If you homeschool and work

[Renee in NC]

what do you do? How does it work practically (schedules, arrangements, etc.?)

[preoccupied]

I homeschool and go to school, so it's similar. I'm trying to get as much material as possible that they can do independantly. My husband has taken over the teaching of certain subjects and is enjoying this in the evenings.

 

I think that teaching textbooks would be a curriculum helpful to a working parent and would save a lot of time. Maybe the children could have a certain amount of independant work to do each week and the older ones can help some with the younger ones.

 

Do you have access to online learning programs and independant classes? We also outsource some of our homeschooling. My children take science art and P.E. (sports) outside of the home. Sometimes I arrange to share travel responsibilities with other parents so that my children can still do activities that I cannot do with them.

 

It's tricky, but doable. Are you a 2 parent household? Do you have a job yet? What are your hours? What is your childcare arrangement? How many children and what ages will be homeschooling?

[Nakia]

I am a nurse, and I work weekends. I have worked weekends for 11 years. It kinda stinks, but it's just the way it is. I used to work every weekend, but I don't anymore. The way things are going, I might have to start back though.

[m0mmaBuck]

I help run our IT business so I have to answer the business phone whenever it rings and schedule appts as they arise. When the phone rings, the kids know to be quiet and just continue what they are working on until I can come back. I do the paperwork after we are done with school.

 

I also work out of the home 2 days/wk, 7 a.m. - 1 p.m. DH works with the kids from 9 a.m. until I get home and then I take over. I plan out all of the lessons and he follows the plan.

[regentrude]

I teach physics at a university.

On the days I have to be at work all morning, or until the afternoon, the kids come to work with me. On the days when I have only one class, I work with the before going to work and they stay home with their school work for a couple of hours.

I have 12 contact hours (class and help sessions) each week where I have to be present at the university; I do all grading and my prep at home.

[1bassoon]

I've got a pretty good situation - I work about 3 different jobs right now, so hang on!

 

I teach science at two different co-ops; on Tuesday & Thursday mornings from about 9-12. Middle kids (15 & 13) are left at home to do work. Younger 2 either go to a friend's house (Tuesdays - we barter babysitting for science classes (informal) at her house on Friday afternoons!) or go with me to the co-op (Thursdays - it's only 5 min. from my house)

 

I also have piano students; right now, 6. I either bring my kids to their house, or teach while my daughters have ballet class. This is late afternoon - doesn't interfere with school time, but DOES interfere with the Mom Cooks Dinner time. Sigh.

 

Last itty bitty job; I clean our church nursery 4 hours/week. That, I can just bring my kids with me - and it's late afternoons.

 

So far, so good. basically, we use TOG - and I've structured my week so that we run Tuesday through Monday. That means that on Tues & Thurs, my kids have independent type reading projects to do; I save the one-on-one mom stuff for Fridays and Mondays, when we have the most time.

 

Of course, it's only the 4th week of school. . . . . .so even though right now I'm all :), pretty soon I may be :willy_nilly: and y'all will have to give me some :grouphug:

[black_midori]

I work 20 hours a week outside the house - but I do it in 2 days (10 hours each), which is nice. I have a sitter come those 2 days to watch the kids (1st & 2nd grade) and she does a little bit of Spanish & workbook stuff.

 

I spend an hour a day when I'm not working (up to 3 hours, some days!) taking care of my barn & horses.

 

We do schoolwork 4 days a week.

 

On Sunday, we take the day off and take a deep breath, getting ready for another week to start! :D

 

As the kids get older & the schooling gets more intense, I plan to incorporate multiple independent work loads and have them do certain things while I am outside with the horses or away at work. Then I can do mom-intensive things while I'm home & check papers whenever I can squeeze it in!

[LucyStoner]

I work full-time as a manager and fundraiser for a non-profit. I write grants, design fundraising appeals, supervise staff, do some budgeting and finance, help plan programs, do public speaking. I also do consulting on training people to raise funds for social justice organizations. It is flexible and I work hard, so they let me set my own schedule and work from home as needed. My husband works pt at a hospital so we have shifted the school week to be Sat-Weds and that way we can split the work up evenly.

[Alveraz]

I run a soccer academy with over 80 families and a staff of coaches. I'm also a screenwriter, make meetings and get my writing done as needed. I HS 7 hours a day.

 

MY answer is, I have NO idea how I do it. I just get it done.

[Mona100]

I work 7on/7off. My daughter is 15 and we started right after she was 14. If she had been too much younger I wouldn't have been able to do it. But we do stuff in the evenings and catch up on my off weeks. I tell her what she should be doing during the day without me. Sometimes it gets done, sometimes not. If not it will get done on the weekends.

[Michelle in AL]

I work 24 hrs/week, but they're 12 hr shifts. The commute is an hour one way, so the days I work, I'm pretty much gone and then come home to sleep. I wish I could work weekends only, but so far that hasn't happened.

 

Much of our hsíng is outsourced. Some to the local co-op and some to online classes. Of course I have to fill in what they don't understand and assess that they're learning what they need to.

 

I also go to school full time online. So 4-6 hrs of my days off are spent studying.

 

My girls are teens and are independent. I couldn't do this if they were younger.

[GingerPoppy]

I tutor and teach piano in the evenings, so it actually fits quite nicely with homeschooling. In fact, it was a main consideration in deciding to homeschool--I felt I wasn't seeing my daughter enough, as our schedules were opposite.

 

Last spring, I also worked outside of the home two days a week. I had her go to friends/parents houses and do independent work there for an hour or so, and then I would work with her when I got home for another hour or so. Then we'd do heavier homeschooling on the days I wasn't working.

 

Sometimes I have evening work that I can do after dd goes to bed (editing/writing mostly).

[RhondaJK]

I work three 12 hour shifts every Friday-Sunday, and we have school the other 4 days of the week. I like having a set schedule because my DD needs a routine, but I do get tired of missing the weekend stuff. For the last several years, Christmas and New Years have been on the weekends.:glare:

 

I also think I get burned out quickly. I am always working or doing school. I haven't quilted since we started HS, and the only sewing I ever get done is DD's Halloween costume every year. I love HS but wish I had more time for my projects and interests.

[chepyl]

I own a performing arts academy. I teach evenings, 4-8 pm. I have a lot of other things I do during the day to run the business. I only have one first grader to HS everyday, and one preschooler who schools by request only. As they get older I can see it being more of an issue; but right now, it is not too bad.

[AK_Mom4]

I work from home part-time (20 hrs) as a computer programmer. I used to work in an office (management). When DD10 was born, I semi-retired and went back to technical work. I work mornings - generally starting early (5:30am). DD10 starts her school work at 9am, so we have some overlap where she works at her desk and I work at mine. DD17 has an early band class, then comes back about 7:30am and starts her school work.

 

I get done around 10:30am. The girls finish up around 1pm most days.

[preoccupied]

I forgot to mention earlier...I hired a housekeeper;) Just knowing that the house will get clean twice a month is a huge help. I had to do some magic with the budget, but I'm happy I did it.

[ErinD]

I work 20 hours a week developing and running programs for a large community centre. On those days, because of travel time, I'm gone from 7am to 4:45pm. I take my 10yo daughter with me. The preschooler is at a friend's daycare to learn French on those days. My 18 pinch-hits at home if someone is sick. He also puts supper in the crockpot and walks the dogs.

 

We arranged school curricula so that my dd can work independently on at least half of her schoolwork. She's at a computer right beside me in case there are questions, but she knows what she needs to do. I am loving TT for this, in particular!

 

I am reaaaallly tired, though. :) And I could definitely do a better job with the doggie tumbleweeds in the hallway at home.

[Donna]

I work one day a week...usually a long day (10-12 hours) unless I have cancellations. I am a physical therapist who works with 0-3yos so I drive home to home to see my little patients. I make my own schedule so am able to re-arrange when I need to.

 

My husband stays home with my dd when I am working or, if we need it, my parents can watch her. I usually leave her with a few school things to do on her own that day and he helps her if she needs it but mostly he uses the day to get what he needs to get done done since it is his only day off. She practices her music on her own as well.

[SKL]

I work full-time, 7 days per week, in the finance field. My job allows me to work mostly from home, which keeps me more organized on the personal side. My kids are in daycare during the weekdays, have a "nanny" Saturday mornings, and spend Sunday afternoons/evenings with my sister.

 

I'm homeschooling my youngest for "KG," but we're really doing 1st grade work. During the day she attends pre-K and we homeschool in the evenings.

 

In my homeschool log, I count the following extracurriculars, which my daughter takes while in daycare/weekend child care from specially-trained teachers: French, Spanish, Art, Music, and phys ed (soccer, karate, swimming, dance, gymnastics, stretch'n'grow). If DD brings home evidence of having done serious writing in school, I will count that. I also count the fact that my sister does significant read-alouds and teaches the girls cooking skills (math/science concepts) while she's here.

 

I plan outings with an eye to including academics. We go to a museum weekly and the zoo and library about every other week, among other things.

 

In the mornings, I drill stuff we're working on, a little here and there. How many pennies in a dollar, how do you spell this and that, etc. When we go out in the evenings, I sometimes bring learning props such as coins or a letter for mailing, so we can work on a quick lesson while waiting for our restaurant order or whatever.

 

At home in the evenings, we read several books together, including books that focus on math, science, and social studies concepts. We do some little writing exercises at the easel or on paper (I need to figure out how to work more writing in). She also enjoys reading and writing without my direct involvement, which, at this age, counts toward HS (in my opinion) if it's at a reasonable quality level.

 

At the end of the day, I add everything up on a spreadsheet, and it usually averages roughly 3 hours of instruction per day (including weekends).

 

If I were homeschooling for an elementary school grade, I am not sure if I'd be able to meet the time requirement. I think we're required to do like 900 hours per year in our state.

[eternalknot]

what do you do? How does it work practically (schedules, arrangements, etc.?)

 

I'm a flight attendant. I work anywhere from 1-5 trips per month, with each trip being 3-4 days long. I commute from the southwest to the east coast, which sometimes adds in another day of travel depending on when my work trips start and terminate (and in which direction I'm flying).

 

I work full-time some months, and not at all during other months. There is no reliable routine from which to plan, everything is sort of week-by-week and month-to-month ... flying by the seat of our pants with a loose guideline of Things I Hope (To Make) Happen This Week/Month.

 

I don't get to come home after each shift, so all of my obligations have to be met on my days off. I can't squeeze in a load of laundry or catch up on dishes mid-trip, you know? But on a long enough layover I find time to plan, research, and schedule without the distractions of home and kids. I also have needed time away from home to recharge my mental and emotional batteries.

 

I keep a home near my parents, but I also keep a room in their house and effectively live there part of the week. I have two brothers and three nephews also living there, and other siblings nearby that pop in daily. Between us we share family responsponsibilities: housework, schooling (home or homework from ps), babysitting, chauffeuring to extracurriculars, grocery shopping, etc.

 

My job and homeschooling really mesh together well, but both are only possible because of my family's predisposition towards operating more as a single unit than as several independents.

[misidawnrn]

Last year, I worked 2 days a week but they varied. So I would send DD with her work to her dad's house and sometimes it got done...GRRRR.... This year, I requested a schedule change at work. I still work 2 days a week but I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday every other week so I have 4 on and 10 off. I planned our school year around a 4 day week and named the days 1,2,3,4 not M,T,W etc. We will have school either T,W,Th,F or M,T,W,Th every week and the weekends are for practicing spelling words and I will send worksheets of stuff that I think she needs practice on. Last week I sent work sheets for 1's,10's, 100's place stuff because she wrote 468 as 400608:confused:

We have had 2 weeks of school and its working so far. We are on vacation right now...2 weeks on and a week of vacation...gotta love homeschooling. We are camping for 2 days then going camping with our church for the rest of this weekend so we are bagging school. Well, kind of, we went to Yellowstone, listened to the Ranger, learned about Geothermal and Hydrothermal and animals, just no "book" learning.

[9763653]

I am a writer (technical writing, nothing interesting :001_smile:). I work from home in the evenings, when the kids go to bed.

[Wabi Sabi]

I work in full-time social services and my hours are predominately during the evenings, overnights and weekends. It allows me to be home with the kids during the day while my dh is at work, then when he gets home we switch places.

 

This is only our first year homeschooling (my kids are quite young) but I've already discovered that open-and-go kind of curricula work best for us. I'm also not opposed at all to outsourcing other classes: music, art, a math class (supplemental to the the program we're doing at home).

 

It helps that my job is a fairly low-key hourly job- when I clock out for the day I'm done, no bringing work home with me. Also, my dh is fabulous around the house. Although I am the one who does the bulk of the homeschooling, in all other areas we really have close to a 50/50 split when it comes to other childcare and household duties. He helps cooks, cleans, does laundry and anything else that needs done around the house. It would not be possible, IMO, if we had more traditional male/female roles in the home and I was expected to handle all of that on my own.

[Renee in NC]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I don't have a job right now, but was trying to brainstorm things I could do and still homeschool. I've never been really good at homeschooling *and* working (due to the sheer number of children), but I need to work on that. The costs of things are rising faster than I can keep up!

 

Dh is also looking at working a 2nd job, so maybe if he works a 2nd job and I work a PT job, we could get by easier.:D I just need to figure out the logistics.

[daughterofsarah77]

I work every Thursday 12:30-9:30, every other Friday 4:30-9:30, and every other weekend evenings.

We do school 4 days a week, with Thursday being off. This still leaves us 20-some days off to get to our 180 days. We do school year round, and that works out just fine.

[Scarymelon]

I appreciate hearing about how other working parents do it; I am a family nurse practitioner with two jobs. I work in a clinic on M,W,Th. My husband is a contractor and works Tu,Th, Fri. I also round for a few hours a week at a nursing home on Tuesday afternoons and Thursdays after work. When we are both working, a grandparent is with the kids. There is almost no down time, but I also like that I get to spend my time at home with my kids rather than sending them to school and not seeing them until dinner time.

 

 

[hollyh]

I am a photographer (mainly weddings). Works pretty well with homeschooling (although this is my first year). We can HS during the day, most appts are in the evenings when hubby is home and hubby and I shoot on the weekends primarily or in the evenings. Gma usually watches the kids then. I have a lot of album designs/photo editing to do but most of that can't really get done with 3 kids under 4 except when the youngers are sleeping or in the evenings. Clients call during the day, but I pretty much let it all go to voicemail b/c I can't guarantee that the two year olds will be quiet... We make it work. It is what keeps me at home- so it is important. :)

[mommylawyer]

I am an attorney and work 3 days per week, Monday through Wednesday. A nanny keeps the kids on the days I work. I (and occasionally my DH will do some, too) homeschool the kids Thursday through Sunday. since I only teach 4 days per week, we have school year-round. I'm in my fifth year of homeschooling on this schedule and so far so good.

 

I am a planner by nature, so I take a very long time to thoroughly plan down to very minute detail what I will be teaching all of the children each year. If I didn't do so much planning in advance, I don't know how I would manage.

[Tap]

I have always worked and homeschooled. I am a pharmacy tech.

 

I have varied my schedule year by year as needs arose.

 

I worked Tues, Fri and Saturday for a few years, because it was on the alternate of my kids homeschool classes on Mon, Wed, Thurs.

 

I worked evenings, so I could homeschool early AM and then the kids did independent work after I left.

 

I worked until 8pm, and then homeschooled dd12 from 9-midnight.

 

I worked at a homeschool/public school hybrid as a secretary and assigned the kids studies to do while they were at work with me. I used my breaks, lunch and personal time to give them instruction as needed. I worked in pharmacy a couple days a week also.

[Heather in Neverland]

Well I don't anymore but I used to for several years. I was a full time high school teacher and I worked from 8am-4pm. Hubby was in management with WalMart and he worked 5pm-1am. We split everything (household duties and homeschooling) down the middle.

[Susan in KY]

I school 4 days a week and they go to co-op on the 5th day, so I work when they are at co-op. If I can pick up an extra day, they do independent work that day and my husband telecommutes. My summer schedule is much more intense, so they stay with my parents a lot in the summer time.

[janie_ranae]

I teach highschool computers/business ed. part-time. I teach first thing in the morning so my husband is usually at home with them (he has a fairly flexible schedule). If his work requires him to be gone, then the children are at the grandparents or at the neighbors. I go to school early enough to do the marking and prepping there. I think it would be easier to start our homeschool day first thing in the morning, but this works for now.