Homeschooling

Archive for August, 2007

Question: Is it possible to homeschool and work full time?

My 4 year old daughter has Autism and I want to homeschool her next year when she is school age. I have done a good amount of research on schools in my state and I truly do not believe our public school system is the best place for most kids with Autism. Plus, we have already had a really bad experience with the school district on a preschool level.

My question is, can I homeschool and work full time? I am a single mom and therefore have to work. Is it possible to get all of the curriculum covered in the evenings and/or weekends?

Answer: Yes, it is possible.

I know of a number of families where the parent (or parents) work full-time. However, it does take determination, organization and back-up.

With a young child, you'll need someone to care for her while you are working. That person could just be a baby-sitter who does nothing for her education, but it will work better if the baby-sitter can assist you in educating her. Even if the baby-sitter just gives her some educational videos to watch, it will help. Even better, if the baby-sitter is willing to read some books or help with some assignments you've given.

Schools waste so much time that getting a similar education doesn't take nearly the time that is spent in the classroom. So it is possible to do it in the evenings and/or weekends.

I've known people to have a number of different arrangements that they've made work. One single mom worked 4 ten-hour days a week; her child was watched by relatives during those 4 days and did lessons only 3 days a week (and did more than he would have in his local middle school in a 5 day week).
Some people work and do school work in the evenings or in the early mornings--depending on what works better for their child. With an average kindergartner, you should be able to do lessons for about an hour a day and cover as much as in the schools. (As the child grows older, the amount of time required for lessons will increase, but so will the amount of work that she can do independently.)

Not having taught a child with autism, I can't say how autism will affect the amount of time needed for her lessons. My understanding from friends with autistic children is that they tend to do better when allowed to stick with a project until it is completed (unlike in schools where they have to stop and move on to something else, finished or not, when the bell rings) and that a consistent schedule helps a lot. But Homeschooling is definitely helpful for them as you can set up a schedule and curriculum that works for them, rather than trying to force them to deal with a structure set up for a huge organization.

There are online groups for Homeschooling parents of special needs children. You might find it useful to join one of them.

Autistic son-homeschool