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Can it work? Midwife and homeschooling.


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I am working towards becoming a CNM. I have 3 children from newborn to almost 4 and I just really started wanting to homeschool them when they start school. Is it possible though? I would have to work full time and my husband will stay home to farm but he isn't confident enough right now to even consider teaching. I would love for it to work but I need honest opinons because I don't want to hurt my children's education.

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If you will be working full-time, and your husband will be farming (which also takes a great deal of time), it sounds like nobody will have time to tend the infants and preschoolers, let alone homeschool all the children.

 

If the kids were much older, you could alternate work shifts somewhat, leave the kids to their own devices for part of the day, do teacher intensive work on the weekends and evenings, etc. You could fudge and pivot, do the "two ships that pass in the night" thing with your DH, and get it all done.

 

But your kids are LITTLE. They need full time attention from somebody. Homeschooling pre-K through early elementary also takes time and attention.

 

I'm not seeing it.

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I think it would be really hard.  I have a friend who had HS'd for a few years.  She was a nurse then went to school to become a CNM.  She only does homebirths.  She gave up on HS'ing less than a year into practicing as a CNM (if my memory is correct...maybe have been about 1.5 years).  She was just too busy to keep it up, and she was only HS'ing a 1st grader with an older child who was already in public school.

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So I homeschool and work in health care, but I work part-time. We have a nanny for when I'm at work and my husband works full-time, but in a very flexible job, so he helps out some with schooling and a lot with the practical everyday stuff like groceries, dishes, laundry, meal prep. It really would depend on how your work was scheduled. I knew nurses who did 4 on 4 off who were able to home school, but it's pretty tough. With littles, the academics don't take a ton of time, but you do want time to explore and play, and not just leave the fun stuff to whoever does your childcare. 

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I think it would be tough. You don't want to spend ALL your free time doing school with the kids, you want to just have fun as a family.

 

LIttles don't need a lot of academic time, but once you  work and do a little home management, there is not much time left - and I wouldn't want to spend it all doing school.

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I homeschooled while working g as a midwifery assistant to a CNM. I think this depends a lot on what kind of practice you plan on having. Ours was a home birth practice and the biggest challenge, besides the stress, was arranging childcare on days where we had long labors. If you wish I can give you the contact info for the CNM I was working for. She is also a homeschooler and has since moved to a part time nursing job.

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Yes I do it BUT not at all in the situation you describe. I have a very small home birth practice. I schedule office visits around our schooling and such and then the births come when they come. I rarely have more than 2 births in any given month and often skip months, sometimes many months. During my apprenticeship, I attended between 5-8 births a month and that was really hard but doable. My oldest was 11 when I began apprenticing and I had some very good friends who watched them for me. I even had one who came to my house on prenatal day and supervised their school.

 

By the time I was taking my own clients I had 2 capable babysitters. I actually think homeschooling has made it easier to be on call as my kids just stay home and in their routine. Pick up and drop offs for school and not having teens around would make it infinitely harder. But again, this is not your situation at all.

 

With children that young, someone has to be present and caring for them while you are gone. I would assume that even though your husband is home he can't actually do that and finding on call babysitting is really really hard.

 

A full time midwifery practice will be a high strain on your family. Your kids will never know if they can count on you to be home for anything. Birthdays, performances, holidays etc. Possibly in a large group where you rotate call it would be better but that isn't actually better for the women you serve as continuity of care is one of the benchmarks of midwifery care.

Edited by busymama7
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I don't know how to actually reply to individual people, or if I can. I have thought about it and I think I will finish nursing school and then work as a nurse until my children are older. I was considering that anyways because I really need to be able to be active in their lives.

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I see you've replied already but I wanted to chime in.

Yes, it is possible.  Hard, but possible. 

I am a CPM.  I have been doing birth work for 10 years now and I have had my own practice for a little over four years.  My situation is a little difference since I am in private practice.  I can set my client load (no more than four a month), appointment schedule (two evenings a week + friday mid-morning/early afternoon), and months that I don't take clients (December).  It was difficult when I was starting out and they were little but we made it through.  Now that they are older it's quite a bit easier since they are doing more independent work and my oldest can drive which helps quite a bit.  But it can still be rough when I do have several clients due. 

I think your decision to wait until they are older is wise.  Enjoy this time with them!  Midwifery will always be there for you to pursue. 
 

 

I actually think homeschooling has made it easier to be on call as my kids just stay home and in their routine.

I totally agree with this!  If I'm at a birth, I don't have to worry about getting them to school or picking them up.
 

 

A full time midwifery practice will be a high strain on your family. Your kids will never know if they can count on you to be home for anything. Birthdays, performances, holidays etc. Possibly in a large group where you rotate call it would be better but that isn't actually better for the women you serve as continuity of care is one of the benchmarks of midwifery care.

And this.  So much this. 
 

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