Thursday, August 7, 2014

So You Think Homeschooling AND Working is Harder?


I've done IT ALL! With Four kids and 21 years of marriage there isn't a combination I haven't tried. And as many people I hear complain that homeschooling is : hard, exhausting, impossible and on...if you work, they haven't compared the options.

Let's compare the schedule I had with each scenario

Both Hubby and I switched one drop off and pick up

PRIVATE SCHOOL

Yes, I had all of my kids at one time in Private School. Both Baptist which taught Abeka and Catholic School.

*Required MORE homework
*Parental Support (Financial) and Physical
*Cost came up unexpectantly
*Quality of Education wasn't always worth money paid
*Lack of extra-curricular and College transition programs

My schedule when kids were in Private School and I worked

5:30am-Wake up kids
6:30am-Drop off kids at morning care (with their own breakfast)
6:00pm-Pick kids up from aftercare
6:30pm-Grab dinner
7:00pm-Go to sport activity, Kumon (after school tutoring) 3 days a week
9:00pm-Do homework (they usually didn't do a good job of it in extended care-only time to play)
10:45pm-Put them to bed (if they didn't finish their homework)

PUBLIC SCHOOL

This also had it's challenges

*Never knew what my kids were learning in class
*Kids were spread out over different schools (I had one in Daycare, Elementary, Middle and High School for several years)
*Cost came up unexpectantly
*Quality of Education depended upon the location where we lived

My schedule when kids were in Public School and I worked

6:00am-Wake up kids
6:30am-Drop off two younger kids at morning care (with their own breakfast)
6:30am-High Schooler walks to school bus pickup
7:00am-Middle Schooler gets dropped off at school bus pickup
4:00pm-Pick up Middle Schooler from bus stop
5:00pm-Pick up High Schooler from High School Sports (Football,Track or Lacrosse)
6:00pm-Pick younger kids up from aftercare
6:30pm-Grab dinner
7:00pm-Go to sport activity, Kumon (after school tutoring) 3 days a week
9:00pm-Do homework (if they had any)
9:30pm-Do AFTERSCHOOLING to teach them what they didn't learn in school
10:45pm-Put them to bed (if they didn't finish their homework)

HOMESCHOOL

This has challenges too

*Finding the curriculum that can be pulled off by two parents
*Childcare/Tutors that will come to my home
*Schedule has to be Flexible

My homeschooling schedule and yes, I still work :-D

5:00am-Mom gets herself up and goes to work
9:30am-Dad gets up and dresses
10:00am-Dad wakes kids up to start their Independent Work

Tiger Lilly works on (Youth Digital, Code Academy, WriteGuide.com and Python with Landry Academy Course)

Speed Racer works on (Tynker, XtraMath, Teaching Textbooks, Typing)

11:00am-At home helper comes over - relieves Hubby
2:30pm-Mom home - relieves at home helper
3:00pm-Abeka DVD/Streaming Courses start

Tiger Lilly works on (Abeka: Alg 2, US History, Spanish)
Speed Racer works on (Abeka: Bible, Math, Reading, Penmanship, Spelling)

6:00pm-Eat Snack and Leave for Sports
7:00pm-Go to sport activity
9:00pm-Late and Light Dinner
9:30pm-Dad continues homeschooling

Tiger Lilly works on (Abeka: Chemistry (three times a week), (These are 1 time a week) Econ, Amer Gov't, Physics, Art)

Speed Racer works on (Abeka: Science, History,(one time a week) Art,  Education-Portal:Spanish, Workbook: Logic)

10:45pm-Kids finished, either go to bed or hang out with dad

Weekly Wrap-up

This week is in gear and went off without a hitch.

My stand in teacher - Rose (oldest sister) is teaching and handling her students well.

Tiger Lilly:

Tiger Lilly - started cheerleading this week. She's super excited. Also, went online several times to play Minecraft with her bff from Public School and email her new friend from cheerleading.

She also requested we add another class to her already packed schedule O_o *It's a weekend class with Digipen that teaches 3D Animation using Maya Autodesk* I can't believe she wants to take this Saturday course - but hey, it's her own time.

Tiger Lilly says she wants to be able to script, draw and create her own video games one day.

Speed Racer:

Behaved like an angel this week. His sister has started bribing him with candy. Hey, what ever works.

His CALM DOWN LIST is still up and she and he read it daily.

This is his last week doing Logic workbooks and will be starting with Art of Argument (Yay!)

In Dance and Martial Arts he is performing well, listening ears are on, but he still has hop around syndrome (like mom and dad).

He's also been practicing his breakdancing at home - late at night, when I'm already in bed. His dad and him watch a movie then my husband 'coaches' the little guy. I think he likes that one on one time.

HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?


7 comments:

  1. Goodness! That is such a busy schedule. It's so great that you have found a way to make it all work for your family.

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  2. This seems like a fair comparison of the ways of doing it. I have had my kids in school and homeschool, so I was a bit familiar with some of the points you made (and agree with you). I must say, however, I have never had to work as well. It does sound like it would make it much harder, but one has to do what one has to do. I pat you on the back for all you do for your family!!

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  3. It's a fascinating comparison! I don't think I've seen anything like it yet. Your family's schedule certainly looks very full whichever way you look at it. You sure get plenty done in a week! :-)

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  4. I get MORE sleep now as a working / homeschooling parent than I got when I had the kids in Traditional school. The kids also get more sleep. Who would've thought it?

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  5. Where was dad when the kids were in private and public schools? Seems like he doesn't enter the picture until homeschooling begins. At least there is no mention who was doing all the dropping of and picking up at before school, afterschool and bus stops.

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  6. I love that you found what works for you and made it work for the kids. Taking in their needs. Great job. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Sounds similar to us, except my kids are old enough to do most of their work independently during the day and dad works as well. Mornings and evenings are super busy around here! I feel like I spend less time doing school work with the kids now while they're homeschooled compared to when they were in public school and needed hours of help with homework every night!

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