I have seen this question come up many times before, but I can’t recall a time that we ever talked about it here on The Homeschool Classroom. The question comes from Cat from [A]Typical Family:
My husband and I are prayerfully considering homeschooling our older two daughters (4th and 7th grade, one ESL/ELL). My question relates to homeschooling and working – have your readers had any experience with homeschooling and working full or part time (outside or inside the home)? How have they managed to make that work?
As a little further background, Cat shares:
It is not possible for us to completely give up my income and we have been brainstorming ways to make it work… including a flex time schedule for my job, taking girls to work with me, working from home nights/weekends, etc. I’m concerned about burnout.
So, Reader, do you have any experience with working while homeschooling? Any tips that you can share with Cat, as well as others that wonder about trying to do the same?
Please remember – if you have a question that you would like to have featured, feel free to email it to Angie.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I started homeschooling my children last year. At the time I was working two 12 hour night shifts a week at the hospital. I would sleep during the day for at least one day a week and during that time my mom would help my children with their work.
I later quit that job and went to working two 8 hour day shifts as a hospice nurse. It took a little more planning but my mom was able to homeschool the girls for one of those days and the other day I considered our “off” day. We would spend the evening reviewing the week’s studies and sometimes we did work on the weekend as well if we didn’t finish it all.
My job in hospice has since transitioned to a weekends only position which is what I do now. I work Friday night to Monday morning and then I have the whole week home with my girls to get our school stuff done.
So I can say that it is definitely doable. You have to be very organized and very flexible. Your school hours may not look like everyone else’s but you have to find out what works for you and your family. You may have to have school hours in the evenings or on the weekend. You may have to have whoever keeps your children assist with their work.
As far as burnout…I’m still working on that one. Since I work all weekend I usually take Mondays as our “easy” day. That way I know I have one day to catch up on housework, run errands, etc. We usually make that our library day and I try to do at least one or two easy and fun activities with the girls that day. Mondays are the closest I get to “free time” so we really try to have fun and enjoy ourselves that day!
Laura´s last [type] ..Madalyn and Mommy Meltdowns
Well…I’m pretty sure we’re about to try this…so I’ll let you know! Currently, my husband and I each work part time. We’ve done this ever since my first child was about a year old! My husband works Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Saturdays…and I work Wed, Thurs & Friday. Sometimes my husband will work a few nights during the week in order to have his Saturday’s free.
My kids are still quite young (preschool, 1st grade & 4th grade)….we will most probably do a 4 day school week….so my husband and I will “co-teach”. I will take care of most of the core subjects while my husband will get them out of the house for some exercise, nature study’s and library time.
I have NO IDEA if this will work or not…..but I’m going into this with a hopeful attitude! Good Luck!
Nancy´s last [type] ..Good Question, Olivia!
I am not employed but I am a part-time student at a local university. We only began our HS journey last year (DS started Kindergarten) and between my husband’s schedule and mine, we were able to get it done….and have fun! My husband is a firefighter so has a few days off during the week. We also began our school year last July so we could leave room for those unexpected days where school work wouldn’t be an option. We finished the last week in May and will start again in July. It has worked for us and after I graduate I plan to work part-time (maybe 2 days a week). For us, it’s organization and communication. I do all the planning and we use the workbox method, which really helps my husband.
As Grandparents, our situation is a bit different, but might be applicable to some situations. Our daughter is homeschooling her three daughters. She (our daughter) works from home, and her youngest is now six months old… so she is VERY busy.
Fortunately my wife, a former teacher, is no longer working and is available to assist in the homeschooling adventure. Therefore, one day a week, science with Gram will be the order of the day.
Obviously, that’s a unique situation, but certainly allows a great opportunity to provide one day per week for our daughter to focus on her other endeavors and for the grandkids to experience the skills of their grandmother in teaching great science.
John´s last [type] ..Adopt a Simple Golf Swing
Julie…we also use the workbox method and started doing so because it was easy for us to have “substitute teachers” when needed! It also really helps me to get my stuff planned ahead and to stay organized and on task!
You can make it work Nancy! That is the beauty of homeschooling….so much flexibility!
Laura´s last [type] ..Easy Peasy Chocolate PB Pie
I am a full time college student, single mom, and I homeschool. My daughter is only 4.5, but we’ve been “doing school” for awhile now, and I plan to school all the way through, even while earning my PhD.
We school year round. For me that means I can take off a couple weeks at the end of each semester when I’m especially busy. For you, it could mean the freedom to do 4 day weeks.
I also plan to make my daughter responsible for her own education. This will take some time (significant time in my case, since she is so young!) but I feel it will be beneficial.
Right now, I “assign” a certain number of workbook pages and walk away. I’m always within earshot for help if needed. For subjects like math, I teach the lesson, help with the first couple of problems until she “gets it” and leave her to finish up the problems. Reading is a subject that requires my full attention, as is science and social studies (since we are doing lots of literature right now!).
As she gets older and can read more on her own, I expect to shift more and more responsibility to her, and hopefully by late middle/early high school can assign her work at the beginning of the week and have her report back to me by Friday with what has been done.
There is an article about this… but I can’t find it right now. :/
Kymmie´s last [type] ..Plans for the fall!