working and homeschooling?

[naturegirl]

Anyone working and homeschooling? Currently my dh and I alternated days at the office so one of us is always home. We are looking to change this so we both will be at the office at least 2 days a week together. How the heck do you homeschool with both parents at the office 2 days a week? We are looking at having a nanny for the kids (will be 6 and 2) on the days we are working, probably in the basement living space in the office...

Advice?

[Jeannettea]

I work part-time, and my Gramma stays with the kids (10 & 3).

I work fairly early in the a.m. 2x - 3x a week, and so the 3yo usually sleeps most of that time I'm away.

Gramma wakes up 10yo dd and has her get ready for the day, and I try to leave work she can complete herself on the table for her to do while I'm gone (things like her journal writing, a multiplication 100 facts drill sheet, whichever book she's currently reading w/ a note to read it for at least 30 minutes, some art materials, etc.).

This doesn't take the place of the hs'ing we regularly do when I'm home, but it is always related to the unit study we're doing, and it helps her focus on her studies so that when I get home she's ready to move on to the rest of the work.

Hope this helps!

[Airmid03]

We're planning to start hs in the fall - dd1 would be in 1st grade. We both work full time and have two days we're both at work. Right now, my MIL watches the kids. I don't plan to have MIL do any school work with them other than maybe reading. Their "weekend" will be more or less the days with MIL.

[ebethmom]

We team tag. On a slow week, I'm gone from noon - 8:00, three days a week. At least one week a month, I'm gone noon - midnight, five days in a row. Dh works at home in the mornings. He has meetings two evenings a week, and then church services on Sundays. We fit everything together, puzzle style. We hire a sitter when our hours overlap.

We do most of our school work in the mornings. If it takes longer, dh finishes up with the kids in the afternoons.

I have friends who do hire people to school their kids on the days that both parents work (two days/week).

Our biggest challenges come when dh has unexpected work duties that conflict with my work. It's really hard to find occasional childcare during the day.

[mommariffic]

I work part part time from home as a freelance writer - it's perfect because I'm here, but with a baby on the way and a 2 year old DD it's hard because she can't really amuse herself while I spend a few hours writing.

Right now we have a fantastic babysitter 3 mornings a week, and she does activities and free play with DD while I write upstairs. Once the baby is born I will continue this until both are able to do work themselves for a few hours while I work.

[natashaccat]

Dh and I work alternate shifts. It can definitely be done, it helps to be super organized and to have a very clear plan on who does what around the house and how to divide up the material that you are going to cover.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

I work a flexible schedule and we do school on off-hours. It takes a little scheduling to get it worked out, but once you get the details worked out, it becomes rather easy

We have a kidsitter for 2 1/2 days a week and my mom watches them 1 day a week, the rest of the time they are with one of us.

[Citymomx3]

Dh works 9am-5pm (Sat/Sun off) and I work 5:30pm-9:30pm (Tue/Fri off). It works great. We just switch off in the evening. It's better for us having alternate shifts.

[mrsfrenchy]

Since we may be attempting to do this at some point (hopefully with me working FT and DH working PT), I have a question. For those of you working alternate shifts, how does this affect your relationship with your partner? Do you feel like you have enough time together (both as a couple and as an entire family)?

[naturegirl]

Thank you all for your replies! It sure helps knowing that there are families out there making it work. I have been very conflicted as to what to do and how to do it. My major problem is organization. I am not very good at it.

I guess that is something I just need to get good at for my family. Looks like I have my New Years resolution for 2010.

I have one more question...does anyone have a situation where they can take their kids to work with them and do homeschooling?

[Citymomx3]

Originally Posted by mrsfrenchy

Since we may be attempting to do this at some point (hopefully with me working FT and DH working PT), I have a question. For those of you working alternate shifts, how does this affect your relationship with your partner? Do you feel like you have enough time together (both as a couple and as an entire family)?

I'm with dh plenty. We have all day together on the weekends (up to about 5pm), whole evenings together on Tues and Fri, and always after 10pm. We shoot for the best quality time together - alone and with the kids. We try and do lots of stuff together like, go to restaurants, movies, museums, the park, festivals, eating at the table together, household chores, family crafts, etc. We're also trying to do a monthly or bi-monthly "date night" for just the 2 of us. We also call each other on the phone about 100 times a day.

I've always been a true believer of "absence makes the heart grow fonder". I can honestly say that after almost 17 years of marriage, I still get giddy at the thought of date night.

[sschott]

I homeschool my son (6), and have a 2YO daughter as well. I work full-time as a director of music at a church, and this is how we are able to do it:

Mondays and Fridays are my "days off". Well, that's kind of a joke, but they are at least my days to be at home, even if I am working on church stuff then.

Tuesdays and Thursdays my daughter goes to a daycare that is at another church about 2 minutes away from mine. DS comes with me to work and he does some school work and plays with his building sets (without his little sister to destroy his creations!). On Wednesdays, my husband works half a day, and stays home with the kiddos in the afternoon. He brings them to church for evening rehearsals, and usually brings me dinner, too.


We try to do math every day, and then I do SOTW at night before bed. I fit the other subjects in on Mondays, Wednesday mornings, and Fridays.

This works because so much of my job is done on weekends and evenings. Driving DS to school and following the school's schedule last year for Kindergarten drove me crazy. My job is so wrapped up in the church's schedule ... adding the school into the mix was awful.

The schedule is a little stressful, but in general we LOVE how it is working out. Our current pastor has been very supportive (we are not a denomination that is necessarily encouraging HSing ... not discouraging it, but not really on the radar), so if our next pastor is not supportive, I may have to figure out a different plan. But I'm committed to making this work, because I don't want to send my kids back to the public schools.

Sara

[Airmid03]

Originally Posted by naturegirl

does anyone have a situation where they can take their kids to work with them and do homeschooling?

Well, I can telecommute, and do so routinely twice a week. I tend to do project work with deadlines weeks to months out and have a lot of flexibility. If I have to take 20 minutes here and there to give attention to the kids, I can make up the time elsewhere - like once dh gets home, when the kids are in bed, or work longer the next day. But there's always the chance that something will pop up that needs my immediate attention and I reserve some DVDs for that.

[Airmid03]

Originally Posted by mrsfrenchy

Since we may be attempting to do this at some point (hopefully with me working FT and DH working PT), I have a question. For those of you working alternate shifts, how does this affect your relationship with your partner? Do you feel like you have enough time together (both as a couple and as an entire family)?

We both work 1st shift. Dh does 4 10's, weekends and two days during the week. I have a more traditional 9-5 type of job M-F. We don't have any whole days together as a family, and that's tough. There's a lot of events on the weekends that DH misses out on. But we do have the entire evening together every day. DH used to work 2nd/3rd shift (before kids) and that was much worse. Even if we were both home, one of us sleeping and DH still missed most weekend events because he needed to sleep.

[rcr]

We plan to HS and work. I plan to stay home with DS one day a week, DH will stay home one day a week, and the other 3 days we will both work at the same time (DH working 9-6, and me working aroung 10-3-ish). We plan to hire a babysitter for the times when we are both working. I am not sure how it will all turn out, but we are going to give it a shot.

[MiGeomom]

I work ~ 30 hours a week. Mondays, I'm at the office, the kids (12 & 8) are at another homeschooling family's house. Tuesday, I'm home with them--telecommuting and working with them. Wednesday's Dad is home in the morning while I'm in the office, we switch off for the afternoon. Thursday I'm in the office while they attend homeschooling classes (drop-off program). Fridays I'm home, working a little.

I struggle with getting enough school work done--but this is mostly a motivation problem for me, not a time-crunch problem. It is much easier now that they are more independent. They attended school for 1.5 years after I had to start working again. I found it much harder to deal with that schedule than our current one.