Single Parents

In my previous post I covered the student collaboration approach but how does collaborative learning approach work for single parents or one child families?

I believe it would have tremendous benefits for these children to get involved with other homeschool groups. Most certainly the child with no siblings is able to socialize with peers as well as children of different ages. It's the next best thing for those children and I would encourage parents to get together with others.

(Pitfalls of Collaboration)
@ingridontheroad/pitfalls-of-collaboration

Just to touch upon a slightly different topic... I am not a single mum so I can’t give you any first hand advice but I imagine it would be quite difficult. Teaching our children was hard enough even with the help of my husband so being on your own could be tricky, but I truly believe if you really want the best for your children then you can do it too.

If you are a Christian then you are
not really on your own, you have the best Friend helping you and guiding you every step of the way. Being a single mum should not stop you from wanting to teach your children at home though.

You may encounter difficulties with friends, family or the education department but if you can prove that you are doing a good job, these people will back off eventually and may even help you with good advice.

Some friends can be very negative and will tell you exactly what they think of you and your homeschool charade, and if not to your face, they will likely gossip to others. Family can be detrimental when they are not supportive of your choice. They will always nag you, belittle you, or your children, in front of others and be a general nuisance. If you can avoid them... do so. The best thing to do is to ignore them, avoid them as much as possible and find yourself other friends who are supportive of your decision to teach
your children.

We have been teaching our children since 1988 and believe it or not some family members have still not seen any of our children’s work! I’m not talking distant uncles and aunts, I’m talking about grandmothers and grandfathers. But that is really beside the point… the point I’m making here is that even though you have no partner you can teach your children at home.

It will be harder because as a mum you don’t have that ‘dad back-stop’. If you are contemplating starting and you are a single mum why not give it a try? It won’t hurt trying, if you don’t try you will never know! If after some time you feel it is not for you or for your children you can enroll them into school without any problems. Be aware of much hard work ahead of yourself but also realize that much joy will lie ahead for you and your children if you take home education on.

Another point to remember is the visits from the Education Department. I truly believe that if you put one hundred percent effort into your programme and show your sincerity and dedication to whoever comes and visits you from the education department you will have no problems. They are often very supportive of single parents who homeschool their children.

So be encouraged as a single parent and get involved with other homeschool families and embrace unschooling and collaborative learning activities.