Homeschooling Tips for the Single Parent

Single parents are already faced with many challenges, but when they wish to homeschool their child, those challenges increase dramatically. Without a partner, the parent may feel that they are barely able to support their child alone, much less be home and educate their child and devote that necessary time to education. Private school is also often out of the question because it is simply not economically feasible for the single parent.

However, every year thousands of single parents find ways to homeschool their children. Regardless of gender, these single parents are successfully educating their children in the way that they feel is best and they are highly successful in doing it. Statistics show that homeschooled children generally surpass their peers on standardized tests and rank high on college admissions lists.

The first step in successful homeschooling is time management. A parent who is organized will discover that they have more time to devote to homeschooling than they initially thought. This is particularly true when you break down the actual instruction time in a public school setting. A six hour day in public school consist of lunch breaks, breaks between classes, time spent doing "busy work" and even time spent simply sitting and not doing anything constructive. A concerted effort to make every hour count can easily make up for time that the parent feels they may lack for homeschooling.

When you include weekends, holidays and summer vacation, the time available for homeschooling expands even further. While it is true that children need time to relax and pursue their own personal interests, when they enjoy learning then life and learning come together. When you add up holiday time, weekends, summer and the evenings, it is possible to come up with more than ample time for homeschooling.

The majority of homeschooling approaches are generally unstructured or are child driven. What this means is that the parent is not always monitoring the child's activities as in the case of public school. In this type of educational structure, the child may be left entirely free to pursue any subject that is of interest to them, working at their own pace much like the unschooling approach, or they may utilize resources and go the route of independent study. The child's work can be checked at some point during the day, in the evenings or even on weekends. At that time, instruction can be given and corrections can be made if necessary.

Tutoring is another viable option for single parents who want their children to be homeschooled. Tutors may be home teachers, periodic tutors who come once or twice a week, or they may be fully automated online resources. Costs vary considerably, but in the long run, a tutor usually is far less expensive than day care or private school. In some cases, though, day care and tutoring services may be combined.

As the internet expands, bringing the world literally to your doorstep, many single parents are opting to start their own home based business. When you consider day care costs, fuel and the time required for a commute to and from work as well as the uncertainty of advancement and even job stability, then a home based business begins to appear a more sensible option and certainly a better move financially.

A home based business can yield many attractive tax write offs. By avoiding a business that requires a large investment for start up can help you reach your financial goals. A home business, though, can give you maximum time and freedom. A low start up cost home business is not difficult to find, there are many opportunities out there.

There are many opportunities that are directly online, such as affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketers can make $50,000 or even more per year. They build websites, write newsletters and keep blogs to promote their affiliate partners. This requires very little technical skill but the rewards can be substantial if you are consistent.

A little research and creative thinking can get single parents a long way in achieving their goals for homeschooling their children. Both parent and child can reap great rewards from the homeschooling experience. It does require a little courage to take that first step, but single parents already have plenty of that so it should be a breeze.