Hi ladies I am looking for a bit a wisdom from you. I was just offered a part time job that would take me out of the home approximately 15 hours per week with an additional 10 to do at home. I homeschool my three boys, 6th, 3rd and 1st grades. I am wondering how many of you out there also homeschool and work part time? How do you manage a home, homeschooling and working? I am prayerfully considering this job as we could use the funds currently but I am not sure if I can balance it all. Any words of wisdom and/or ideas on how you do things would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your time! Rhonda
Honestly, I'd be interested to hear from others as well. I find it hard to balance work and school and homemaking. A few things for me is to be disciplined in school time. My kids are young now but I know I will need to be more rigid in the years to come, especially if we can only technically school three days a week. I also have had to get help. If your kids are not home when you are working, then there's no mess being made. We have a nanny once or twice a week when I work. She's not just a sitter. She cooks and cleans too. When I get home the house usually looks better than when I left. It definitely can be done. I know plenty of HSing moms that work part time. It just requires a higher level of discipline. At least that's the case for me.
I think it depends on your support network. I have my mum and Liz has a part time nanny. I work 24 hours per week and I find it a struggle to juggle everything. I use to go to bed when the kids did and get up early to get things done while everyone else slept but that meant missing out on time with my husband in the evenings. Slow cookers are great in winter. Quick easy meals in summer. I think your boys are old enough to help you with most of the homemaking. Standards and expectations may have to be lowered when it comes to homemaking.
I work from the home, about 12 hours a week doing medical transcription. I also have a space in a shop downtown where i sell refinished furniture and home decor items. That takes a lot of time working on projects in order to keep my area full, so I do spend several hours a week doing that, plus I work down at the shop on some weekends. It gets to be a lot really, and if I had the option right now, I would quit the transcription, but unfortunately I am not able to do that yet. It's not that I don't have the time to get everything done. My problem comes from just feeling overwhelmed. When I'm working on one thing, I am always thinking about the next things I need to be doing and it makes me crazy lol. That's something I need to try to fix in myself. I say if your family needs the money, take the job. Your routine will balance out after a while and you will find a schedule that works for you. Just remember to stay calm and take it one thing at a time.
I work from home as a help desk analyst 32 hours per week (used to be 40, but I couldn't pull it off!). I'm so blessed to have this job, because we can't live off of just my husband's salary, not until we pay down our debt! Oy!! But, if we didn't need it, I'll be honest that I'd rather not work while homeschooling. My kids are 6th grade and 4th grade. It's a lot to juggle but doable. The biggest thing is staying focused enough to keep organized. We use the workbox method (modified the way Confessions of a Homeschooler does on her blog) which really helps the kids be more independent and know what task they have to do next. I grade papers after they go to bed, and put their new assignments into their workboxes each night. This has worked WONDERFULLY! I also plan a menu out every Sunday night for the week. Most days I pack my kids a lunch box as well, so I can work uninterrupted for an hour while they eat their lunch. It works well, but I'll be honest that it gets exhausting, at least for me. I feel like I am a stay-at-home mom / homemaker, working mom, homeschooling mom, and often feel like I get little help with all these hats. If your husband is the type to help pick up some of the chores that you normally do, or you have other family that can step in to help, that would be a lot better than trying to pull it off on your own! Good luck with your decision, you'll do the right thing!
I work about 30 hours a week (outside of the home). My children are expected to participate in family responsibilities (aka chores). So that helps. Plus my DH is great about doing what needs to be done in the evenings. I leave dinner in the crock pot, so they still have a hot meal. I usually toss it together during lunch time. I plan ahead so I don't have to scavenge. I use curriculum that allows the boys to, for the most part, lead their own school day. We do history as a family first off each day. Once that's over, the older two take turns on the laptop doing TT. They do LifePacs and Young Explorers (Apologia) mostly on their own. So I can go about doing housework while they're not needing me, breaking when they do. I do have an advantage in that my boss, the one who makes the schedule, is my husband; so he's more sympathetic to my scheduling conflicts because he loves my children as much as I do.
I'm self employed, so that helps a lot. I work in my hours in the afternoons for the most part, so it really isn't an issue. It is a bit tough for dinner on the days that we have an activity in the evenings. Sometimes I have to rush home to help my hubby get ready for work and try to make something to eat before we rush off to TKD. Sometimes we just end up grabbing fast food, which I know isn't good. A little more planning on my part would eliminate that.
I work at home. I have an online Etsy supplies store that keeps me busy with packaging, researching, ordering etc every day. I don't have set hours, but I am lucky that I can work along side my kids and be available for questions on their independent work. I can sit and count my supplies during school time too. I tend to work in between subjects while the kids have a break. I also do a lot in the afternoons after most of the work is finished. I do catch up on the weekends when DH is home. It's very flexible so it works. I also teach online classes at our local community college. This is also whenever I fit it in. Sometimes it's during school, sometimes just on weekends. But it all gets done!
