In my “journeys” across the web, I spend a lot of time on homeschooling forums. And one of the questions that crops up over and over again is “Can I work and homeschool?” The easy answer to that question is ‘yes.’ But individual circumstances are always so unique, that easy answers don’t always suffice.
However, the fact is that many homeschooling parents, including myself, are finding creative ways to work and homeschool their children. One option that has proven successful for some parents is working from home. If your career offers the opportunity for you to do some or all of your work from your house, then by making some adjustments to your routine, you may find homeschooling to be a very workable possibility.
Aandwsmom (her forum name), is a work-at-home mom who believes that homeschooling is important enough to make some rather large adjustments and sacrifices in her family’s household and schedule. Here, in her words, she shares the particulars of how this plays out for them:
“I am a WAHM who does an In-Home Daycare. I have 3 children that I care for, all toddlers plus my own 2 boys. Taking on the Homeschool label has been a challenge, not because of my lack of ability but because our house is 796 square feet. It’s 2 bedroom, 1 bath and when you stick 1 adult(2 on Fridays when my husband is home), 2 large tween boys, 3 toddlers, 2 dogs and 2 cats it becomes a tight fit! We use every available space for different things and I am a super organizer. Homeschooling is done during the daycare naptime. The house is quiet and I have undivided attention to provide my boys with any help they need. With 1 homeschooler, we just sat at the couch and did it together. With 2 boys home now, we have invested in a storage unit for the daycare area that comes with a desk attachment that will seat both boys at their computers at the same time. It will also provide storage for the daycare toys and homeschool supplies.
…Homeschooling was a choice I wanted since my children were little. I grew up with a Public School teacher as a Mom and had wonderful school experiences but have watched the School systems slowly fail. Unfortunately, my husband was against it. So my children attended Public School. When my older son started having issues, we made the decision together to homeschool but my husband still had doubts. Not in my ability, but in the fact that was our son going to learn, retain and still emerge a normal child at the other end of this ride. Well, in the 3+ months since we started homeschooling, my husband has done a complete 360* turnaround. He loves homeschooling, thinks it is the best thing we have done for our children, and was the first to want to pull our 2nd son because of his school issues! We get to enjoy our children, teach them and watch them grow, and have family memories that will last forever!”
This working mom’s children use Time4Learning as their core curriculum. Online homeschool curricula, such as T4L, have the advantage of allowing students to work somewhat independently. They also require very little in the way of time-consuming lesson planning and record keeping. With Time4Learning, the detail work is taken care of, so that work-at-home parents can focus on the important task of supporting their child’s learning.
If you are thinking about working at home and homeschooling, be sure to stop by the Time4Learning Parents Forum and check out the WAHMs, WOHMs and other Working Parents thread for support and advice.
And stay tuned for the next blog post where I will share even more about the ins and outs of working and homeschooling!
Posted under Homeschool, Online Learning, homeschool curriculum, working and homeschooling, working moms
This post was written by Kerry on January 20, 2009