Is there case law which assigns a salary equivalent, or some other comparable monetary value, to the services provided by a home school Mom? If so, can you please provide the cite?

Background: 10 months ago we were involved in a head on collision resulting in my wife being unable to home school for several months and then when she did return to being able to home school it was at a reduced pace. Her ability to home school was impacted by pain, physical therapy, medication etc.

Our attorney is seeking to determine if there has been a monetary value established for what a home school mother does.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I just saw this article the other day on what moms are worth (IF they got payed). Can you claim money if you don't have a pay check though?
Here's the CNN article titled "Mother's love worth $117,000 per year".

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/05/09/mom.salary.ap/

I'll Pray that the Lord will use this difficult time in your life to His purpose,

Vanessa

Basically we have been told that we can claim compensation for the "lost services" that I perform and the inconvenience of my inability to perform normal tasks, which in our case is homeschooling our children. We need a legitimate method of quantifying this amount. Our hope was that someone out there may have been in a similar situation and could point us toward a legal precedence we can cite.

Thanks for the input. We appreciate it.

Beth

I would use your local public school teacher pay to factor this. You are the teacher so it makes sense that the compensation amount should be to cover your teaching.

To find this go to your local school district website. Usually it is under the employment section and in one of the subareas. I know that they are public knowledge around here (Texas) and most districts want to show what they pay to attract potential teachers. If you can't find it on the website have her call the district offices and ask what the salary for a teacher (with her years of experience--I would say 2 or 3 judging on the ages of your children).

Crystal

Thanks, that is a great suggestion. We will see if that satisfies the lawyers.

Beth

As an alternative to "how much is teacher paid" you can easily establish "how much is tuition worth". It looks like you have two school aged children plus a 4-year-old. Call up some Christian schools in the neighborhood and find out what tuition would be for the two older children. Add in the cost of preschool for the younger child.

It's useful evidence, even if it's not a perfect match.

Thank you Scott. We really appreciate your input.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. We have passed these responses off to our attorney and we will see what she can come up with. We are praying for a fair and just settlement and that it will all be resolved very quickly.

Today I completed 9 months of physical therapy and all though I know it has been beneficial I am still struggling with pain and weakness on my right side. We are praying for complete healing through the hands of God where the hands of man have fallen short. We know He can do it!

Blessings,

Beth

Praying for you. Just caught your message. Something else for lawyer to consider...what it would cost for a private tutor - per hour / per child for the subjects you teach. (Sylvan Learning Center, or such)

I, too, was in an accident that left me rendered not nearly as useful in the children's education. Thankfully, we were in the last 6 weeks of school, and were studying recent history - using workbooks for Language and Math. Other subjects were complete.

I, personally, am still struggling with pain when I spend much time at a desk typing, researching, and so on. I absolutely love teaching my 3 children - but this does affect us in ways that it's hard to imagine. I will continue to pray for you, as your children are so very young. Lord bless you as you continue to heal!