Here are the notes from the Homeschool Conference. In our culture and lifestyle of most families needing two incomes you face the predicament, you want to give your kids a great education, but at the same time you still need to contribute to the family budget. How can you realistically be a homeschooling mom and momtrepreneur?
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Let me start with this, mom you are amazing. I want to start with this because more than likely you don’t always feel very amazing. You may be thinking, in all my amazingness how can I really homeschool and work from home?
I am going to be completely honest with you. This is not easy. You are a super-mom, I even bought the t-shirt to prove it. So how do you balance juggling clients and juggling kids?
As a homeschooling mom of 6 (ranging from teen to toddler), a momtrepreneur for 7 years, now running 2 businesses, I understand the thoughts and feelings that are clamoring around in your head. Trying to answer this question, can it be done?
Working in an Office and Going to Schooling
Many families, before working from home with your kids, led separate lives. Parents went off to work and kids went off to school. For 7 or more hours a day, you never saw each other. After work and school, you went home with just enough time to make dinner and go to bed. Just to start the cycle over again the next day.
You probably spent a total of 3 waking hours together. One in the morning and two at night. Unless you commuted together. Who doesn’t love commuting in city traffic for an hour while your child cries to get out of the car seat. Such quality timing.
You may be thinking, “Thank God that’s not my life, or my life anymore.” You are home with your kids, so now you have a whole different kind of crazy to juggle.
Finding Balance of Work and School
Homeschooling multiple grades and working from home involves understanding balance. Not the zen-like balance of a seesaw or teeter totter. More like the balance of walking a tightrope while juggling, and someone keeps shooting balls at you to add to it. That is the balance we are going for. Mom, unfurl your cape because you got this.
10 Practical Steps to Walk the Homeschooling Mom/Momtrepreneur Tightrope
Hope on over the conference page for more content just for you.
1. Schedule
You may need to work at this. Creating a schedule does not come easily for everyone. But it will help you and your kids to create habits and set them on autopilot. You don’t need to copy a school schedule. Find one that works for you. If everyone likes to get up a 7am then do that. If everyone is coherent until 10am then do. The important thing is to set your expectations so your kids know what to do and you keep your sanity.
You need to set working hours for yourself. This will also help with clients. It is very easy to keep working because there is always something else to do. Your desk is right there. You know that one thing that you just need to do real quick and an hour later you are still at. Have a time that your computer is shut off and you are done for the day.
You don’t need to schedule every minute of your day, but have guidelines of when you eat breakfast, when the kids get lunch, etc. Be clear on your expectations of when your kids need to do their schoolwork. My kids can take as many breaks as they want, but they can’t go anywhere until schoolwork is done.
2. Hire your kids
Teach your kids to be entrepreneurs even if that is not what they end up doing in the future. Involve your kids as much as you can in your tasks. My 13-year-old is my video and audio editor. I pay him for the work he does, and he gets an opportunity to apply a valuable skill that he can add to his resume. I also make him give me invoices, so he can start understanding some of the business admin side. The next step will be to get them to do taxes with me. Involving your kids will teach them practical skills for the future.
3. Integrate work and school
Being a work from home mom and homeschooling you kids don’t need to be separate. Integrate both of these aspects into the same space. Let your kids see you deal with difficult clients. Show them how you manage your time, schedule, and tasks. Kids learn a lot through observation, so let them see what it means to work with integrity.
4. Boundaries
You need to set boundaries with your time, money, and expectations. It is very rare to have a client that doesn’t respect your time. Most will but there is always the exception to the rule. Set office hours and make sure your clients know them. Let them know that texting or calling at 10pm is not acceptable. Yes, there have been days when the puke is flying and there is pressure from a client. Boundaries will help to balance work-life.
Make sure they know when they are supposed to pay you. Paying you on time is a sign of respect and value for the your work. But if you aren’t clear on when you expect to be paid, then don’t expect payment at a certain time.
5. Do you need to teach every subject?
It is very easy to feel like you need to be totally involved in every subject because that’s how public school is set up. But there are so many curriculum options out there. Utilize DVDs, online, and even grading services.
If your kids are struggling to gain the knowledge they need from a textbook, then check out these other options.
As a momtrepreneur, homeschooling multiple grades, you don’t have enough hours in your day to teach every subject. And you know what, that’s ok. If your kids are old enough, let them take the lead in their schoolwork. Involve the older kids in helping the younger kids with school.
6. Social life
But there are only 24 hours in the day, how on earth are we going to add one more thing to the day? The good news is there are a lot of social opportunities, and you don’t need to take on every activity that comes your way. Be very selective in how you spend your time. You want to be a part of something that is going to leave you feeling refreshed. But you need to be part of something.
Mom, you need adult interaction and your kids need some time with people who aren’t in their family. They need a chance to make other friends.
7. Feed your kids interest
There are so many free resources available take advantage of them. You homeschool your kids to tailor curriculum and learning for each child, so feed their interests. There are also class subscriptions that you can pay for, like Skillshare and Masterclass, that will give them more in-depth knowledge on a topic.
Your kids have such an opportunity to learn anything and explore ideas and interests. This is a huge advantage over the public school because we aren’t locked into a certain curriculum or teaching certain things. Our time is ours so take advantage of every opportunity.
8. You don’t need to grade everything
I hate grading. I can’t tell you how passionately I despise it. But it is the easiest way for me to consistently see how they are doing and to ensure that they are understanding the material…so I grade.
Here’s my secret. I only grade quizzes, tests, and writing assignments. I don’t grade daily work. If I think the kids need more consistent feedback on the daily work, then I will let them grade it. But I don’t.
9. You aren’t trying to recreate public school at home
Yes! You get to decide how you want your day to look. You get to decide how to school. Sometimes we pressure ourselves, thinking that it will only be “good enough” if it is like the brick and mortar schools. The exciting part about being a momtrepreneur and homeschooling mom, is you get to break all the rules. You can stop trying to fit into someone else’s idea of how you should work and school.
10. Remember your why
Some days can get really overwhelming. Give yourself permission to have a bad day. Give yourself permission to think of the vacations you could go on if you weren’t paying for curriculum. Or the calm day you would have if all the kids were in school. These thoughts go through all our minds. Banish any mom guilt and give yourself permission to think these thoughts.
But then remind yourself of why you are homeschooling your kids. Whether it is to be the biggest influence in their lives during their most formative years. Or to give them more opportunity to learn outside of a one-size fits all model. Whatever your reasons are, remind yourself of them and don’t let them go because this is your calling, mom.
Looking for Quick Results
We want to see quick results in what we do. It validates our actions and then we can move on to the next thing. Homeschooling and being a momtrepreneur is probably one of the hardest things you will do. And you will only see the results years after you are finished. You will get glimpses and tell yourself, “Yes, this is what I should be doing.” But you need to play the long game in this, and you can do it.
Remember, being a mom to your kids is something that only you are uniquely qualified to do.
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