When hard times reached the Schneider household in central Oregon, the longtime stay-at-home mom took action–getting a job at Subway to offset a drop in her husband’s earnings. What she didn’t do was also notable: She didn’t stop homeschooling her three teenage children.
Colleen Schneider works evenings so she’s home for her favored morning teaching hours. The family scrimps–more frozen pizza, less eating out. But an inflexible 9-to-5 job that would force her to quit homeschooling was not an option.
“I would fight tooth and nail to homeschool,” said Schneider, 47, a devout Roman Catholic who wants to convey her values to her children. “I’m making it work because it’s my absolute priority.”
Other families across the country are making similar decisions–college-age children chipping in with their earnings, laid-off fathers sharing teaching duties, mothers taking part-time jobs–with the goal of continuing to homeschool in the face of economic setbacks.
