Weekly Wrap-Up: Single Mom Employed Full-Time & Homeschooling High School

I'm sharing today with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap-Up! 

I am so glad it's Friday.  It's not the end of our school year.  Not even the end of the school week.  But since I work OUT of the home five days a week, it's my weekend.

Homeschooling is hard no matter what your situation.  You can spend your entire day focused on your child and still feel like you are missing something.  You can have their father, grandmother, siblings, etc helping out and not feel accomplished.  And you can work full time and be a single parent and still somehow get the job done.  It's hard, but it's fulfilling too.  I've done all of the above and have made each situation work.

Our homeschool schedule is weird.  But it has to be in order to work.

I was a stay-at-home mom from kindergarten through third grade.  Then I worked from home a few hours a week for a year. Then I worked part time and was able to take Emily with me to the office.  Since the beginning of 7th grade, I've been working full time.  Our homeschool week is Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  We homeschool year round to get in our 180 days.  But it gets done and it works for us.

Now doing 9th grade, Em is able to mostly do her work independently.   But I am still involved every day.

Sundays are my big planning day. (not only for school but for meal planning, cooking ahead, household chores, etc)   I go over the week ahead to see if there is anything I think she will need my guidance on.  I might look up videos that explain a certain grammar rule or a Khan Academy video that will help with math and e-mail her the links.   I print up her lesson plan for the next week.  I glance through her history, biology, geography, etc and make notes in the margins.

Sundays we sit down at the kitchen table with the laptop and all of her books, folders, print-outs, etc. and go through every subject together.  I make sure she has a strong grasp on everything that she is learning.  If there is a concept that she is not understanding, we will go over it and I will find further help on the Internet or ask one of her older siblings for help.  (I will be doing her lesson plan while she is doing her school work)

The rest of the work week I am off by 4 p.m.,  3 p.m. on Fridays.  Emily does the subjects that are easier for her during the day (M, TH, F) while I am at work and then in the evening she will do subjects she may need some help with.

Saturdays are the end of the school week.  She wraps up anything that may have been left over earlier in the week, takes quizzes, narrates what she's been reading, etc.  (Just finished The Great Gatsby, this week reading Poe's The Pit & the Pendulum & The Telltale Heart)

It might not work for everyone, but it does work for us.  I try and read a lot of the classics that Emily is reading for literature so we can discuss them.  We watch a lot of educational movies and mini-series together that go along with her history course.  She does some on-line classes too.  I'm looking into signing her up for a couple of classes on Schoolhouse Teachers. They have an ASL class that looks perfect.

I think planning ahead is the most important part.  Of course it would be ideal if I could stay at home and be with her throughout all of her school work.  But that's not possible.  I was very fortunate to be able to stay at home with her when she was younger and needed me to give her a foundation.

Next week I will share a picture of what our lesson planning day looks like, along with the lesson plan itself.

Have a wonderful weekend with your homeschoolers!

Sherry