Homeschool Parent Commitment
Homeschool parent commitment is realistically evaluating long term commitment. Many parents do not take into account that commitment levels can eventually change. Some may overestimate their commitment in the beginning. Some may experience additional unexpected responsibilities or distractions later. Probably the most important point is the parent that overestimates commitment will suffer burnout and/or the quality of homeschooling will deteriorate. It is wise to allow some cushion for estimating parent involvement. One way to have cushion is to use a program that offers some level of extra support.
It is important to accurately estimate homeschool parent commitment for both time and energy, so the parent knows what type of homeschool method to choose. Here are some good questions to ask oneself. How much time can I devote to homeschooling each day? How much of that time do I expect to also do additional tasks? For example, do you think you will also try to do some cleaning, cooking, laundry, answering phone, or computer/device usage? Have I considered the supervision responsibilities after their schoolwork is finished? If other tasks are expected to be accomplished while homeschooling, then a distance learning program or online school might be considered. Since many of these programs offer different support options, you need to decide if you need their higher support to free you up even more. If you plan to give undivided attention toward homeschooling for 4-5 hours, then you have more options to choose from. For example, be able to choose from lower-costing curriculum-only, slightly higher-costing online curriculum that covers some records and some scoring, or a higher-costing online school that provides complete scoring and record-keeping and academic help when needed. For help understanding different homeschool methods, see Practical Homeschooling.
There are many benefits to homeschooling, but parent self-discipline is normally required for success. Even if you use a homeschool program with many services, parents are the key to success. Parents need to monitor the school start and stop times, student environment, progress, and potential student frustrations. Parents must consistently motivate and encourage. Even when the student appears to be doing well, parents must be regularly involved. Remember the student still needs supervised when done with schoolwork.
Read Common Homeschool Barriers to Success. A family discussion at some point is usually required to introduce the idea to children. Some options and benefits should be researched first to prepare for the discussion.