Problems That Are Faced By Adult Homeschoolers

Danger: You may notice a little sarcasm and attempt at humor.

Do you know a lot of homeschoolers who have now grown up and left the nest? I know plenty of them, including my three adult children. Because of God’s grace, all three graduated and went on to college. One manages a Data Center at a university. One is an Occupational Therapist at a hospital’s acute care center. The third is working on his doctorate in math. So their problem wasn’t inadequate academics.

They all can socialize and some enjoy it more than others. Socialization is the big “problem” with homeschoolers. With all the homeschool activities and them playing together and with friends, there shouldn’t be any problem getting enough time to be sociable. So, socialization wasn’t their problem.

Being able to get a job after homeschooling can be a problem in some peoples’ minds. We may worry when we see our little ones unable to focus. They may worry in high school Geometry. But, statistics have shown that they do well in this area. Homeschooled kids grow up to be flexible and are workers who can think and find solutions. This means they should excel, based on their level of talent. I’m usually pleasantly surprised at how well many homeschool kids do when they graduate. So, getting a job wasn’t their problem.

I think there are a few real problems that are faced by grown homeschoolers. If they have started their own family and have children, a decision has to be made: will they or won’t they homeschool their own children. Now, maybe they decided that before they married. But, things and circumstances may have changed. Maybe that husband’s one salary isn’t as big as you thought it would be. It’s very, very hard to live a typical one-salary lifestyle. I believe it’s harder than when I had my children.

My husband and I had help from grandparents, so we didn’t have to do without so many things. But, in this day and age, living on one salary is almost impossible unless the one salary is large. Many homeschool families make it work and the mom has part-time work or an at-home business. That sounds do-able until you try it. Mom can easily become exhausted and feel like giving up completely. So, money is usually the #1 issue.

Some families have a mom who might have a disability. I am practically disabled now, but can still walk. If I had to deal with this level of fatigue when I homeschooled, I would have given up. It takes a ton of energy to plan, coordinate materials, and teach lessons, as well as be a real devoted mom and wife. God gives us so much grace, but a disability might be a non-starter.

Having support isn’t necessary to homeschool, but it will make life tons easier. We lived far away from our extended family but found close friends in our church who homeschooled. We created a support group and it meant the world to me. There are also many online support groups that are encouraging. Don’t let lack of support get you down, though it would be difficult to homeschool with a family member who is antagonistic. If that happens try to be gracious and present them with some reading material from a trusted academic source to calm their fears.

My oldest shocked me when he decided to homeschool his children. I’m very pleased and looking forward to Grandmom joining some fieldtrips! We’ll see what happens with the other kids’ choices. But, this grandmom will support all her grandchildren and bring them lots of books!

Speaking of support:

Another (home) school year is about to start! Maybe you’ve already started your year, or maybe your school year never ended (you homeschool year-round).  Either way, what homeschool mom couldn’t use a little extra money for homeschool curriculum or resources? Winning a gift card to a major online homeschool retailer would surely help you check some things off of your curriculum wish list! I’ve teamed up with a great group of homeschool bloggers to bring you a HUGE gift card giveaway to Christianbook.com. 

We will be blessing THREE homeschool families with a $200 gift card for you to use on curriculum, books, games, puzzles, or whatever educational supplies you might need! We know homeschooling can put a financial strain on families – whether it’s from living on one-income or buying curriculum for multiple children – the financial aspect of it can be stressful. 

Our hope is that we can bless a few homeschool families (although we wish we could bless many more) and ease a little of that financial burden. To enter for your chance to win, simply use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.  Now I know this is quite a few entries, but each of these bloggers has generously chipped in their own money to make this giveaway possible, so I hope you will take the time to do all of the entries.  And hey, the more entries you do, the better your odds are of winning!

Giveaway ends August 12, 2022 at 11:59pm ET.  Must be at least 18 years of age.  Must be a resident of U.S. or Canada to enter.  Selected winners will have 48 hours to respond to email notification to claim their prizes or another winner will be drawn.  By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers (see the Terms & Conditions on the Rafflecopter form for the complete list).a Rafflecopter giveaway