We continue our series “Successful Homeschooling Schedules of Working Moms” with a guest post from Aimee, a busy working, homeschooling mom, who shares her schedule, challenges, as well as the benefits of having a working and homeschooling lifestyle.
Hi! My name is Aimee Delery Smith. I’m currently a property manager for two small residential complexes and two small commercial strip malls. I’m also the book keeper for a small business.
My Busy Mom Work Schedule
A lot of my work is done through text. I am able to work while I watch my kids do karate or while I am at the gym. My tenants know in order to get in touch with me (unless it’s an emergency) that they need to text me. I tell them, “Text is best!”. I can arrange a repair or check on the status of an apartment turnover over text. Although I mainly work from home or on the go, I do need to lay my eyes on the properties at least once a week. When I have to physically “go to work” I arrange my children to go to a babysitters’ house. If I can’t arrange a sitter then my mom steps in to help when she can. I also do book keeping for a small business and for all the properties. I typically work in my office two afternoons a week while three of my children take naps.
My Homeschooling Family
My husband and I have five children; Luca (7), Levi (5), Leo (3), Emery (3) and Isaac (7 months). I started homeschooling when my oldest started Prek-4. We are about to enter into our 4th year of homeschooling. Since my work schedule recently increased we are sending my 5 & 3-year-old to preschool. I will be homeschooling my oldest son who is entering the 2nd grade.
Our Homeschooling Schedule
We typically do book work in the morning, usually from about 9:00 am-11:00 am. Book work consists of a math lesson, handwriting, phonics, character trait, Bible, reader, and memory work.
I currently do all the teaching aside from our tutor at Classical Conversations (C.C.). C.C. aides parents in providing a classical homeschool education to their children. Students meet up once a week to learn new memory work, do a science experiment, practice different art techniques, and learn about different composers. They also do a weekly presentation where they can discuss the suggested topic or anything their heart desires. A “tutor” leads/teaches the class and the parents assist the tutor. We find that the classical style best suits our family while providing an excellent education for our children. CC also allows us to homeschool our small, large family.
How Working Benefits Our Homeschooling Lifestyle
My work schedule is very flexible. I am blessed to schedule my work around my family’s schedules. If we have a doctor’s appointment or field trip, I am able to rearrange my work schedule. I enjoy earning an income because it benefits my family needs and also allows me an outlet. I am able to talk to other people and I’m exposed to how other families operate. My husband and I ultimately desire to invest in our children. We believe that our investment in them will impact our world and God’s kingdom. Our goal is to give our children opportunities to learn and grow and strengthen their faith.
How Co-Ops Benefit Our Homeschooling Family
We are apart of CHEF of GNO (Christian Home Educators Fellowship of Greater New Orleans) which is an association that offers Co-Ops and academic events. My kids are able to connect with other children at field trips, holiday events, and P.E. and I am able to connect with other moms. Just because we homeschool does not mean we are home ALL the time. Our home is the base for our family. It is where we come to rest, recharge, and spend time together.
How Homeschooling Benefits our Family
Homeschooling allows us the freedom to teach each child according to how they learn best. Our main focus is a classical education for all of our children. Classical education is very simple in the early years. There’s really not much to it other than memorizing and laying a strong foundation. We add in a math, phonics, and handwriting resources to our curriculum for application. While one math program works for one child, it may not work for another and I love that I can cater to each of my children’s learning style. We also do a bible based study program to help us learn and grow in our faith, and of course, we read books!
The Challenges I have Encountered of Working while Homeschooling
I struggled with balancing work and homeschool in the beginning of our homeschooling journey. I was way too critical of myself and had too many expectations of myself. I tried to fix things right as they happened. If I received a text from work I would immediately stop homeschooling and I would address the problem, and in return, I would lose all my children’s attention, and everything felt like chaos. I have learned that it is best not to even look at my phone while I am teaching. My children are young so our book work lasts about 1-2 hours a day. We attend C.C. once a week and do bookwork and memory review 4 days a week. If we miss a day because of illness or because I had more work to do than expected then we take a sick day and make up the work at another day.
One of the other things I struggled with balancing homeschool and working is thinking I had to do it all. I am human which means I have a limited amount of energy, time and resources. My goal is to do my jobs (wife, mom, homeschooler, worker) effectively, efficiently, and the way God desires me to approach each of my jobs.
I have had a hard time finding a happy balance that works for our family over the years, so I’ve had to take a hard look at my priorities and determine that my relationship with God is number one, and next in line is my husband. I want to support him to be the leader that he is called to be for our family and help him become everything he was created to be. Then comes our children, and finally work. If I keeps things in that order then things seem to run more smoothly. Obviously, life is not perfect and things get out of order sometimes.
Since I have said, “YES” to working I have had to say, “NO” to other things. I have said, “No” to teaching preschool. We decided it would be best to send 2 of our children to a preschool while I homeschool our second grader. I have also said, “No” to cleaning (or deep cleaning) my house. We all have responsibilities to maintain our home, however, the deep consistent cleaning always falls way to the side. When the house is a mess everything seems to feel chaotic. I have literally hired and let go of house cleaners over and over again because each time I think I can totally do that myself! Then several months in, I crash and burn, and unfortunately the whole family feels it. I have had to let go of my pride and my expectation that as a wife and a mommy I needed to do all the cleaning, and look at things rationally, and then decided that I can use some of the income to help me continue to do my prioritized work. It really does not matter who is cleaning as long it gets done, and that’s a win for all of us!
Another stressful thing for me are meals. Feeding my family can feel overwhelming sometimes. Especially since I have so many boys that seem to never be full! I find that the more I plan, the easier and more predictable life is. I go to Sam’s in the beginning of every month and buy most of our groceries. I plan most of the dinners ahead of time and get ingredients to go along with the dinners. I also love doing Walmart grocery pickup! It saves time and energy. Also, several of my dinners are crockpot meals. If I know I will be gone most of the day, or if it is a karate night for my boys then I prepare dinner in the crockpot. Coming home to a house that smells like I have cooked for hours is a major win for me!
My Final Thoughts as I continue this Homeschooling Journey
Taking on the homeschool and work life are two major responsibilities. For me, I have had to evaluate our lives and decide that my children are my major investment. As time goes on and I am homeschooling more of my children, I plan on stepping back and hiring more help to ensure I can invest in what matters most.
~Aimee Delery Smith
I hope you found Aimee’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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