Here are the ways that I have supported my son and myself. If you would like for me to give you more detail, just let me know. I'm always happy to help a single parent since I know first hand how difficult it is to raise and support a child all alone and homeschool that cild too.

When my son was little(newborn - 3yo), I did ceramics and sold them at Craft Malls and Craft Shows. A expanded into other kinds of crafts too. I'm very artistic so I would make crafts that I could paint on. I loved painting roses. So I started out with just ceramics, then I added wood crafts, then I got into painting T-shirts and matching leggings, shorts, visors, caps, socks, shoes, etc.

As my son got older(4yo-9yo), crafts took too much of my time away from playing with my son and homeschooling so I got into raising "pets" and delivering them to the pet stores. Now this is really a money making business. You just wouldn't believe the percentage of proffit in this business. I started out raising just mice. (There is a huge demand for mice and rats because so many people have reptiles for pets now.) It didn't take me long to figure out that if I was going to deliver mice to the pet stores, that I might as well be raising and delivering all of the other "little" animals that they sell. So I started raising rats, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, guineas, dwarf hamsters, and ferrets along with the mice I was already raising. I also would buy and re-sale iguanas, baby non-poisonous snakes, geckos, frogs, and all kinds of lizards. Now this is an easy business to get into because it takes very little overhead. You just need to find some buyers and get started. I can help you find buyers if you decide to do this.

Next, I decided to get back into raising dogs. My son was getting older and a couple of the pet stores were closing. So instead of getting more stores to cover the ones that closed, I decided to raise dogs again. This is what I do now. I have raised dogs on a small scale all of my life. So I just expanded it. I did some research and found out which were the most popular dogs and I slowly started enlarging my dog population. This is not nearly as easy as raising all of the "little" pets, but we enjoy it and I hope to soon have enough dogs that I can hire someone to do the dirty work so my son and I can have more time to have fun.

-- Jodie in TX (stanchnmotion@yahoo.com), April 19, 2002

Answers

I have used many ways to generate home based income. Some of them were: pine cone Chrstmas ornaments, decoration day potted plants and flowers, selling coins, seedling starts, yard sales and flea market sales, thesis research , resume and contract writing and article writing.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 20, 2002.

Jody thank you so much for taking the time to type all of your enterprises. You sure have done a lot and it sounds like it really has worked for you.

I know in our house we would get into trouble if we started to breed and raise little critters, none of them would ever leave this house! LOL Also with the breeding of the dogs I couldn't do it in good faith. Having been a humane agent. There are just too many dogs and cats already in the world. Right now the local Humane Society is overflowing with puppies. I'm not condening you for what you did or do for your family. I am sure you are very responsible. But here, anyway, there are too many irresponsible people. Personally, I would rather be part of the solution not the problem. If I lived closer to the city it might be a different story.

I've thought of breeding goats but too many firends end up with a bunch of babies they can't give away. Eggs and chicks may be one of the ways to go. I always have the asparagus too.

You got my mind turning and for that I am thankful to you.

Susan

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), April 20, 2002.