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How many of you have homeschooled before and now have your dc in school?  What did you do once your children went to school?  Work, stay-at-home mom (If so what did you do to replace the teaching time)?  I am new at this no kids to homeschool.  I am not going to work this school year; it is my year of rest, but I am not sure what will fill my time besides the obvious things like cooking, cleaning, laundry, picking up kids after school, etc.

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Moi. Only on Week 2 of no homeschool.

 

DH suggested I take 6 months and just read, to relieve the backlog of books. Nice thought, but it would drive me crazy.

 

I have bunches of projects (you know, those planned, purchased, but barely started things) accumulated during 8 years where homeschooling was my focus. Quilts, scrapbooks, house projects, gardens, etc. But none of them have deadlines, and I function better with deadlines. Absent deadlines, well...

 

Fortunately, the boys' new school decided to start up a swim team this year, and I worked my way into a job as team manager, which involves lots of paperwork, coordinating with other schools, selecting/ordering suits, etc. I'm hoping to find a similar outlet when the swim season ends.

 

Note that cleaning and laundry don't appear on the list. I have as little interest in immersing myself in them now as I did before (although they do get done in a more timely manner now...) I also do not want to return to work - I want my time free to mesh with the school schedule, and at 53 years old, I just don't have the interest. The school did ask if I would be interest in subbing, so I might do that.

 

I also didn't mention the time spent crying into my coffee because I miss the guys...

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Well, I am waiting to be able to volunteer. It is definitely weird being home, just me and the dog.

Ds is having a hard time, so I need to work out before or after schooling schedules for him.

 

I thought about going back to some kind of job, but I realized, I want to be home in the summer with my kids. I wouldn't want to start a job, to quit. I thought perhaps something seasonal, or short term, or pursuing one of my many hobbies to sell things.

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My busiest part of the day is from 3:30 until bedtime.  But there is all of the down time before that.  Yes, I am doing the same things I was before like laundry and cooking (I avoid the cleaning asap  :blush:).  I am trying not to feel guilty for enjoying my quiet, but my severely introverted self needs to soak it up.

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I'm finding myself getting bored, to be honest.  I LIKE quiet, but I kinda feel lonely.  My favorite scenario is when kids are HOME but OUTSIDE.  Close but not too close. ;)  I work two part time jobs, so that takes up some time.  Still, I'm ending up with a lot of time on my hands that I don't want to squander.  I don't want to look back in a few years and realize that I spent most of it watching Netflix, you know? 

 

We're just 3 weeks into our public schooling adventure.  Still figuring these things out! :)  (Right now, though, I'm off to work at our local teaching supplies store, where I get to drool over all the pretty books and posters and decoratives and stickers and pencils! :drool5:)

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DS started school a couple weeks ago. As of right now, I have no plans to work this year... I am taking some me time, coordinating activities, volunteering for a few things at school, and trying to get some projects done around home, mainly decluttering and organizing.

 

And as EKS said above... I'm not totally sure we won't be homeschooling again, so I don't want to change things up too much just yet. We're considering this to be an experiment.

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I'm working three days a week, 6:30am - 2:30pm. The kids haven't headed back to school just yet, but I have a backlog of projects needing my attention that should mostly fill the other two days. I'm hopeful the pressure of having only two days to do them will function as a sort of deadline for me. :-)

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I'm working three days a week, 6:30am - 2:30pm. The kids haven't headed back to school just yet, but I have a backlog of projects needing my attention that should mostly fill the other two days. I'm hopeful the pressure of having only two days to do them will function as a sort of deadline for me. :-)

WILL they be going back? Soon? If BC means the BC I'm thinking of, I guess!
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OP, are there any volunteer positions you could do locally that might also give you training in a skill set you could fall back on if you needed a job?  Or maybe an on-line class you could take?  Is there something you always wanted to learn and just never had the time or never achieved mastery and would like to?  Something you could take lessons for?  Is there a homeschooling co-op you could help with (like create a support packet and do once a month support gatherings for newbies)?

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I taught one at home last year and this year I just have the preschooler at home.  I try not to feel too guilty that this feels like a vacation.

 

I do some housework during the week and now I do the grocery shopping on Friday to free up some time on the weekend when the whole family is home (but the rest of the family have their chores too, I am not going to do drudge work all day).  Since my youngest is still home with me, I will focus on some homeschooling/preschooling activities and outings.

 

In the afternoons when he naps, I am catching up on some neglected household projects and doing some professional reading and studying in preparation for returning to teaching either next year or the year my youngest is in K.  I don't think it is possible to be perfectly organized but I've neglected some things the past few years and will try to "catch up" before returning to paid work next year or the year after.

 

It does feel weird.  I haven't been home with one child since my oldest (who is 10) was a baby.  And last year was pretty intense teaching my oldest at home via a public virtual academy.  It was a great experience for him and me (as a teacher to see behind the scenes of a VA) but I think it was more work than if I had just homeschooled him. 

 

And like someone else said, that after school to bedtime timeframe is pretty intense this first week of school.  So I am reserving "afterschooling" for the weekends and days off from school for the time being.

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I homeschooled both dds through elementary school and this is now the second year they are both in public school. One is in high school and the other is middle school.

 

I am actually busier now than when I was homeschooling due to driving between both schools (youngest starts and gets out 1.5 hours before oldest), volunteering and being involved in boosters/pta at their schools, and taking my own online classes this year. I do hope to go back to work when oldest is driving but there is a chance dds will not attend the same high school so I could still be needed to drive youngest back and forth.

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