Ds1 and i have been homeschooling/unschooling for the past few months. He is 3 and so far it's been going pretty well. In a few weeks Dh and I will be opening a store. It's a womens accessory store and dh and i will be the only employees. I want to continue homeschooling, but i'm having second thoughts on howw this will work. The store is very small (about 400 sq ft) and there isn't a storage room. I had a few ideas...maybe someone could suggest something? 1) Just stay home for lessons and head to the store after we are done. We only have 1 car so thats the only con. 2)Homeschool right there and just stop when someone comes in. On the days dh is there he can either help ds1 or help the customer. I also have a 6 month old. Any other ideas would be nice too. Also, if anyone has a business and also homeschools i'd love to hear about it. Thanks!
I think option 2 is a wonderful idea, and besides that, your kids will grow up learning the in's and out's of business. They'll be able to work right along side you soon. I do have a small business, but I don't have a storefront. I sell children's books, so my sales are either online (very, very few), or they're done through school book fairs, fundraisers, or local events that allow vendors to display booths. Most of my "homework" is done at night when the kids are asleep, and most of my "work" is done on weekends when my hubby is home. Yes, there are times when I have to have my kids with me, but so far, there haven't been any issues, and it hasn't been during school time.
I would take my children to work with me - although not quite as busy as a store. Plus, my wife spent much of her childhood (admittedly outside school hours) helping at her grandmother's store. It made a big impact, and she still talks fondly about it. As long as the children don't get distracted by frequent customers, I don't see a problem. What they'll learn simply by being in the store will be a valuable part of their education.
I've been there. When I started homeschooling I was running a business and working at it about 60 hours a week. I worked out of the house though so I didn't have the take to a store option. I took a 3 hour break in the middle of the day to focus on homeschooling. My dh was with the kids most of the time. I did have a large play room next to my work area for my kids to play when he was working. While your children are younger I would think schooling at home and then going to the store would work better due to the limited space. While it is difficult I recommend having as much time as possible with your children away from your small business. A small business can be all-consuming so time with your kids at home before going into the store would be a nice break for your and your children. I would have found it extremely difficult to homeschool in between customer interruptions. I sold my business 2 years ago so I was homeschooling about 1.5 years while running a business.
At 3-I wouldn't do 'formal' school anyway-they should be learning through play, observation and life. That can TOTALLY been done while running a business. Take the child some books, and a couple of classic or educational toys. Studies show the biggest factor is academic success is a child being read to regularly, having plenty of children's books int he home and the child seeing his parents read. Blocks can be used to teach many things. Legos or wooden blocks with letters on them can be used to teach sorting, patterns, addition, subtraction, fractions. The letter blocks can be used for letter identification and simple phonics. Use money from the register to teach money skills. Inventory for counting skills. They will learn a lot from the running of a business alone, customer service skills, though not part of a PS education, is a very valuable skill to learn.
We're doing it. Our business is situated in our home, so we do have a private space where the kids can get away. But they are learning a lot, and I am learning how much they can do that I didn't expect. I am still learning how to balance...I **hate** "walking away" from school to answer the phone....but sometimes the business take precedence, and sometimes a trip to the playground does. You will find, in addition to learning opportunities, you'll have flexibility other parents don't.
My situation is a little different. I run a family daycare. BUT learning time is full of interuptions! The phone rings, a little one is crying, someone needs a bottle, the door bells rings, the dog barks, etc etc etc. Add in that I teach several different ages at one time so that means this one needs help while that one is asking a question. When I have to get up, I try and assign something they can do on their own while I am not there. I teach ages 2-6 right now (with a baby or two here or there for the fun) Point being it can be done. You just have to organize it so it works for you. And learning 'on the job' can not only be a good thing but fun too. I also agree that 3 is young. Simple activities and only a few minutes here and there is all you need right now anyway. So you are doing something and a customer comes in and your son runs off. Ok. No problem. Pick it back up after the customer leaves. Attention spans at that age are not big anyway. BUT you will have to come up with another solution soon when you are really doing teaching and needing more structure. So by then maybe the 'do it at home and come in later' will be a better option. I say go for it. Plan ahead. Have play or busy activities there too. And enjoy your little guy while you can!:love:
Thank you all for the replies:love: Right now we really don't do anything structured. It's mainly coloring, singing, playing and reading. I'm sure that will fit it in fine with the new environment He's going to have a great time helping me count out inventory and sort things out by color lol Thanks
Now this is me, but slowly get him used to having a sit down time now. Even if it is 5 or so minutes to color. This way when it comes to the times he is schooling during business hours he is used to just staying there working as you continue with the customers. Then it will be part of his routine anyways and won't be such a big adjustment on any of you. Now depending on how busy your store is at what times, I would make sure that teacher intensive subjects are taught during those times, so there is less distractions and easier to get what needs to be done.
Jo Anna is right about sit down time. Kids have trouble with that! Slowly get him used to sitting and doing independent work (maybe coloring or sorting) while he's little that way when he's older and you need to tend to business, he'll know what he's supposed to do.
