If you are a homeschooling parent, do you also work? I intend on working part-time (24hours) per week.?

Question

Have you done this? Has it interferred w/ hs'ing. I will be using the abeka w/ my k4'er, 2nd grdr and a combo of abeka and bob jones w/ my 9th grdr. Should I limit my shifts to 16hrs per week?

Answer 1

It depends on you and what you can handle. You may need to start out small and build up . I homeschool my child, work 16 hrs. a week, and go to college full time. There where times before when I thought I was going to pull my hair out but as time passed I learned how to better manage everything.
One thing that helped me was to write everything down in a special little book. You know, things that needed to be done, appointments, assignments, and other little things.It helped me keep track of everything. Anyhow, what every works for you.

P.s.
Try to get to know other homeschool families. Where I live it is common for a child to homeschool with another family if the parents need a day to do whatever. It is also a great way to learn knew ideas and methods.
Don't get too worried. Everything will fall into place. Just give it a little while

Answer 2

I don't currently work outside the home while homeschooling, but I do know the keys are prioritizing and scheduling. Which will take precedence if work calls and needs you?

The 9th grader should be working fairly independently, but the K4 and 2nd grader will need lots of attention. Maybe the 9th grader could help you out with teaching them.

I wouldn't limit yourself at first. Try the 24 hours and see how it works. Then (if you need to) you can back off to 16.

Answer 3

I work and homeschool my 2nd grade son. We use A Beka and time4learning.com. We have a schedule that works well cause I can set my own hours for work. If he has to come with me he can do his work on his laptop. We homeschool all year so that during the (winter) season when I need to work more we can go a little easier on schooling. It also gives us more time for activities and Field trips. You'll need a good support system though, husband, grandparents, friends, and homeschool support group to mention a few. You never know when your child or yourself is going to be sick or called on to do something that's not on the schedule, so have an alternate plan handy always.
Don't worry it will all work out. Just set a required minimum for each child for each week and turn them loose. A Beka book is very self taught so they can work through much of it w/o constant direction from you.
Good luck and enjoy each minute with them.

Answer 4

It is fine to work outside the home when you homeschool, but if the ninth grader will be responsible for the others, check your state law. In Maryland, the age of watching another child is 13, I think, I bought a teacher plan book and used it to plan my lessons (I teach full time anyway, so that was easy). Keeping organized will help you not to stresss. It will also document what you have done for each child. Good luck! (and remember to take some time for yourself)

Answer 5

I'm working full time, but I'm lucky, my partner is doing the bulk of teaching our son. I teach some things on the weekend and evenings after work, as well as the some of the library trips.
The main thing to remember is that homeschooling is flexible. Teach when you can, and when the child can handle it. No one said school MUST be taught between 9 and 3.
Be flexible, adapt on the fly and HAVE FUN!

Answer 6

It is possible to work and homeschool. I work from home along with homeschooling my only child. How much time, it is going to take depends on the curriculum you are using, the child's level of independence, etc. There is an online support group dedicated to those who work and homeschool. The link is below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WORKandHOMESCHOOL/

This group has been very helpful to me, has offered me a lot of support, and has many parents who are doing exactly what you are trying to do.

I hope this is helpful.

Answer 7

I don't work for pay, but I do a lot of volunteer work. You're just going to have to come up with a schedule/routine that works and stick to it. You'll also want clear goals and guidelines set up for your kids.

There are a lot of groups on Yahoo Groups for working HS moms. They might help you with ideas.

Answer 8

Home schooling has such a flexible schedule, you can do the work anytime of the day or any day of the week. We own a business so I do work plus home school my son.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

I work sometimes for extra income and stay home when I can. It never really interfered with homeschooling, we just had to change things around a bit from how we do it when I'm home.

This is how it went when I was working full-time 40+ hours a week last year, Mon-Fri till around 5 pm:

On Sunday evenings, I would prepare worksheets printed from the internet, or make a list of workbook pages, for subjects like spelling, math, and language arts, or phonics, that they were to complete for the coming week.

Some days they stay home w/their dad because my husband works weekends and his days off are Wed. & Thurs. Or, their big sister (16) would watch them, or my mother would watch them. The kids had to spend an hour or so after breakfast on their workbooks/worksheets, which I'd look over in the evenings, and they had to read (or be read to if too young) a minimum half hour per day.

They'd also work on independantly on units for science & social studies on topics they pick for themselves (space, insects, ancient Egypt, WWII, the Pioneers-- it could be anything they chose, they'd stick with a unit anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks depending on how into it they got). They had to spend time working on these things, but they were free to choose what to do and how they go about it. For instance, they might choose to do internet research, use educational software or websites, read books, watch documentaries, make a diarama, make a chart, write a paper, conduct a kitchen science experiment, etc. They could do this for as long as they like and pursue the topic for as long as they like, but they have to produce something for me to show me what they've learned, or I would assign them something.

The only morning that was different was Thursday when they go to our co-op classes-- our co-op rents a girls club from 9-2 and runs 4 "periods" per day of various classes plus lunch and "recess." There's about 100 people in our co-op and we use fund-raisers such as garage sales and bake sales to fund it.

Anyway, after their morning studies, they'd eat lunch, and then they'd have afternoon activities which are usually out of the house-- they're taken to the kids museum we have a membership at, or to the local nature preserve nearby, or the library for chess club or a reading program, or to meet our co-op friends for a playdate, take community center classes, go to the park or pool, etc.

Then I'd pick them up, we'd go home for dinner. We'd talk about how their units were going, what they've learned, and after a few chores they'd take their baths.

A couple of evenings per week after bath we'd spend a half hour or so, and one or two hours on Saturday mornings, working on their skills-- phonics, reading, language arts, spelling. That's when we go over new concepts that they would be practicing on their worksheets/workbooks the rest of the week, or go over anything that might be giving them trouble. After that, or on other free evenings, they'd go on video games or watch movies or we'd go out for ice cream or something.

Honestly, it took me an hour or so to plan their workbook/worksheets on Sundays, a few minutes each evening to go over them, and about 3 or 4 hours a week of direct one-on-one lessons, which totals about 4 or 5 hours per week of work for me-- not much more than it would have taken me to prepare them for school and help them with their homework had they been in school. They got plenty of work done, and plenty of socialization.

Leaving a list of things they can do indepnedantly when you're away will significantly cut the time you spend homeschooling them if you're working, and you can always go over other things when you're home without taking too much time.

MSB