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  1. As a single mom, I run two website businesses from home – I sell a bit on Etsy, but my core income comes from the two websites I set up myself (using a friend’s help to get started – we bartered me tutoring his children for him teaching me how to set up a website) – using some templates but I heavily modified (more than I probably “needed” to 😉 ).

    One one site I offer “lesson plans” and support for those wanting to Montessori homeschool; the other website I make stuff: Montessori items, soaps, some clothing, etc. I put it all out there as I was able to add it and have slowly pared back to focus on the items that sell well and allow me to be home with my son, pay our bills, put money into savings AND pay off back student loans. All while getting off of state assistance (which was a blessing during the time we needed it, but was always a temporary help to get us where we could run our own home).

    So – just sharing another idea. A person isn’t stuck to just selling on Etsy and Ebay, etc. though these are great to start on, having one’s own website really pays off in the long run 🙂

    1. Umm! I think God is speaking to me, through you right now! My daughter is currently at a Montessori school and we commute (120 miles per day, round trip, twice). I am currently going to school to become an Elementary School teacher, out of necessity. However, it has been on my heart to be a stay at home mother, as well as homeschool her. I keep saying, “once my husband comes” I will do this. Or do that. However, my daughter is turning 7, and 7 years of single mom hood and my husband is taking way longer than expected! I am interested in getting in touch with your Montessori Homeschool website!

  2. I am preparing to homeschool my kids this fall and feel slightly (okay quite a bit) overwhelmed at the prospect- they’re ASD, with ADHD and Aspergers and quite a handful, but on the other hand the local schools aren’t equipped to deal with special needs, my kids are bullied, we’re fighting Common Core which had my children in tears and begging to stay home and being pushed thru to each grade without learning the basics. That’s not okay with me.- if there’s any single moms who homeschool with special needs kids please offer any advice you can. I’m all ears!

          1. Hi Kim,

            Can you add the FB group name? This post has described my son’s situation and I’m definitely looking to begin homeschooling my special needs son. He’s not grasping the concepts and just going with the motions.

    1. I am glad to see so many other people fighting common core …. I was an education major and changed majors for this specific reason

    2. To Jorene,

      My son sites every sign there is of aspergers but through every test, specialist and anyone we have seen he had not been diagnosed. I’m going through the same fighting common core and preparing to move out of California to have more freedom and rights home schooling my son who is now 6. He was born with asthma and hospitalized every other month until age 3, so he is very much delayed and it’s been a constant struggle working on getting him caught up. To make matters worse his behavior has forced me to change schools over the years. His current school has reported me to child protective services twice now despite everything I am doing to give him every opportunity possible. They are also trying to get him out of their school because no one can control him. I’m a single mother with little to no family willing to help and I’m scared for the safety of my son. I desperately need to get him to a better place and believe home schooling would be a good start but I’m at a loss of how I am going to make this work under the circumstances. I’d love to talk more with you. I appreciate everyone’s comments and posts, they have been a tremendous help.

      For Kim, I am anti social media, for lack of better words. Can you recommend any other contact method for your Facebook group?

      1. There isn’t another way into the group without Facebook. However, I am working on setting up a forum that anyone would be able to access. Stay tuned!

        1. I would also love a way to connect with this group apart from social media. I am so encouraged to see that there are so many others who are displaying their amazing love for their children in this way. Homeschooling is a wonderful gift from God! I look forward to future interactions with this group!

      2. Hi Camille,

        I’ve gone through a very similar situation as you with my sons. I’m currently homeschooling 1 of them (11 yrs old) who had ADHD and he shows all the signs of Aspergers. I’m using a free online homeschooling program called Easy Peasy. It’s super simple to follow but is also challenging and covers every subject. If you’d like to talk some more about it you can send me an email at missnikihAT Gmail.com

  3. Been looking for help for a while now. Not only teaching my children but also with work. Hope I found the right place.

  4. I am so encouraged by this post knowing that I’m not the only single mom who home schools and that it IS possible!!! You have no idea how much I needed some encouragement in this area. As soon as I decided to divorce my abusive husband, everyone automatically assumed I’d put the kids in daycare/public school….but homeschooling is now more important to me than ever!!

      1. Please I’m in this same situation and would really like to leave. Pregnant, 3 little ones and one on the spectrum. Please provide any advice you can. I’d like to still stay home and homeschool and I know it’s needed for my ASD son. I have a 4 year degree but I’m not very creative. Please prayer and any advice on how I could survive

  5. I was so encouraged rght at the begiinning of this post when you said
    “So how does a single mom afford to homeschool? Sweet friend, by the grace of God, if you desire to homeschool- it can be done! God never calls us to something and leaves us stranded. Trust Him to provide for all of your needs: financially, logistically, and educationally.”

    That is exactly what i needed to here. I am always telling myself that same thing, having to block out any thoughts that would make t seem impossible.

    I had been homeschooling for 5 yrs and then my 4 kids and I had to move in with my parents do to some unforseen incidences. I went to work a year later at a preschool and then i was a paraprofessional this past year.i don’t work in the summer. it would cost too much for camp and daycare. i had to put my kids in school. at least it was private and scholarship paid (most of it). Yet i still don’t make enough on one income and able to be flexible for family needs.
    Don’t get me wrong, i love my parents, but MY family wants to be our OWN famly again. I only have to take a few professional exams to get my teacher certificatiion. I have been applying to virtual teaching positions but have no idea where i am in the pool.
    I keep praying to God to show me if this s really what i am supposed to do. I am not opposed to doing something different than what I thought … if it is HIs way and it enables us to homeschool and have our home and be happy , i am all for it. There are so many jobs out there i am sure i don’t even know about.
    I know there is a job that will make it possible. I know i can live on $30,000 a year. That is all I ask for if that is all we need to be on own. Thanks for the encouragement.

    1. Jennifer, I would urge you to try selling used books on Amazon and also finding high-value items at local thrift shops and garage sales. I live outside of Houston and have access to a thrift shop donation site (where donations are dropped off and before they get sent to the actual thrift shop floor) that has too many donations to fit in the store. As an example, I have bought books there for $5/box (I get to handpick which books I want to put in the box) and sold a single book for $400. This is a rare occurance; however, it is not rare to sell a book for $100, as I have numerous times. If you have a smartphone, download the app for Amazon and then you can scan the barcode or type in the name of the book to find out what it is currently selling for on Amazon. Regarding high-value items, yesterday afternoon – at this same thrift shop – I bought for $12 an airplane windshield (for a small airplane) new in the box and it appears to be worth at least $500. I will list it on Craigslist initially (meeting the potential buyer inside a local McDonalds for safety purposes) and if that doesn’t work I will list it on Ebay. EBay and Amazon charge fees of approximately 20% fyi. And if you do go the Amazon route, it is best to send MOST but not all of your inventory to their warehouse, as it will sell quicker that way. Keep the heavy/antique/fragile/highest priced/awkward to ship items at your home in a safe place. If you can, figure out a way to buy used college textbooks from students at the end of each semester. Having just spent the last 6 years getting my Bachelors in Business, I know that the textbook store buy-back program offers about $12 for a book that originally cost the student $80-140. Do not waste your time buying books that are selling for less than $20 b/c it isn’t worth your time. You want to make the most money in the least amount of time so that you can spend your most productive time (a precious resource as a single mother) with your children. I would also encourage you to thank the LORD that your ex is not prohibiting you from homeschooling your children. My ex was very vengeful and sued me repeatedly in court until I was forced to put the children in public school and then sued and won custody of them. Be grateful for what you have: your children and freedom to do as the LORD guides you. Have a blessed day.

      1. Hi. I’m a single mom also looking into homeschooling my 11 year old daughter. I have a feeling that my ex will not like the idea. He has stopped paying child support and is trying to gain more time with our daughter. Do you have the name of a good family law attorney in CA?

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  7. Kim, Love your article and attitude! I wanted to ad some suggestions to the discussion. Since housing is usually the biggest expense, and it isn’t always possible or ideal to live with parents or family, I would urge single mothers to look for an outside-the-box house. I have been living in a 4BR/2BA house on a ranch in Texas for the past 4 years paying only $300/month; I am responsible for driving around the perimeter to check for squatters and for reporting anything suspicious to the owners and for mowing my own yard and the yard of the other (empty) house on the property. There are MANY empty houses in the country that would be ideal for a single mother on a tight budget. Oftentimes property owners do not want to go to the hassle of doing background checks and getting bad renters. If YOU find them and introduce yourself to them (at church, for instance) and they see you are a normal family with no drugs/drinking/criminal behaviors), they are going to be more open to renting a house to you. The LORD blessed me this very way. Another possibility is to look at a website for help needed on a ranch or farm (such as ranchwork.com) where you get free living quarters in exchange for part-time cooking or other ranch duties. As a word of caution, I would suggest that you speak with the wife/female partner instead of the husband/male just to keep things straight and on the up-and-up. Back to the suggestion about finding a cheap house in the country…you will have more options if you look in a non-congested area like rural Texas vs. crowded east coast or west coast or a geographic area with a bad economy. ALSO, I almost forgot to mention…there is a federal program that fixes up old houses that are in basicaly decent condition. It is called the Federal Weatherization Program and is often difficult to find. on the web or otherwise. My dad told me about it b/c they had repaird a bad roof for one of his widowed aunts in Illinois for FREE. I tracked down the program in my area (Coupland, Texas) and filled out the paperwork and -even though the house owners were wealthy and refused to contribute anything to the repairs – they caulked the cracks between the wainscotting, replaced about a dozen old leaky windows, bought a new energy efficient refrigerator, replaced all the light bulbs with energy efficient coil bulbs, and added a lot of insulation in the attic …all for FREE. This can help you and your children live more comfortably in an old cheap rent house and save on your utility bills. May all you homeschooling mothers be blessed with the energy and courage to keep up the good fight for your family.

    1. Sandra, I would love to get more information about the thrift store and the living arrangements. I live in Houston as well, so this sounds perfect.

  8. Ladies! ! Please please please check out allinonehomeschool.com ! ! It’s a free complete curriculum for ALL GRADES! ! I would’ve def homeschooled while I was single if I’d known about it! ! We use it now! !

  9. I’m homeschooling two beautiful kids living with my mom. School was never an option for me. I have an ebay business, which is tough sometimes but working out well enough, and I also take on writing jobs at times. My mom creates things which she sells online, and I also watch another set of homeschooled kids a few days a week as their mom is a nurse working 12 hour shifts. Those kids will bring “homework” and mine can do theirs as well as have some companions other then each other. We have one cell phone among us, no TV and one computer which is also the stereo and TV. No Netflix subscriptions or the like just what is on youtube and official websites. One car. My daughters Loretta (5) and Roxanne (7) wear only used or discount clothes and my mom and I generally don’t buy clothes because we have enough. The kids do NOT have any toys and gadgets, but they have an imagination and library cards. We cut our hair at home. I have two pairs of shoes. Sneakers and good cowboy boots, which are replaced only every two years or so. We never buy anything new. Now I know we are blessed to be in Kentucky, where the cost of living isn’t terribly high but people always seem to wonder “how” we do it and how we could possibly be happy in that little house with one computer, one cell phone and not being able to do things like go on expensive Disney vacations. I guess we are “poor” but we are so blessed to have all this time together. Ever since I was really young, say 12, everything within me protested the dreaded 9 to 5 office job. It seemed boring, and pointless and taking me away from things that really matter. I never NEVER wanted to have a lot of “things”, I just wanted time to think, to read, to write. My kids might not ever get Disneyworld or Hawaii, but they get me and they get the freedom to be who they are, and the gift of learning how to budget and think outside the box. They can still go to Disney or Hawaii at 30, but never again do they get to be 7 and 5 and free in a way an adult cannot be. Homeschooling, so far, has cost me less then public school would. Parents spend $100 or so on back to school supplies and that doesn’t include the field trips etc. Me, I can get whatever book or pencil that is for sale and we print 95% of our worksheets. We do a lot of real world schooling. When we go shopping, my oldest helps me figure out how much we can spend. Everyone adds to our shopping list. Both girls help pack and address packages for our ebay business. I’m so much happier then I could ever be making a “decent” living. But what has always been a dream of mine is to be able to live on a farm and make THAT our family business. Sometimes I do feel the urge to travel, or to have something that others have, but then I remember the prize they pay for it. I will keep on fighting and keep on doing this. Even if we ended up homeless, I would find a way to homeschool because with the damage school has done to me, this is everything. Homeschooling THEM has helped me heal. If you want it bad enough there is a way most of the time.

  10. Yes it would be much easier to afford homeschooling if you could depend on two incomes, but most homeschooling families survive on a single income. You have made some really good points here. This wonderful advice for all single moms who are looking to choose homeschooling for their kids. Thanks!

  11. I have been a single parent for 10 years. I started homeschooling in 2009 and began the adventure of teaching music after nearly killing myself trying to do something I did not enjoy, which was being a CNA in a nursing home. I do not have a bachelor’s degree but I do have experience as a performer and missionary teacher and I love teaching children so it has worked out really well. Music instruction is very profitable and there are multiple independent home school study charter schools out there that would be glad for another music teacher vendor to sign up with them. Music instruction pays $30/half hour and you just have them agree to pay a flat rate per month just like their telephone bill of $120/mo. Many music stores will let an instructor teach for free just for the advertising. I have been able to squeak by teaching a handful of students while cleaning house and reselling used clothing, shoes, and books online, and being an office secretary. I like doing a variety of things but teaching really turns my crank. Don’t try to be a square peg in a round hole. Pray that God will lead you to a job that will make you feel rewarded, something you do well and enjoy, and then your children will be happy, because it is spilling over. Living on one income means learning to lean on Christ, your heavenly Husband, who takes care of everything and in the best way possible. Yes, don’t feel bad about asking for help. Sometimes people who are stingy will say not now. There are people who are generous and will help out when there is no other possible way and without being asked. I am glad I found this support group. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to encourage us!

  12. I just pulled my kindergartner out of a private school and started homeschooling her. I work full time and pay most of the bills on my one income. I am not single yet, but probably soon will be. I am an older mom, so that helps with money. I found the McGuffey Readers online for free. I was looking for a phonics based reading program because I could tell that my child’s former school was teaching her whole language. I was able to get the rest of the Math Workbooks from the private school that she was in (because I paid the non-refundable instructional fee). I am basically winging the rest. I pulled the state standards off the website and look for things online to print. I make up word lists everyday and sentences for her to read. I make up math problems. I have only bought kindergarten writing paper and math manipulative blocks. We use foam letters for spelling. I get in an hour of instruction daily (math, spelling, reading). We do the extras like science and social studies on the weekends. I give my child homework daily to do at her home daycare provider (I don’t know what I would do without her–she is an Angel). I find my life much less stressful after I pulled her out of school. The time that I was using to drive her there is now being used to teach her.

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  15. Kim,

    It was a pleasure to meet you at the single mom lunch at the HEAV convention. I am grateful for your site. How do I find local single mom homeschool support groups where my children can connect with others who are going through the same issues. I find the homeschool community is made up of in tact families and most have been very kind to us. However, I don’t think they fully understand the scope of our life. It’s difficult to do things with friends when my kids have to leave for dad’s. I long for at least one mom who gets it.

  16. Are you able to share the Facebook group that you mentioned for single homeschooling moms? Would love to join and make connections with others!

  17. I’m a working single mom who just started homeschool this year. Since my child was in kindergarten they received the step up scholarship which covered everything including books. It was a blessing!! But unfortunately it doesn’t cover homeschool. So I’ve bought a few books for cirriculum that I found used online. But I feel overwhelmed as we still need a few more subjects and my child is hoping to have a few more interesting books to read and we also need maps and some other supplies.
    My income just barely pays our bills and I don’t receive government assistance. Do you happen to know of any grants that help single moms purchase homeschool cirriculum or supplies? I’m researching it but would really love and appreciate any resources any other moms may know of 🙂 my child loves to learn and loves to read and is thriving incredibly in homeschool. 🙂 They are such a blessing to me. 🙂 I understand many use the library resources for additional materials but we don’t have transportation so thats not a feasible option for us.

  18. It’s a blessing to see women like yourself overcome adversity with your back against the wall! Very inspirational, I will have to bookmark and share this with my wife.

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