Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Homeschooling and working full time

Its been a while since I've posted. DD11 skipped 4th last year into 5th, and this year is in 6th. We are having a bit of difficulty with teasing and unfortunatly came to a head a couple of weeks ago when they said she made a hit list, which wasn't a hit list but only a list of kids that were bothering her. We got them to drop the suspension and got her back into class fairly smoothly, but now she is pretty fixed on wanting to be homeschooled. She doesn't like it in her class and I can't blame her one bit. I remember telling her last year not to worry about how the kids were picking on her because it was going to be better in 6th since she would be in all Honor's classes. But it only got worse since then.

Both my husband and I work full time shift work. Are there any homeschooling parents that work full time as well? Can it work?

As long as you have a safe place for her to be when she can't be with a parent, this can work, but it requires a fair amount of organization. Instruction can happen at any time of day that works for your family. We homeschooled with both parents working overlapping shifts for a little more than a year when my son was younger. Finding care for a school-aged child for a few hours during the usual school day was our biggest challenge. Did you have any particular questions or concerns?

I think I was looking for individual experiences, how it worked out for others and if there were any issues you came up against. I think she's pretty self motivated as long as I keep showing her the end result of what her work will be. She would like to eventually go to Mary Baldwin PEG instead of high school, so it may even only be for a couple of years if I can work it out. I just have to talk it over with my husband more.

Hey thanks guys, you gave me some ideas to follow up on.

Hi Adrienne,
Sorry your DD is having difficulty--so is ours, although fortunately things have improved recently since she switched supervising teachers. It sounds like you probably don't have that option.
You've probably checked this sort of thing out already, but I Googled just out of curiosity (since we may be in the same boat next year, but in North Carolina) and found this:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/West_Virginia.pdf
So it would appear that one possibility is you could have DD do online schooling and (if you or your DH could not be present during part of the day) a person with a high school diploma could supervise? It's not clear to me how online instruction would match up with this law, but at least it's less strict than NC's, and maybe something you can work with.
Best of luck!

Hi, Adrienne -

I just want to share that Dbat could be correct. In our state, PA, a few years ago I met a woman who actually acted as the home facilitator for a handful of students who attended a cyber school. She didn't actually teach them but coordinated them and had all of the supplies/computers and such in her home. So, definitely check out your options. You may not be as limited as you think.

Best of luck!!!