Home Schooling When You Work From Home

Home school can bring a wide and very varied range of experiences for the children, but for the parent it can bring the difficulty of buying out time to teach whilst still earning a living. Working from home can make this situation easier, thanks to the huge degree of flexibility that it offers.

The youngest children can be both the easiest and the most difficult to deal with. The curriculum during pre-kindergarten and the kindergarten years takes little time out of your day to complete and is not very taxing on the parent.

However, this in itself can present a problem as the majority of the time needed is spent on explaining the activities and tutoring your child through them, leaving only a small amount of time for the child to work alone. Additionally, the short attention span of these young children means that there is little chance to work before it is time to move onto the next activity.

For this age group, you may wish to wait for nap time or bed time to begin work. Alternatively, work may be possible when the other parent is home or when the children spend time with grandparents or other relatives.

As the children get older, the time spent on school work will increase. With good organization you may be able to work at the same time, side by side in your home office.

By arranging your school day into teaching and work periods you may well be able to teach the topic that your children are to be working on, and then set them an assignment to complete based around the subject that you just explained. Then, when they are working nearby you may attempt to complete some of your own work, until such a time as they again need your assistance.

For some children, this may be so frequently that you are unable to make any progress of your own, especially if you are home schooling to meet the special need of your child. This again leaves you waiting until after bedtime or until the children are with someone else for you to be able to work.

Activities are another way to buy out time with older home schooled children. Many school districts have requirements for all home schooled children to fulfill physical education hours, and this doesn't always mean that you have to sign them up for expensive classes. Instead they may be able to join and participate in the local school team for free, and the same applies to music education needs being met by joining the school band. These periods of time can be employed for your own gains.

Lastly, involving the children in other aspects of running the home can not only broaden their experiences and education by teaching them valuable skills such as cooking, gardening and home maintenance, but help reduce the time that you spend on these tasks. This then give you more time to work whilst they sleep or enjoy free time activities, such as favored hobbies, having learned that recreation comes after responsibilities are fulfilled.

The flexibility of both home schooling and working from home can lead to a very satisfying experience for all when you are able to find a balance between the two.