I’m a single mom with two elementary school-aged girls. The hardest part of single parenthood right now is trying to fit in dinner, homework, play time, showers, and family time from 5pm (the earliest that I get home in the evenings) and 9pm (the latest the girls go to bed during the week). When I only had one child in school, it seemed easier to manage, for some reason. Now that both my daughters are in school and have homework, I’m still struggling with this 6 months into the school year.

I’ve long thought it would be helpful for our schedule if the girls could get started on their homework when they get home from school, but before I get home from work. Then I could just review the work with them when I get home. It would require them to work on it on their own, before turning to me for assistance. I think it would foster a bit of independence. But, I also don’t want to leave with no place to turn. If they could access tutors online, I think it would be beneficial. I don’t want the tutors to do my job as a parent, but to have a 3rd party available would be nice. Sometimes all it takes is another perspective for the child to start to understand what the lesson is all about. And since I wouldn’t be home when they start their homework, they wouldn’t be left waiting for me. As the parent I could pay the online tuition and a tutor would be available to assist my child.

Although the homework issue could potentially be resolved, dinner still has to be made. Do you think on my income I could find someone to take care of that for me as well? Sigh…