Last week I started working outside the home for the first time since before I became a mom. Honestly, I have to say I’ve been ready for this for awhile. Not that I’ve ben dying to leave my kids and go to work – I am extremely happy that I got to stay home with my girls for the past 6 years. We made some huge life-changing decisions so I could be a stay-at-home mom, and I wouldn’t change a thing, but before I became a mom I had a passion for something else, and I am very pleased to be doing it again. I’m also lucky to have found a position that still allows me to spend as much time with my kids as possible. I start at 7:00, two hours before my kids wake up, and I am off at 12:30, giving me the rest of the day to devote to homeschooling.
Did I mention I’m going to be homeschooling my oldest daughter this year?
Yes, this homeschooling advocate yet public school sending mom is going to spend this year seeing if homeschooling is the right fit for our family. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but our lives kind of made the decision for us.
At the end of Spring we decided to move. We hoped that if we sold it during the summer we would go to Europe for a few months. But of course we didn’t know if our house would sell by the time we wanted it to, so our plans were up in the air. I didn’t know if we would be here for the first day back to school. Since my daughter has some social anxiety issues, we didn’t want to exacerbate them by having her miss the first month of school and then coming in as the new girl. Also, we didn’t want to to pay for any missed months to hold our spot at the special school we found for her. And in June I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off exploring different schooling options, and it was really hard even to choose a school, especially since we were doing without input from any families who’d attended them and could speak to the quality, etc. Also, because we moved here without new jobs in place, I had no idea if we’d be working, where we’d be working, and what the hours might be, basically leaving us in the dark as to how to get our daughter to and from school each day. So I thought for all of these reasons, and the added bonus that I think homeschooling is the way most folks should go if they can, we should give homeschooling a try. If we’d been in Europe we could have done it there too, which of course, is a bonus.
So here we are. One week into the new job, and one day until homeschooling starts. The new job is going well so far. I love interacting with the clients again, and I am excited by a new staff’s fresh, new, positive energy at the same site I was working at before I went away to have babies. Before I left it was toxic. This is part of the reason I came back, because I knew the old staff were no longer there and I felt like I could close some old wounds. In addition, my new/old job is close to the school we like if our daughter goes there next year and perfect for ensuring I can pick her up each day.
My daughter is signed up for kids yoga and music lessons, and still wants me to sign her up for gymnastics and skating lessons. Even though we aren’t in traditional school, I still don’t want to overextend her, or us, but I feel like maybe I should. After all, homeschooling through Self Design is paying for it. (Yes, it’s true, in B.C. you get money to homeschool to pay for classes, activities, admissions, books, supplies, etc)
I have a whack of activities and books to get us going for the first few weeks. But after that I am kind of stumped. I have to fulfill five days a week of child led learning and journal them for approval from our learning consultant. My friends say it’s easy to fulfill the hours and that I won’t need to sit at the table going through math books all day. But, I guess, until I actually start doing this, I don’t know what to expect or how our days really will go. I’m not going to be a full unschooling type, although we are following my child’s interests as much as possible. My daughter and I both like sit down workbook activities, so I know there will be lots of “playing school” moments. Mommy as the “teacher” and she as the “student” with a blackboard and reward stickers and all that fun stuff. We enjoy doing arts and crafts and baking together, and anything to do with reading and writing. In a way I am assuming our days won’t be much different than they have been all summer, just exploring and doing what we enjoy and answering questions along the way. But then I also feel like I am missing something. Am I?
If you are a homeschooling mom, can you help this newbie out with some advice? And if any of you work inside or outside the home while doing this, tell me, how do you fit it all in everyday? How do you keep from being exhausted? Tell all because I need all the help I can get!
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Tags: homeschoooling
Is this homeschool consultant this mandatory? I live in a U.S. state with relatively strict reporting requirements (a portfolio at the end of the year) and feeling like someone is looking over your shoulder judging the adequacy of your homeschooling is unnecessarily stressful.
My advice: breathe. Don’t “play school” because “school at home” rather than homeschool sucks much of the joy out of it. Expect that your daughter may need some detox time. Time when she doesn’t want to be doing school stuff with you as the teacher and tests the limits. Don’t take that as a sign you’ve failed. Take it as easy as you can. And dump the consultant if you can. Who needs the added stress of reporting to someone.
Jake Aryeh Marcus´s last [type] ..It’s the 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment How Much Do You Know About Women’s Suffrage
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
I’m actually a fan of the learning consultant at this point and yes it is mandatory. I think, for me, as I am so new to this, the Learning Consultant will be helpful to me for explaining how the program works and being available to me for answering any questions about how it all works, what I can/should be teaching her, and also in instilling confidence that I will be able to be my child’s teacher. This program was actually created to support unschooling families but to make sure they could be recognized by the Ministry of Education in BC for actually educating their children. I’m somewhere in between. I got to choose my LC based on mutual interests (we have a lot in common) and then she works with us to create a Learning Plan for our daughter based on her interests and abilities. Due to the way I am feeling about this, a bit lost and unsure, so far she’s been a great help.
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I homeschooled my special needs son in kindergarten while working 60 hours a week, and I currently homeschool and freelance from home. My freelancing takes around 3-4 hours per day.
I don’t know how old your daughter was, but I found that I HAD to be super, super organized with homeschooling (though, bonus, my boss let me make free copies at work!). We did the ‘teaching’ part of school at night, before dinner/after dinner. Because we homeschooled, my son didn’t have to be in bed by 8 pm so he stayed up later than most other kids. I left review work, and the “fun” stuff for him to do with his dad or babysitter (for most of the year, my husband worked 4pm-midnight processing satellite images, and I worked 7a-7 pm at two different jobs. It was very difficult, the way our schedule worked out, I’ll admit because I’d get home from work, change, then sit down with phonics or math for half an hour, eat, possibly while discussing history or science concepts (though he was in Kindergarten, so this wasn’t a taxing discussion) then finish up with half an hour of phonics instruction, review work done during the day, set out the new work to be done the next day, etc.
The good part is that homeschooling takes less time than public schooling.
Now I homeschool, but my oldest son is in public school. So, get up, breakfast for everyone, oldest son off to school (bus comes at 8:30). Clean up breakfast, check email, putter around.School starts around 9:30. Lunch at noon. I save the more open ended stuff for the afternoon – history, science, child led interest projects.
I am on the computer during their school, because some of my work I can do in fits and starts (for example, one of my ‘jobs’ is finding great blog posts to highlight, so I’ll scroll through my reader while I wait for the kids to finish their copywork or whatever.
Son comes home at 4. Between 3-5 is snacks, homecoming, relax, TV time, etc. Just downtime. Start dinner prep around 5. I usually cook dinner because I’m better at it and I do all the meal planning and shopping, but as soon as dinner’s cooked I retreat to work on my computer while my husband finishes up dinner, oversees cleanup, gets the littles ready for bed.
I am working but I’m still around. Currently my office is in the living room, though I will leave the house or go upstairs with the door shut if I must concentrate intensely (i.e., well researched article with footnotes; I’m a freelance writer.)
The older kids have their silent reading time from 8-9 while the little ones are getting ready for bed
My advice: get everyone to help/pitch in. For example, the kids take care of most of the post-dinner chores (clearing the table and wiping, loading the dishwasher, putting away the food, sweeping.)
Relax and realize that homeschool doesn’t have to look like institutional schools, and take advantage of your flexible schedule. Maybe you work for 6 shorter times than a typical 5 day week. Or devote Sunday afternoons to a lengthy science block (Science can really benefit from devoting 2-3 hours all at once).
Prepare to make sacrifices. You’re not going to have much time to watch primetime TV. Your weekends will be used for household stuff and finishing up homeschool. You will have to follow a schedule of some sort.
Email me if you want to chat about it!
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Wow! You are one busy mama. What I have gleaned from your comment is that it is okay to be flexible and not do everything all at once. To be flexible with our days (I was already thinking we’d do some stuff on Saturdays too) and the hours, and for everyone to help. That’s what I am tryng to figure out this week. What my husband will do before I come home from work and what my mom can do to help too – she has already expressed interest. Thank you so much for all this help!
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I homeschool my 3 kids. It’s tough but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We use an online school, K12. I love it because they send you a computer and all the cirriculum. My kids start tomorrow!! It’s nice as we can go at our own pace. It’s a great way to continue to be close with your kids though. We read together and have better conversations as a result of the homeschooling. It’s great that I KNOW what they are learning. When they went to public school, I wouldn’t REALLY know what they were doing and all I would hear was the bad stuff. I wish you well and I hope it works out for your family!!
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy´s last [type] ..Menu Plan Monday – September 6th – 12th- 2010
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Thank you Debbi! I like that I am going to be knowing what she’s doing too. One thing I am finding out is how many different homeschooling programs are out there! There are about 5 in BC that I am aware of and just so many more out there I’ve never even heard of. I do hope that what I chose is the right fit for us. I like the flexibility of curriculum with this program, but I also like the sound of yours in that you know what you are going to be doing every day. Choices, choices!
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Art in school is my thing. Here are a few tips I’ve done with grade ones
Shapes: Learn to identify shapes by looking at art/photos. You can use a piece of acetate to place over the image and then draw the shapes you see on top.
Alphabet: Go on a scavenger hunt and see how many objects you can photograph that start with the letter____. (Digital cameras are the way to go obviously). Also, make letters using twigs, people, shapes that look like letters!
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Love it Jenn. Thanks. And you know you don’t have to say which Jenn you are anymore – I can tell by your email address, although you are probably giving a few readers a good laugh (or mortified stare!)
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Melodie, as you know, we’re embarking on this for the first time too and I have some of the same concerns. I know in a few weeks, once I get used to the reporting (and time logging) I won’t feel so nervous, but today I feel a bit out of my element.
But for instance, this morning we went for a walk on the beach for an hour where Rain collected shells and dug for crabs. This counts as an hour of school. It was exercise and it was science/nature learning.
I think the challenge is partly to be able to look at your day differently to realise how much you guys are learning all the time in your every day activities and partly to feel like you have enough to fill your days so the kids don’t get bored (and in my case start begging to watch Ponyo).
My sister is a 7 year veteran of SelfDesign and she said the best thing she did was fill her house with projects her kids could pull out and do on their own if she was busy helping another kid: art supplies, puzzles, math materials (bags of beans/buttons/legos to sort and count), hand sewing projects etc.
It will get easier for both of us; I’m sure of it.
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I believe you are right. I just spoke to our LC today and she made me feel a bit better about all these things. I just need to see how it goes and once I get into the groove of mindfully being aware of what she’s learning, everything will be okay. I hope!
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
BY the way, I love that idea of your sister’s. I think I will make that my goal for this week, just collecting different projects she can do when she’s interested in doing them.
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I am not a homeschooling mom, so I have no words of wisdom.
However, I did want to wish you luck. I will be reading about your journey eagerly. While I don’t believe that homeschooling is the right choice for our family right now, I am definitely interested in it, and how it works for different families.
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Melodie Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Thanks Amber. And good luck tomorrow with Hannah’s first day! Big hugs and here’s some kleenex for you!
Take lots of pictures!
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I must admit – I am green with envy that you get money to help subsidize homeschooling activities. Maybe we should move to Canada…
It is good to see a WOHM who homeschools. When anyone asks us what we plan for school, my response is “we will homeschool, provided we’re in the financial situation to do so.” So if I do have to go back to work, it’s nice to know other families make it work somehow.
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When I was that age, I would’ve thought it was an absolute blast to pretend to be the teacher and have my Daddy be my student. That might be a fun way for her to review what you’ve taught her, if your hubby is willing to play along.
Another thing I loved was playing “newspaper” with an old word processor. My stories were exciting topics like my dad mowing the lawn and brothers playing catch! Anyway, it helps teach typing and spelling and writing skills plus her stories could be about things she learned that week (like what a fun way to do a book report!)
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I am eager to hear how the homeschooling goes, especially with you working outside of the home! Our little boy has just started part-time (today!) at a lovely Montessori preschool, but I’m not sure I like what I see looking ahead to public school. We live in NYC, so public school = options galore, but also testing galore. Best wishes to you!
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