If you homeschool and do childcare

[ikesmom]

Do you charge more? I'm specifically asking homeschool mom's because I think you know what actually goes into that kind of care in a homeschool environment.

Do you have activities planned for the other child/ren? Do they just play while you do school work?

Do you take that child to co-ops, classes, ect?

I am going to put a childcare available post in craigslist and I want to get an idea of what others here do?


When I mentioned this to my family they laughed that I would consider bringing more kids into our homeschool schedule. My boys are 10 and 5 years old. I am not feeling overwhelmed or stressed with homeschooling at this time and this will be our 3rd year doing it. We are very active in sports, P.E, scouts, drama, co-ops, library groups and park days. We have 2-3 days a week of activities and we bring our curriculum and an ice cooler of food and drinks along because we have to drive a long distance for most of these things.

Realistically we will opt out of some of our activities since I am sure we will have to adjust to a working parent's schedule, but I really don't want my kids to have to stay home all the time. I don't know if I should say I am looking for a an older toddler since it might be easier or just take whoever responds and try to make it work. I will be providing their child with good experiences and there is also the extra liability of transporting someones elses child.


Can you mama's please share your experience

Thanks!

[TanyaS]

I have three kids ages 9, 6, and 4 and I take care of a 2 year old part time while her mother and father are in school/work. Sometimes it's only 3 days/week while other semesters it is 4 days/week. It works well and she plays while I do school work and sometimes she joins us for coloring/crafts/art. She goes with us to activities and to homeschool co-op without issue. Having her with us is typically not a problem because hs families often have younger siblings at activities. So far it has worked for us.

[onyxravnos]

i did childcare for a boy who was six months younger then my son and i did the same homeschool activities with him. i've also thought to do a preschool-ish childcare thing and maybe charge more money. I also thought that maybe i would charge the same money but include a 'curriculum fee' to cover cost of art supplies / outings / or bought curriculum.

[Sneezykids]

I homeschool my ds and watch a two year old two days a week. I don't charge more than the going rate for childcare. The mom is extremely flexible about where I take her and the little one is easy going as well so it makes it pretty easy for me to do this. HTH!

[zjande]

Well, I no longer do childcare but I did for several years. I had 2 homeschooled kids of my own at the time. My childcare was full, though. I had 8 additional kids full time (& no assistant)! I had zero time to homeschool my own kids. It was awful. It was one of the main reasons I closed. I didn't charge more because I didn't have time to sit down & focus on any kind of homeschooling. We did crafts everyday, though. We never went anywhere because I would have needed a bus.

Perhaps if you have fewer kids, there will be hope for you.

[bass chick]

Originally Posted by zjande

Well, I no longer do childcare but I did for several years. I had 2 homeschooled kids of my own at the time. My childcare was full, though. I had 8 additional kids full time (& no assistant)! I had zero time to homeschool my own kids. It was awful. It was one of the main reasons I closed. I didn't charge more because I didn't have time to sit down & focus on any kind of homeschooling. We did crafts everyday, though. We never went anywhere because I would have needed a bus.

Perhaps if you have fewer kids, there will be hope for you.

This is me right now! I have 9 kids in my dayhome (not all at once, but I have 5-6 pretty consistently from 7:30-5:30 five days a week) and then 2 of my own kids.
I'm finding that I have less time to spend with the dayhome kids and feel like I should be reducing my rate. haha. But we are just trying to settling into a routine that will work and I know the adjustment will take a while (I've had the dayhome for a year but have just started formally homeschooling this year).

I would love to close my dayhome and focus on just my kids, but DH is unemployed and just doing labor whenever he can find a job to do. And when he's not working, he's out galavanting (lol) looking for work.

[Nazsmum]

Well, right now I have a almost 5 yr and almost 2 yr old boys. I take care of a 8 month old boy.

For me it is not so much a big deal at this point. Mostly we free play during most of the day. We are TV free with maybe a video here and there. So he fits in well.

I charge maybe less for my area. I'm doing it as a favor to the dad. We all need some help some times. I would charge the going rate for my area other wise.

It has to work with your family. if it took away from my family I might not do it.

[One_Girl]

I had a hard time finding families who were willing to have a sitter with a child. I watched kids in my home but I had to keep a very low price and wasn't able to be choosy about who I watched. My dd did all of her work in the morning and the kids I watched came in the afternoon and evening so that wasn't a problem. Depending on the day I did have to cut out all of our activities except the park walks. Hopefully you will have better luck.