This will be our fifth year homeschooling. This is the first year I have worked while HSing. I work part-time out of the home during the day, so I am distracted with HSing most of the time, to the detriment of my 15 yo dd. My dh works nights and is off a couple days during the week. Even though he frequently tells me he can see that my HSing methods are not working, I've never asked him for help, per se. Up until now. We had a long discussion and I have always known that he was willing to help me, but I never really considered him as a resource of help. He told me all I had to do was ask for help, and I now have. He will step in and help my dd learn as well. I pray that the future will be better, but I still need advice on teaching my dd the real life lessons she needs to learn to cope in the real world. Thanks!
First BIG HUG! You and your husband's obvious concern and love for her already shows that you will do what you need to for her. My husband and I run a business and I work from home and can just imagine the being away from home is harder. I get up at 5:00 usually just two mornings a week to care for my work before I start school. So it's not too bad. I want to help you, not stress you more. So use what works here and discard what I say that doesn't. 1. Two days a week during the week that your husband has can be the days she works on subjects that are her weak areas. The subjects she needs help with. 2. Save the computer work or work that you can track what she is doing for days she doesn't have anybody there. The reason for this is so that you can hold her "accountable" for what she doing while your away. 3. Do you live near a support group that hosts co-op classes? We have NUMEROUS co-ops in my area. She could join a homeschool class for some of the time you are work and lessen her time by herself. 4. In addition, can you plan private lessons on art or music while you are at work? Is there a person, perhaps from your church that come over and teach your child a subject she is interested in? It goes without saying that this person is a person you and your husband approve of and know real well. 5. Even though I don't like "virtual classrooms" they sometimes have their uses in cases like this when we may not have the most "ideal" circumstances. This will insure she is with "others' and doing work still. 6. Focus on what you CAN do and do not worry what you are not doing. 7. Our children learn that we have to do what we need to do to survive and she is learning more about "real life" right now than you realize. 8. Plan for her to cook and do housework (real life lessons) on days you need the help. 9. Praise and reward her and allow some time in her schedule to do what she wants.
I work part time at night (not all week) and sometimes my dh isn't here by the time I leave. So my oldest dd is in charge and she's old enough to do this. My dh is a huge part of school here, he does pe, math and a lot of the history. It wouldn't work if we didn't share the responsibility and make it work for our needs. A lot of the time we do school at night as well as on the weekends. It just works better for us that way. I tried really hard to use a set schedule and it just didn't work because of a bunch of things we had scheduled always seemed to mess up our rhythm that we had going. I guess we'll see if it works for us this next year.
My husband works nights, and though I don't work out of the home, we have found that what really helped us was adjusting our schedule to hubby's. We stay up late and sleep late around here; our day starts at around noon and doesn't finish up until the wee hours of the morning. You should see peoples' eyes bulge when my 10yo tells them that his bedtime is 1am. :lol: We get up, and the kids have a little free time before lunch. It's our first meal, but it's around the time everyoen else is eating lunch, and we typically do a lunch-type meal for it, around noon to 1pm. We do a quick cleanup and get started with school, having a break around 3 or 4pm (when the littlest kids are done with school for the day) and my oldest continues to work until around 6pm when he's free to go outside and play with neighborhood kids. Dh gets up and we all have dinner sometime around 8, and he heads off to work around 9 or 10. This is down-time for us; kids watch tv or play, and I'm usually on the computer. We take breaks every so often throughout the day to stick in a little housework, and then we have a big push right around midnight before getting ready to settle in for bed. They settle down with pillows and blankets and watch a movie, and all are out by 1am. Sometimes I let the oldest stay up until 2, which is usually when I get up and do a last housework push and then head to bed around 3. Our day is probably shorter than a lot of folks, but my kids don't nap, and I'm sure we'll extend the day as they get older. 12-14 hours is plenty for us right now, but gives you the basic idea of what we do. We don't often make 10am play dates and such, and are missing out on the homeschool PE class the YMCA offers... because it's 7-9am. But hey, we find other things to do. When fall starts back up, 6-8pm or so will be time for activities like karate and scouts, so it works well for us. Not sure when your work out of the home is, but maybe if everyone's schedule was adjusted a bit it would help out. BTW, my dh has also taken over a little bit. He's doing science for us now, and I'm so thankful! I'm sure as the kids get up in age a little, he'll take over another thing or two. (I'd be highly surprised if he doesn't delve right in with them in history during the late middle school and high school years. And I hope I can get him to jump in with literature at some point too! His busy season of opening stores should be over in a couple of years.) I'm rambling, but that's how we deal with the odd schedule here. We've done it for 3 years now, thank the Lord for not having to be anywhere at 7am any more!! Works for us.
I work part time from home too, but my schedule is SUPER flexible, so I usually pop on for about 1/2- 1hour in the morning, check in for questions while kids eat lunch, then at night while they have free time before bed or after they are in bed, I really get some time in - then I hop on during the weekends A LOT. But I have always worked from home (I'm a college prof, so even for my 1-2 classes in the evenings, I have most work - grading-at home) and have taught online for the past 5 years . So the kids are used to my schedule and how we work it. Getting the kids into that schedule too, is just as important as YOU getting into that schedule, I have learned. Also, since I have 3 kids and work, and just general busy-ness, I started the kids on self-learning/checklist method for their schoolwork. Much of their work - spelling, vocabulary, reading, writing chapter notes on reading, answering history questions, critical thinking workbook, and the reading for science and history (not our read aloud stuff) is all done on their own. They can ask questions, and I will pop in to see what they are doing and talk to them about their reading, but much of their work is self directed - and hopefully my ds' pre-algebra will be too this year! That has helped A LOT with our crazy schedule - you might find that the "busy work" that just needs to get done, she can do on her own while you work, then when you are more available, work on her weak areas. Try to use real life situations to help her become more confident in weak areas - if she struggle at math - have her add up the groceries to keep a running total in the store. If it is writing - have her start writing letters or emails to friends and family. Or keep a shared journal with her - You start by writing a letter or note to her in it on the first page, then leave it in her room. Tell her to write back to you, and leave it on your bed - I did this with my son when he was very small and he loved it - I do it with my girls' "diaries" (haha) now. To help on the housework end, I try to pre-cook meals on the weekend - mostly meat. I will cook extra chicken or an extra roast, so when dinner comes, I am not scrambling. Then we do a "frozen pizza" night about once a week for fun - that is the kids' favorite day! I try to make extra potatoes, extra veggies, breads, snacks (we don't buy a lot of pre-packaged food - I bake a lot) and get her to help! My dd 9 and ds 12 both can make breakfast, lunch, dinner, cookies, cakes, rolls, you name it! Having her help with the housework can really take the load off you and give you your time back to work with her! Lastly, on day off or family days, do something fun AND educational - go to the zoo, the beach, a museum, a historical site, the theater, and get some real life education - my kids learn more from that stuff, I think, than they do a home (well, not really, but they do learn a lot!) Good luck!
