anyone working and home schooling?

[mommy68]

My 8 yr old is home schooled. I need to get a job soon, not sure if it will be part or full-time. I have a sitter for the baby when needed and she is more than willing to watch both children while I work and the job I am "hoping" to get will be during day hours/school hours. Most people don't 'get it' that home schooling is good because you can do it any time of the day, even at night and on weekends. But I fear that people will judge me or look at me as if my daughter is getting the raw end of the deal. :(  I am so afraid I also won't be able to juggle it all.

[heket]

Deep breath.  You know that she's getting the best and that's all that matters. :)

I have worked and mostly homeschooling our children.  They are now 7 and 5.  I've worked 40 hours a week out of the home but am now down to 30 hours.  I won't deny that those 10 extra hours help immensely!  All the same, you work it as you can.  My husband is currently home full time but he was going to school at night the last 2 years.  He helps to make sure some of their work gets done but I'm the "teacher."  We had the luxury of starting with dd during kinder to find our path.  Now with ds at kinder level, we're doing some different things.  But it seems that's part of the nature of homeschooling - try something, if it doesn't work, move onto to something else.

One thing we do is have an unusual schedule.  We're trying out having a school year that goes from January to November.  Along the way we'll have a 2-3 week break in April and August.  Then we're taking off all of December and maybe the first and second week of January.  We do homeschool on weekend if necessary.  I'm trying to be good about getting 30-60 minutes in a couple of days during the week.  The kids also have dance and judo that dh takes them too during the week.  Dance is flexible, so we trade off duties and I'll take them on Saturdays -- mostly so I can see them too.  :)

There is a way.  It won't be easy and you'll just have to resolve yourself to the fact that not many will relate.  However, you know that in the long run it will be worth it and that's all that's important.

[zebra15]

HI!...Yes I've done it and will be working FT again. Ds 10 takes his 'work' to the sitters (we unschool) and it works out just fine. Anything I need to cover with him happens either at night or the weekends.  The hardest thing I had to do was find a sitter willing to take a school aged kid,   DS loves the set up and we are at the age now where he can stay home for a couple hrs alone.  This is based on his temperment and abilities. Not all 10 yr olds can do this.

[T_High]

I work full time (min 40 hours a week) and homeschool  an 8 year old (2nd grade) and 6 year old (Kindergarten). We use a Streaming Video curriculum, just to make sure I am not missing something as this was my first year homeschooling, havent't totally decided on the curriculum for next year . We have school ususally Tues - Sat and start anytime all three are ready (also have a 15 month old daughter) and go until I have to go to work. It is hard, and takes most of your time, but it can be done and at least you know you are doing what is best for your kiddos.

[phathui5]

This is our sixth year homeschooling and I've always had to combine working and homeschooling.

For the first two years that we homeschooled, I was working in the childcare room at the YMCA and was able to bring the kids (then 5, 2 and baby) to work with me.

The next three years, I ran a home childcare and homeschooled my kids while providing childcare for other parents.

For over a year now, I've been working as a birth doula (and am working on getting my CBE certification). The difference is that with it being a job that takes me away from the kids (unlike my other jobs), when we have a sitter come to the house I let her know what the kids (now 10, 7, 5, and 3) need to get done. 

[The Amber Lily]

This is only our first year, as dd is 3, but I work 40 hours a week as well. Over the last 6 months, I have worked it out that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we do 'Preschool' - 45 min to the occasional hour and a half. That schedule has only developed over the last few months. Prior, homeschooling days were much more variable. Depending on the day, our interests and moods, we do a various selection of the following: read books, play games, do puzzles, look at pictures, color, watercolor paint, do crafts, go to the park, and sometimes cooking activities (making that night's supper!).

[ebethmom]

I teach violin/viola three afternoons a week, and play in two orchestras.  One orchestra rehearses about one week a month - every night during the concert week.  The other rehearses mostly on Sundays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  When the evening rehearsals are going, I'm gone from noon - midnight every day that week.  That crazy schedule is one of my motivations to homeschool.  During my "slow" weeks, I'm away from home about 22 hours.  When my busy weeks hit, I'm away about 50 hours.

We're in a routine to get all of our schoolwork completed by noon.  Even on my days off, my kids like to be finished with school early in the day.  My kids are 9 and 6, and so far that morning schedule is working well.  My dh makes my juggling easier.  He works from home mostly, so he is with our kids when I'm at work.  He's also home (mostly) when I need to get ready to go to work, so the kids can go to him when they need something.  Last year, if ds didn't finish his work with me, dh would help him finish it.  They don't always work well together, so ds is careful to finish his work while I'm still home now.

With both kids, it took them about a year to settle into a school schedule.  Once your schedule changes for work, you should give yourself plenty of adjustment time.  Homeschooling and working is tricky, but it can be done. 

[Lakeeffectsnow]

I work and we have five kids.  I just returned to work last month after having a new baby in December.  My husband usually works 3-11 Monday through Friday one week and then 3-11 Sunday through Thursday the next week.  On the week he is off Sundays, I work a 12 hour shift from 7am to 7 pm, so I'm only working about 24 hours a month right now.  I'm an RN at a local hospital and I need to work to license current and keep my seniority.  I love my job, but it's hard to pump during my breaks (the baby is EBF).

I'm also a massage therapist and I've kept a few clients (mostly my clients with fibromylgia or chronic health issues).  I do in home massage, so I try to schedule those clients on the Friday afternoon DH is off or Saturday mornings.  If that's not possible, I try do it in the afternoon when my seven year old is at his after school program, my neighbor watches the baby and my oldest two kiddos are able to watch my eight year old for 2-3 hours.  I don't actually clear much money once I figure in gas, travel time and sitters, but I want to keep a client base.  I'm hoping when the baby is older and the economy improves to just do massage therapy.  Honestly, with the new baby, I'm stretched a little thin.  

Until recently, I had our home school set up pretty well, with things planned out and running well, but now my Oldest Daughter has decided she wants to home schooled, instead of unschooled and I'm not where I'm going to find the time.  DH has suggested I quit my RN job since we don't need the money and I'm stressed out.  Until I had the baby, I worked about 20 hours a week on weekends and evenings and we hired a sitter to keep an eye on the kids.

[SHFerg]

I am so encouraged by all of your responses! I have a 2.5 year old daughter, work and travel full-time M-F and my husbands works/travels on weekends. My daughter is with a stay at home mom during the week. I became committed to home schooling the moment she was born--unschooling, maybe a better term. Prior to that, I assumed only "19 Kids and Counting" type folks homeschooled. I admit, I probably found them all a little weird prior to my daughter's birth.

Now I struggle with the idea of anyone wanting to turn their child over to the state. To give them away to a curriculum set my someone who has never even met my daughter. All that being said I still haven't figured out how we're going to do it. I've begun my research and both my husband and myself have started our own businesses in anticipation of having to quit our corporate gigs when my daughter reaches typical school age. The people I've met locally who are homeschooling, none are working full time. I'd love to say that could be us but we need corporate health insurance as we have a pre-existing condition and a cancer diagnosis. 

It's just wonderful to see what others are juggling and that I don't have to be 100% stay at home in order to give my daughter a quality education. Thank you all, very much, for posting.

Now--could someone tell me what DD, DH and DS mean? I think I've got "daughter, husband and son" but I'm stumped by the first D. :-) Thanks to all!

[Mere]

The first 'd' in 'dd' etc. means 'dear'. 

I have always homeschooled and worked PT.  It is totally doable because my job is very flexible and I work from home.  We have a sitter 2 days/week that is great; she helps them with their schoolwork, takes them to field trips, whatever.  Another factor that makes homeschooling easy is that I have a great peer network, which means that if I need to drop dd off with someone for a field trip so I can take ds to karate, that works fine.  In turn, I may watch someone's else children at the library while that friend takes one of her children to an appointment.  Or whatever.  Reciprocal child care is a huge factor for us.  The main stumbling block for me in working full-time would be that those bonds with other homeschoolers would not be formed as easily, and without my fellow homeschooling friends I just couldn't do it. 

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by Mere 

The first 'd' in 'dd' etc. means 'dear'. 

From time to time in this house the first 'd' can have a few other meanings. LOL  Darn, dreaded, ditzy, etc.  

I have worked and homeschooled in various configurations for the past 7 years.  It is occasionally stressful, but generally a balancing act that is workable.  

[bandgeek]

I work 6:30am-12:30pm M-F at a daycare.  I work with DS in the evenings and on weekends.  I prefer that he just plays all afternoon.  I need down time after work and he needs to run outside and play.  I'm sure people think I'm a little crazy, and possibly even neglectful (because they don't realize I don't have to put THAT much time into it).  We are just taking it year by year.  He turned 6 in january and is K age, although working at a 1st grade level.  I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep up this schedule though the next school year as well, unless something drastic happens, like I have to start working full-time or something. 

On one hand, it doesn't take much time to do the work when they are little and it's not that complicated....then as they get older and the workload is more, they can work independently more.  I can't wait to see how it plays out!  And if it doesn't work, there's always the option of putting him in school. :)

[phathui5]

As an update: I'm now working 10pm-7am at Walmart to save up for midwifery school on top of my doula-ing. It's five nights a week, which is pretty rough on me. I keep reminding myself that 1) It's Walmart, so I can always quit if I absolutely need to and 2) It'll be worth it in the long run if I can get enough saved up.

To help with our homeschooling, I've signed the older two children (10 and 7) up for www.time4learning.com I don't have the energy right now to do as much as I was doing with them and that them doing it on the computer makes me feel like they're at least doing something.