Im a single mom who will be homeschooling this year. I have homeschooled before but when I started working crazy hours and excess hours I had to quit. However, this year Im planning to homeschool again. There are many single parents who are successful in homeschool. I hear a lot of people say they cant do it but the question I have them is what did people do before “public schools” came into existence? I will be homeschooling after I get home from work and on the weekends in order to accomodate my states teaching requirements for hours. It is possible. I feel a strong calling to do this and I know that God would not give me more than I can bear. You too can do this!

Go to the Robinson Curriculum website and read about Mr. Robinson who homeschooled his multiple children when his wife died. It is inspirational. Homeschooling your brood is not impossible; you must have some kind of live-in help or you would not be able to go to work even. Your joyful burden is heavy enough and the thought of adding homeschooling to it must be daunting. Check with others in your church, perhaps they can help. I know this isn’t answering your question. You don’t want to homeschool at all. You will just have to sit them down, tell them that you can’t do it and then hug them all. (Did you ever consider that homeschooling does not have to be complicated and time consuming and that scheduling, lunches, homework, teacher interviews, etc. etc. etc. can be more stressful than homeschooling.) Your kids sound organized and motivated. Perhaps you could trust them and trial it for half a year? That would give them the benefit of the doubt, they may amaze you. Good luck with being a single parent, it’s difficult, but so rewarding to raise children. Remember, “Saying that there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers.”

Ok… so I read your profile.

(14 kids from baby to 16 and a recently deceased wife.) Wow!

From what I understand, you are saying you don’t have the ability to homeschool them.. also, your oldest may not be too keen on the idea. (probably because she would be doing the bulk of the work if you said yes).

If you are on the fence and really want to homeschool, you could hire people to supervise just as i am sure you already hire people to watch your youngest kids.

If you are not in the right place emotionally to take on such a huge endeavor with so many kids, then you need to explain that you just can’t.

Another solution is to let the older kids (12 and up who want to homeschool) do it and send the younger ones to school until they are independent enough to use a self directed program.

Still another solution. Get in touch with local homeschoolers. There may be a single homeschooling mom who could use any income you could give her to take on homeschooling your kids along with hers.

Whatever you decide, they will still love you.

wow!

you are doing an amazing job!

homeschooling is very taxing especially if you are a single parent and have no space/time for yourself or support.

firstly what are their problems with the public system and can anything be done about it?

secondly are there any homeschooling co-ops in your area?

is it possible to do 3 day on 2 day off rotation with another homeschooling family?and even put the kids in an after school care programme 5 afternoons per week so u can still have a break and they can run around supervised?

can you afford a tutor 1 day a week for just a few hours? to relieve the pressure?

or can you talk to your school principal and sort out the current problems they are having with their public school?

another idea 😉 are there any private schools that have scholorships and or let parents work in canteen etc to help pay for fees?

In truth, you don’t *have* to tell them no. You want to tell them no, and that’s a difference.

1.You will have a much easier time balancing schedules without having to get all the kids out to school, field trips, lunches, etc. You would need a babysitter anyway, drop the babies off and let the school age ones stay home. Partner up a teen with a elementary age kid for school work and housework.

2.The older children sound like they are old enough to school themselves, as well as watch some of the younger ones, you would need a babysitter for the babies anyway, if you are going to work. I for one, am wondering how you afford care for them now while you are working fulltime.

3.You could work all day and manage their schedules and check their work when they get home. Make sure that they have a trusted adult to get ahold of.

You could instead of saying no, say “How can we make this possible?” You could ask the kids that, and see what they come up with. I have seven kids, and I know how big families work together to make things happen, so your children must be capable of preparing meals, doing housework, and doing most of their homework by themselves.

First of all I want to say that I commend you for being a single dad raising your children.

Do you want to homeschool them if you can? if not don’t bother reading the rest…If you could make it work then…

I guess the question you need to answer yourself first is Do you think that homeschooling is the best option for your children? The fact that they all got together to make their case sounds to me like you have an incredible family and might want to take that into consideration. There are so many ways to homeschool and no 2 families do it the same.

You mentioned that you don’t have the money to send them “all” to private school maybe you could hire a college student or co-op with some other homeschool families.

Their are lots of single parents homeschooling. Type into a search engine single parent homeschoolers and see how many groups articles websites etc come up.

Here is i a good resource to start with

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/weblinks/working.htm

Best wishes for your family

Please don’t take this wrong but if all of you guys agreed that public school isn’t the best for education, well if you can’t possibly home school because of working full time and being a single dad, home schooling might also be not the best for education.

You need to sit them down, tell them the truth of why you can’t home school them.

If you feel that you cant do it then arethere any parents nearby homeschooling.Maybe you could join forces with a parent. Give it a trial for half ayear.Or find someone willing to homeschool themTh e other option is to say no and just be firm with them.Find out if the kids are having problems at school.

If you truly cannot homeschool them then you just have to be honest. Sit THEM down and explain why. They may not like it, but its something they will have to deal with. If you really want to homeschool them, you will have to hire a very understanding babysitter who is willing to help at least the youngest children with their school work.

Just be honest. Let them know that you DID LISTEN and while you would love to be able to homeschool them, it just is NOT in the cards at this time.

If what you have written gives the correct impression of your children, then they are ALL very bright and should understand your reasoning.

This is one of those times when HONESTY is the best policy.

I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.