It’s impressive the varying ways to home educate children with ample of methods and styles available. In this series so far, we have learned the unique ways Busy Working, Homeschooling Moms schedule their working time and balance it with homeschooling. As we continue with our series, Successful Homeschooling Schedules of Working Moms, today we meet Mary Catherine, a multi-tasker at hand, with a very unique method of homeschooling while she’s out and about with her work and her son’s homeschooling journey.
Hi Mary! Tell us about yourself, what do you do for a living?
I’m a ghost! I’m the CEO of a ghostwriting company I founded and run from home, Digital Media Ghost, and have been doing this for just shy of seven years. I’ve been writing professionally for much longer though. I also created and run Homeschooling Heroes along with an incredible group of like-minded parents – and it’s where my true passion lives. To follow that, I’m married to a great guy who trusts my judgment on most things (including this weird homeschooling life I insisted on) and our son is truly our world. He’s a great kid with an amazing heart, so entirely worthy of such focus.
That is awesome! What’s your work schedule?
I’m always awake and writing by 6am every day, if not earlier, and then we have classes scheduled starting at 9am most days, so we’re out and about. I pretty much always have my laptop with me and I try to find somewhere to hide and write while he learns (on days I’m not teaching, that is – I have a writing class and have added Latin and a Debate Club this coming year). There are pockets in the day when we’re home and I can write more – some days more than others, so I have that in mind as the week starts and I’m sorting out work that needs to be done. My mid-day (early afternoon) is typically time reserved for client calls, which I have most days as well. And by the time my husband is home/dinner time hits, I sometimes have another hour or two of work left to wrap up. And that typically determines what time I wake up the next morning! My writing schedule is aggressive and I have things that must get done each day to keep my business on track.
If you work outside your home, who cares for your children while you are away?
Answered above, but fortunately we’re at a point where my son is very self-directed and knows what he needs to do. Not noted above is that during the pockets of time we have between classes is also when we spend time discussing what he’s learning and his thoughts around it all. These conversations are very important and help advance his learning more than rote memorization would. Here’s why: I make a point to read things that relate to what he’s learning (if not the exact things he’s reading in tandem), especially if the topic is new to me, so I can challenge/help expand his thinking on a topic.
Sounds wonderful! How long have you homeschooled for and what are your children’s ages?
This will be our fifth year, he’ll be turning 13 in the winter. I used to teach, in an official capacity, what feels like a lifetime ago. I’m really enjoying homeschooling as much as he is!
Homeschooling is great! When do you homeschool and how long it takes you on average per day?
During our time pockets at home (which can be a few hours, depending on the day) or while driving from place to place on days that are extra busy. Our learning is eclectic and interest-based, with learning happening all day really, but in a traditional sense, he spends an hour each day on Math. Typically it’s the first thing he does when he wakes up – and that’s during the summer too, for the most part. Other than that, he always has French, guitar and piano to practice each day and needs to pick a topic to explore and discuss each day, as time permits. He’s also reading every day (beyond the interest-based study) and attending a wide variety of group and individual classes, some taught by me =).
It’s neat that you are able to help out other homeschoolers as well!
In what ways has working benefitted your homeschool life and/or vice versa?
We’ve made the most amazing friendships with other kids/families – people we never would have met otherwise.
Do co-ops benefit you in any way? If so, how?
No, too strict for us!
Do you utilize a “boxed curriculum” or do you gather sources together to form your own curriculum?
We have lots of materials from many, many sources and it informs our mishmash approach!
Which Homeschooling approach do you follow? (Classical, Charlotte Mason, Eclectic, Unschooling, etc..)
We call it Hackschooling actually! I primarily write about technology and everything for a while there was about “hacking” and disrupting – creating something new, creative and amazing. And then I saw this video, Hackschooling Makes Me Happy, which helped cinch the decision to homeschool for us – so we hackschool. He attends lots of classes where he’s exposed to a wonderful array of experiences and people. He’s not only learning about the world, but also about communicating with the world, as his learning environments and the people inhabiting them (or joining him on the journey) as as varied as the topics themselves!
That, combined with a focus on digging deeply into topics that interest him, works really well for us – and for him! We’ve watched him develop into a pretty remarkable young man in the process.
That’s interesting!
What is the main challenge you face of working with a homeschooling lifestyle?
People think I have lots of time to chit chat and I don’t, and I feel mean when I say as much, and no matter how it comes across to them, it feels awful to me.
Ha, Ha! I know the feeling!
What is your best time management tip you would share with a working mom who is just beginning homeschooling?
When something isn’t working, a concept isn’t clicking – move on. If you’re at the point of tears (either of you), there’s a world of knowledge to explore that’s not that specific thing. And don’t spend any time reading comments online – about anything (haha!), but specifically not about homeschooling. It’s not mainstream yet and probably won’t be for many, many years and wasting your time worrying over what anonymous internet whoevers think is “you”, is time wasted.
Thank you Mary Catherine for your time!
You are welcome!
I hope you found Mary Catherine’s schedule insightful. As always, “We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us” (Phil. 4:13), but we can’t do them all at once.
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