Working mom

[Shannon H P]

Hi, I have a 1st grader and a 3 year old, and am strongly pulled toward this curriculum. The catch is that both my husband and I work, and though my work is flexible, it is still important. Any other working parents making this happen for title guys out there? I'm wondering if after schooling during the grammar phase and then homeschooling when there is more capacity for time alone makes sense. I'd love to hear how others have figured it out! We live in a small rural community and I'm not aware of other classical homeschoolers nearby.

[EmilyGF]

Hi Shannon,

I'm not a working mom, but there definitely are some on this board. I just wanted to say hi and welcome.

Emily

[eternalsummer]

I work from home (so does DH) but we don't do WTM all the way, exactly (or really at all). We do homeschool.

[Trilliumlady]

Hi there,

I am new to these boards as well and have a husband who gets home around six each evening and am myself a midwife so get called out for births or clinic days once or twice a week. I have one in third and one in first and a sort of pre k (4.5) who I am sad to say doesn't get a ton of "schoool time". I am following WTM to an extent. I think that in first it could work with what you are describing but with intentional effort. DS in first does Singapore math 1B, First Lanugage Lessons 1, Writing With Ease 1, Zaner Bloser handwriting, and a spelling WTM recommended but I can't remember which one right now. Of those, the math probably takes the longest. The rest could be done in a hour or hour and half of directed teaching time. We do alternate history SOTW 2 and science using WTM recommendations every other day for an hour. He reads voraciously and getting him to notebook regularly or have me sit and listen to him is where I drop the ball. He gets a good two hours at least reading in daily though unless we are out of the house. I had plans to do Spanish or Latin but that has t happened and for his age I don't feel too guilty about it. Music and art happen very sporadically.

So, all that to say is that yes, I think that with three to four hours which could easily be broken up throughout the day you could definitely get a good WTM foundation laid. Good luck!

[Moonhawk]

Hi, I worked FT for the first 2 years I homeschooled, got laid off earlier this year.  At the time, my daughter was 5-7, and my son was 3-5. My husband also works part-time out of the home and freelances, which adds up to a full-time job.

 

My schedule was fixed, but for the first year I had the advantage of Fridays off (worked 4-10's).  My husband would be with the kids in the morning until ~11.  He did school with them in the morning, light usually -- it was kindergarten anyway. Then drop to a babysitter (my parents). I'd pick up at 5, take them home and do about an hour of work with them.  Fridays, Saturday, Sunday I did school with them in the morning.  We planned the general curricula together, but I was responsible for making sure everything was ready for his part of the day: worksheets, videos, general activities. 

 

Second year, I worked 5 days a week, but Tuesday and Thursday were half days.  So, basically the same schedule except I was the one on deck Tues/Thurs morning, not my husband, and Fridays were more of a free-day-with-dad thing.  Again, I was in charge of all the day-to-day planning.  My husband essentially got cut down to piano lessons and free exploration/bunny trails for his time with kids, since I covered all main subjects either in the morning (T/Th), evening (M/W/F), or weekend. 

 

It was kind of crazy.  My husband worked late to make up his clients' deadlines. If he had a big project, we'd have to call for backup (parents) to watch kids on his mornings, or they'd get a movie morning. I was super organized to make sure everything was on track, and sometimes not, and suffered consequences.  My commute was a triangle of 10min each between work and parents, so I didn't have much time lost to driving, which was super helpful.  Dinners suffered unless I had a crockpot ready; I turned to big meals on the weekend and then freeze leftovers.

 

The main problem for us wasn't having enough time to do lessons, as much as what to do when my husband or I weren't at home; my parents ended up watching them but they are Not Pleased about homeschooling and this was an added stress to that whole argument. But without my parents, it would have been almost impossible, since hiring a sitter would have killed the budget. We'd have found a way, but the stress of it would have been borderline too much.

 

Your idea of after-schooling would probably work, time-wise. You would have enough time to cover what you need and want, at least through 2nd grade (all of my experience thus far). Your kids may be burned out though from a full school day and not able to take more instruction/lessons in the evening, depending on their school environment and how structured you want to be.  And, if there was a specific book/program you wanted to use, that doubles a different book at school, the kids may either really benefit from seeing two ways of learning the same topic, or get mired in forgetting which way is which. My mom tried to teach a different handwriting from me while they were with her.  I had to tell her to stop because she was just confusing them on how to form certain letters and undermining my overall school by insisting I didn't know what I was doing.  But, that problem was influenced by the Not Pleased dynamic going on, so maybe it wouldn't happen if you were sharing them with a school environment.  

 

[Shannon H P]

Thanks all- really helpful! We'll start by putting together the ideal schedule and then see if we can adapt to the current schedule. I'm really compelled by the WTM philosophy and methodology and hopeful we can find a way to make it work at least as after school for now and start thinking about ways to make it more full time. 

 

Does anyone have kids in the older logic stage who might comment on the possibility of them doing some work independently (though obviously not without direction)?

[cabritadorada]

I'm a full-time working mom by necessity--homeschooling is not an option. I'm very inspired by WTM and homeschooling--but for us it has to be afterschooling. 

 

Still--there is time in the morning and evening to spend a few minutes doing fun phonics and math--and we spend a ton of time reading.

 

I am deliberate about making our at home time interesting and "enriched" -- Ancient Egypt was been the theme for October. We checked out a ton of books on Ancient Egypt and Egyptian mythology and read them together on the evenings and weekends. We drew pictures of Egyptian dress and the gods and pyramids and hieroglyphics. We examine the maps and read related bible stories. We created an egyptian princess halloween costume. 

 

We also do units from Mystery Science every few weeks for fun. (The human body ones were super interesting and memorable) 

 

The books we checked out for November are about the first Americans (native) and Native American folk tales. It will be super fun. She's at an age where she just wants to soak up all the information and then let her imagination run wild with it. 

 

I don't know what it will be like after, say, third grade--but at least for these early years I feel like it's fairly easy to fit in some homeschooling even if you can't home school. 

 

[Milknhoney]

I work part time, 20 hours/wk, 12-5pm four days a week. We get up early and get started by 7:30am. We finish in time for me to throw lunch together and head out to work. My husband's schedule is flexible, so he meets me at work at noon and takes the kids home. They each have a list of things they can do independently ("homework"). My youngest one only has one or two chapters from a novel, two Bible stories, and sometimes an additional picture book related to history. Sometimes I give her an addition/subtraction drill worksheet. Sometimes there are other little extras that we skipped over that morning because I knew she could finish it on her own without me. My oldest is logic stage. He works primarily independently, since I have to devote most of my time to his sister. We have his read aloud and Greek that we do together, otherwise he goes it alone and comes and gets me when he needs help. His list takes him past my work time, so he has to do the more difficult subjects (WWS!) in the morning. 

 

It is doable but a lot of work. One thing I had to let go of is my frugal nature that wants to photocopy workbooks to save money. That takes too much time. I will be ordering new workbooks for my daughter when it is her turn. I have to choose open-and-go curriculum that doesn't take much advanced prep, and which my older can do independently. We don't do many fun art projects or field trips; there just isn't the extra time for it. Also our school year has to be longer than 36 weeks to get it all done, because I am frequently missing school days because I've been asked to work extra to cover for this or that. Another big challenge for us is that my work schedule prevents me from joining homeschool coops. We're also just too busy to allow many extra-curricular activities. So my kids don't get out of the house much and the whole social contact thing is definitely lacking. 

[MerryAtHope]

Would your husband be willing to cover some subjects? Some working families divide up the subjects so that Mom is in charge of some and Dad is in charge of others. Even if he took just one subject (like science & science experiments for example), that can make a big difference.

 

I'm a working mom but I didn't work until my kids were upper elementary, plus I work from home with very flexible hours. I do find it challenging to get everything in at times. 10 hours a week was pretty easy, but 15 and above usually means something gives a bit (usually housework, sometimes meal-planning, etc...)  Sometimes we get creative! 

[RenaInTexas]

Dh and I homeschool and we both work full time jobs. We transitioned from after schooling to homeschooling this year. So we are only ~3 months in, but we are making it work. DH works from home on T & Th or he goes in around 10:30/11 am. I work from home MWF.

 

What we have done is traded our 'get ready for work' / commute time in for teaching time. So we each teach 2 hours per day and then work for 8, so our total day isn't that much longer. For the remainder of the day the boys have a live online class, internet/PC delivered course, reading, and independent work/project. I even have my oldest teaching a bible study class to my youngest. Mine are in 2nd and 4th. It has worked very well and we have all settled in.

 

What has helped us be successful so far: being able to work from home or go in after our 2 hours of teaching is done, being VERY organized -- pre-planning 2-3 weeks ahead, having some open and go curriculum, outsourcing some courses, and for us, we have had to be comfortable leaving them alone for a couple hours while one had to go in for a meeting. 

 

Just our experience, thus far.

 

For them it has been great because we no longer have to after school. This means that after school, they are free which they have loved. For the parents, the transition was bumpy -- mixing teaching with working and much of our free time is now used to plan lessons. I am working on planning each course for an entire year and this will free up more time in the coming weeks.

[kiwik]

It depends on the kids, finances, available help and the type of work. I am on my own and although i only work 4 days my pay would not cover even the cheapest most unsafe childcare now they are school age and no longer get government subsidies. I can't take them to work and they aren't sit quietly in the corner kids anyway. School therefore looks after them while I work.

[MomOfABunch]

I work full time with a flexible schedule. DH has worked full time in the past and this year is a full time student with a part time job. The kids are 14, 14, 7, 5, and 3. I've found that we can make it work with a little creativity and outside the box thinking. The first thing is to school year round instead of a fixed 36 week schedule. Typically, the non independent students (3rd -ish grade and below) sit down with me about 3 times a week for formal lessons. I focus on the basics in the early years to ensure they are solid: reading first, then writing and math.

Other things that help:

- I use story of the world on cd, science CDs and shows (magic school bus, for example), music history CDs, etc. while they play with Legos or draw or whatever. So even if it's a nuts week and I don't get to their formal curriculum for history, science, and the extras, at least they had that exposure.

- Severely limit junk tv and video games

- Provide toys for free play that are educational. My kids think math manipulatives are toys :)

- Read aloud as much as possible until the kids are able to read aloud to each other. Then insist they read aloud to the younger non-readers for you. I've gotten so much work done over the years while the kids do this.

- Realize your limits. One of my kids has significant disabilities. She goes to school. I went back and forth and back and forth about this decision, but it's the best for her and the best for our family. Her needs were too much for me to teach her by myself along with the other kids. It is what it is. She has a great 1:1 set up at her school and is doing very well. She's happy; I'm happy. Win-win.

 

You asked about older kids. My time involvement with teaching dropped off a lot around 4th grade. At that age, we moved to more of a daily check list and instead of me directly teaching, I was more needed for trouble shooting and making sure assigned work was getting done. That sometimes happened over the phone from work. A couple subjects we still did together, but not too much.

Now for high school, DS1 is taking several classes online. My involvement is paying for the classes and ordering books, making sure he is online for class time, coaching him through emailing his teacher if he needs help, and just generally checking in about his work a few times a week.

Hope that helps!

[BatmansWife]

I work an average of 25 hours a week.  We don't school the WTM way at all.  My daughter turned 13 last month, so thankfully she does certain things on her own when I'm at work.  What probably is typically done by mom/child in the morning or early afternoon, 4 or 5 days a week, is done at our house at 9 pm and sometimes later, 6 - 7 nights a week (what's a weekend??).  We tend to school in little bursts....as in, something before work, something she does while I'm at work, something when I come home, then our history reading at night before bed, etc.  I would imagine it would be more challenging with the ages of your kids.  But it can be done.  Think outside the box...be flexible...be willing to school they way that works for you, not how it normally is done.  

[...................]

I have several friends that worked with flexible hours.  

 

Here's some ideas they had:

 

Dad taught two subjects- mom scheduled 

Dad did half the housework, and whenever he was home managed anything that was needed.

They put the kids in only evening events/sports....one friend did awana, another did Judo- Martial Arts is usually very flexible and many of them have affordable after school programs you may want to look into.

They outsourced ONLY what could not be done at home, to minimize the confusion of carting kids around to too many things- so namely sports, and music lessons

Mom used very plannable, boxed curriculum that could be followed by dad or sitters.

 

Some moms around here utilize those high-end nanny services where you pay a lot of money and generally get the same nanny...for when both parents end up working.  

 

They made it work....I think the biggest thing is that they didn't "do school" from 8:00-2pm every day, M-F.  There was some school going on in the evenings, some on the weekends.  The kids DO need a schedule, so they know what's coming, but that schedule does not have to be the same every day, nor does it have to match anybody else's!

[BatmansWife]

 

Dad did half the housework, and whenever he was home managed anything that was needed.

 

 

Please tell me where I can get one of those!  

[WahM]

I work part time. I work from home, but when I work my hubby is with the kids. It can be very hectic at times, but my husband is very helpful with household stuff. I do all the schooling though. We do majority of the wtm recommendations. We try to keep as much of a schedule as possible I think that helps. Sometimes we do have change the schedule a bit if I have a meeting in the morning or something. It is definitely doable, but it can be hard, hectic, and chaotic at time. Having said all that I do enjoy it very much!

[mohop]

I work a flexible schedule (it varies from 10 hours a week to 50+ hours a week, but an average of 20-30) and mostly from home, while my husband works a more inflexible FT schedule but with summers off.  My school-age kids are KG and 3rd grade, and I have a toddler.  We try to get most of our schoolwork done in the mornings, and I get childcare help about 12-15 hours/week.  I leave a list of schoolwork that needs to be done.  When I am on top of things and organized, it goes well.  When I am disorganized or too busy to spend time planning out our week, then they kids don't get much schoolwork done.  But we also school year round as needed to finish up our subjects.  I don't follow WTM to a T, but it's been my homeschool inspiration.  It helps to have some school work that requires very little parental involvement.  (Love Math Mammoth for that.)  And to mix that up with lots of reading of good literature, which can happen at any time, trips to the library, and free time for the kids to do what kids do.  Good luck with your journey.  

Edited November 27, 2016 by mohop