Are you a FT student and HS?

[caitlinsmom]

I am going back to school to finally get my degree. I start classes in August. I will be doing full time school, hsing dd, and all the other things a SAHM does. Anyone else in the same boat? How do you handle everything? What does you schedual look like? I am starting to stress a little about this (mainly cause I am a control freak!). Last year for K things just didnt go well and we didnt even finish the year out. I want everything to work well with the least amount of stress.

 

Any ideas to help with this huge change?

[Sasharowan]

Not any more, but I was there a couple of years ago. My oldest was in 1st, my other 2 were 1 and almost 3. I used the online classes and arranged any inschool classes that I had to take around dh's work schedule. The hardest part was there was no spontanaity(sp). Everything had to be planned out in order to get everything done. Dh couldn't run to the store for me after work 'cause then I would be late for class. My mom helped tremendously. We would go to her house for the day and she would play with the kids whileI studied. For ds, I mainly focused on reading and math and handwriting. Everything else can be caught up on. Also dh took weekdays off work so he could school ds and deal with the littles 1 or 2 days a week while I got study time. Enforce naps or quiet reading time so you can study. My last semester, I had to drive 45min. away 2x a week to get in the last classes I needed. Mom really came in handy then. By then, my ds was in 3rd, dd starting K whether anyone else was ready for her or not, and youngest ds was 3. Come finals week of that semester, dh took oldest ds off for a week to attend a funeral for his nephew, youngest ds decide that he had to potty train NOW. My mom is a saint, that's all I gotta say. A month after I graduated, ds #3 was on his way, LOL.

 

Lots of patience and organization and remember your kids are young, even if all they get is some reading and math at this time, there is plenty of time for them to catch up.

[laughing lioness]

I finished a master's degree going full time, including seeing clients and all that entailed a couple of years ago. My older girls helped out tremendously with babysitting and getting food on the table - we don't have extended family around but if you do, utilize them as much as possible.

Our big coping mechanisms: dig the house out at the end of the semester (or quarter)- in other words, don't stress that much about housework duiring the semester. Get done what needs to be done- laundry, dishes, food, general pick-up and let the rest go, knowing you'll devote a day to really cleaning up in several weeks.

Make meals ahead: Once a week, once a month, etc. Plan dinners.

Have a weekly planning mtg with dh (and in our case, the other kids in the house who worked and drove). Make sure everyone has the schedule for the week, who is picking up who when, etc. No last minute play dates, etc.

Utilize media for school: tapes, CD's, Dvd's, computer. Make use of co-ops. Those without volunteer requirements work better when you're in school ;)

Have time set aside for homeschool and stick with it.

Have time set aside for your school and stick with it. I would get up at 5 a.m. 7 mornings a week to get reading done. I was tired for 2 years but I learned the stuff.

Make the most of your trips to school- do your errands, etc on that day without the kids- it will go faster and will save time running around.

Get your schedule tight.

Learn to skim and speed read. Maybe read "How to Read a Book" this summer. Learn how to memorize.

Talk to the fam before the semester starts and let them know the schedule. It was helpful for our kids to know when semesters ended, when the program would end.

Best Regards:)

[laughing lioness]

Another thought. Your kids are so young. I wouldn't stress so much about their school right now or getting everything done each year. The beauty of classical ed is how streamlined it is. Stick with the basics with them and they will be fine.

[PariSarah]

My biggest piece of advice: Embrace the B+. You can't do an A+ job at everything, so don't beat yourself up about it. Do a B+ job at everything--a good, solid B+, not a B or a B-, but a B+--and then every week, pick ONE THING that needs to get an A. Sometimes that'll be the most urgent thing, sometime that'll be the most important thing, sometimes that'll just be the thing that you want to do well on that week.

 

Another piece of advice: men are really good at making sure their needs are met. Sometimes women are a little reluctant to voice their needs, for fear of being selfish.

 

A little example--my dh runs most mornings a week. He's never asked me for permission to do this, nor asked me if I could watch the kids while he does it. He just goes for a run. For some reason, it took forever for me to be able to ask him to watch the kids while I exercise. I felt guilty for it, like if I carved exercise time out of my school day, I was losing study time and if I carved it out of my parenting day, I was making him do too much parenting.

 

Light goes off in my head--I watch the kids all the time so that he can run. It's okay for me to ask him to watch the kids so that I can get exercise too. Exercise is necessary. It's just one more thing we have to plan. I'm not messing up the schedule by insisting that my exercise time be included--I'm just making time for something important! So now, I usually work in a good walk with the kids on my parenting days, but on my school days, I just say, "Breakfast is toast or oatmeal. I need to leave by XX time so that I can work out." No guilt. And he does the same--he works it in before the kids are awake on his parenting days, and he does it before school on his school days. It sounds so obvious, but it really took me awhile to figure it out.

 

So don't be afraid to value your work as highly as your dh values his own work.

[caitlinsmom]

Thank you for the advice! It is so nice to know there are some others out there tackling this hectic life I've choosen. I have kept dd's school pretty light so that I dont get to overwhelmed. I also have a friend who hs and we are going to be doing a playdate every week so that we can have a small relaxing break to just be. I am hoping the schedual that I have come up with will work well enough.

 

One question- How to read a book, is this the one by Adler and Van Doren? Just want to make sure I get the right one.

[Chris in CA]

Yes, returning full-time to get my master's in English Lit. I want to be prepared to teach at the local cc when dds leave the nest. I will be taking 5 classes next fall and homeschooling 6th and 8th