Working and Homeschooling

Being a Stay-At-Home parent is the ideal situation for homeschooling, but sadly we do not live in a ideal world, and some of us have to work outside jobs to make ends meet.  This could be because of the week economy, or because someone is a single parent.

For my family it is because of the economy, I work part-time cleaning other people's houses.  I really miss being home full time with kids, having all the time I need to do fun activities and experiments, but at this time working is necessary, so I am finding ways to make homeschooling work in this less than ideal situation.

Recently I have not been managing my time as well as I should, and often things have been left undone.  I don't worry about it too much if its a subject like Science or History, because my kids get those subjects at co-op anyway, I mean, we still try to do them at home, but if we fall behind its not that big a deal.  However, when it comes to Math and Phonics I feel it is vital to do them at least 4 days a week, and lately I've been letting phonics slip more than I'd like.  Math is easy, because my little girl works well alone, and my son uses Teaching Textbooks, so I am not really needed much for that subject.  However when it comes to phonics and reading, I need to be there.  My son is dyslexic, and needs to do his phonics lessons regularly, he also needs my supervision to check his accuracy as he reads.   This has been the issue lately when I work later than expected and return home tired.  I have chosen to skip phonics a few times, and then of course feel guilty about it.

Well today, I got up at 5:30, I worked out for 1 1/2 hours, then I got ready for work and left.  My husband had the kids do Math while I was gone.  I didn't get home until around 4:30, and was tired and hungry, so I rested and had a small lunch.  Then I rested more, I was extra tired because I am still regaining strength after being sick, I just couldn't seem to get the energy to do anything right away.  Later, after I had dinner on the stove, I realized that I needed to do Phonics.  So we did it then, and got done at 7:30, then we ate dinner.  At least I got it done today.  I know that I have to start doing this daily, no matter how tired I am, and I guess today was a good start, I showed that I can do it, even after working an extra long day while suffering fatigue from the H1N1 I recently suffered through.

So I guess the point of my post is that while its difficult, homeschooling can work even if the parent has to have an outside job, but it takes commitment and perseverance. It takes determination, and sometimes it takes just going through the motions to get it done, even when you don't really want to.  I am sure I'll post more on this subject later, as I am trying to work out a good schedule to follow to allow me to always get the things done I need to do.