Working and Homeschooling
OK, offer your help, oh wise ones!
How do you balance working part-time (from home or otherwise) and homeschooling?
My main questions: do you ever see your spouse? do you ever rest?
I do have an almost-3 year old along with the homeschooled almost-7, so that is a big factor in the busyness.
I've just paid an exorbitant fee to a College Nannies service to get about 10 hours/week of childcare, but that's all I can afford, and I need at least 10-12 more hours of work during the week.
What are your brilliant ideas? 
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Very Carefully
And not always successfully.
I do the bookkeeping/office management for DH's repair shop, and I do the bulk of my formal homeschooling there. DD is in the swing enough now that I can get her started on any "independent" tasks (like math fact practice)and do my own work at the desk. I do any "sit down" work with her between my tasks and phone calls.
We have a table set up that has materials to keep her entertained as well as her school work. She knows that if I have to answer the phone she can color (paper, markers, colored pencils), write stories, play with her leapfrog computer thingy her grandmother gave her for Christams, listen to her French tapes (CD player and headphones) and so on. All these things are within reach.
Of course, DD is only in kindergarten, and I'm trying to balance the formal homeschooling and unchooling, so her "lessons" only take about 1-1.5 hours a day.
We also take field trips, and spend a lot of time in the van listening to literature on tape and our (Berlitz) French program. Every night before bed we read too. And, don't forget those life-skills moments like cooking, or making things together. Those are golden learning moments for sure!
So, I guess we kind of spread it out quite a bit throughout the day and week.
And no, I never see DH!
I didn't see him all that much before homeschooling either though.
FWIW,
-Jo
Shhhhh... electronic babysitters!
Please note I'm not recommending this for all day or even every day, but it's perfect for emergencies. You probably already have a number of educational CDRoms and videos - make it grow! Nature programmes are always fabulous teachers for kids, and my two loved French videos they were given. In conjunction with other methods and if you stick to pre-recorded programmes (no commercials!) the television and computer can give you many hours of freedom. Just be careful not to overuse it or it won't work so well when you really need it. I understand you might need to be on the computer most of the time perhaps, but obviously those are the times you stick a video in and let her kick back and learn passively. I can't imagine that your DD will let passive learning take over because I don't think she's the type.
You could probably do with investing some time or money in a load of worksheets. There are tons on the internet of course and you can decide exactly what's suitable that way. I think you said she's quite enthusiastic about the more formal elements, so she'd probably feel quite good about worksheets.
Then of course there's rules like, "If Mommy's on the phone you have to be quiet so go read a book." The reading can buy you hours and hours of time - is she reading independently, I can't remember?? If she is you could probably buy an hour by handing her an encyclopaedia if she's anything like my two. If you don't already have one, charity shops are great sources.
Presumably you need quite long chunks of time in order to be able to concentrate on writing. She's old enough to be told that and to be told what things she can do when you need to work. The sooner you make it clear to her that you won't be 'teaching' her every second and she needs to 'teach' herself sometimes the easier it will be for you.
As for the little one, I've heard that lots of people have boxes which come out specially during homeschooling time so they can concentrate on the older kids. The younger ones often want to be doing something similar, so crayons and colouring books, scrap paper, that kind of thing, maybe an old calculator and other stationery... What's that family with quite a few kids... Something to do with MOTHS - they had some kind of system. Somebody will know anyway. I think they mentioned several strategies for amusing the younger ones while teaching the older ones. Something "Of Their Homes..." was the acronym. I'll try to remember if nobody else can.
Planning is the key to all of this Shaun. Having the stuff ready for when you need it, and having a variety.
Other than that, GOOD LUCK!!! I'm having enough problems getting back into full-time work (albeit from home) with my kids being in school! If anyone knows how to counter the exhaustion and trick nature, I'd love to hear from them!
Kerri.
send her to practice the piano
If she practices all the time you're working, you'll have a little Mozart in no time. (I'm thinking of a 16-year-old homeschooled junior at my university who is one of the best percussionists in the school, and also an excellent pianist and oboeist-- from what I understand, that is how his single mother dealt with exactly this problem.)
Managers of Their Homes
Kerri, that sounded such a lot of nonsense (moths??) that I googled it, and you were right
http://www.titus2.com/ecommerce/products/prod_listing.php/1100
Thank you thank you!
Thanks for your comments, guys. It's the organizing that scares me, but there it is -- can't do without it.
Becky, DD felt that being able to play the piano for "hours and hours" would be a benefit of homeschooling. I'm not sure how long she'll actually stay at it, but maybe I could invest in some headphones for the electronic piano so she can play, DD2 can nap, and I can work.
Yes, DD reads independently extremely well, but she has gotten into some bad habits! As in: let me at the computer! So it has to be meted out in small doses.
Looking forward to it all the same! School seems like sooooo long ago.
Shaun
www.homeschoolblogger.com/shaunms
there is free stuff on the site
I wasn't suggestig you atually pay for this stuff Shaun, but I remember seeing their timetable and some tips on there somewhere. It might just help you a bit. Or it could make you feel like a total disaster for struggling with two kids when these people managed however many it was and made it look easy. I'm afraid there was a bit of that in it for me, but there were definitely interesting things on there that you might find inspiring. It's the inspiration that helps most a lot of the time, simply because you already know how to organise yourself, your stuff and your kids, you just have to be motivated into doing it, and the stories of others is always helpful for that.
Kerri.
I home school my seven year
I home school my seven year old daughter and have a toddler. I work 40hrs a week as a CNA working in a nursing home. I work 11pm to 7am. It is very hard but well worth it. I taught my daughter to be pretty independent with her school work. I take a 2 hour nap in the morning and then go to sleep for 3 hours when my husband comes home. My husband and I spend my nights off together for a couple hours then the kids go to my parents every other Friday and Saturday and the Hubby and I have Date Night on that Saturday. We gotten used to it. I feel really strong about homeschooling but we can't afford for me not to work. Even though my husband is now happy that I am home school, the only way I could convince him to let my home school is by working since 2 people need to work in 2008. Anyhow I hope this helps.
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