Salena asked the following.
I have a question, I am a full time auditor Mystery Shopper. I make between 2000-4000 a month and it’s not about Money, at all BUT I am always on the computer or traveling. My daughter is simply failing the 7th grade in Private school. When I travel, I need to take my Daughter with me because I have no support. My sister is a Full time teacher and is willing to oversee. Is homeschooling a good idea for my daughter as she wants to travel with me when I go.
No father, he is dead. No support, as I moved 100’s of miles from my family, so I can’t legit travel without her.
Thanks Salena
My first question would be why is your daughter getting failing grades. Is it because she has to travel with you and is not able to attend enough school? Is it because she is bored out of her mind, and just decided to stop doing it? Is it because it is too hard, or she needs extra help that she’s not getting from the school? Is it because she is depressed about not being able to spend time with you when she is in school, and she sees school as taking away time from you? Is she having a hard time making friends, feels uncomfortable, or is being bullied? Finding out why she’s getting these grades is an important step, it could explain a lot in and of itself, and could help you make the decision.
You state that your daughter wants to travel with you when you do travel. I am guessing that she has already stated this to you as a big priority for her in at least one of your conversations. Being that you are a single parent with little support network right now, and do a lot of work on the computer and on the road, your daughter may be feeling like she doesn’t get enough time with you. This is another one of the many wonderful things about homeschooling. You get to spend a lot more time with your children. Not only would you get to spend more time with your child, you would also get to give her an education on a larger scale. She gets to travel to new places, and learn so many new things in and about these new places that she would not be able to experience otherwise. Instead of sitting in a classroom hearing about it for seven hours a day, she will be able to be out there living it.
I also believe that if you are considering homeschooling, for whatever reason, whoever you are, you are a good candidate for homeschooling. Whether you are a single parent, or a married couple, whether you work 9-5 or overnights, whether you are a school teacher, or don’t want anything to do with the educational system, if you are considering homeschooling, you can make it work. I love homeschooling as a single parent because as a single parent, you don’t normally get to choose whether or not you work, and sometimes you don’t have a choice when or where you work, but homeschooling allows you to still have the quality time with your children on a daily basis. You don’t have to spend seven or eight hours on school, like they do in public school, because you don’t have 30 children, and the time you spend depends on their abilities and learning styles. So you can school for two or three hours, and have the extra time they would have spent in school for other things.
Everyone who homeschools does it for different reasons. In your case it would be because you want more time with your daughter, and she wants more time with you, and you feel that you could give her a better education than she is receiving. Those reasons alone would be reason enough for me to begin homeschooling if I wasn’t already.
Have you talked to your daughter about homeschooling? That would be my first step. Sit down with her. Tell her you are considering pulling her out of school and homeschooling her. Explain that this doesn’t mean she would no longer have to work on her education, but it would just be under different circumstances. She would not only still need to study, work, read, and learn, but also be more involved in the household and everyday living if she is not already. At this point, from the sounds of it, she will probably be very excited, and she should be. Then get her involved in the process. Have her help you with picking out the style of homeschooling that would fit you as a family. Have her help you pick out her curriculum or develop the curriculum based on how she learns best.
There are a lot of people who have to travel a lot for/with their work that homeschool successfully. The only difference that you may find between them and you is that you are a single mom, and that means you get to spend even more of your time with your child. This is not to mention the fact that colleges now a days are looking to recruit students who are not the norm. By homeschooling your daughter, and allowing her to travel with you, you are actually opening more doors for her in her future.
Don’t forget to check out Andrea’s blog about car schooling.