Does anyone manage to homeschool and work?

[BreathlessCommotion]

Dd age 7 and has ASD has struggled a lot with school. School are great, but it stilt causes a lot of anxiety. What's been clear is how much better she is after 4 weeks of homeschooling.

However both dh and I work, I can be part time but only 3 days. Dh can work from home 2 days a week and I might be able to do some. At the moment we are taking in turns, one works am while the other teaches and then swap. We do a lot of the stuff too like art, crafts, walks

I'd love to be able to continue for her sake, but I can't work out a way to make it work. She isn't much of a "here's something to do while I talk on the phone". She wants/needs us to work alongside her.

Does anyone manage this or do you really need in epeeson to give up work.

We do manage, but then I'm lucky (in this situation) that my 8 year old is like a magpie to screens and will get on with online work without much prompting - and her school are good at setting work that can be done without too much parental input.

Depending on your job, and how independently she can do the work, could someone WFH from the same table as her to keep her on track?

Your situation sounds very difficult.

I've just realised this was posted in the home ed topic, so maybe you mean long-term homeschooling rather than just the current situation. Sorry for my irrelevant answer if that's the case!

I'm lucky in that my oldest dd has stepped up to help take care of the youngest 2 whilst I work, but my sister is in a similar position to you (she is a teacher doing live lessons) and has hired a virtual babysitter, which seems to be working well. It's done through facetime, so the dc do their work with the babysitter on facetime (if they need help they will read out the question, she helps keep them focused on the task etc). she also organises games for them (eg: simon says). My sister hired her to work 3 hours a day. Not sure if that would be an option?

I take it you mean long term?

I think it depends on you and the child. I wasn't working as well, but know plenty of people who do.
I can't see any problem tbh, You can work pt and your dh can work from home sometimes.
We didn't follow the traditional curriculum and me working wouldn't have fitted in with our reasons for H.ed, but we're all different.

The main problem you'll have is time to find resources, checking out the right age range, topics and of course assessing to make sure she's learning. you are never finished either. A question at 11pm you answer it as you are the only teachers.
It can be very rewarding and you don't have to teach, it's more about facilitating learning, encouraging self study as they get older.

I do an hour early before dd gets up and then give her two hours of help with school work and then sit her with a task such as art reading or watching something like a docu while i work for a bit. Not easy tho

That all sounds nice but how do any of you do a really solid 8 hours work? It's killing me!

Sorry, yes I meant long term, after coronavirus.

I used to be a teacher (although secondary) so I don't find that daunting. Maybe we might be able to work around it.

@RestaurantoffBroadway at the moment I don't. My working day is only 7 hours usually, and at the moment me and dh are working in blocks--am/pm and then catch up in the evening if we need to. We both have very understanding employers though, who aren't expecting people with children to be able to work in the same say.

I have several friends who HE while working (we HE too but I don’t work).
Two single parents - one is a childminder so keeps her kids with her, other works early morning & late evening from home.
Working couples - one do 4 days each another use a childminder for 3 days a week.

I worked 2 days a week while I home educated. DH worked compressed hours and was at home for 1 day a week; I did 3 and we had a nanny for the other day. She came on a Friday and did more of the art/craft/cooking/sewing and supervised while they finished any work left.

In hindsight I wish I'd switched to private tutoring sooner as it would have been much easier to work round the kids.

I work full time Mon to Fri from home at the moment. I have an 8 year old and I'm finding it really difficult. My job is pretty full on and requires a lot of concentration so I can't spend a lot of time homeschooling (my daughter also isn't the most enthused about it all which doesn't help and often results in arguments, she isn't like this at school!) At most she does an English worksheet and a maths worksheet from the weekly packs on Classroom Secrets (recommended by the government apparently) and then she reads for half an hour at bedtime. She will sometimes go off to her room to draw but apart from that flits between watching TV and playing in the garden on her climbing frame.

Oh and my DH is a Supermarket Manager so is out of the house all week, hence it does mostly fall to me!

Restaurant

A lot of parents forced into H.ed through the virus are replicating what school does, and it doesn't really work.
When taken away from curriculums, set lessons, and times it becomes much freer.
At school they have all day to do 2 hours work, at home it's easy to slot this into any time during the day.

It could potentially work long term if your dd was able to get on with stuff on her own a bit more - which with practice might be possible? Will your employers continue to be understanding about working irregular hours? Or could you find a nanny / childminder for a couple of short days just to buy you some breathing space?

I've home educated and run a business but obviously, I am the boss so have a good overview of my business needs and I manage those completely. With an employer, it may be more difficult. I would say the key thing is to realise that being simply present doesn't mean you are necessarily being efficient. I use various productivity tools to manage work so I get the most out of the time I work plus I track stuff like deadlines and I'm proactive in following up clients etc. the education side is the same. 30 mins of one-to-one work can be more efficient than being over an hour in school as DS has my undivided attention whereas at school he rarely had the attention of the teacher even if she was explaining something or helping him as there would constantly be disruptions from other pupils. I am there to exclusively cater to his needs and can, therefore, make more progress in less time. Of course, any teacher would make more progress with a smaller group but that's simply not possible with schools. As he has got older he naturally can be left to study or complete exercises on his own. He also attends in normal times various sports and groups/lessons which often gives me time to do client calls or catch up with emails etc.

So, in short, it is possible but I would say you have to organise well and find out what works for you both.