Center for Home Education

I wrote this article for an e-book put out by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine a couple of years ago.

TEAM Schooling
Single, Working, and Homeschooling

When I suddenly found myself single and working full-time I wondered how in the world I would be able to continue homeschooling my six remaining children. Two have graduated from homeschooling already. I discovered that in order for this to work, there would have to be some TEAM effort. I had to figure out a way to utilize my Time and Energy. Our new Adventure together required me to rethink the Materials I would use. I knew that for me to be successful, I would require some help in the above areas.

When life took over, homeschooling took a back seat. This was okay, for a season, but not for the entire lives of my remaining children. They would eventually need to get back to hitting the books. Granted there was much they learned on our life journey the first few months. However, I knew they needed more than I could offer them in my few hours in the evenings when I wasn’t at work. I made it a subject of much prayer. I wasn’t surprised when God answered my pleas within my own family.

My second oldest daughter had graduated from our home school in June. She was planning to attend Community College, but with the move, she couldn’t afford the out of state tuition. After much thought, she soon came to realize that God was giving her an opportunity to help out her family. She decided to stay home with the remaining children in order to homeschool them. She knew that homeschooling was a lifestyle for us, and she wanted to do whatever she could to enable that the children continue in their homeschooling. She was willing to replace the time that I didn’t have with her own time.

I’ve heard of many instances where a previously homeschooled child comes into the home and takes over the role of homeschool instructor. We must be careful that the person is not simply a replacement for a teacher, but someone who truly loves and cares for your children as if they were her own. When faced with the loss of a spouse either through divorce or death, there is often a huge emotional burden that can zap us of our energy to do even the simplest of tasks. This is a short season of healing. We need to be careful not to ignore the basic needs of our own bodies. Enlist the help of others to take over some of those tasks. It is far better to ask for help, than to wake up each day, falling deeper under the weight of the overwhelming tasks. If money isn’t an issue hire someone to come in and clean.

For many singles, money is extremely tight. This is when you need to put away the pride for awhile, and when people ask what they can do, hand them your laundry basket. I had to swallow my pride many times. One of the things I had to do was explain to my children that I desperately needed their help. We formed cleaning teams. An older child is paired with a younger child. These teams are given a certain cleaning location. This rotates each week in our home. On Fridays, they do a thorough cleaning, so the room is clean for the next team when they take over the following week. When I get home at the end of a long day, it is much easier for me to spend personal time with the children because the house isn’t in serious need of cleaning.

Homeschooling was always an Adventure in our house. I consider learning to be one of the greatest adventures we are on in life. We looked at our new life as just another adventure. We knew God would be walking the road with us. Daily we give our homeschool plans over to Him. One of the ways He proved His faithfulness to us, was in placing me in a job as a store manager at a homeschool bookstore, which offers supplemental classes for homeschoolers. This is not a public school, but a place where my children can come once a week for a class in an area that they need. The store is located in Watauga TX, just north of Fort Worth. Center for Home Education .

If you are finding yourself needing to work, you’re single, or you simply need someone to fill your shoes for a class, you might want to check to see if there is any place where your children can take a class or two.

One of the greatest advantages for me is that I work in a family friendly environment where my children are welcome. Just last week my 11 year old came and helped me move books around on the shelves. She helped with pricing books as well as organizing them. Sometimes we need to look at everything as a learning adventure. When my kids come to work with me, they see the inner workings of a business. I’ve always believed education to be not about the textbooks they read, but that it is an adventure to be lived. However, when I had to go to work, I was no longer there with them to help guide them on their adventure.

As I perused the shelves of my bookstore, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. There was a lot of sadness and regret as I focused on textbooks for my children. Then I had a brilliant idea. I brought them in and showed them the materials we could choose. I also took into account that Christi would be doing the bulk of education with them. As with every step of our new life, this area was also the subject of much prayer. Again, God did not let us down, but led each child to the books they would need and desired to do.

God has blessed us tremendously. When I was married and stayed home with my children, my life was the way I knew it was supposed to be. Now that the elements of my life have changed, I mourned the loss of the way it used to be. What I have discovered on this journey is that no matter where I am in life, God is there walking beside me, guiding me, and directing me. I want to encourage you that even when your life seems to fall apart, you can continue to walk in His will.

It doesn’t make any difference what kind of life I’m living as long as God is the center and I’m looking to Him. God revealed to me that I could not do it alone. He needed me to release it all to Him so He could bring about the TEAM work that would be required.

The concept of TEAM work is frequently enforced in our home. The children all know that when we work together we can accomplish much.