Help me get creative...working full time and homeschooling??

[the4Rs]

I know this topic has been covered by others ad nauseum... but please bear with me.

 

This year financially we had to put our kids in PS for the first time. I had to work. Up until that point I had done day care and homeschooled and for me I had reached a point I just could not do both effectively. So instead I am now subbing in the district my kids are in school in plus another school district nearby. I am subbing just about every day.

 

The thing is that I want to pull my kids out. We've agreed to have them finish the school year but I need other options for next year. There are several reasons but after only two months of subbing.... well I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with what they are teaching the kids, not to mention the complete lack of respect from kids as they age. So many influences I knew existed but the longer they are exposed the more I don't like it. My daughter is already caught up with writing notes with a boy and flirting back and forth and she is in third grade and that is NOT how we've raised her. And my son has turned into this mean-spirited boy who picks on everyone and whines about everything.

 

There are aspects of PS that I like. I love their teachers and I know they work harder for someone else than they do for me. I like the access to extra-curriculars and to the arts (something I was not very consistent at) and learning in a co-operative environment.... so ideally I'd love a private school but the closest one if 45 minutes away and ridiculously expensive.

 

Help me think about how/if it is possible to bring them home next year knowing that I must work. It is not a matter of wanting to... if I don't, we literally do not eat for the month. That is not an exaggeration.

 

I cannot and will not go back to day care. Those were some of my most depressing years and I feel so free away from it and my home feels like home now and not a job. So what other options would there be?

 

Missing homeschooling so much right now.

[Mergath]

Well, first of all, what makes you think that your dd is "flirting," as you put it? If you're going to be uncomfortable with her having any interaction with boys, regardless of the nature of that interaction, you should probably just pull her now.

 

I wish there was some magical solution for you, but if you want to stay home, you need to spend less. If you want to spend more, you have to work. Can you cut back your spending so that your income isn't necessary? Can you downsize your housing, or move to an area with lower CoL?

 

There are many ladies on the boards here who have worked full-time and homeschooled, but it is a lot of work and requires insane drive and organization.

[thebacabunch]

This is jmo. I don't think you can do both. It isn't fair to the kids. When do you plan on teaching them? In the evenings when you are tired? What can you do to cut back? Something will likely need to be sacrificed. The kids will have to go to ps or you will have to do a job you don't like (daycare) or you will have to live on less.

[PentecostalMom]

Can you teach online? Tutor? Work for someone like Sylvan doing remedial or test prep? It seems if you are qualified to teach that there are other options. I don't know what type of degree and qualifications you have so take my suggestions as you will.

 

Personally, my dh is headed back to school after being out of work. He has a degree in building construction and has been doing odd jobs to keep us afloat but times have been a little tight. I just found a very part time job taking care of the plants at our local shopping mall. Every penny helps!

[Jennifer]

What are your husband's hours? Would he be home with them during the day? How old is your son?

[StephanieZ]

With your children that young, and with financial limitations, the only thing I can think of is for you to find a job that you can either do from home while your kids are there, or do away from home when dh is home with them -- so, presumably nights and weekends.

 

What are options in your area? If it is a fairly affluent area, you might be able to make great $$ cleaning houses on the weekends. You could work retail or maybe waitressing or bartending nights and weekends. I'd think waitressing or bartending would pay better than retail. If you have a skill set you could do from home, then you could pursue that.

 

Whatever way you cut it, you're talking about killer hours and being really exhausted.

 

Alternatively, could your dh get a second night or weekend job?

 

Or, can you cut costs somehow?

 

What changed that made it so you had to go back to work? Can it change back?

[Hannah]

Its true that you need to be organized and disciplined and things will get craxy busy, but it is doable if you are determined.

I work 30 hours per week, but I can't really compare to someone in the US as being in Africa, we have a cleaner 3 mornings a week and a gardener once a week, so that frees a lot of time.

I could stil try and help you brainstorm though.

 

The first thing to figure out would be your childcare arrangements. How would childcare inpact you financially? Would it still make financial sense?

Can the person looking after the children help with homeschooling? If they can, then your choice of curriculum would depend on how much you want your carer to do (i.e. listen to first grade reading lessons, do science experiments, etc).

 

You wouldn't need much time to cover first grade, so one option would be to do school for an hour with your son in the morning before work (if that works for you). That would leave the afternoon/evening to work with dd. Or you could do some work (like math) with both in the morning and other things later. You will need to be flexible.

 

We have an au pair who's been with us for 7 years and she does a lot of school with my girls. Our routine is that Dh and I teach math every evening (my oldest in particular is not a morning person) and then I have a 'review hour' with the kids where I go over the work they've done during the day, mark assignments, etc. The specifics have changed over the years, but our basic routine remains the same. Dh is very contientious with teaching older dd math, which keeps me focussed as well.

 

The next thing is to focus on how you can free time for school.

 

Make sure your household routines run like clockwork and everything is streamlined to take as little time as possible. Spend the rest of the year teaching your family what you expect of them. Make sure everything has a place and everyone knows how to keep things in their place. I'd also declutter as much as possible. Less things take less time to manage.

 

Then work on your menu planning. Again, being organized is going to save you time in the long-run. During the week we only eat things that need less than 5 min of preparation or only heating. Which either means I've bulk cooked over the weekend, or we have a crock-pot meal, or something that can just go into the oven. Dh helps with grocery shopping.

 

I hope this helps :)

[Hannah]

Double post

[texasmama]

Who will provide child care while you work? I worked full time for nine months while homeschooling, and it is certainly doable. It was very exhausting, though. I have a dh who works out of the house, and he took on a small portion of the homeschooling and childcare on Fridays. I hired a college student to stay with the kids and do part of the homeschooling two days a week. The other two days a week my kids were at my dad's, and he had his part of the homeschooling to do with them. However, I was not comfortable delegating much of language arts or any of math, so I did these subjects with the kids. This left me working full time and doing schooling in the evenings, which was a pretty tiring schedule. It also required amazing amounts of organization and planning on my part because four adults were participating in the homeschooling, and it was like a very intricate dance. I now work part-time, and this is a much more workable situation. In your shoes, I would do my best to make a part time subbing schedule work. For instance, work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. In a pinch, you can likely organize the schooling on the other days of the week, doing a non traditional schedule including some weekend time. My boys are a bit older than yours, and I worked with them to independently complete their co op homework. I had a friend take them to co op and bring them home. For those nine months, it really did take a village...

[Michelle in AL]

To be honest, it's not possible for me. I work 2 -12 hr shifts/week and go to school full time (it's online so I'm home). I only have one dd who is high school age at home now. She get's school done because it's all outsourced. Her classes or online, one is in town, and one is at the community college.

 

I am extremely driven, emergetic, and organized, but after doing it all for one yr I had to outsource. I simply didn't have the time or energy to even plan her school.

[violamama]

I can't imagine doing first grade in an hour as somebody suggested. We are doing it in about 4 hours (including breaks and reading time) and there are still days I wish we had more time.

I work 3 afternoons a week and run a small business on the side. I'm positive these things will have to give as my kids get older because I'll need more time for school. I'm talking within the next two years.

If you're subbing, the hourly pay is not fantastic. Tutoring is far far better. If you live where the students can come to you, it's a great way to support your hs.

 

Several of my friends sub, and they've let the districts know they are only available on certain days. Could you work mon-weds and hs thurs-sat?

 

Here's hoping you can work it out in a way that suits your family.

[2_girls_mommy]

I have friend that had to work full time last year. She had a 2-10 pm shift at a health clinic. She educated in the mornings (got up very early) It was a hard year. She was glad to cut down to part time this year. She still goes in at 2, but gets off earlier. She had babysitters from church that didn't cost an arm and a leg and her dh was home to get them after only a few hours. So it wasn't all day daycare.

 

She does things like play SOTW and Prima Latina C.Ds at bedtime to reinforce and uses co-op during the week for the main lesson planning for science and latin, just following up with workbook work and reading at home, no planning on her part. She leaves straight from co-op to work on those days.

[violingirl]

It's hard, but doable. It depends on a few factors I think- the hours you and your husband keep for work, his willingness to help with both housekeeping and homeschooling, etc. It works for us because my husband and I both work non-traditional hours and are willing to school on the weekends when I'm not working. My husband contributes just as much to housework as I do, and he helps with schooling as necessary. We have to keep a strict schedule to make it all work but it can be done. :)