work and homeschool?

I’m not knowledgeable on that. But has she considered other types of employment? Does she HAVE to keep teaching? I would say for them to sit down and do the following:

1. Look at every possible way they can cut back (cheaper insurance, cell phone plan, cheaper sattelite/ditch satellite, less eating out, sell a fancier car and get a smaller one etc…)

2. Figure out what the minimum is they need to live on, allowing for sinking funds, education & retirement savings etc…  Also, figure out what the cost would be if she wasn’t working, or had a small enough income that DH was able to claim her as a dependent. Often you end up with a larger tax return, increased monthly child benefits etc… Her husband could also look at adjusting his tax withholdings from his pay check, to create more monthly income.

3. If she carries the health plan, then that is a bit trickier, but can her husband get coverage where he is?

Then, find a job to meet that. There are many legit at-home telemarketing jobs, which maybe not enjoyable, allow flexible work hours and offer health benefits depending on how many hours you work.

Waitressing can also be a good source of income, because the gravy is in the tips. Also, again you can work flexible hours, perhaps working a couple evenings a week plus a day on the weekend. I know here, waitressing at a restaurant just 15-18 hours a week, can easily bring in $1000 a month, and that’s using a fairly modest estimate for nightly tips.

My son occasionally takes classes here:

http://vlacs.org/about-vlacs/employment/

We took a two-year detour through an online public charter school, Ohio Virtual Academy, several years ago.  They hire teachers who work from home, and of those teachers who had school-aged children, some enrolled them in OHVA and some traditionally homeschooled theirs while working from home.

OHVA was affiliated with the K-12 company, utilizing their curriculum and books.  There were several schools in various states that work through K-12, so she could start by Googling K-12.  Probably other online public charter schools in her area will come up as well, and she could look into those.  Also, she might check with her local library system to see if they are hiring anyone to teach certain programs through the library.

Additionally, here in Ohio (as in some other states), when we send in our notification of intent to homeschool for an academic year, we have the option of submitting a letter of evaluation signed by a certified teacher who has reviewed a portfolio of a homeschooled child’s work. We pay the teacher who reviews the portfolio for doing that, and the cost varies as it is set by the teacher herself.  We have seen teachers charge as little as $15 (because she was a family friend) and as much as $50 per child.  Reviews don’t take long, maybe 15-30 minutes each, and the teacher makes some decent money from late May through early September doing these, so that might be an option for her if that is done in her home state.