Is this doable? (babysitting a couple school agers and HSing?)

[GabriellesMom]

Hi HS mamas :) I am currently working in a preschool in a church near my home. DD goes for free. A couple months ago I took on watching my cousin's DD who is 6 (my dd is 3). I now only have the 6yo before and after school and honestly, it's pretty easy except for the days I have to rush to work at the preschool as soon as the 6yo leaves for school. I also have arthritis, and nolw I'm pregnant and my arthritis is flaring up and I am in pain a lot of the time.

I am considering going down to subbing at the preschool and taking on another schoolager. I am afraid when my baby comes in March that it will be overwhelming on days off but truth is we could use the money... and the baby couldn't go with me to the preschool until he/she is 6mos old... and honestly I don't want to have to be away from my baby! :sad2 I was home with dd for 8.5 mos before I went back to work but now I'm wondering if just taking in another kid would be easier than carting both of my kids off to the preschool.

Added into all of this is the fact that we are very interested in a Christian education for our DD. We can't affoed private school and aren't sure DD would fit in considering we are poor LOL and if we sent her I would have to work more days at the preschool or something. And we feel we can do a good job with her here.

Would it be particularly horrible to try to watch 2 school agers and also HS? I could use days school is in session to do our HSing and take the holidays off...

I think I know my answer, my heart really is with my DD and my baby to be... and I do need to make the money I am making now to make ends meet unless God blesses dh with a better opportunity.

I do worry about the schoolagers bringing in "school" stuff, kwim? The 6yo is pretty good ,really and hasn't said anything much that I consider innappropriate, she understood the few times I said things weren't allowed here and there have been no more issues. I worry too that DD would feel she is missing out by not getting on the bus.

Thoughts? Sorry to ramble!

[AttachedMamma]

I don't really have any experience with this, but I always have an opinion. :grin

You know best what you can handle. If you're afraid of the circumstances becoming overwhelming after the baby comes, is there a way you could set it up on a trial basis? Like, agree that if it becomes too much for you, that the other mom(s) wouldn't be caught off guard by needing to find a different caregiver. :shrug

Decide what is most important to you. If staying home w/your children is a priority and you can't do without the money, then watching other kiddos might be the way to go. And, if you don't want to do that (babysitting) really long term, I'd utilize those $$ very wisely...like pay off bills and work towards a goal so that someday I wouldn't need that $$$.

Who knows? Your new baby might be one of those that sleeps a lot. :giggle Or, you could get one like mine who hardly ever slept and was colicky almost non stop for the 1st 2 years and energetic and spirited after that. :lol It's impossible for anyone to know exactly what you'll be able to handle. I've learned that just b/c someone else thinks I should be able to handle xyz does not mean, in reality, I can.

So my advice is to make the best decision you can based on the information you have today, but don't allow yourself to be placed in a situation where it's very hard to undo.

Good luck! :-)

cindi

[GabriellesMom]

Thanks for your reply. As it stands now we NEED the money I bring in for very basic things. We don't have a lot of debt, just a car and the house. And the car is $177 a month so we went as conservative as possible with that. Unless dh gets something better, I need to bring in about $300 a month. My main prayer is for him to get a better job--he's really worth more than he makes now. I could present this to the prospective parent as "I'll do the rest of the school year and then we'll reevaluate", and that way for the most part I would be alone with DD and the baby all day except for before and after school.

Taking care of my cousin's 6yo is pretty easy now that we've fallen into a groove, and I think I could add one more as long as it was another school kid. I am not going to try to care for a kid under 5 along with my two, can you say insanity?! LOL

I appreciate any thoughts anyone has. I am trying to weigh my options carefully.

[Quiteria]

the bus issue--perhaps if you occassionally took dd on a fieldtrip during school hours? kind hard w/baby, but eventually...

[slingmamaof4]

I think it is harder probably to hs with a new baby than to do it while you are watching 2 school aged children. But both are doable. I watch 2 school age children. One in only in kindergarten so I have her for until 11:30 and then she is back at 3. But I do school with Belle while she is at school. The other child I watch is in 3rd grade. So he is gone all day. If you do school while the kids you watch are at school it doesn't effect your hs'ing much.

And for having a newborn make sure you have a sling!!!!!!!

[GabriellesMom]

Thanks for the feedback. :) DD would be pre-k age in the fall so if we did anything it would be more play and not really formal. So I canwait until my baby is older before jumping into full fledged HS at least. Sounds like watching the kids would be a good option for me since I'm wanting to stay home and HS when DD is in kindy.

This is maybe silly, but since we want to HS, I'm really wanting dd out of preschool. I have no problems with the preschool but I'm worried that she's going to get so used to "going to school" that HSing will be a strange thing for her. So maybe this is my way to stop teaching preschool.

All I know is dh and I really need to pray. On the surface this looks like a good answer, but we want to be sure.