Do you wish to homeschool while working but remain unsure about your ability to “do it all”? Pamela Price’s How to Work and Homeschool is here to help. Pamela Price, herself a working homeschooler and blogger at both How to Work and Homeschool and Red, White and Grew, shares extensively from her own experiences and challenges, as well as her observations hosting a series of homeschooling workshops and her interviews with multiple families who are successfully combining homeschooling with a variety of work schedules and needs. In her introduction, she refers to the growing group of working homeschool parents as “part of a new breed of ‘educational entrepreneurs'”. She writes of her own experiences:
We have stitched homeschooling into the weave of our lives, if not seamlessly, at least functionally.
That sentence sums up much of the tone of the book – hopeful, extremely practical and helpful, and also realistic about the possibilities as well as the imperfection inherent in choosing a path that combines homeschooling with working.
How to Work and Homeschool covers a lot of ground, about what it takes to be, in essence, a “social change agent”, redrawing the traditional lines of school, work, home life, education, community and parenting. Pamela interviews multiple real people, in the trenches and in a variety of situations, who are making all of the new possibilities work for their families, in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons.
We meet Emilee, a homeschool student and then parent who runs the thriving Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds business; Brenda, who enjoys multi-generational involvement in her homeschooling endeavor; Khadija, a telecommuting mother of eight; and Jennifer, a nurse-turned-journalist and homeschooler of four.
Pamela Price
Through interviews, anecdotes, experience and statistics, Pamela reveals many myths, truths and tips about homeschooling and combining homeschool and work, that could help the trepidatious take the leap into homeschooling and continue to homeschool with grace. Countless experienced homeschoolers share what has worked best for them and some things they may have done differently. The book has a section on single-parent homeschooling and on contingencies when things don’t quite go as planned. Most helpfully, Pamela outlines different homeschool/work scenarios and schedules, based on family needs, that would help any family consider the best way to tackle homeschool and work, philosophically and practically.
How to Work and Homeschool would be a fantastic addition to any homeschooling library and is a must for parents who intend to combine homeschooling with work.
Graphics: Pamela Price, Hedua.com
