homeschooling and wohm

[mama2landon]

Can you homeschool a child and work outside the home at the same time? Well, silly question. I know you can, but how does it work? Anybody here do it? What kind of schedule do you have, and what do you do with older children while you are working? Also, is it safe to assume that you can't get any financial help from the government for daycare if your kids are old enough that they are "should be" in school? I know I have a long time before I have to worry about any of this, but I would love to homeschool DS and I'm starting to think about the "how-to" of it all.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

It is possible We're halfway through our 3rd year of homeschooling and we've done a few different schedules along the way. Right now, I'm off 1.5 days during the week and work a weekend. I start later, DH starts earlier. During the overlap of hours (3.5 days a week), we have a kidsitter. We used a daycare until recently but it wasn't easy finding someplace to take a 2nd grader during school hours that wasn't glorified preschool. For kindergarten and 1st grade though, it wasn't an issue for DS or the center. With a kidsitter, it's a moot point. Now, her oldest will be starting kindergarten in the fall so it will be amusing when she sends hers to school while mine are there. My kids will get a kick out of that

Not sure on the financial aspect - we've never received daycare assistance so I'm not sure how it works.

[mrsfrenchy]

I, too, am hoping to somehow work while homeschooling my DDs.
There was a couple of threads recently in the homeschooling forum that you might be interested in. You should look around over there.

[rcr]

I am also planning to HS and wohm full time. DH works from home one day a week, and I can work from home one day a week. The other three days I plan to work from around 11-4 (ish), and send DS to a friend's house (if they are still HS-ing), or find a sitter for the time I am at work. There is a yahoo group called work and homeschool that I was a member of for a while (not anymore). It was very helpful.

[almadianna]

My husband and I both WOH and we homeschool. We do things on weekends, eveninigs and take days off once in a while for special things. We are part of a homeschooling coop so I take half days to take her to those events once in a while, sometimes my husband does, sometimes we dont go to them at all and have our own stuff at home.

The great part about homeschooling is that you do not have to do it between 7 and 3 and you do not have to have the child sit at a desk all day. It is whatever you want to make of it. You can do it while driving to grandma and grandpas, you can do it while waiting for the bus, you can do it while sitting at home after dinner, you can do it WHILE making dinner (my kiddo learned weight and measures while helping mama make cakes), you can do it with a trip to the museum or with a trip to the grocery store... it doesnt matter.

[darcytrue]

I'd post this same question on the homeschool boards. I believe there are some who WOH.

[mama2landon]

Hmmm, I was so caught up in the WOHM aspect that I didn't think of the homeschooling forum. I guess I was thinking this would be the better place to ask about the logistics of working out of the home and having a school-aged child that wasn't actually "in school".

For some reason I always had this idea that I had to be a SAHM to homeschool my son, but the SAHM dream has all but died. I'm glad to see that so many people are able to make WOH and homeschooling work for them- it gives me hope that we will be able to do it, too.

I'm hoping to have my degree finished by the time he is school-age, so I can have a better job and not even have to worry about whether the state will help with child care costs.

Off to check out the homeschooling forum!

[ebethmom]

It's tricky, but possible. My dh and I team-tag. He works from home in the mornings, and I WOH in the afternoons and evenings. We have one evening with conflicts, and we hire a babysitter for that time.

My kids are 8 and 5, so we can get most of our work done before I leave at noon. If we have any left over, my dh works with them in the afternoons.

I would rather be home with them more, but it just hasn't worked out that way yet. I miss having the flexibility to see our homeschooled friends.

Our state doesn't offer any assistance to homeschoolers. I think there are some states that do more.

So far it has worked pretty well for us.