Homeschooling and Working OUT of the Home

[ServingGrace]

Due to a streak of misfortune I am no longer able to work as a personal trainer as I don't have a vehicle and the nearest gym is miles away. So I am starting a job as a waitress in the evenings. Any advice on juggling working part time in the evenings and homeschooling?
My biggest issue is shifting our daily routine around since we can't be waking up at five am if I am getting in from work at eleven at night! I know it's still summer but I want to make sure I am adjusted to working outside the home and our new schedule by this fall when we start schooling again. I'm sure I'm not the only mom that wants to keep educating their own children with a Christian curriculum despite needing to work out of the home.

[CelticJourney]

One thing you can do is not wait until fall to start schooling. Anything you can get done durig the summer takes the pressure off the rest of the year.

[ServingGrace]

Originally Posted by CelticJourney

One thing you can do is not wait until fall to start schooling. Anything you can get done durig the summer takes the pressure off the rest of the year.

We are doing bible study, nature notebooks and some literature with narration over the summer just because they enjoy it so much! I was planning on schooling year round but due to major changes and stress it isn't quite working out.

---------- Post added at 10:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Aerynne

With working in the evenings it seems like it will work. I never wake up at 5 am . How old are your kids? Throughout my pregnancy I've been very tired and my kids wake up and start math even without me (they use Math U See so they can watch videos and then do their math).

I'm a morning person, I've been waking up at five a despite my recent lack of sleep and not turning one alarm clock. There's something about the sunrise welcoming in a day I can't resist! My kids are seven and nine, a neighbor will watch them while I am at work. I only work five hours two to three nights a week for tips so it's very part time for now.
We use Saxon Math but might consider switching to something less dependent upon me. Our biggest issue is they are slow readers so we use Verticy for phonics and they need me to read literature and history aloud. I would like to find some type of virtual learning for them to engage in while at my neighbors so even though I would not be homeschooling them it would at least be educational and possibly count as logged hours if need be.

[Aerynne]

Originally Posted by ServingGrace

Due to a streak of misfortune I am no longer able to work as a personal trainer as I don't have a vehicle and the nearest gym is miles away. So I am starting a job as a waitress in the evenings. Any advice on juggling working part time in the evenings and homeschooling?
My biggest issue is shifting our daily routine around since we can't be waking up at five am if I am getting in from work at eleven at night! I know it's still summer but I want to make sure I am adjusted to working outside the home and our new schedule by this fall when we start schooling again. I'm sure I'm not the only mom that wants to keep educating their own children with a Christian curriculum despite needing to work out of the home.

With working in the evenings it seems like it will work. I never wake up at 5 am . How old are your kids? Throughout my pregnancy I've been very tired and my kids wake up and start math even without me (they use Math U See so they can watch videos and then do their math).

[tempus vernum]

I work outside the home.

3 mornings/week. 7-12. My older two (17 and 15.5) get started without me. My youngest 11.5) eats, reads and does a few Chores but in general youngest sleeps till noon when I work.

We've been doing this almost 1.5 years now. It can be bumpy and messy. We are very self directed by choice or couldn't do this because I have health issues. The self directed thing was how I was able to do this and has given them an autonomy and responsibility for their own schooling.

Even before I went to work, my kids carried a large amount of chores.

I would suggest you make sleep ahigh priority. When I do not things get really ugly.

I would also block out a schedule (including sleep times) and be realistic because your energy level will drop.

Will you work every evening?

---------- Post added at 09:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------

Originally Posted by CelticJourney

One thing you can do is not wait until fall to start schooling. Anything you can get done durig the summer takes the pressure off the rest of the year.

we have always
Schooled year round

[mamacat]

A lot would depend on age of your kids and what the current waking up routine is like. I have always tried to let my homeschooled kids sleep until they were ready to get up rather than wake them up and have a particular starting time for school. Agree with any of the earlier risers getting up and starting. They might need to start helping more if they dont already. Everyone rinse and stack their dishes or put in dishwasher.You could have a chore hour after lunch each day where everyone has one or 2 assigned things they do so you can count on them being done. You might try playing with different routines over the summer 2 or 3 days a week to find best flow and to also try school part time year round idea.

[tempus vernum]

One other thing popped out at me from your post, when I went back to work my mom (who transitioned from sahm to wohm) told me expect a minimum of a year for adjustment. She had kids in school not HS which added to the adjustment.

I also used to wahm and this is definitely super different.

to mamacat at how old kids are. When I first went back to work, it was really really hard on my 10 year old. My older two were 15.5 and 14 and it wasn't as difficult. Probably because they craved autonomy anyways.

We have slowly developed little subroutines in our schedule and need tweaking every season.

For example when I text "on way" this actually has come to mean "tidy stations asap cuz mom will have a meltdown if the house is a mess" . My ds is very task oriented so he's taken over the household management and reminds them (moms on the way, get stations tidied). The last two weeks he's been I. Drivers ed. After a week of coming home to a trashed house, I started texting "on way, tidy stations please"

Backing up, we had stations for years before I went to work so they were used to dividing and conquering.

Most importantly, grace needs to cover everything.. this is a transition for ALL of you!!!

Now my dd1 has begun looking around and thinking "what would help mom the most?" And starts cleaning, scrubbing or doing chores. It's been lovely

But was very very gradual. In the beginning they were unable to get any thing on the list done. Every day I had to remind them. Now they have a routine.

And we have school as priority so I've had to bend on what tidy and clean mean to me. If they have a big school project I remind myself they r juggling quite a bit.

[ServingGrace]

Originally Posted by SonshineMama

One other thing popped out at me from your post, when I went back to work my mom (who transitioned from sahm to wohm) told me expect a minimum of a year for adjustment. She had kids in school not HS which added to the adjustment.

I also used to wahm and this is definitely super different.

to mamacat at how old kids are. When I first went back to work, it was really really hard on my 10 year old. My older two were 15.5 and 14 and it wasn't as difficult. Probably because they craved autonomy anyways.

We have slowly developed little subroutines in our schedule and need tweaking every season.

For example when I text "on way" this actually has come to mean "tidy stations asap cuz mom will have a meltdown if the house is a mess" . My ds is very task oriented so he's taken over the household management and reminds them (moms on the way, get stations tidied). The last two weeks he's been I. Drivers ed. After a week of coming home to a trashed house, I started texting "on way, tidy stations please"

Backing up, we had stations for years before I went to work so they were used to dividing and conquering.

Most importantly, grace needs to cover everything.. this is a transition for ALL of you!!!

Now my dd1 has begun looking around and thinking "what would help mom the most?" And starts cleaning, scrubbing or doing chores. It's been lovely

But was very very gradual. In the beginning they were unable to get any thing on the list done. Every day I had to remind them. Now they have a routine.

And we have school as priority so I've had to bend on what tidy and clean mean to me. If they have a big school project I remind myself they r juggling quite a bit.

Ahhhh!!! I was hoping it would only take about a month to adjust to not being morning people anymore. The tips are so much better on weekend nights I'd rather work three evenings than five mornings.
Grace covers everything, even the mess swept under the rug my oldest loathes doing chores for me but is eager to help the elderly lady that is babysitting!
I have been trying to focus on relationship and family values above all and the on school lessons. Luckily over the past month some of what used to be done in lesson time has just become part of hobbies and family time.

[ServingGrace]

Originally Posted by SonshineMama

I work outside the home.

3 mornings/week. 7-12. My older two (17 and 15.5) get started without me. My youngest 11.5) eats, reads and does a few Chores but in general youngest sleeps till noon when I work.

We've been doing this almost 1.5 years now. It can be bumpy and messy. We are very self directed by choice or couldn't do this because I have health issues. The self directed thing was how I was able to do this and has given them an autonomy and responsibility for their own schooling.

Even before I went to work, my kids carried a large amount of chores.

I would suggest you make sleep ahigh priority. When I do not things get really ugly.

I would also block out a schedule (including sleep times) and be realistic because your energy level will drop.

Will you work every evening?

---------- Post added at 09:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------



we have always
Schooled year round

Making sleep a high priority is the reason I'm taking it easy onschooling right now! If I tried to do anything other than our daily devotionals I would likely get frustrated and would rather prioritize quality of time together during this transition than getting work done.
I will only work a few nights a week but I think it will be more stressful to have two different daily schedules than to just reset my ciciadian rhythms to be a night person? Probably I a few weeks once I have reset my sleep cycle so I'm getting more than four or five hours of sleep I will begin to intregrate handwriting, nature studies, literature back into our routine.
Luckily the kids are being self directed with chess, knitting and somewhat with music. Not necessarily progressing but at least practicing all three.

[tempus vernum]

Originally Posted by ServingGrace

Making sleep a high priority is the reason I'm taking it easy onschooling right now! If I tried to do anything other than our daily devotionals I would likely get frustrated and would rather prioritize quality of time together during this transition than getting work done.
I will only work a few nights a week but I think it will be more stressful to have two different daily schedules than to just reset my ciciadian rhythms to be a night person? Probably I a few weeks once I have reset my sleep cycle so I'm getting more than four or five hours of sleep I will begin to intregrate handwriting, nature studies, literature back into our routine.
Luckily the kids are being self directed with chess, knitting and somewhat with music. Not necessarily progressing but at least practicing all three.

On days after nights you work, can u keep schedule the same but schedule quiet time so u can nap? I'm asking about how many days because we have a few things we only do on my two days off. Things that don't need doing all 5 days. So our schedule remains fairly similar but the days I'm off are longer.

The bottom line is to give yourself time to adjust and be gentle on yourself and your kids. What works for us probably won't work for youdue to the kids ages find your own personal way but you can do this. I knew 4 HS moms that WOH and I listened to their ways and developed my own.

As far as independent math, we like teaching textbooks.

[everybody's mother]

I worked forty hours a week or more for much of the time I was homeschooling (my kids are over 18 now) and for a few years was attending college full time and working part time, with heavy family/social obligations. What worked for us was to 1) prioritize. Math, science, history, ela come first in importance for us. 2) cluster schooling ( a term I just made up, cause I can't think of what it's really called) so on my days off we would focus on the subjects that they needed help with, but only do one or two subject in a day. We would try to do most of the weeks worth of that subject in one session, with breaks, of course. 3) subjects they could self direct got done at the sitters- art, music, physical activity, books about stuff they were interested in, etc.. 4) videos, dvds, youtube, google, books on tape are all life savers! 5) we focused alot on learning *how* to learn, how to look things up etc... much more important life skill than advanced calculus, for most of us. 6) we often did school at weird times. My babysitter was insistent on putting the girls to bed around 8, even though I was picking them up at 11:30... so they got a GREAT nap and were wired by the time I got them home around midnight.... so we took advantage and did some school, lol. That one probably isn't real helpful for a house full of morning people, but what I'm trying to say is that it's OK to keep odd hours with their schooling, doesn't have to be traditional public school hours. We grabbed every opportunity for education. We talked in the car, the kids read our college texts and talked with us about our classes, we Google or youtube any- and every- thing that caught our attention. I swear they learned more in those crazy stolen moments and Internet rabbit trails than they ever did when we were trying to be all "proper" with it

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 04:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 AM ----------

* also they each had a notebook they were to use to write down things they did independantly, so if they were reading at the sitters they would date the page, say how long they read for, how many pages, and a summary of the material. If they rode bikes or played tag for "gym" they would write in the activity and how long they played for etc...it saved me time on the paper work and was a pretty good showcase of what they did for the year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

[ServingGrace]

Originally Posted by everybody's mother

I worked forty hours a week or more for much of the time I was homeschooling (my kids are over 18 now) and for a few years was attending college full time and working part time, with heavy family/social obligations. What worked for us was to 1) prioritize. Math, science, history, ela come first in importance for us. 2) cluster schooling ( a term I just made up, cause I can't think of what it's really called) so on my days off we would focus on the subjects that they needed help with, but only do one or two subject in a day. We would try to do most of the weeks worth of that subject in one session, with breaks, of course. 3) subjects they could self direct got done at the sitters- art, music, physical activity, books about stuff they were interested in, etc.. 4) videos, dvds, youtube, google, books on tape are all life savers! 5) we focused alot on learning *how* to learn, how to look things up etc... much more important life skill than advanced calculus, for most of us. 6) we often did school at weird times. My babysitter was insistent on putting the girls to bed around 8, even though I was picking them up at 11:30... so they got a GREAT nap and were wired by the time I got them home around midnight.... so we took advantage and did some school, lol. That one probably isn't real helpful for a house full of morning people, but what I'm trying to say is that it's OK to keep odd hours with their schooling, doesn't have to be traditional public school hours. We grabbed every opportunity for education. We talked in the car, the kids read our college texts and talked with us about our classes, we Google or youtube any- and every- thing that caught our attention. I swear they learned more in those crazy stolen moments and Internet rabbit trails than they ever did when we were trying to be all "proper" with it

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 04:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 AM ----------

* also they each had a notebook they were to use to write down things they did independantly, so if they were reading at the sitters they would date the page, say how long they read for, how many pages, and a summary of the material. If they rode bikes or played tag for "gym" they would write in the activity and how long they played for etc...it saved me time on the paper work and was a pretty good showcase of what they did for the year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

I love your post and your approach to homeschooling is inspiring me. One thing I have loved about homeschooling is not having to conform with traditional techniques and schedules. So now I will have to make homeschooling work around y schedule instead of the other way around.
I'm looking into more independently lead curriculums and materials. Which will be difficult because my oldest is a slow reader. I want to find online and game based materials for them to do at home while I'm working. Then the actual lessons that I must lead will be done whenever we can fit it in, even if that means being night owls!
My state does not require any logging of hours as far as I know! I think I have been over analyzing things and trying to uphold my ex husbands standard for homeschooling. I feel I need to prioritize relationship with God, each other and then prioritize lesson time and embrace the learning that occurs between the lessons.