Homeschooling while WOH part time?

[akayerich]

Homeschool is something DH and I both think would be great for our son. But there's probably no way I could completely stop working. I usually do 3 days a week at my WOH job. Just wondering if there are any WOHMs here who homeschool?

[justthinkn]

Bumping this up Curious to hear replies, too!

[earthmama369]

I don't have a single job that takes me out of the house several days a week, so my experience may not apply, but I do WOHM and WAHM part-time while homeschooling and it's been working out well so far.

I have one teaching job that requires me to find childcare once a week during the day. The kids go to my sister and have a very active morning with her while I teach intermediate French (and sometimes Intro to Psych) to homeschooled teens at a local co-op. I have one tutoring job once a week in the evening where dh takes on solo duty while I go to their house for a few hours.

I run two part-time businesses out of my home that I often do with the kids or around their schedule. Sometimes I need to have meetings, go to trade shows or other events, etc., and dh takes the kids then, as well. If he can't, I arrange childcare with my sister or my parents. It definitely helps to have a local support system and family that I can trust close by. I'd be in a crunch otherwise.

The rest I do with the kids in tow -- I teach a couple classes for younger kids that mine also attend. They also have come to some meetings with me, on supply runs, etc. When they have activities where I don't need to participate with them, I bring work with me and sit on the side with that while I watch them. I consider the exposure to their mother running a small business to be part of their education, on several levels.

Philosophically, we generally unschool -- we provide exposure to different activities and experiences and pay attention to what they're interested in. This makes for a fairly busy activity schedule, but also a flexible one, and we try to work together to make sure everyone's getting what they need in balance with the rest of the family. Right now dd (5) has piano and drama classes once a week, ds (3) has occupational therapy twice a week, and they both have swimming and a day of homeschool co-op classes once a week. DH works a standard M-F 9-5, but he's trying out a schedule where he works at home twice a week, giving him a little more flexibility on his hours and the option of hanging with the kids while I do some work independently. Somehow it all comes together.

[EviesMom]

Right now I WOH 2 days a week and some nights. I work for DH and freelance though, so I have some flexibility. One day DH watches the kids and the other I have a sitter. At the beginning of the year, I was doing 3 days a week, 2 weekdays with a sitter and one weekend. You can homeschool 1 weekend day and the 2 weekdays you don't work and have plenty of time for any curriculum you choose for lower grades IMO. We just finished K. We'll have 3 days a week of lessons and 1 of field trip for 1st grade next year, even though I'll be a SAHM. It can definitely be done!

[phathui5]

I'm a doula, and homeschool our children. Lately, I've just been out in the evenings, for meetings or networking, but I do have childcare lined up for when I'm attending a birth.

[rsps]

I work 20 hours a week over three days at the library. It works well for us, but my husbands schedule is such that he is almost always able to be home when I am at work, and he does some of the schooling as well.

Once you connect with other homeschool families, you might be able to work out child-care swap while you're working.

[sschott]

I work as a director of music at my church. It is nearly full-time. Sometimes more than full-time, at the busiest parts of the church year!

I work in the office three days a week. My two-year-old goes to a wonderful daycare/preschool that is two minutes from church, and my nearly 7 year-old comes to the office with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays, my husband is able to work 3-4 hours and then be home with the kids the rest of the day. The rest of my hours are evening rehearsals and weekend services, with some work done from home as well.

It works great, and everyone has been supportive so far. It is a PAIN when I have to take both kiddos to work; a two-year-old in the office is not at all helpful or conducive to getting things done! I plan to have her continue at the daycare/preschool until she's about 5, and then she can come to work with me, too. At least I hope so.

I feel pretty constantly stressed. I am trying to work on not "working" when I'm home, and not worrying about the kids or home when I'm at the office. Homeschooling has been so worth it (this is our first year), and I hope to continue to get a little better at parceling out my time. In general, I'm happy that I get to be with my kids as much as I am. There's no way we could afford for me to quit my job, so this is the best I can do now.

[midwestmom]

I work part-time outside of home. I work a 12 h shift on Fridays and have a sitter until my DH gets home. Occasionally I will pick up a weekend day or two. DH is here then. I homeschool 4 kids (all still youngish). There are stressful times but we make it work. Being organized is key for us.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

We both work FT outside of the home (and I work PT at home on a side business) and, until last week, homeschooled two children. DS started school last week but DD is still homeschooling.

Honestly, it takes some juggling. Organization and scheduling were key. For us, the hardest part is childcare - trying to find a daytime sitter for an 8 year old and a diabetic 6 year old isn't easy.

[major_mama11]

We are just getting started, but I WOH 2-4 days per week. The kids are with either my mom (who is very supportive of hs-ing) or w. DH when I work. So far it seems to be working all right, but I really hope to be able to cut my hours back this fall when we start getting more serious about hs-ing.

[William's Mom]

I also work outside the home 20 hours a week or so. We have wonderful and supportive childcare during those hours. We haven't had any issues, and homeschooling is going beautifully. It can be done!

[2xy]

I have been homeschooling for ten years and have WOH for eight of them, waiting tables. I had no experience in the industry, having worked in medical offices for several years. I looked at the restaurant world because it would allow me and my boys' dad to work opposing shifts so childcare wouldn't be necessary.

I also managed to WOH and continue homeschooling through a divorce.

[ebethmom]

I have several part-time jobs that I string together. My slowest week has me out of the house 28 hours. During my busiest week I'm gone from noon to midnight for five workdays.

My dh does most of his work from home. When our work hours overlap, we had a sitter for about 3 hours/week. She just found a job with more hours, so for now our kids are going to two meetings/week with dh. They usually take the laptop and watch a movie during the meeting.

The team-tag approach is good for our kids, and kind of rough on our marriage. Life was very stressful when dh also WOH. There were many days that I would have the car loaded with my work stuff, watching my kids through the door so I could dash off as soon as dh pulled in.

[dawningmama]

I'm homeschooling 3 kids (7th, 5th and 3rd grades) while WOH 18 hours (6hrs, 3 nights) a week. I'm fortunate to have a good job that allowed me to make that schedule so that I can work when dp is home. I do the majority of the teaching, although dp does do some lessons here and there. Definitely doable.

[Citymomx3]

After being a SAHM for 12 years I started working p/t for the cable company (sales) while homeschooling 2 kids. It's been 4 years now. I love it and would never give it up. I work 5 evenings per week (5:30pm-9:30pm). It fits perfectly into our homeschooling days, meshes well with dh's schedule, I have plenty of time to be with the kids and dh, and it will still be great come autumn when I'll have 2 dds in school and ds at home. Oh, and the money is great, too.

[akayerich]

Thanks for the responses. I'm happy to hear that it can be done, and is being done. I've been thinking that we will probably be pretty unschool-ish in our style, so I figure without the need for a formal schedule, we will get plenty of real-world learning done in my off hours. My schedule is such that I'll be working either 7am-3pm or 3pm-11pm, so even on WOH days, I'll either have the morning or the evening with DS. I'm hoping that by the time DS is of school age, we'll have some major debt paid off and I'll be able to drop down to just 2 days/week WOH. One of those days will be DH's off day, the other we'll use our babysitters (we have 3 really fantastic ones).

Anyway, I guess I've got plenty of time to figure it all out- DS is only 15 months right now!

[punkrawkmama27]

I go to school and homeschool. I have to take night classes, so dh can watch the kids. It is doable. I am planning to work pt once I am finished with school and still homeschool, too. It can be a lot of work, but it is worth it!