I have a coworker who is a single mom with 2 part-time jobs. She’s also home schooling her 14-year-old.
My question is: What happens when the kid’s classes go beyone my friend’s knowledge? She ran a restaurant so she knows a lot of general material but what happens when she hits higher math or science? I realize that her books have the answer keys in them but there’s a difference between parroting the answers in the book and actually comprehending the material.
Any ideas?
She might just learn right along with her kids. As long as they pass the required state test no one will care.
There are a lot of different home school plans. My daughter has home schooled for the past two years. She and I meet with her teacher/lesson planner every two weeks, and if there’s something I don’t understand in the upcoming lessons, she goes over it with me until I do, and I feel comfortable explaining it to my daughter.
Remember high school? Enough real teachers don’t know much beyond the teaching manual for this not to be such an enormous problem. Of course, this kid’ll never have that enriching experience of having a particularly inspiring English teacher, or a favourite history teacher who provides his students with ghastly but true details of certain ancient civilations, etc. Could be worse. Could be better.
Let’s not forget the networks of home schooling parents living in the same cities/online message boards/chat rooms who pool their resources and provide unique learning experiences for their students.
There are lots of lesson plans developed by and for, and marketed to, home schoolers that adhere to various state education guidelines.
If it benifits both the mother and the child, so much the better. 
With my 13 year old daughter we teach science, history, art, social, computers (IT, hardware and software), and research at home. She takes afternoon classes at a regular school - math and “home-ec”.
Math is the only class in her school that stayed in her level. She passed all the others.
Most public schools allow home school children to attend one or several classes. We just sent a letter to the school that they were fine with it.
She had to go back for home-ec? Was there equipement required that couldn’t be provided at home? Not trying to be a smart-ass mind you . . . just would like to know. 
I suggest that the parent learn along with the student (maybe study up the night before.) My Mom was able to do this for all my subjects until calculus, which I took at the local community college.
I know, it might sound silly considering that’s something that would be easy to teach at home. My main reason to keep her in that class is social.
You learn reading, writing, etc in school,. but you also learn social skills.
Well, that and I like when she brings me cookies.