Anyone a WOHM fulltime AND Homeschool?

[PreciousTreasures]

I am seriously considering this. I WOHM and cannot/will never be able to be a SAHM. I work as a teacher in a public school and absolutely refuse to ps my children. Dh likes private school but I don't want that either. I have the opportunity to hs (with help from a very experienced hs mom that is one of my best friends). My dh is scarred this won't work.

Any of you out there doing this? How is it working for you? What made it work? Tell me some problems/bumps in the road I may not thought of.

TIA,

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

We do it. We both WOH FT and are homeschooling K and pre-K. For us, the scheduling is the hardest - trying to both work our regular jobs, not use daycare and give the kids a more consistent schedule, which works for all of us.

[mommaof3boz]

I work days, my dh works evening shift. It works out so well for us. My IL's live across our 40 acre field so they are also involved. But it isn't easy, you have to plan your time well. I wouldn't trade it for anything and my kids are so happy.

[lisarussell]

we both work from home right now and homeschool. i love it. husband wishes his office was a little more off-limit to kids. he hates having them rush in and break his train of thought. he hates hearing them fight while he's trying to work, he hates having their noise in the background when he's on a business call. he loves homemade lunches, all the hugs, snuggles and funny things they say all day, having them fall asleep in his lap and "taking off" to do dad stuff with them on-the-fly.
I have been trying to teach him to take the phone and run outside with it the minute it rings (he likes to pace the living room)
My work is all online, it doesn't require any phone calls or intense concentration, I can come and go all day long- my computer stays on on my kitchen counter all day and the amount of work I get done depends on how many times I am interrupted. I used to try & keep work hours, and schedule in the work-time, but the interruptions drove me nuts, so my new approach is to work all day long, and allow all the interruptions- even welcome them.

good luck. it's a fun life- we save so much in gas not commuting. and we really love being together.

[PreciousTreasures]

Anyone else have any ideas?

[mommy68]

I think that whatever works for your personal situation then go for it! I see nothing wrong with doing it the way you have described. If it doesn't work then you can always change things around at a later time. Just take it year by year.

In our house we take it a year at a time. But right now I WAH at least 30 hrs per week, I am a college student full-time and I homeschool one child and the other two children are in private school. There's always something going on around here.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by lisarussell

we both work from home right now and homeschool. i love it. husband wishes his office was a little more off-limit to kids. he hates having them rush in and break his train of thought. he hates hearing them fight while he's trying to work, he hates having their noise in the background when he's on a business call. he loves homemade lunches, all the hugs, snuggles and funny things they say all day, having them fall asleep in his lap and "taking off" to do dad stuff with them on-the-fly.
I have been trying to teach him to take the phone and run outside with it the minute it rings (he likes to pace the living room)
My work is all online, it doesn't require any phone calls or intense concentration, I can come and go all day long- my computer stays on on my kitchen counter all day and the amount of work I get done depends on how many times I am interrupted. I used to try & keep work hours, and schedule in the work-time, but the interruptions drove me nuts, so my new approach is to work all day long, and allow all the interruptions- even welcome them.

good luck. it's a fun life- we save so much in gas not commuting. and we really love being together.

That's wonderful! My DH and I both work in the home as well although I'm usually at home more than he is since he has to directly deal with customers in his job and I have to say that the time he is gone is good for us too. I'm the type that gets cabin fever easily and have to get out at least once per day and go somewhere, anywhere. DH, however, could stay home for days on end and go nowhere. It's very good to have a break from one another at times.

[Anglyn]

Dh and I both woh and we are hs. My fil lives with us, so there is always an adult at home with the kids. Right now they are young and so it doesnt take that much time anyway. DD is four and is learning to read, at her own request. I have stopped worrying so much about scheduling and we take learning oppurtunities as they come. You would not believe, for example, the amount of knowledge about biology my four year old has learned from charts and pictures and disscusions with me in doctors office while we wait. Seriously. She now has her own anatomy book and can correctly identify a lot of organs, shes fascinated by it, and it all started with a picture of the GI tract at the GI doc and a pic of the inside of your ear at the pediatricans and a plastic model at the doc who fixes broken bones (the name of the specialty just went right out of my head). Anyway, if you want to do it, it can be done!! And how you do it is up to you. Who says "school" has to take place on weekdays? We learn at lot about the ABC's on saturdays at my house.

[lisarussell]

I'm so glad I reread the original post before someone pointed out to me that I was answering the wrong question- I totally read it wrong, I thought you were a teacher looking to become a WAHM.

OK here's my real answer:

We used to both work full time outside the house at our own business. Sometimes we'd leave them home alone (oldest is teenager) and sometimes we'd take turns with the kids, working opposite hours up to 16 hours a day.

It can be done.

I know a HS mom who makes her living inviting other HS'ers into her home for classes, so if her kids are studying Dinosaurs for the next month she'd invite others in to dinosaur class every Tuesday from 2-4 p.m. and host a unit study for $20-$30 a month per kid. She used to teach, too. She usually has 2 or 3 of these little unit study classes going on for 1-3 months or so and sometimes it's all the same kids- sometimes kids (or parents) just pick a class or two over the year.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution that works for your family.

[ikesmom]

I think since you are a teacher you could make it work a lot easier than many other families. You get time off from school here and there. You have an idea of what is important for you to teach and experience.

I have never hs but this summer is our trial period.

I currently work 30-34 hrs out of home a week right now. This summer I will probably work 27 hrs weeknites and weekends. I just found out that I will have 3 boys joining us for our homeschool summer days and make a little $ from that. I am planning my lesson plans now. During the summer I will plan my fall schedule and activities and hope that works lol.

I think having a hs friend to help is a huge plus. The only bump I would see is you getting burn out. Teaching all the time but you will just have to make time and take care to watch that carefully before it is already happening.

good luck