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Working part-time/full-time and trying to homeschool
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I had high hopes that I would be able to be off more this upcoming school year, but as it is, our family business is a reflection of the economy. If business gets slow , I may need to fill in more; even as early as starting next week (which was supposed to be our first week of school)! All my plans and my neat little schedule just flew out the window. This is causing me to worry. My husband has done most of the homeschooling the last two years, but I had hoped to teach some of the subjects because I just don’t “trust” he will be thorough enough. That sounds horrible, but it’s true. Not that he isn’t capable, he just tends to be a little too relaxed for my comfort. My staff members confided their worries to me today, as well. They say that no matter how good our intentions, trying to school the kids at the office just does not do them justice; there are simply too many sounds, distractions, etc. I wanted to believe we could somehow remedy these problems (ear plugs etc) but really it is impossible at a vet office to keep the critters quiet! I was wondering if any here have ever juggled work and school, and if so how? I thought maybe I could take advantage of Sat. and Sun., since our office is only open half day on weekends. The kids (and even husband) object to this idea as though it is a law not to have school on weekends! I had also thought about trying some time in the evenings; again I am meeting resistance. What other options are there? Has anyone ever been in a situation like this?
I am sure you will get some great advice but wanted to just mention…
growing up I was HSed as were quite a few of my friends. One family had their own business, a small restaurant. They either took the kids to work and tried to do school or left the bigger ones at home to school alone. It was not that successful. They stuck with it and the kids did ok, but none of them are home schooling their children and do not talk that highly of the experience. Another friend’s mom worked PT and it worked a bit better, but many times the kids were to do school on their own. As adults with kids they have no desire to homeschool. Currently I know a family that started their own business and are now looking to put the kids in private school because they are seeing the kids are getting the “short end of the stick” when it comes to their education.
I know a couple families that make it work – one is a nurse and her husband a firefighter so they take turns teaching – have a more “open and go” system so that she and her husband can go subject by subject each day and know that the kids are finishing everything. They use MFW but another friend in similar situation chose Abeka because her husband was comfortable teaching that style more and since he was teaching half the time she wanted him to enjoy it too.
We have always had our own businesses, and I have frequently had to squeeze some work in alongside the kids’ school (though not as much work as it sounds like you will have to do!).
The bottom line is that your kids need some attention, time, and a quiet space to get an education. Your husband (and the kids) are going to have to be flexible and use unconventional hours to accomplish this – or you are going to have to shift some of your work duties to unconventional hours. There are only so many hours in the day and your kids’ education has to be a priority for everyone in the family!
Are there any responsibilities at work or at home that you could switch to the evening hours or early in the morning? I know many moms who are able to keep schooling by starting work at 6 and ending by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. If that isn’t possible, then I would think Saturday school would be a good option. You could still have Sundays off! Biblically, that is actually the standard…
If you did a big school day on Saturday (4-5 hours)and 2 hours each day of the week, you would have a workable schedule and that would be 14 hours a week of lessons. That is roughly equivalent to what they would be getting in full time home school.
If you have a co-op in your area that offers classes, I would definitely take advantage of that, as well.
Do you school year-round? We find that not taking summers ‘off’ of learning allows us much more flexibility to work around hectic times like the ones you are facing. I am sure in your business (as in ours) you have busy weeks, and slow weeks. If you are committed to year round schooling, you can focus more on homeschool when things slow down at work.
If you have the space or resources, could you set aside a small area (even a storage closet, preferably an extra office) for the kids to do the concentrated ‘desk work’ in a quiet space? If not, this work that requires concentration may have to wait for the car or home.
Use audio discs for history and science and computer options that are self-grading (like Teaching Textbooks) for math.
And don’t forget the value of apprenticeship! There are a TON of educational opportunities in a veterinary office – science, math and book-keeping, customer service, organizing and administration, advertising, etc….
It would also be essential (and, honestly, the ONLY essential!) that your kids love to read and gather knowledge for themselves. They are going to be the ones driving their own educational process a good deal of the time if they continue to read for pleasure and information.
I hope others come up with a better plan than I can, but I would put them in something like ACE for any subjects you usually teach such as math. This way they can do this alone while at home with Dad, and you can check their progress in the evenings . For subjects you read about such as history I would just assign reading material each day and have them narriate in the evenings, or turn in a written narration (depending on ages). Cut out any and all extras (sad, I know).
I totally understand having issues with a hubby doing the teaching. We love them, but in a situation like this we must call it what it is and face reality. That is not cruel.
I work, but I am in a situation where I can take my dd with me. If that were not the case, I would be doing the above as there is no way my dh could teach my dd, and I wouldn’t have the energy to do nights or weekends (I’ve tried).
Best to you, and let’s hope this is only for a season.
Thank you, the “short end of the stick” is what worries me; those were the exact sentiments of one of our emplyees today. i just reiterated this concern to husband on the phone, and he is dead set on not having class on weekends; Evenings might be a compromise, but he is not crazy about that idea either. He fully believes we can do school at the office. Maybe I am being too negative before we even start, I just know how things went the past two years (fly by the seat) . I can’t concentrate on work like I should, when they are there, and they are distracted as well. I think the “control-freak monster” is trying to surface again as well. Maybe I don’t give dh enough credit. He does well enough with their math and science; maybe I just need to let it go and trust the other subjects to him as well. He is willing, i just have a trust problem! Worry that he will be too relaxed.
If he does well with math then that is the main thing. That is great! I have seen my dh try to teach things to my dd and I had to unteach her. Not so good. Best to you!
Thank you for encouragement all of you! The older two are old eough to do independent work, I just have to quit “mommying them”. I just bought 15 books from the used bookstore to turn them loose and let them feast on at their own pace. The office hours at clinic cannot be changed, but their is a break room we could convert into a good study place ( may have to still wear earplugs). I guess it boils down to which ‘short end of stick” scenario is better; the possibility of distractions at the office, or the possibility of being too relaxed under dad’s authority at home.
Marie – Check out this book – it’s about raising independent learners – VERY encouraging and good “how-tos”. http://www.amazon.com/The-Self-Propelled-Advantage-Independent-Excellence/dp/1614482969
or this link http://homeschoolenrichment.com/goodies/ which has a lengthy article that gives a great preview of what’s in the book for free.
Will do! Suzukimom, we are using all SCM materials except Easy Grammar Plus, which should be fairly self explanatory. I just worry more about the narrrations, dictations, Book of Mottos, and science lab experiments (Apologia Gen. Science). That said, the labs will probably be right up dad’s alleyT! But, he would look at narration and dictation, and copywork with skepticism (no matter how I try to expalin how important these are!) Thank you all again for references. Heading to scouts, then will pray about and sleep on it. Mon. will be here soon enough, don’t need to burn out before even start. That’s exactly where I am!
Could you go to a more independent Charlotte Mason language arts program – like Queen homeschool’s language arts. It uses CM methods, but rotates the copywork, dictation, narration, grammar, etc…in more of a workbook form. So your older kids could do it pretty independently.
Science labs would be a fun Saturday thing! Or save them up and do them all on one day a month :).
If you tend toward perfectionism, you really have to stretch yourself to think ‘outside the box’. But you are in an unusual situation! Your homeschool isn’t going to look like everyone else’s – and that is okay!!
It helps to start with a vision and mission in mind for your kids’ education. Then you can adapt your methods and how you fit those priorities in.
Blessings!
Hi Marie,
Big hugs to you! You sound like are in a really challenging situation.
I would consider having another look at your curriculum, considering your work situation. Have you ever looked at Christian Light Education? I have used ACE and CLE and while there are similarities in that they are both in workbook format and self teaching (to some degree), I think CLE is much better! Make sure you do the placement tests which can be found on their website.
How many kids do you have and how old are they? (sorry, I didn’t see this mentioned before but I think this would make a difference to how you an approach schooling during this season of your life).
I work part time, Mon-Fri 9am to noon as the Administrative assistant at our church. The boys come with me and do their independent work while I’m working. My days are often quiet enough that I can squeeze in narrations or checking math between my own assignments. My younger son who sticks a little closer to my side can prepare slides for the service announcements and has been learning several other aspects of my job. With the boys helping out with photocopying or putting stamps and labels on envelopes then taking the mail over to the post office, and other odd jobs, it frees me up a little bit for a moment of supervising copywork or dictation exercises. They often have time to play out in the yard if the weather permits, or they will play quietly inside if not once their work is done.
The bulk of our family/guided work is done between 1pm and 3:30pm. Not ideal, but I will never have another job that allows me the freedom and flexibility I have now, so we try to make it work.
First, how old are your children? What are your office hours and how long do you expect them to be with you? How much time do you expect to be spent on school per day. When and where do they have free-time? What other things are they involved in on weekends and evenings that need to be accomodated? How flexible are you willing to be with your schedule? Sometimes you might be better off focusing on only one or two subjects beyond the basics per term.
I know what you mean about getting less accomplished when home with dad. When my dh does have a week day off it generally means less gets done.
Back from scouts, thanks for more thoughts.. I have not looked at Queens but that sounds ideal, we were given the Easy Grammar Plus, so no loss there. I think “perfectionism inside the box” needs to go; that sums up the mindset I was facing today. My husband said it all (in love), “I guess if it’s not your way i’ts no way!” I feel better after reading these (and many sweets at scout mtg). Thank you for the curricula suggestions Margaret; my kids are 12, 14, and 5. The older two should be able to work on own at their ages, but they both have some learning challenges that require more parent guided help than most children/teens need at this point. I know many in our area who use ACE; I just ordered and paid for all our SCM materials, so I will try to make do with these this year. But, I may need to forfeit that plan if things don’t work out. There is a private christian school nearby that will pre-test the kids if needed. We could even enroll them as a last resort; I just want this to work, somehow. At the same time, don’t want to be unfair to them.
I don’t have time to read other responses so I hope I am not repeating other advice.
This past year was our first year homeschooling. I withdrew my ds12 in the middle of sixth grade. I worked a miniumum of 52 hours per week. There are no easy answers to this because I know we all tend to have an idea of how our homeschool should “look”, which for me at least caused untold anxiety because there is no way you can fit full-time work with a traditional school day.
One thing I had to do was condense and prioritize what work we did when I was available. If my son only had one (or two hours) of instruction from me, what could and, more importantly, should I do in that hour. While there are some things I would like to be able to do with him, it does not make sense for me to be present during independent reads, DVDs, notebook assignments, etc and then not have time for math instruction, etc. If you can find a way to condense what is absolutely necessary (by subject or what you feel needs the most attention from you, which may be different for each child) for you to be available for and then shift everything else to either independent work or work with Dad. What things/subjects are you most worried about Dad not being able to fully handle? In my case, there were books I wanted to read with my son, activities that I did not want to miss, but realistically I had to whittle that down to what was most important.
For my son, my priorities were Brain Training Therapy, Bible, Math, and a history read-aloud. These were done during my time with him, which sometimes meant school started as early as 7AM or as late as 8PM. Depending on schedule, it has to be okay to do school when you are available. The rest of his daily tasks were assigned in checklist format and I would check over those things with him at some point, sometimes that happened every day, every other day and if it was a really crazy week, once a week. We had a really hard time keeping up with outside activities this past year, and I hope to be better about it this year, but I have the full financial burden of my house right now so work has to be a priority for me. We worked through kinks (I hope) this past half-year and I expect that he will be able to be more independent with most things this year.
I am not sure how many children you have or what ages, but prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Each child’s needed time from you may be different. One may need more one-on-one in Math, another in LA. I made sure I planned as if I only had one hour per day, and then if time permitted added from there.
My only other quick recommendation would be to determine what you are most EXCITED about doing with your children, and do that!!! Do not deny yourself the fun stuff! You (and your children) will feel better if you can do the fun stuff too, instead of just the trench work. If there is specific activity you would really like to do or a DVD you would like to watch that you can’t fit in during the week, do that on the weekend or on a day when you are not as busy with work. I do not and will not do any instructional, workbook-type things on the weekends. We may watch a documentary or do an experiment or art project but I make sure to limit it to an hour.
Lastly, I am sure I should not go here, but speaking as one with practically every family member as small/medium business owners, I cannot imagine that the ceilings would survive if one of my relative’s employees commented on the “environment” of learning for their children. IMHO and experience, I cannot imagine that the distractions of a vet office are any worse than the incredible distractions inherent in school classrooms of 25 plus students. Further, I would note that in the workplace, I can think of few jobs where one does not have to deal with noises and distractions. It is like real world job training for your children. I mean, I wouldn’t try to teach my son a new concept at the office, but regular reading, independent work and the like, I think they can probably manage better than we think. But just for fun, I plan on asking my aunts and uncles how they would respond to such a situation from their employees, LOL. =) If you hear some random screaming and ranting, it is probably one of my aunts. =)
I was in a hurry typing so I hope this in coherent. Also, I really do not mean to offend about the employee situation. I had the funniest picture of my aunt being told something to that effect. My view on homeschooling my son is that I felt called to do this for many years before I took that step. I wanted to wait until circumstances were “perfect” when what I really needed to do was trust that God would provide what I needed to educate my son (SO still working on the trust part!). Give the situation to Him and let Him pave the way.
HTH,
Stephanie
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