIBU style, will ask for my comment to be removed.

Kranke · 05/03/2023 19:59

My friend had a similar child and did this. They employed a tutor as you can’t work full time and leave them in front of a screen to learn all day, you need someone to be able to answer the questions they have and then help them get to the answers in a way they like to learn. For example with a maths question, you can do pictorial, numbers, or aural explanations of how to get the answer with first principles. Bear in mind the uni/working world is mostly set up for physical interaction with people you don’t know and have different learning styles too, so you need to make sure they have the skills for this.

gogohmm · 05/03/2023 20:11

It works for some children but you need to work out how you can facilitate all the things she needs to learn if you are not around in the daytime - the majority of homeschooling families do use some local groups, tutors etc as they get older. The actual basic curriculum is easy enough to buy in online

Readyforspringtime · 05/03/2023 20:15

My friend works 3 shifts as a nurse whilst her husband and family cover those days. My friend does all the home education of her 2 children on her days off. They're very academic focused. I knew a full-time teacher that used a childminder during reception and Y1, then mum took a year off. Husband was full-time at work. I'm not sure how long they continued home ed. Another family, the mum worked out the home full-time and the dad worked mostly from home, the grandparents helped. This family were unschoolers and the dad did the majority.

It could work as you have adult children around that could provide company and support. For the social side there's after-school groups and sports. Other home educators would probably meet up on evenings and weekends. If she's very capable academically then you prepare all your resources in advance as you would even if you were home full-time and she can get on with it.

A trolley cart can be a good way to organize curricula, with all the resources she might need in one place, and a checklist for your DD to keep organized. My focus would be on frequently reviewing what she's done and making sure she feels like you're involved in her progress and you can discuss and alter things if she wants. My DD has learning differences and needs more guidance than some kids her age. She loves to read about her special interests and we discuss things and I find further resources to expand on interests. Some curriculum is done online or in self-explantory books and I work from home whilst she does those and then we review it every few days and go over the bits she didn't understand. I do about 2 hours a day and more on weekends.

Saracen · 05/03/2023 22:06

Definitely viable given that there are four adults in the household, some of whom would be around for much of the time. (You've said your daughter would never be left alone - that isn't necessary so long as she's safe to be left on her own sometimes, which most 11 year olds are. The main thing is to ensure she isn't isolated, bored, and lonely, which would have been a significant risk if you'd been planning to leave her alone all day every day. I'm relieved to see that isn't the case.)

The academics are easier than most people think, as it is more efficient than at school, and doesn't have to be done 9-3 M-F. So you and her dad can be involved with that during the hours you aren't working.

You needn't worry about it just yet, but be aware there is a significant amount of facilitation needed if she does GCSEs while being home educated. In part, that is because there's just so much more choice than at school: which particular IGCSE English exam suits her best? Should she sit it at 15 or 16 or 17? Spring or autumn? How will she prepare for it: local tutor (which tutor?), online school (which one?), local home ed study group, college, independent learning? And you need to identify a local exam centre which will take her, and make sure she's properly entered for it. Multiply that by all the subjects. So many decisions!

That isn't likely to be a deal-breaker. Other local parents and people on national HE Facebook groups are very helpful. By the time your daughter is working toward exams you will have a better understanding of what's involved. Just a warning that one or more adults in the family will need to do quite a bit of admin and research at that stage.

For the next few years, however, facilitating home ed won't be a vast amount of work. There are many options for how to do it, but you can just figure it out as you go along. Unlike in a school classroom, it's easy to adapt and it's no disaster if the approach you try first doesn't work out.

creekingmillenial · 08/03/2023 11:46

Like others who’ve already posted, the families I know where this works have used a combination of family support, online schooling and tutors/classes e.g instrument lessons or gymnastic classes. It’s definitely possible to oversee a bespoke curriculum if you have the resources (financially and/or people wise) to help.

Wren77 · 01/09/2023 11:41

Vexed80 · 05/03/2023 16:59

My daughter is currently in Year 7. She does well academically but has struggled emotionally with the move up to high school. We have talked for a while about the options for moving school or homeschooling. She’s now leaning towards homeschooling but my husband and I both work full time. I’m really looking for any advice from anyone who homeschooling while working full time.
TIA

Hi there, sorry to resurrect this old thread but I wondered how it worked out for you all? I am in a similar position - working 4 days a week, as is my husband but we're off different days. So we're looking at 2 week days of 1:1 and the other 3 days being independent project work and online lessons.
I am expecting to do some 1:1 sessions over the weekends too.
Thanks 💐

Wren77 · 01/09/2023 11:42

Sorry I should just say my son would be heading into year 8 but over the first year of secondary his mental health has nose dived despite counselling/ support

LostFrog · 06/09/2023 07:00

Our Y7 son has just started at Kings Interhigh and we both work full time - dh from home. He has taken the first week off to get him settled but it is a pretty full day online so we think longer term he should be able to be fairly independent as he is a bright and capable boy. There is a lot of interaction with the teacher and they can ask if they don’t understand something. He also either comes for a run with me or a swim with his dad early morning since over the summer so that gets him outside before all the screen time! We have agreed to give it till Christmas and then re-evaluate. We just felt that as his middle school is currently going through a really turbulent time and behaviour is so poor he wasn’t going to learn much anyway so thought it was worth a try, but we always intended it to be temporary and he will go to high school in Y9 - either that or we will move!! Good luck with what you decide x

moo444 · 12/09/2023 17:53

what online school did u use for your daughter and how long did it take to move her out of the school?

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