Homeschooling and doing everything else

[sditz1]

I have the most respect for homeschooling moms. And I love how we all support each other in our choice to homeschool. I have a few close people in my life that support my choice to homeschool, but many who don't. And they feel the need to voice their opinions. Now that I am divorce and single of course I hear it even more. But as long as my daughter is happy, thriving and financially we are good, that is all that matters.

 

So for those of you who are homeschooling, working, raising your children and have some kind of social life, how are you doing it all? Are you working at home or outside the home?

 

Susan

[AK_Mom4]

How do I do it? I ignore all *those* people.... To tell the truth, when we first started homeschooling (6 years ago for DS16), it was strange and people made comments. But now, we've been doing it for so long that it's our "normal" and I rarely get negative comments. Sometimes you just have to outlast them.

 

We get it all done by setting priorities. I work from home and homeschool DD11 - those are my jobs. I also volunteer many hours a month at a food bank. This fall, I will have two in college and one in public school as well. We have a few outside activities, but not too many - music, skiing, baseball. Often the house isn't particularly tidy because having a spotless house isn't MY priority.

[chepyl]

Lots of support! I have a great Homeschool support group, most of dh's family Homeschools, friends and family understand why we do it. I could not do it without a good support network.

[Dolphin]

I don't have the work side, but I am finding that time is helping. People didn't give me too much grief the first year. It was like I was "playing" at homeschool. When I made it through the year and decided to do a 2nd year, that is when people started to let their feeling be known. I had to work hard at passing the bean dip and putting up boundaries. Now that we are starting our third year, people seem to accept that I homeschool, and they can see by how my kids are, that they are still regular kids.

 

Patience and learn how to say "no" to people (that they are not allowed to tell you how to live)

[m0mmaBuck]

I agree that prioritizing is key. Organization is a close second. I homeschool (25-30 hrs/wk), work 2 days/wk out of the home (20 hrs/wk) and help DH with our IT business (10-20 hrs/wk). After that, I am the committee chair for 2 scout units (IMO less work than being a den/patrol leader) and a "den leader" for DD's AHG group; my scouting obligations take up about 6-8 hrs/wk. I take turns with the neighbor running the kids to AWANAS so that's about 1-2 hrs every other wk. The kids have other extracurriculars (rock climbing, football, baseball, bowling, dance, etc) that take up another 4-8 hrs/wk depending on the season. Figure in meal prep, errands, and household tasks at another 1-2 hrs/day. Now, our house is not always tidy and the meals aren't always from scratch, but we have clean clothes and full bellies most days.

 

Once all of that is accounted for, there is MY TIME. I work out in the morning before starting my day. I schedule playdates for my kids with my friend's kids for my social life. The kids stay at my IL's almost every Saturday night (unless we are out of town) so DH and I get date nights. And 1-2 times/month I get together with friends sans kids in the evening to keep myself sane.

 

Oh. And I only sleep about 5-6 hrs/night. So that helps.

[sditz1]

Thanks everyone for some feedback. My favorite is when people question the socializing and don't see a bit concern about the academic. I would never put my daughter in school just for socialization, she gets plenty from outside of school activities.

I workout every morning which just seems to put me in such a good mood when I am done. Divorce played so much on my emotions, but I have found that working out, getting back on track with a regular routine was the best thing I could do. So now I have the family life, homeschooling and some me time when my daughter goes to her dads. All I have to do is add in the working which will consit of babysitting and hopefully picking up two days outside of home. I am trying my best to work when she is gone, so I don't have to pay for a babysitter since my family consits of myself and my 3 kids. Two are grown up and so busy working. So if anyone has had any luck with work at home options I would love to hear them. I am determined to do it all.

Susan