Working part-time/full-time and trying to homeschool

Hi again Marie, 

I understand when you say your 12 and 14 year old still need guidance – I have a 12 year old like that too! 

I would really push for doing some school on Saturdays and carefully schedule readings from SCM on any available evenings. I can’t remember whether you said you school year ’round as well, but that would be an ideal option in your situation. 

And just to reassure you.. . I think you will find using SCM will be quite efficient. There won’t be any fluff; everything will be of high quality and meaty and you won’t be overwhelmed by too many books!  All the best!  

Ultimately, I have no idea what is the solution to your problem. I do know that school needs to be fun if it’s going to be effective. That doesn’t mean every task needs to be a barrel of laughs, but that the enjoyable, interesting and memorable learning opportunities need to out weigh the mundane and boring. Although I vote for consistency in your schedule, that may or may not be possible in your situation. Creativity definitely needs to be high on your list.

I really didn’t intend to write so much. Perhaps it’s because, as a working mom, this is a situation very close to home. Take it or leave it: the advice applies to my situation, but may not apply to yours.

It might help if you begin by stating WHY you started homeschooling in the beginning. Your reasons might be different for each child, and that’s just fine. If you haven’t done so recently, I suggest taking a few minutes and write down your goals for each child. That will help you figure out your priorities and make a plan accordingly. I recommend that you do this with your dh. His goals and priorities might not be yours, but that doesn’t make them less valid. The idea is to find ways to work together so that these goals are met. If he insists on not doing school on weekends and evenings, find out what other options he is willing to look at. Perhaps he is opposed to desk work on Saturday, but doesn’t have a problem with watching documentaries, going for nature walks, conducting science experiments, working on cooking or handicraft skills, or field trips to a museum or zoo.

I completely understand wanting to go SCM all the way, but you may need too re-evaluate to decide if those things are helping you to reach your goal or not. You may also need to let go of the control. If your dh is in a better position to see that the schooling gets done, then you may have to decide to let that happen and allow him to have more say it the curriculum that he teaches. Hard, I know. Maybe you can save the history modules for yourself in the evening (it shouldn’t take more than half an hour, and most of that will be a read aloud, you might even be able to assign map work for independent work),you could use Queen’s Language Lessons (I like them) to keep a CM flavor, but trust your dh with the rest. You’ve said he does fine with Math and Science, so leave him to it.

My 12 year old has an LD that makes it difficult to do many things independently, so I hear where you are coming from. We will also be starting General Science this year and I hope that he will be able to do a great deal on his own, but I did buy the audio cd to help us out. He is an audio learner and listening to the CD while following along in the book should help us out some because I won’t have to sit there and read it to him, he’ll have the correct pronunciations of those big words, and I can listen to the cd myself while folding laundry, making dinner, etc. and be able to keep up with what he is learning. We will probably end up saving labs for weekends or when Dad is home.

Math and language arts are my ds problem area, so I set aside 45 mins of our afternoon time to work on those things with him. I do any instruction then and once I feel he’s gotten the hang of something I move it to independent work for the following day. Any corrections needed end up on the schedule for that time the next day. I take advantage of meal times/snack time and drive time for read alouds. Keeping a book with us at all times comes in handy — we can read while waiting for meals at restaurants, waiting for dentist appointments, read while dad drives, etc. We usually have 3-4 read-alouds going at once: History, Literature and fun read (may or may not be from the literature list for the year) at bed time.

I have no doubt that your FAMILY can do this. You do need to take advantage of the resources you have and you will need the cooperation of your dh and children. Your 12 and 14 year olds might have other ideas of how to make their schooling go easier. How do they feel about going with you every day? Are they stuck in an office in town all day when they do, or are they able to get out and go for walks, play at a park, etc. If they resent going then you might be battling a lot of resistance to school in the first place, which will not make things any easier. Maybe you need to find out what things make it most difficult for them to work at the office and look for solutions. Maybe the noise is less of a problem than frequent interruptions and not having your undivided attention. Maybe it’s just plain boring to be there if they don’t have anything constructive and interesting to do with their time. The answers might not be what you are looking for, but if these things are working against you, then it’s time to figure out something else. That may not be like any of you originally envisioned your homeschool journey to look like. It might be something else entirely. That’s ok. God has us all on different paths.

If they must go with you to the office, are their tasks there that they can be trained to do? Answer phones, water plants, dust and maintain product display racks, organize pamphlets and bulletin boards, do photo copying, maybe even feed pets, clean cages, etc. Perhaps they already do some of these things, but if not, doing them might give them a purpose and make them feel a part of the business. Does your clinic sponsor a pet photo contest, dog walk-a-thon or have a drop off bin for donations to the local pet shelter? Maybe helping with something like that would be a good project for your children. Maybe they could start making homemade pet treats, collar bling or toys to sell and learn about being entrepreneurs.