Working Moms (at home or out)

Hi Misty,

Exhaustion is not good for anyone.  I hope you and your husband are able to have time to rest and recuperate.  If you can make it a prayed about and talked about decision on a rested body and mind, that would be so wonderful.

I work two different jobs outside of taking care of the home and handling the brunt of our kids’ education.  The first is as an independent rep for Barefoot Books.  I’ve been doing this for over eight years and work part-time hours to earn a part-time income.  I started it to replace a part-time job I had waitressing outside of the home that I did not enjoy.  Since I knew exactly how much money I needed to make, I was able to plan my goals and hours accordingly.  Since it is my own small business, it took a minimal investment and about four months to consistently earn just what I needed. I surpassed my monetary goal in about a year.  No matter what anyone says in a direct sales type of business, it is work.  I put in the hours and basically reap what I sow.  I am able to run book fairs and community fundraisers with my children at my side and they have basically grown up with the business.  I choose the books from their line that I want to represent and run my business to suit our needs.

My other job is based on the new “shared economy.”  We rent our barn out on Airbnb and I take care of the guests from May-October (it is a seasonal rental).  We may be adding our camper for overnight rental this May as well.  It means I handle the reservation requests, cleaning of the space, changing linens, giving directions, fixing breakfasts, etc.  Airbnb handles the money aspect, for which I am thankful.  Our friends rent out one bedroom in their home and introduced us to the concept.

Schooling:  With the Barefoot business, I school 9-2 and then work Barefoot from 2-4 to mainly answer questions from team members and take part in trainings, new product presentations, etc..  Since I am working with other stay at home moms, I need to be flexible.  Sometimes they can only take a phone call after 9pm when the littles are sound asleep. I don’t work the 2-4 if I have a book fair and then may work 2-3 days in a row or a weekend at a community event or just an evening where I bring the bookstore to someone’s home.  I incorporate the kids as much as I am able.  If it’s a community event, they make recommendations, stamp little bare feet on kids’ hands, help pack up, put stickers on catalogs, arrange books, etc.

When the barn is open for the season, we might not have people checking out until noon.  This meant we had to be hugely flexible.  The wonderful thing was that we had people visiting us from all over the world and they were so interesting.  We all got a huge education in magnanimity and a myriad of different topics.  For example, we had a diplomat from the Marshall Islands, a Grean Peace worker, a furniture designer delivering a custom bench to an art museum, a judge from North Carolina, a British Museum educator, MIT graduates and a physics professor. We had guests from Spain, Italy, Egypt, England and Germany.  Over breakfast they would tell us about their lives, show us videos of their work, and share photographs.  We even had musicians give an impromptu concert in our living room. It was such an education that I had to learn to be okay if our formal lessons didn’t start until after lunch that day.

It sounds romantic and it definitely has its very real upside.  We rent our barn for $85 a night to guests.  It is enjoyable but hard work though and from May to October the only free weekend I had were the days we blocked off for our yearly camping trip.  When the end of October came I was tired.  If you can imagine the heightened awareness you have when you have guests in your home, it was that kind of feeling for months on end.  We love to offer hospitality though and have guests in our home more often than not so this fit our lifestyle quite well.

So, that is a peek into my life as a homeschooling work at home mom.  I look forward to hearing from others along with you.

Warmly,

Richele

Hi Misty,

I am currently working 2 different jobs as well as our home duties. I have cleaned houses for the past 13 years, starting out full time and then decreasing to part time as our children were born.  It has been a huge blessing since my husband started his own business and my income has supplemented that quite a bit as his business has grown.

I am currently in the process of paring that side of my business down as his business increases, thankfully. I grew my cleaning business through word of mouth referrals. Putting ads in the newspaper when I first started but now I would think that social media would be a great way to grow.

This past year I have trained to be a doula as well and am planning on a very slow and controlled growth. This work for me is extremely satisfying and rewarding however it takes quite a bit of time for each client as I meet with them 3-5 times before their baby is due, their labor and delivery and then postpartum meeting(s).

I have a wonderful sister in law who takes the kids for me at times and I am trying to schedule most of my labor/deliveries in my husbands slower season.

It’s been a balancing act, owning your own business, church,homeschooling, marriage, family. There has been much sacrifice emotionally, financially and physically that most people never see, but God sees and that has been a great encouragement at times when things seem impossible.

However, after being good stewards of what God has given us our home is a (albeit busy) very happy one. We have always put God first in everything that we do and our work outside the home is very fulfilling and rewarding. If you have a passion for something you really can make it a business, it takes some creative thinking and support but you can do it!

Wishing you the best and look forward to hearing what you decide to do!

Wow, my working/homeschooling balance sounds easy after those other moms’ stories 🙂

I work part time outside the home as a Children’s Librarian. There is actually a lot of crossover in what I do at work and at home with the kids’ education, so that part is nice. Plus, I don’t get library fines, which is a very nice homeschooling perk.

My kids have a sitter who is also a homeschooling mom that lives nearby. I met her in a support group that meets at the library I work at. They also have a back-up sitter who is a mom that comes to one of my story times with her kids (who then turned into a homeschool mom as well – another story for a different day). I also have a neighbor who homeschools and has teenage daughters who babysit, so we have a great child care set up. It’s nice to know they’re not the only kids who are school age at a sitter during school hours – they have lot of friends to play with while I’m at work.

School often gets done in the late afternoon and evening, and there isn’t much of a thing known as “routine” around here – structure, sure; routine, not so much. We often struggle with transitioning from sitter’s house to our house, realizing that the rules change slightly when mom’s in charge again, and that I really mean it when I say we need to get some school work done. They’re young still, so I feel like this is just a maturity issue, not a working mom issue.

So there’s a little snap shot of my life.

To me, it sounds like your husband might just need a nice vacation. Burnout is hard, but it would be hard to change careers and give up all that he’s built up over the years. Maybe he just needs reminded why he got into his business in the first place. Maybe a conference/convention in his field to give him new ideas and a fresh perspective? I don’t know, just throwing it out there.

I sew. I have a BFA in fashion design and if I make any clothes for my girls I post pictures on Facebook and almost always have a couple people ask me to make some things for them. I also run the kids program at the Garden center that my husband works full time. I do the public school field trips on Fridays and their kids club one Saturday a month. It’s not much money but every little bit helps.

I am still adjusting to missing the family day on Friday but it’s nice to be able to help. We school Monday through Thursday and my husband is off on Fridays so it is the only day I do the field trips.

My sewing machine and serger are set up in the master bedroom so that I can sew after the kids go to bed some nights.

I have a couple homeschooling friends that redo furniture and sell it on local buy sell trade Facebook groups. They will grab things off the curb or super cheap at yard sales and then paint and distress them and sell again. This is something your kids could do also. My remember you asking about handicraft things for your older boys, maybe this is something they could do.