is this possible or am i dreaming

[puddinmama]

hi

basically, i want to get a job, and i home educate two children, well one really my youngest is 3, my eldest is 6, do you think that its possible for me to give my kids a good education at home whilst working or is it one or the other, they will only be in child care 2 1/2 days per week as dh is here and he will hopefully do 'school' stuff with them i hope anyways and i hope to be home on weekends, am worried that my kids might get bored if am not around as much doing stuff with them, so I would really really like some opinions and support from homedding parents who also work, mothers as well of course.

thanks

puddinmama

What sort of job would you like to do?

I woul say firstly to make this work you will need the full support of your partner to manage this. I just wonder when you say I 'hope' he will do school stuff with them.

I also wonder what sort of child care you will be able to get for the 6 yr old. I take it you will be looking at some sort of nanny or other home care. Perhaps with a nanny 2/3 days a week, partner doing 2 days.

Hi puddinmama,
have you enquired if there are any local HE childminders?
Is working from home an option?
Are there any local HE families who may be willing to swap childminding/play times?
From your comment about doing 'school stuff' i'm guessing that your child likes structure? It's perfectly easy to cover what your child would be doing in school in less than the amount of time you would be at home. Online learning may be an option as this could be done anytime (Education City, Brainpop, Conquermaths, Meleto, Bitesize etc.)
I'm a lone parent who works 2 days per week but my ds learns autonomously so i'm usually able to facilitate his quest for knowledge on the other 5 days or 7 nights that i'm home !!

I work out of the house full time. If an LA asked, I guess it'd be my mostly SAH partner who is officially in charge of the HEing, but the idea of the children only learning at particular times of day is really silly "no, sorry, we can't talk about XYZ now, it's after 4pm"

Hi

I basically would like to work full time, my dream job would be part time lab work which should bring in enough and give me loads of time at home, however dreams dont often happen, so i would even consider nights and weekends at tesco's or ideally a classroom assistant position

my worry is having this feeling that in my hours at work, my kids are at home just sitting around really especially if am in a 9 to 5 kind of thing, i will be thinking oh both of them could be at school doin stuff instead of being stuck at home, i dunno if this is the right attitude to have, but even if i dont have it my dh might start to think or say it

at the same time i really believe in home education and feel in the long run it will benefit my kids more, and i think that if am out working my kids will have a more active, fullfilled mother than what they have now, so it might work in our favour

I will only need child care for 2 and 1/2 and will probably be looking for a child minder for these days I can hardly put a 6 yr old into nursery lol

working from home, i dont think there are many oppertunities for that here and i think it will do me good to be out doin something, but of course if i can make money at home then i would be happy with that

so am i kidding myself here, can i do both homeed and work? is home edding an excuse for me to stay on benefits thats another issue as well

thanks everyone for the replies i really appreciate it

my dh will do school stuff i will have to organise it for him, also my son doesnt really care structure or non structure but dh wouldnt accept autonomous he is only getting his head around homeedding itself lol and now and again likes to say ' he would be happier in school always surrounded by loads of children' ok am onto another issue now arent i lol

thanks again

puddin mama

Hi

also saw in the local paper a primary school teacher who tutors in Ks1 and 2 so could maybe arrange that for an hour a week to supplement his education, although dunno if he'd like that, i suppose it would be more for my peace of mind wouldn't it

just thought i'd mention that

thanx again

He's 6, yeah? Even if you are wanting to do structured learning with the full blown National Curriculum, it won't take more than an hour or two a day. It's so so so much more efficient learning one to one.

I know some people who buy a boxed curriculum which basically tells you what to do with the children each day - they can be expensive but you might be able to pick one up on Ebay I suppose. That could be a way of surrendering to your husband's desire for an easily measurable education without you having to spend every moment you're not at work carefully planning what your Dh should do with the children during your next shift.

I am thinking, though, that you could say "ok, I'm working 2.5 days a week, and the formal education times will happen outside that", and give your Dh free rein to just play with the children and do fund stuff with them. That might also be a way for him to learn through experience quite how much the children learn just through playing and being, so you could gradually relax on the formal stuff which happens on your watch. Or else you could say "I really want to GO FOR THIS" and find a way to get your husband onside to do his share while you're working Me, I like the first of those options

fund fun