Home Schooling

The decision to home school children is one often reserved for much thought and debate, but the fact remains that for many it is the most viable and successful option for educating their child. However, it does not mean the situation is not fraught with difficulties, the most obvious being one or both parents will need to significantly reduce their working hours to school their child. For the lucky, this drop in income can be absorbed, but for some both parents need to be working at least part-time.

In these cases, and for other reasons, it is now becoming more popular for a Grandparent to home school their grandchildren. It is a simple solution to the dilemma of home schooling, and one that can be beneficial for all - the grandparent, parent and child - involved. What's more, it is absolutely legal.

For the grandparent, home schooling their grandchildren is a chance for interaction. Through their schooling, they are given the kind of access to their beloved grandchildren that most grandparents are denied. Being able to spend endless hours in the company of a grandchild is the main incentive for most grandparents, though there are other benefits.

Retired grandparents often find adjusting to life without the stable routine of a job difficult, so by becoming home schoolteachers they find a new lease of life. It helps to keep their mind active and focused on the task in hand, leading to a greater sense of mental health and agility as the years pass. For those that experience as unpleasant feeling of their life having no direction, home schooling their grandchildren gives them a purpose once more.

Parents benefit from the situation, too. Having reached the decision to home school their children, for whatever reason, they are given a way to earn a living while still reaping the benefits of a home grown education. They are given far more control over their child's education while never actually having to be the one to give discipline and insist on schooling routine, the aspect most struggled with by parent's home schooling their children.

And finally, the child benefits too. They can learn to separate their home life from their school life, purely because another person beside their parents is present for the school hours. For children who have been in the education system, adjusting to home schooling can be difficult, as the routine and structure is taken away. By introducing a specific teacher, but one who is familiar and loved, the best of both worlds are employed.

If you have considered these points and decided that a grandparent taking the responsibility of home schooling is for you, the process is relatively simple. If you were teaching your child yourself, you would need to contact your state's education authority for permission to set up a legal home school. The same applies if a grandparent will be taking the responsibility of teacher, the only noticeable difference being the name on the form. Your state will guide you through the process, but essentially you will come across no more stumbling blocks if you have a grandparent educate a child than if a child is educated by its parents. With the legal measures in place, this mutually beneficial experience can begin.