Working + Homeschooling

[littlebylittle]

How many of you successfully work part-time while also homeschooling? I have a semi-flexible schedule with my work (I work from home) but there are times the doubts creep in that I will be able to handle doing both. I will have two younger elementary aged kids in the fall.

[texasmama]

Raising my hand.

 

I work 20 hours a week on two days in an office while homeschooling three kids in 1st, 4th and 6th grade. I've been doing some combo of full or part time work and homeschooling for about four years now. The only thing that did not work well was my full time, out of home work schedule. Part time is doable.

[TCB]

I work 24 hours / week over 2 days, so I'm home on the other 5 days of the week. When I'm working my husband is home, although this is sometimes difficult to co-ordinate. My dh is currently studying for a PhD, so, although he is home with them, he is busy and can only loosely supervise their studies. It works OK, but I really wish that I didn't have to work. I think it would be easier to be more consistent if I was at home each day. It is certainly do-able with elementary age kids. I'm a bit nervous about it as they get older and things get more complicated ( I will be teaching 4th and 8th grade next year). I assign the things they should be able to do mostly independently on the days I work, and do the more complicated things, needing supervision, when I'm home. Because of that, it is more difficult to stick to a fixed schedule. It would be easier if I worked the same 2 days each week, but this isn't possible.

 

I definitely think that it is possible to work and homeschool, especially part time, but IMO it is not ideal. Still, you do what you have to do. My kids seem to be doing fine and progressing well.

[BrookValley.]

I work full-time from home (35+ hours per week) and homeschool. My oldest is six (baby is newborn and, obviously, just along for the ride at this point). I am very type A but have never been a schedule person, so it doesn't tweak me that we cannot schedule our days. I plan ahead what I would like to get covered week-by-week and go from there--if it gets done at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m., so be it. I just allow myself lots of flexibility and it works out fine.

[Wildiris]

It's tough to work part-time from home and homeschool one child. I've found that organization is key to my success. School hours are set and work hours are set, and I try my best to stick to the plan. Everything runs better if I've planned the meal and shopped accordingly, same with the household tasks, and kid activities. If I don't have some kind of weekly/daily plan too much stuff gets shelved or never done.

[Random]

I worked about 20 hrs per week in the evenings (approximately 6-10), mostly from home. It was doable, but I had to be organized. When my husband came home, I worked and was unavailable to him and the kids. If I had a meeting or technical problems and had to go to the office to work, I hired a babysitter or my husband would take time off to stay with the kids.

 

The problem I ran in to most was staying up too late, sleeping in, and having the kids get up before me. If I didn't get done with my work until 11 or so, then I'd usually oversleep and the kids would be entertaining themselves in the AM (not good!). That was just a negative side-effect I couldn't do much about. It was better for me to get enough sleep, I thought. My children were early elementary and I didn't expect them to work unsupervised, and when that happened, those days were just not as productive.

[jar7709]

It's tricky. On the books I bill 25+ hrs/wk, but I am expected to maintain full-time availability. Most days are from home but I have childcare (grandma) one day/wk to allow me to go to an office or make site visits. For me, good communication with my co-workers and clients regarding expectations and deadlines etc is completely key, along with a good support crew, some late nights, and a lot of caffiene. I've been working this way more-or-less since the kids were tiny and long before we officially homeschooled, so we are all used to it, it is just our life now. So find your rythm, it can be done! :)

[dewdropfairy]

I run one business from home where I set my own hours (after school) and another during the summer. It's totally doable. Most things are when you make them a priority. :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

Successfully? We'll see :lol: I've been doing it the past two years with a 4th-5th grader, who can do at least some things independently. We're adding in a 2nd grader this coming year, and I'm rather terrified! :huh:

 

I'm self-employed, and work seasonally and erratically. So I go back and forth between being stressed because I'm working a lot and feel like I'm neglecting the schooling, and having plenty of time to focus on school, but stressing out about money. I'm not sure which is worse? I've not been working much the past few months, and was really starting to nail-bite, but just got a large contract and now I'm worried about getting it all done! :laugh: It never rains but it pours, I guess.

 

I have gotten better at relaxing and going with it - we school really hard when I'm not working, and we kinda cruise when I'm swamped. I try not to be attached to the ps schedule, but realize we can work on our own schedule. I do count days, just so I can be sure I'm not short-changing "school" not because I'm required to. It's working out nicely this summer, because the girls will be in theater camp for 3 weeks in July, and I now know what I will be doing that whole time!

 

It's not easy, but I appreciate the flexibility and I am really, really grateful to have a supportive dh who values what I'm doing with the kids. They are learning a lot about making choices, priorities, and how you gotta git 'er done in the real world. They also appreciate the opportunity to homeschool, which makes it a lot easier. They know that there are lots of other things I could be doing with my time, and they feel that the time I spend with them is a gift. This is good for all of our attitudes! I definitely couldn't do it if I had to drag them kicking and screaming along the way.

[2_girls_mommy]

I did a 15 hr a wk pt job that I could take the kids along with me each afternoon for a few months last year. We were just very scheduled. Certain things had to be done at certain times. Naps, meals, chores and work had to be done on time. There were things they brought to work with me that they read or finished on their own. Now my job is taking care of kids in the home, so the extra kids just do what we do. I have a preschooler that stays and homeschools with us and it works better than me leaving the home and having to take the kiddos with me.

[Mukmuk]

Good to read about this. I'm starting up a business with my sister and already, it's soaked up a lot of time. Ds has been very busy with a lot of activities this summer and has been able to follow a schedule on the few days that we've done work so far. I don't think I could have tried this even a year earlier as ds only started to have some focus from a year ago. I'm optimistic. :001_smile:

[Wheres Toto]

I hope I can do it successfully. I just started a part-time job where I'll be working between 15 and 25 hours a week, outside the home. The hardest part that I can see right now is that my schedule can change each week and I won't know until the Friday before what I'm working the following week. That and I'm on my feet/active the entire time (and I have not been active recently so I'm badly out of shape) so I finish up a 5 hour shift pretty tired.

 

What I'm hoping will make it easier is that my mother is the one watching the kids and she will do school with them, especially with my youngest, but doesn't feel she can teach (although I think as she sees what's involved she'll feel more comfortable with it). Ds can do quite a bit of his work independently or with just a little assistance, so I think it will work okay.

[momto2Cs]

I've always done both. I worked eveings and weekends for a few years, in grocery. Now I work 22-25 hours a week as a secretary for the county office of education, in the mornings. Oh, and I am working on my MA, on a part-time basis (one evening class this upcoming fall). If dh is not available in the mornings, the kids get dropped off at my mom's. She does crafts, cooking, etc. with them. We school in the afternoons, Sunday through Thursday. It works. I'm trying, as they are getting older and needing more in the way of education, to streamline resources and really organze things. On the flip side, as they get older, they get a little more independent! Ds12 can do a lot more on his own now.

 

What I find that helps are:

A: do-the-next-thing lessons. LOF or Saxon? Do the next lesson. Human Odyssey? Read the next chapter. This reduces planning time for me.

B. Make good use of the library hold system. We only go to the library once every two-three weeks now. The kids place holds, I place holds, and what we comehome with has to last. Much easier than going there and endlessly looking stuff up, then trying to find it, etc.

C. Cook-ahead meals and the crockpot are your friends!

D. I try to combine the kids where I can, namely history and science, plus any "extras" (art appreciation, music, and so forth).

E. We do limit outside activities. Ds loves fencing, so he does that twice a week. Dd loves roller derby, so she does that once a week. And we have Friday afternoons with friends. That's it. I think we'd go crazy if we were out of the house every day!

[lillybell]

I work full time from home and homeschool. Been doing this for 13 years and somehow have made it work. My work is not scheduled and as long as I have my work completed by the next morning, then everything is good with work. So I work throughout the day and stop to help with coursework or to lecture at different times during the day. It is tough but doable. Dinners have to be simple during the week or if nothing is planned, I end up having to go pick up fast food but that can quickly add up so planning a weekly menu is a must. I also combine some of the kids on history and science and lecture on those twice a week. They do their own labs, unless it is something really difficult. The kids do have activities with a local homeschool group but only a few times a month. We also do co-op, which is once a week, but the session hasn't started yet this year. Somehow we manage. We are very sporadic though but everything always gets done. It is stressful but that is the only way I get things done, if I am under pressure. I find that when there is no pressure to get something done, I end up sitting around procrastinating until last minute.

[Twilight Woods]

I just changed my schedule so I can HS full-time. :) I now work PT. I use to work overnights but it was hard so now I work Sat, Sun and Mondays during the day. Monday is the only day I have to worry about with DD-2nd grade. She typically will go to a friends house while I work then we do school after dinner. The rest of the week is open.

[a27mom]

I work 5 to 20 hours a week. I'm a physical therapist. I am going to try to limit to 1 day a week during the "school year" ( we actually school year round, but it I adjust to be more available to fill in on school breaks)

 

My 1 or 1.5 day weeks go fairly well, but it would be hard to do if I worked 20 hours year round. We really need our downtime.

[Lucy the Valiant]

I work part time, and it does work, but it's hard. I wish I didn't need to.

[knittingmama]

It's tough, but doable. I work from home, 2 jobs, for 30 hours/week for one and 5 hours/week for the other, and I have 4 kids ages 2-10. I've been doing this for 5 years, the entire time I've been homeschooling. The key for me is organization and clear expectations for what my husband is responsible for and what I'm responsible for. I do have to say, it's exhausting. Absolutely exhausting. If I could give it up, I would, but that just isn't an option right now.

[Halcyon]

I work out of the home. I am an acupuncturist and am a partner in a growing community acupuncture clinic. I am on site 3 afternoons a week from 3 until 8 pm seeing patients, and then there's all the other stuff LOL. But that can be done from home, usually. It isn't easy, but I am still learning how to "roll with it' when things don't go as planned, school-wise.

[Donna]

I work to full days a week (7am to 7pm) and we have a very busy extracurricular activity schedule. My husband is home with dd while I work so I leave her with a list of schoolwork to get done with dh to help her if needed...she has become very independent this way.

 

The key for us is being willing to get things done at what might be considered odd times. We don't school on Fridays due to extracurriculars, school a few days a week in the summer, and get things finished up in evenings or on weekends during long drives to fiddle lessons. Often carschooling is necessary during the week as well...we have become pros at fitting things in.

[G5052]

Always. My level of effort has gone up and down over the years, but in the fall I'll probably be the equivalent of full-time. I can be off in the summer if I choose, which is lovely.

 

I put myself through college and worked full-time professionally while doing six years of graduate school, so it really isn't any crazier than that. And it is much, much easier with teens than when they were little.

[Stuart]

I work part time. You make adjustments as it fits your schedule. You will find your routine it needs to be unique to your situation. It's doable.

[kiwik]

I would like to think I could because it would mean I could home school. You would need free childcare (husband or other person) or children who could be trusted not to interrupt you constantly and an understanding boss if you worked at home. Alas I have neither. Good luck.

 

Eta. Or a job that pays well enough to employ someone to watch your kids. Nope not that either. Never mind that's why I after school.

[littlebylittle]

THANKS so much, guys! Sounds like it's doable but hard - which is what I expected. Thanks for the info and tips!!

[jenncslp]

I do it, but I don't know that I feel successful at it all the time! I have a 12 year old with Down Syndrome and a 2 year old...and they are not very independent workers. I have to work during naps, bedtime, or when I can keep them busy with a video or some structured play. Unfortunately I don't have any childcare help and really don't have the extra money to hire any.

 

Sometimes we work a lot on school, sometimes I have to focus more on work. I basically do what I need to do to keep us afloat. Public school did not work for us, so I will basically do whatever I can to keep them at home. (And I do love being with them!) Organization helps...if it is a priority, you will do it!

[sandst]

I do it, but I don't know that I feel successful at it all the time! ... Unfortunately I don't have any childcare help and really don't have the extra money to hire any.

 

Sometimes we work a lot on school, sometimes I have to focus more on work. I basically do what I need to do to keep us afloat. Public school did not work for us, so I will basically do whatever I can to keep them at home. (And I do love being with them!) Organization helps...if it is a priority, you will do it!

I agree, oh this is so me...

[m0mmaBuck]

I WOH parttime, two 10-hour days/wk, and HS my 7 and 11 yo. My situation is a little different because DH is self-employed and he teaches on the 2 days I WOH. It's not ideal but it works for us.

[Based on Faith Academy]

I work about 30 hours away from home. It is hard!! I worked away from home maybe 20

hours a week when my ex and I were together, but it was at night after school.

Now that I have been a single mom for five years, I have had to up that to thirty hours. I work

Friday afternoon-Monday morning. This is from the moment I drop them off to their

dad's house until the moment that I pick them up from him on Monday mornings.

I have a son going into 10th grade and a daughter going into 2nd. I have to be on top

of things at all times or else something will be lost in the shuffle. The hard part is the

grading and having to schedule their school work. It is that the free time I do have is

taken up with all of that. I made the choice to sacrifice any free time or social life for

myself so that I can give them the education they deserve to have. It is worth it! If over

the last three years of my son's schooling it becomes too much, I will still home school

but I will make a sacrifice of my independence and move in with family until he has

graduated. Just keep your priorities straight is all I can say.

[AK_Mom4]

I work part-time (20 hours a week) from home as a computer programmer. When DD12 was born, I decided to retire but my boss convinced me to come back part-time working from home when she was 4 weeks old and we have been at it ever since.

 

In the morning, I start work about 7am. DD12 gets up at 8am and we start school stuff when I take a break at 9. We go over her work for the day and make sure it's all laid out and we have all the right materials. Then she starts in at her desk next to mine in the dining room - if she has questions, I'm right there to answer them. We fit in her music practice (piano and saxophone) around my conference call schedule for work (hard to hear on the phone with THAT going on)! I finish up by noon for the day and go on to my household chores. DD12 finishes up by 2pm most days.

 

We are adding DS17 back into the mix in the fall. He homeschooled grades 5-8 and is coming back home for his senior year. He has always preferred to do his work at the dining table so, again, I am right there in case he has questions or wants to discuss something. Should be exciting!

[Forgiven]

I work full time, but that means I could work up to 60-80 hours a week. I have set hours and many conference calls. I plan for the kids to do independent work during my busy times, and times that I know are not too busy (7-9 am), I plan things that I need to be involved with (ie: phonics, reading for my 1st grader, etc).

 

There are times that I feel I'm losing my sanity, but it's more rewarding than not. I would love to not have to work anymore, but unfortunately, my job is more stable than my DH's, so it would make no sense for me to not work as we could find ourselves with two unemployed adults. Not good. My DH and I make the same amount of money, and there have been times that he's been laid off and we've had to live on one salary. It's doable, so I do have that dream of quitting. We just need to make sure his job is secure first. His company just laid off a guy who'd been with them since they started up, which is scary. Apparently, they lost a big account. What happens when they lose the next big account? Will my dh lose his job then? Ugh. Because of this, I can't quit. :(

 

Work gets done. School gets done. Housework and cooking do not get done. I need to get better at cleaning and going to the grocery store. I'd cook if I had food in the house.

[Stratford]

I work 2 12-hour shifts on the weekends (Fri and Sat night, home on Sunday.) I've had this schedule for the past 5 years or so.....while it allows me stay home all week, and homeschool the kids, and avoid daycare, etc., it cramps family time, particularly as the kids are getting older and more involved in things, and I've pretty much given up what little personal time I had. That said, I appreciate the stability of my job and the income it provides. It's a fair trade at this point.

[Midway]

I work erratically as a freelance writer. I mostly get assignments to write press releases from a pr agency, and it ebbs and flows with how much news the clients have to put out. Having a daily schedule of assignments for the kids to do and check off helps when I get real busy.

[Chrysalis Academy]

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