I love homeschooling/I hate homeschooling

http://www.daniellebean.com/?view=1298

How do you do it and pay the mortgage at the same time?

Good point, O'Ratty.

Homeschooling, I imagine, is more feasible in families where one income suffices, and the one earning the income isn't the one most able to do the education.



I imagine it'd be nigh on impossible for single parents to manage it, or families where both parents have to work.

Clare.

It's not impossible, but it is difficult. There are quite a few single mums who are members of Education Otherwise. Some work evenings. I also know other families where the mum works part time and leaves the children with work and then teaches on her days off.
I have been surprised to find a few families where they own their own small business and the children have a school-space in the shop or office. Mum and dad work and home ed at the same time. Business studies is one of the subjects!

My friend continues to homeschool her two children even as she goes through chemo for breast cancer. After a treatment she is completely out of it for a few days-she plans the work ahead and her parents supervise the children.

I too have managed to homeschool from a hospital bed on more than one occasion.
It is not easy. But it can be done.
The other thing I have found is the huge support offered by fellow homeschooling families. We take care of one another and offer resources and time to one another.

I too both love and hate homeschooling.
The post at the start of this thread describes my relationship with the whole enterprise perfectly.

That's impressive! Where there's a will, there's a way, I guess.

It necessitates some sacrifice for most families. In my own case I stopped full-time work in order to homeschool. We more or less live on the breadline but God always ensures enough to get by.

I too homeschool, and I don't really enjoy it. Neither does my daughter. She's a real social butterfly, and, having no siblings, it's very difficult for her to be cooped up with no other kids to talk to.

There are usually solutions, Jenna, because homeschool can be very flexible. But finding them depends upon where you live I suppose. There can be plenty of opportunity to flee the coop for reasons of education, sport or to provide a social aspect as well. Museums, parks, country walks?

Are there any other Catholic homeschoolers nearby? Or cousins etc?

How about sport or social activities - ballet, music, horse riding? There are always fairly decent kids to be found with an interest in certain types of hobbies or other activities. Your daughter could easily interact with these kids even if they are not Catholic because it takes place in a controlled environment where they will get some chance to chit chat about shared interests. By the same token she is unlikely to pick up damaging influences from them because the environment is controlled by the lesson structure. It's just a matter of being discerning and vigilent.

There are not too many options around here that don't cost a fortune. A walk is of course free, but nothing else is. We live in the city, where things can get quite expensive. I looked into horseback riding -no go. It costs, on average, $30 for a 1/2 hour lesson. This is simply not in the budget. Ditto for everything else I looked into. It's all very expensive. The sole exception is that our local museum is free on Mondays, so will do that at some point.

I live on the breadline already. Below it, in fact, at the moment.

See above

The Mail on Sunday carries a magazine called YOU in this weeks issue* there is an article titled "Is flexi-schooling the future?Children attend school for part of the week and spend the rest of the time being educated at home- it's gaining in popularity."
*30 September 2007.

Can you post a link to this? Is it online?
We are off to the school this evening and I am wondering about flexi for our 4yr old. Unfortunately from what I have gathered it doesn't work-but I am unable to just home ed at the moment (complications).

Jenna
We can't afford much. In fact what little money I scrape together pays for exams and that's about it.
However the kids go to scouts, homeschool group and occasionally swimming which doesn't cost much.
The library is also free.
One of the problems we have found is that most home ed families tend to have younger children, so it has been difficult for my old'uns to meet new friends in the home ed world-but Scouts has been great for them

Can you post a link to this? Is it online?

I looked for it, and I found a link to You magazine but I couldn't work out how to get to the article. I think it might be subscription only.

Here's the link I got, by Googling the words "Is flexi-schooling the future?"
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx