working homeschoolers check in here

[texasmama]

I know we have a lot of working homeschoolers in the Hive. Whether you work at home, part time, full time, run a home business, etc...check in here to talk about how your "balance" is going. How is your current situation working for you? Do you foresee any changes?

 

Here is my current report::D

This semester, I taught one college class on Tues and Thurs from 11 am - 12:20 pm. I also supervised a graduate student on Tuesdays and worked at my therapy job from 1 pm - 8 pm on Tuesdays. I didn't like myself much on Tuesdays.:tongue_smilie:

 

This semester is winding down. My student has finished her practicum hours, and I have written the final for my class. The last day (when my students take their final) is May 10th. I will use the rest of that week to grade the exams (25 of them) and enter grades electronically. I have made a decision not to accept any summer courses to teach. I have also decided to move to an every other week therapy schedule beginning next week. I need a break and am fortunate that I can choose not to teach for a semester and return the next one. Most jobs don't have this flexibility.

 

That said, I love teaching, and I enjoy doing therapy. Homeschooling has not suffered this semester. I am worn thin, though. My dad has been hospitalized twice in the past two months, which has further stretched my time and resources. He is requiring a good bit of my time and energy, as he lives alone. I look forward to the summer when my out of home responsibililties will decrease. I hope to not ever again have a day like Tuesday was this semester!

[regentrude]

I teach physics at a university and love it. This semester I had two classes with 20 and 90 students, respectively. I have to be on campus for seven hours of class and four hours of tutoring each week. With preparation, writing exams, and grading (110 students with weekly assignments) that comes to 25-30 hours a week. I have class every day, MWF starting at 8am. I have to work Wed evening for tutoring sessions, which makes for an awfully long day. I take the grading home and do it over the weekend, and I try to do as much prep work from home as possible.

 

My kids come to work with me two days a week (M+W), Tue+Thurs I am home for a bit before leaving for my 11am class and get them started. They are independent and prefer to work without me anyway. Homeschooling works out fine. DH helps out and does math with DS.

 

The one thing that's difficult is participating in activities with other homeschoolers because they always meet in the middle of the day (I would not mind real mornings, but nobody else seems to get up- coop starts at 11, not doable for us). We try to attend weekly playgroup which meets at noon - I get out of class at 11:50 if there are no student questions, and often have to drive somewhere since we are rural. So we are usually late...

 

I, too, will not teach summer classes. We will use the summer to travel.

[Desert Strawberry]

I am an independent vendor for a local natural parenting company. I make custom baby carriers and teach community outreach/advocacy classes. I love it, but I'm 9 months into a difficult pregnancy and the company I work with is expanding rapidly.

 

So far, I'm keeping up ok. It's a period of transition for me. With the economy clinking and our business growing, I have to streamline my practices. I'm doing it all on profit-no debt, no investment from our personal finances. My health has been a major obstacle, but hopefully that will be resolved soon.

 

I'm balancing it well, because i have decided that my kids have to come first. If my clients have to wait a little longer, so be it. So far, everyone has been very understanding. I'm still not doing as much with the kids as I would like, but they aren't suffering.

[texasmama]

Regentrude, that schedule makes me feel weak. lol Enjoy your summer off.:001_smile:

 

Strawberry, that sounds like a good gig for a homeschooling mom. Best wishes for a good last bit of pregnancy.

 

After I posted this, the university emailed me with a request to teach a course this summer. I am very torn about what to do. :001_huh:

[AngelaNYC]

I work in sales for the cable company. Monday to Friday, 6pm-10pm.

 

I love it. The hours are perfect, the money is great, and it's less than a 15-minute drive from my house.

[Gooblink]

Dh and I own an IT Services business. For years, I'd half-heartedly help with bookkeeping and office admin stuff. Lately, I've had a change of heart and decided to approach the business seriously, since I have a vested interest, and all :tongue_smilie:. The boys and I have been loading up our schoolwork, taking it to the office where they do their assignments in the conference room and I check on them regularly, keep 'em on track, teach what needs to be taught, etc.

 

The business is doing a lot better (because I'm actually following up on receivables!!!) and our schooling is getting done.

 

My house is suffering, though. We are barely getting the essential chores done. Gotta work on that.

[ezrabean2005]

:thumbup1:

Checking in here. My schedule is M-F 6:45am - 3:15pm. It works well for us and don't forsee any changes coming along anytime soon. The ability to work from home this past week and a half was a great blessing when all six of us had the flu.

 

Balance is good for us...because we are used to it and strive to keep to the routine as much as possible. We've had some days off while the kids were very sick, but as they got better they liked having something to do. For my work, it is always prioritizing and ensuring I never get too deep / behind on any project. Which is the same balance with homeschooling :)

 

It's nice to see other working HS moms on the board! :grouphug: for all the hard, tiring days. Sometimes you just have to think of ONLY that day to keep going.

[regentrude]

After I posted this, the university emailed me with a request to teach a course this summer. I am very torn about what to do. :001_huh:

 

I was torn, too, before I taught my first summer class a few years ago (which did fit our family schedule). The advice a friend gave me was to do it and spend the money I earned on something special for me that would make me feel good about it - not have it absorbed into the general budget. I took her advice.. and bought a piano for reward myself for doing it ;-)

 

Good luck deciding.

[Allearia]

I do document editing and create trainings, etc. from home. Theoretically it is an ideal job, but when I get a big project homeschooling definitely suffers. I love homeschooling, teaching, planning so much. But I need the job and I like it, it is very flexible, entirely from home, etc.

 

I do think I need to accept some compromise in my homeschooling ideals to continue this, or else just give up all fun time altogether so I am still working through that. If I could schedule about 5 hours a day in the evening consistently it would work, but usually by then I am very tired and just want to crawl into bed. The work is also not regular, sometimes there is nothing for a few weeks then I get a big urgent project.

 

It is hard balancing it all. The house and cooking get put off to a distant third place so then we are stuck here attempting to homeschool and work in a cluttered messy space.

[Karen in CO]

Checking in...

I work M-F 7-4 or 5 or 6 from home for a really big IT company.

I've been doing this schedule for almost a year now. Before that I worked Fri, Sat, Sun noon to midnight.

 

It is getting easier as we adjust more to it. My dh works from home 2 or 3 days a week too, but some weeks he's in the office all week and some weeks, he is home all week. I'm not sure if it's easier with him here or not.

 

Over the last year, the kids have both gotten more independant and self-reliant. DD6 still needs undivided attention to get her work done, but it is a short amount of work which I fit into my "lunch". They're often working on projects or grand-creative adventures while I work nearby. They have also learned that while on a conference call, they do need to resolve their own problems or wait until I am free - needing tape is not an emergency.

 

I've also learned that my day goes better if I have a plan and tell the girls at the beginning of the day what that plan is. This took a while for me to get right, but it has helped tremendously.

[Kirch]

I work part-time as the minister of music for our church, I sub, and I teach a few voice lessons. Lately I've been getting 1-2 days/week for subbing, and dh has been good about making sure the boys do the work I leave for them. My voice students will be dropping like flies with summer coming, unfortunately!

[Rivka]

I work about 30 hours a week as a researcher in a medical school. (My official title is Assistant Professor, but I don't teach at all.) I changed departments this spring and started work on a new grant, so I am feeling a lovely sense of expanded possibilities.

 

Things have been going pretty well. I do miss out on the free and open schedules that a lot of people talk about with homeschooling. Also, homeschoolers tend to schedule field trips and social events in the afternoons, when I'm almost always at work. For the same reason, we don't get the advantage of being able to do school when the toddler naps.

 

My husband is home with the kids one day a week. It's great for him to have that time with them, but he often struggles to get school in. I think it's harder for him to establish school rhythms when he's only with them once a week.

[littlebug42]

I work nights 28 hours a week as a medical transcriptionist for a local hospital. Right now, I work from home, the hours work well to enable me to homeschool etc since I work while the kids are asleep. My house doesn't fair quite so well and honestly, we have leaned a little more the unschooling front this year than I would like basically just because I am chronically sleep deprived and I am really starting to feel the long term effects from it.

 

That being said, I am likely to lose my job in July or not very long thereafter. The hospital is converting to voice recognition and we are now officially on notice that layoffs will be happening in July. My sister and I both work third shift and are likely to go if not in the first round at least eventually. My dh and I are about 7 months away from having our credit card debt completely paid off. If I can hold on long enough to get that done with my severance, I will still need to work but can hopefully get better hours and maybe not have to work so many hours. I also think it will be a good thing if I can get something out of the house. I think it contributes to some spells of depression when I just never leave the house. Hopefully, the layoff will lead to more good things than bad.

[enviromommy]

At this point I'm not sure whether to count myself as working or not... I used to be a corporate lawyer (pre-homeschooling) but now I just teach one section of 8th grade French. It's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I leave home at 11:45 and get back around 1:30. I've decided not to teach again next year, because my leaving and coming back in the middle of the day has been really difficult for the kids. It's lunchtime/nap time, so it sort of throws off the whole day. I'm not sure I'm making the right decision giving it up - I teach at the private school where my kids used to go, and where they would go back if we ever decided to stop home schooling. I am giving up the potential tuition reduction, and the opportunity that was promised me to take over all the high school French classes when the teacher retires in a few years. But I don't want to ruin our home schooling now for the potential gain in a few years. At the moment it's not financially worth it to keep the one class, since i need a babysitter in order to teach.

 

I'm also taking my last class towards my master's in environmental sciences and policy. The goal had been to try to get a job working from home as a lawyer doing research and writing for an environmental organization. We could definitely use the money from my getting a "real job," and if I can work it into our homeschooling schedule it would be a dream come true. So I guess it's time to start looking, huh?

[misidawnrn]

I work two 12 hour shifts a week at work in Labor and Delivery. DD-7 goes to her dad's house the night before I work and comes home the morning after my last shift. It has worked this way for 3 1/2 years now and the last 1 year of it while I have been homeschooling. I send work with her to her dad's house. (he isn't stellar at making sure she gets it done or done correctly but that's another story) This last semester was a little rough because I am going back to school working towards my nurse midwife degree. I know times to the library and stuff have suffered but overall, I just really do our school in the morning, study for me in the evening. It's working out well so far. I was planning on schooling all year long but I have since switched to ABeka, which isn't an all year thing and I am taking 19 credits this semester and 18 during the summer. I will just do reviews a few times a week during the summer....and to top it all off, we just bought a new house, want a garden, have 8 new chickens and will be moving in about 28 days, getting our old house ready to rent out and my husband is a farmer so we will be going to our farm 90 miles from town a few times a week soon....

 

I need a few more hours in the day and days in the week and weeks in the month, but I am getting it all done for now.

[dangermom]

This year I started a job as a librarian at the local community college, 9 hrs a week (plus ~30 min. travel time each way). I like the job, and it was very necessary to us as my husband went through several months of unemployment.

 

I'm really pleased with how my girls have coped, but my younger daughter is tired. I am too. I'm off this summer, and I'm really looking forward to it!

 

I have been arguing with myself over whether I should quit or not. I definitely felt led by the Spirit to take the job, but I'm not sure if I should keep it now. My first step has been to ask if I might be able to change my hours around a little next year; if I can do that it will probably work fine.

[lauracolumbus]

I am a writer (I used to be a lawyer pre-homeschooling days as well). I struggle with starting another book (I've published local histories and a sports book). It's not worth the money, it's more of a compulsion. And fortunately, we're doing ok financially.

 

However, I find that I'm not a very good homeschooling teacher/mom when I am in various stages of the writing process. I'm trying to decide whether to take on another project this summer or to just enjoy this homeschooling phase of my life. I think the decision would be much easier if I were more organized. This is our 4th year of homeschooling, and I feel like I'm finally getting my act together because this is the first year I'm not writing or promoting one of my books.

 

Laura

[farmgirlinwv]

I work 2-3 8+ hour shifts mostly 3-11 at a rehab center. I enjoy it and the $$ is pretty good. On the days I work, we get the bulk of hsing done by lunch. Then I leave homework for her to finish while I'm at work. She's almost 14yo. When I have several shifts back to back, I get tired and sleep too late sometimes. AFter a bad shift, I might not get home til 2am. Nursing is a nice job though, lots of different schedules. My job pays for extras and I'm glad to have it. It works well w/ hsing.

[Ravin]

I go back to work after baby tomorrow. Yikes! In August I'll be quitting and starting law school--part time. I did a time-cost analysis and there aren't enough hours in the day for me to go full time. Currently I work retail.

[texasmama]

Thank you all for sharing your working/homeschooling stories and how you balance it all. I posted a similar thread once before and ended up feeling very encouraged by the group of working homeschoolers we have here who make it all work. It makes me feel not so alone in this kind of crazy/weird schedule we have. I hope others are encouraged by reading these experiences, as well. We are all fortunate to have the opportunities we do, both in work and in homeschooling.

 

Keep checking in, working homeschoolers!:001_smile:

[Cortana]

I do packaging for a local baby products company. It's part time, work from home and fits in pretty easily with homeschooling. We just got slammed the entire month of April with huge wholesale orders and both housework and the kids' lessons suffered for it. I am praying like mad that it all slows down so we can get back into our routine, lol! My delivery schedule just got changed so we are having to readjust our entire schedule including the kids' weekly speech therapy appt. The nice thing about the schedule change is it now puts me working the same days of the week dh works.

 

I have to give a lot of credit to dh, he has really stepped up lately and is jumping in to help the boys with their lessons, do more housework and keeping the 2yo occupied when I need to focus on the boys.:001_smile:

[Maeintx]

I too do medical transcription at home via an internet based platform.

 

I was holding up really well until Feb. We've been getting just the 3 R's in it seems with a hit and miss on the other stuff. We're surviving though.

 

I typically work late evening hours 2-3 days a week and a weekend morning. My dh is gone 50% of the time but when he is home the house is clean :001_smile:

[Wabi Sabi]

I am home with the children full-time during the day, but work full-time during the evenings, overnights and occasional weekends when my dh can be home with them.

 

Granted, I'm not exactly a homeschooling mom yet. My oldest is in half-day kindergarten at a private school this year and we will be homeschooling for "real" next year. In the meantime, since he's only in school 3 hours/day right now, we've been doing a trial-run of what I'd call "homeschooling lite" this semester and it's been going well. I think that it will actually be easier to homeschool next year because currently so much of our day is spent shuttling him to and from school on the other side of town. Once he no longer has school our day will become much more flexible. Right now it seems like half of our day is lost just driving him back and forth!

 

I've kept this sort of work schedule since the children were born and we're all so accustomed to it that I don't think that adding homeschooling will be much more difficult, but I do worry a little because I tend to be pretty tired and low-energy much of the time since I work nights. Plus, my house certainly suffers. Dh and I really just have to find a way to stay on top of the housework because there's no way I'm going to be able to get homeschooling done in a messy house! That's something we're really working on and we've made a lot of progress in the last couple months, but there's still quite a bit more work to be done.

[bnbacademy]

I work 2 shifts per week (3-11 + a few extra evening hours some weeks) as a nurse at the local hospital. This works because I try to get done early the weekday I work, and then I work every other weekend.

[ange]

I have my own business painting w/ people w/ disabilities. Most of my work is in nursing homes w/ folks w/ dementia, Alzheimer's, stroke. Summers I work at an intermediate care facility for children/ young adults w/ severe cognitive & physical disabilities. I was not working full-time before we started homeschooling since I still had a kid at home, so I was able to maintain that limited schedule this year (our first year homeschooling.) I think most of my "balance" issues are due more to us just getting used to homeschooling (aka my figuring out what the heck I'm doing.). I work 6 afternoons a month. It's not difficult, other than it can be physically and mentally draining. I like that I don't work at home. My experience in the past was working at home meshed into home life too much. I like it clearly separated. I do think working & homeschooling limit the outside activities. There are only so many hours and so much energy to go around. I've never been great about scheduling house cleaning and menu planning, so not sure I can blame that on hsing & working! ;)

[enviromommy]

This is our 4th year of homeschooling, and I feel like I'm finally getting my act together because this is the first year I'm not writing or promoting one of my books.

 

Laura

 

This is exactly what worries me about looking for a job as a lawyer working from home. I don't want to sabotage homeschooling - I want to really give it a chance to work - but I'm afraid the longer I'm out of the legal world, the harder it will be to get any job, let alone working from home.

[Desert Rat]

I work 20-25 hours a week. Mon-Wed I clean a house an afternoon. Thursday I work for a food pantry doing data entry, office work, grant writing, and fundraising. I used to also work Saturdays helping a hoarder, um, unhoard and organize, I guess. We've come to a place that she feels okay with so I have my Saturdays back.

I wasn't doing okay when I had to work Saturdays, but not that I have them back, I feel much, much better. I feel like I can get everything done.

I'm still learning to balance everything because working and schooling is relatively new to me, especially with my husband working (he just returned to work after a long layoff). I'm getting the hang of it though, and I do love cleaning houses and love most of my clients.

[texasmama]

It seems that many folks are saying the same thing - what suffers is the housework and what might be termed "me time". That is what is suffering here...mostly "me time". I don't do well in a messy environment so I try to keep up with the house...and I have always done laundry whenever I could fit it in. The entire house is never clean all at once, though I suspect that is a result of having four kids and not the homeschooling or working.;)

 

I don't know about other professions, but my chosen profession (master's level clinical social work) is very forgiving in terms of breaks in employment. It is a female dominated profession, though less so at the graduate degree levels, which I suspect contributes to this. I took off about 7 years completely professionally to focus on my kids/have more babies/deal with extended family illness/death. I returned to part-time professional work when my youngest was almost four, then added back in the adjunct teaching job a year later. (I took about 8 years off from teaching.) I feel very fortunate to have the flexibility that I have, though I now feel a bit of pressure to continue with the teaching at the rate of one class per semester so I will continue to get offerings of courses. Thus, I believe I will be accepting the summer course to teach.:001_smile:

[Nakia]

I am a nurse, and I work 4-6 12 hour shifts per month. I also have a small photography business. :001_smile:

[ChrissySC]

My room is not my sanctuary. I work from home too. I am out of the house an average of 8 to 12 hours a week. For the most part, I can perform all of my duties thanks to the wonderful creation of a VPN -- yes, I am IT too. I manage nine branches and a coporate office. I create websites, logos, and so forth. The last makes me ill most days because I hate what I am asked to do. I think it looks odd or ugly. LOL :D

[6packofun]

I only work 10 hours a week (Saturday mornings 7-noon and Mondays 3:30-8:30 p.m.), but our homeschooling has suffered. We miss plenty of opportunities to serve at church, unless dh can take the kids AND both vans are working, because they are scheduled 9 times out of 10 on Saturday mornings. *sigh*

 

I really felt that my career at home was quite full, but I don't think we can do without my working hours now, even though it's only $330 or so a month.

 

I don't have any really skills so my job is at a craft warehouse. I really enjoy it, but wish I had more earning power. We *planned* for dh to be the breadwinner while our kids were young and he can't seem to do it. There you go.

[regentrude]

I don't know about other professions, but my chosen profession (master's level clinical social work) is very forgiving in terms of breaks in employment. It is a female dominated profession, though less so at the graduate degree levels, which I suspect contributes to this. I took off about 7 years completely professionally to focus on my kids/have more babies/deal with extended family illness/death. I returned to part-time professional work when my youngest was almost four, then added back in the adjunct teaching job a year later.

 

My field is physics. In order to do actual research, a break of several years is almost impossible (I don't know a single person who successfully did this). After my PhD and two years of postdoctoral work, I stayed home with my children for a total of four years (even working for a few months in between) - after that, it would have been extremely hard to catch up. Plus, there are no part time research jobs. Had I wanted the same academic career as my DH, aiming for a tenure track position at a four year university, I would need to work 50-60 hours a week. Doable only if you have a nanny or grandma - or a spouse who works part time.

Teaching is the only thing where part time positions exist, it's a great way to combine family and work. It works for our family, and I enjoy it. But I am conscious that I have made the decision to not fully utilize my potential. It is a career without any prospects in terms of promotion, and switching back to research when the kids are grown will not be possible.

[texasmama]

My field is physics. In order to do actual research, a break of several years is almost impossible (I don't know a single person who successfully did this). After my PhD and two years of postdoctoral work, I stayed home with my children for a total of four years (even working for a few months in between) - after that, it would have been extremely hard to catch up. Plus, there are no part time research jobs. Had I wanted the same academic career as my DH, aiming for a tenure track position at a four year university, I would need to work 50-60 hours a week. Doable only if you have a nanny or grandma - or a spouse who works part time.

Teaching is the only thing where part time positions exist, it's a great way to combine family and work. It works for our family, and I enjoy it. But I am conscious that I have made the decision to not fully utilize my potential. It is a career without any prospects in terms of promotion, and switching back to research when the kids are grown will not be possible.

 

Academia is not very family-friendly. I keep wanting to give you a :grouphug: for the part about not utilizing your full potential, but I don't want to seem as though I feel that is a sad choice which requires a hug.

 

Years ago, I had the choice of getting a PhD or having a baby. I chose the baby...and eventually three more. While I am more than okay with that choice, I do think about "the road not traveled", so to speak. In my alternate life, I am a practicing psychologist specializing in testing.:001_smile: That said, I am very grateful to have the career opportunities that I have, in addition to having had the opportunity to complete my graduate studies and most of my advanced licensure requirements prior to having babies.

[regentrude]

Academia is not very family-friendly. I keep wanting to give you a :grouphug: for the part about not utilizing your full potential, but I don't want to seem as though I feel that is a sad choice which requires a hug.

 

 

Thanks- no, it is not sad. I am quite content. I see how my female colleague who has two kids and chose the tenure track career runs on three hours of sleep per night. I have it much better ;-)

This said, I find it important to clearly state that it IS a choice, and an irreversible one. There is a lot of debate in academia of how to retain women, and often it is glossed over the fact that the choice- whichever one- is usually not reversible and leaves a road not taken. And not to be taken "later" either.

 

Like you, I am grateful that I did the things I did before I had kids. I have no regrets. Only sometimes a little voice that whispers "What if?"

[texasmama]

Thanks- no, it is not sad. I am quite content. I see how my female colleague who has two kids and chose the tenure track career runs on three hours of sleep per night. I have it much better ;-)

This said, I find it important to clearly state that it IS a choice, and an irreversible one. There is a lot of debate in academia of how to retain women, and often it is glossed over the fact that the choice- whichever one- is usually not reversible and leaves a road not taken. And not to be taken "later" either.

 

Like you, I am grateful that I did the things I did before I had kids. I have no regrets. Only sometimes a little voice that whispers "What if?"

 

I understand and agree - no regrets but some "what ifs". The desire to be a mother always overrode any other desire I might have in life.

 

Most of the women on the tenure track in the department at the large state university I teach at are unmarried and/or have no kids.

[Heather in Neverland]

I work M-F, 8am-5pm, as the principal of a school. I am also in the final semester of grad school. My dh works at the school as well.

 

It is a busy life for sure and it has changed the face of our homeschooling. My oldest ds (13yo) homeschools for all but two subjects (he comes to my school for two hours each day). He is very independent and makes use of DVD/online classes. Next year he will increase his time at school and only homeschool 1 subject (his choice). My youngest ds (7yo) goes to my school full time. And my baby girl is only 16 months so she is at home with our ahma.

 

Although it can be crazy at times, I feel like we are very lucky to all work/go to school together. My dh and I see each other all the time and have lunch or tea-time together every day. We see our kids at school all day in between classes, at lunch etc. My oldest will stop by my office and give me a hug. :D

 

Also, we only work 36 weeks a year so we get 16 weeks off paid each year just to hang out together.

 

I am looking forward to finishing my grad degree this summer though, so I can take that off my plate!

[SBMama]

I work 17-22 hours/week as a vet assistant. We are not "officially" homeschooling until June, and it is a relief to read that others are doing it successfully! :)

[lauracolumbus]

This is exactly what worries me about looking for a job as a lawyer working from home. I don't want to sabotage homeschooling - I want to really give it a chance to work - but I'm afraid the longer I'm out of the legal world, the harder it will be to get any job, let alone working from home.

 

I had a great part time legal position that allowed me to work whatever 20 hours/week that I wanted (working for the federal courts) with great pay. It was still too much in part b/c I was pregnant w/my 3d and did not want to go the day care route. I know if I had kept that job, I would not be homeschooling right now b/c it was the perfect job to have while my dc were in school.

 

I suspect that it's going to be really difficult for me to find a job as a lawyer when I'm done homeschooling (in 11 years), but I no longer worry about it. I think b/c my writing career sort of fell into my lap out of nowhere, I realize that I can't worry about something so far down the road. I know I can always brush up on some of my skills by volunteering in the legal community.

 

I do occasionally suffer from the 'what ifs,' but I know I would suffer from them a whole lot more if I had stayed in my full-time position. As one pundit once said, 'no one ever says on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time in the office.' The hardest part has been trusting that dh will continue to provide for us as we lurch into our retirement years.

 

Laura

[lauracolumbus]

Teaching is the only thing where part time positions exist, it's a great way to combine family and work. It works for our family, and I enjoy it. But I am conscious that I have made the decision to not fully utilize my potential. It is a career without any prospects in terms of promotion, and switching back to research when the kids are grown will not be possible.

 

For me, teaching is the ideal way to have a bit of a career for yourself and still have the time/energy to do what's required at home. If I ever get my homeschooling act together, I would like to try to pursue this path.

 

Laura

[Alice]

This said, I find it important to clearly state that it IS a choice, and an irreversible one. There is a lot of debate in academia of how to retain women, and often it is glossed over the fact that the choice- whichever one- is usually not reversible and leaves a road not taken. And not to be taken "later" either.

 

 

:iagree: I think we (meaning society in general) are still far too reluctant to admit this. You cannot have it all, there is always a choice involved. It's only a disservice to women (and men) to try and pretend that this isn't true.

 

I'm a pediatrician. I work part-time, about 12 hours in the office plus I round at two local hospitals early every morning. My husband also works part-time so he is home when I work. That's the primary way that we are able to keep everything balanced. Together we make one stay-at-home homeschooling parent. :) Right now he teaches one of the days I work, he may take over more teaching as the kids get older.

 

Mostly I love what I do and I'm incredibly grateful that we have been able to work things out this way. Sometimes I feel like I don't fit in anywhere. We've both made career sacrifices, probably more of an issue for my husband than me. He has reached a point at his job where he will not get promoted further because he is part-time and he knows that his job is more expendable than if he'd chosen to be full-time. I think it's also harder for the people he works with to respect his desire to be at home with his kids, it's just still not very accepted for men. But I think we'd both say we have no regrets, the good more than outweight the bad.

[Heather in Neverland]

:iagree: I think we (meaning society in general) are still far too reluctant to admit this. You cannot have it all, there is always a choice involved. It's only a disservice to women (and men) to try and pretend that this isn't true.

 

.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[sparrow]

We own a seasonal business that is 7 days/week, May 1-November 30. The business is closed December 1-April 30. During the time we are open, I work 9am-5 or 6pm on Saturday and Sunday and my husband works 9am-5 or 6pm M-F. We are "on call" 24/7 for the 7 months we are open. Fortunately, we're not called that often. We have busy times that require us both on site or one on site, the other at home, fielding phone calls.

 

It works well for us. Our schedule easily allows for homeschooling. Unfortunately, we live in a northern state and our summers are completely shot. If we want enjoy a warm weather vacation, we have to travel great distances, which is obviously expensive. I try not to think about it too much :tongue_smilie:.

[JeanM]

This said, I find it important to clearly state that it IS a choice, and an irreversible one. There is a lot of debate in academia of how to retain women, and often it is glossed over the fact that the choice- whichever one- is usually not reversible and leaves a road not taken. And not to be taken "later" either."

 

:iagree:

 

I made the choice to leave academia when I was pg with my second child. In my field, it is very difficult to take any time off. I was hassled for taking 12 weeks at home with my first ds.

 

I'm working full time now, since my dh has been unemployed for over a year. I had a very hard time finding a job though, despite having a PhD and lots of work experience. I don't really count myself as a working homeschooler now, since my dh does most of the schoolwork with the dc.

[teachmejoy]

The last 3 years I was very blessed to have a part-time job at a local church. They allowed my children to come with me and I did some schooling there.

 

Now, we've moved and my parents have opened an ice-cream/coffee shop. I'm there most of the time now, but my children come with me. I go in at the lunch shift and work most of the rest of the day. We try to get school in before we go, but ds does the work he can do alone at the shop. Yesterday was fun, though. We did a science experiment making clouds and colored Easter Eggs at a booth in the shop! I guess it's every child's dream to go to school in an ice-cream shop!!! :D

[G5052]

One class at the local community college and I teach a full day through a local homeschool group. At one time I taught nearly full-time through the community college with most sections online, but the budget and demand have gone down and down.

 

Yesterday I was asked to submit proposals for several local summer homeschool classes, but frankly it pays poorly for material that I would have to put together myself, so maybe not. And gas is so very expensive... I love teaching, but I'm at the point that I'd rather not do jobs like that.

 

Interview Tuesday for work from home that I reaaaly want in so many ways.:)

[texasmama]

Good discussion.:001_smile:

[creekland]

I just found this thread as I'm another working mom. I substitute teach math/science courses at our local public high school. Twenty years ago I gave up on my (then) desire to pursue space sciences (for which I got a Physics degree and worked in the AF for a little bit) and decided to become a mom. It was a choice. It's one I'd make the same way if I had it to do over again. I don't regret the education at all and I don't regret stepping away from my "full" career at all. My oldest is finishing his freshman year of college now and my youngest is finishing his freshman year of high school.

 

We didn't always homeschool, but we've enjoyed twenty wonderful years enjoying our family lives. This wouldn't have happened had I chosen a more time consuming career over the part time of subbing.

 

At this point, if I wanted to do anything full time, it would have to be teaching. I'm ok with that and like having kept my brain up on math/science to a high school level. BUT, if we can swing it, hubby and I would also rather continue our more carefree life and travel instead of keeping two full time jobs. Finances will dictate once the boys are all out of the house. He's a Civil Engineer who has owned his own business for the past 11 years.

 

As for the homeschooling years? My boys work extremely independently, so the schedule was fine. We certainly didn't have regular hours nor regular days. However, my youngest prefers more routine, so opted to head back to ps for 9th grade. I'd rather he have stayed home, but we let ours choose. The homeschooling years were essential at catching him up to grade level and sending him out among the top students in ps. If he had stayed in ps the whole time, he'd be in lower level classes now.

[G5052]

My field is physics. In order to do actual research, a break of several years is almost impossible (I don't know a single person who successfully did this). After my PhD and two years of postdoctoral work, I stayed home with my children for a total of four years (even working for a few months in between) - after that, it would have been extremely hard to catch up. Plus, there are no part time research jobs. Had I wanted the same academic career as my DH, aiming for a tenure track position at a four year university, I would need to work 50-60 hours a week. Doable only if you have a nanny or grandma - or a spouse who works part time.

Teaching is the only thing where part time positions exist, it's a great way to combine family and work. It works for our family, and I enjoy it. But I am conscious that I have made the decision to not fully utilize my potential. It is a career without any prospects in terms of promotion, and switching back to research when the kids are grown will not be possible.

 

I worked for fifteen years in scientific research and program management before children, and I knew that when I quit that the doors there would be completely closed to me forever after a year of being home with my baby. That situation is very hard to explain to people who haven't been there, but you just can't go back to some careers after a break. We decided to have me go into part-time college teaching to keep somewhat current, but the reality is that after 12+ years as an adjunct without full-time work experience, my chances of being a full-time professor are almost nil now. It is still good part-time work though. The schedule is good, the pay is decent, I get free books/software/discounts, and at this point am even eligible for benefits. It is a dead end though.

 

I've had no problem finding small teaching gigs in the local homeschool community, but the reality is that I don't even make minimum wage for local classes once I work out my time and record expenses and mileage. So DH and I decided that I wouldn't do that sort of thing unless our own children were getting something positive out of it and that we would accept that it was volunteer work with some financial benefits.

[Truscifi]

I am an SES tutor after school. I just finished last week with most of my students, though I still have 3 that will continue until the end of the public school year most likely. I also work as a scorer for Pearson scoring standardized tests in the spring each year. This year my first scoring job started before tutoring ended, so March and April have been quite busy. My next scoring job doesn't start until mid-May - I will be mostly done with tutoring and ds's outside activities will be winding down as well so I won't be quite as busy then.

 

Oh, and this year we got a pig and chickens, so I have "farm" chores as my mother calls them every morning and evening on top of our normal schedule at the dojo for martial arts, which our whole family does together.

[ChrissySC]

What does it say about all of us? We are seriously educated and attempting to balance quite a number of duties and responsibilities. :) What is the word I am looking for ...

 

SUPER MOMS

 

Where did I leave my red cape?:lol::lol::lol: