You and Your Child

Things To Do Together

~Puzzles
~Card games
~Educational movies
~Read-alouds
~Games
~Collage
~Nature walk
~Family garden
~Museum
~Saturday or Sunday picnic
~Hugs and kisses

Do you have a tip that helps you to keep it all done? We welcome you to share it with us. Just e-mail lynn (at) TheHealthyHomeschool.com with your tip.

Lessons On The Run!

Keep a lightweight bag of educational items ready to go at all times. These things can be worked on in the car, during wait times at appointments, etc.
Listen to educational tapes or audio books while driving. There is a large selection to choose from if you start looking!

Use some of your child's TV time (or your together time) watching educational DVDs or videos. Although The Healthy Homeschool does not endorse all things on cable or satellite TV, there are some very good educational choices for the family/children. Be selective!

~Remember, homeschooling is a way of life. No matter what life has sent your way in terms of responsibilities and where you all have to be each day, you can still be devoted to having a homeschooling way of life, running a home that's a haven, and making choices that are healthy and educational. You are still in charge!

When Seeking Employment

~Look for:~
A schedule that works for you!
A compassionate supervisor

~Can you?~
Work less than 40 hours and retain benefits?
Many places give benefits starting at 30 or 32 hours.

Was Marriage the First Commitment?

~Communicate with your spouse.
~Let them know what you need to keep it all done.
~Be supportive of their concerns toward home and children.



~In most cases, there was a spouse before there were children. A healthy relationship with husband or wife will help the entire family.

~Remember to get time away with just your wife or just your husband.



Things To Do With Your Spouse

~Read from something good to each other--one of the classics perhaps. If the children overhear, then good!

~Prepare meals together.

~Work on family/home projects together.




Clutter can get the best of you. Don't let it! Keep a big pretty basket in each room of the house. Use it to catch clutter--everything from markers to hair clips to books to toys. It will keep the room looking neat. When you have time, you can pick a basket, weed out what's trash, and have everyone take their stuff and put it away.

Are you a single homeschooling parent? There may be a support group in your area. There are support groups on line at places like Yahoo! for women working and homeschooling, and for single parents who homeschool.

Working and Homeschooling

There are not too many of us, thankfully, but I am part of a group of women who passionately want to homeschool but still have to work to add to the family income. There's no right or wrong way to get it all done, but it certainly helps to share ideas and know we are not alone.

This might be a good time to add a disclaimer, a thought, whatever you want to call it. Homeschooling is such a huge responsibility, in reality we believe it is best to NOT work and homeschool. There is more joy, more focus, more everything when a parent can be fully devoted to homeschooling. There may be seasons, however, or reasons, that one must work AND homeschool. That said, we'll share some of our thoughts.

Some things to consider

~Obviously, younger children should not be unattended, so finding childcare for times you are working out of the home is the first order of business.

~If a child is old enough to spend some time alone*, it is important to make sure they get plenty of time out with others. I certainly don't worry about the "socialization" issue, but I think all humans need some interaction and interests to be healthy.

~Are there family members who don't work, or whose schedules are different from yours, who could spend time with/watch your children while you are working? Could you barter with them or pay them? Is there another homeschooling family you could barter with? Perhaps you can find a family whose values are in line with yours. You may be helping them out financially during this season by hiring them for your child care.

~If your work is at home, it could be an educational experience to teach the older ones what you are doing and delegate tasks to them, depending on what it is and if it can be part of their educational process.

~Remember that change is always taking place. I rest in the fact that circumstances are constantly changing and perhaps being just a stay-at-home mom is in the cards for me at some point! I also believe in the power of creating our own circumstances. Think positively that you will be able to be home and working less. Make daily efforts--especially financial--that will help you be home more and spend less.

Ways to spend time with your children

Be very interactive with your children during playtime. If your younger ones have to be in public school, playtime gives you a chance to find out what they are learning. Talk with them, listen to them. Your children will remember this precious, valuable time spent with you. Depth of relationship when they are young will help you have a closer relationship when they are older.

Is your son or daughter old enough to be your "shopping buddy?" My daughter and I use time at the grocery store as time for both of us to get "dressed up" and be out together. We talk and share ideas and I let her pick out things we need (within reason, of course).

Educational card games are good for everyone!

Need a snack? Take it in your child's room and have a tea party! Wash out their little tea set and let them serve!

Garden time. Children love to be outside. A homeschool garden, complete with butterfly life-cycle kits, can be part of their science lessons.

Even if some of your children must attend public school, you can still help them keep a nature journal and take nature walks with them. Of course, you don't want to overburden them with more "homework," but you can keep the journal together with them and let them guide you as to how much they want to write/draw in it. I find that if I start something, my younger ones end up saying, "Mom, can I do that?"

If your public school children have projects that can be used to teach your homeschoolers as well, then make it a family project. For example, my 4th grade son (public school) has a project right now on Henry II. Well, none of us really know that much about Henry II, so I am going to include my 8th grader (homeschooled) and the whole family to do a library trip, Barnes and Noble trip, and designing a web page and poster board. We'll all learn and we'll add a picture of Henry II to our homemade timeline notebook.

Ways to Keep it All Done

Know your state's legal requirements for homeschooling.

If you remain focused and structured, your state's requirements probably require a number of yearly instructional hours that can be readily accomplished using your time off, nights, weekends, and vacation days.

Curriculum choices now make it easy (although perhaps pricey) to choose things that will allow your child more ease in working independently. In many cases (for example, Saxon Math and complementary DIVE CDs), the lessons actually run more smoothly here than before!

Take your time off from work to coincide with a local homeschool support group's field trips or study groups for students your child's age. This facilitates your child making friendships and getting time out doing social and learning activities.

Make activities of daily living as easy as possible.

~"Lunchables" purchased at Wal-Mart make it quicker for me to "pack lunches" each morning for those in school. Or you could have the children help you pack lunches and talk with them while doing so.
Try very hard to be calm and enjoy the moment. Don't get rushed and stressed and end up with bad feelings between everyone. Take joy!

~Use your crockpot to have a healthy, nutritious supper ready without a lot of prep time. This gives you more time with your children!

~Automate as many things as possible. We used to hang all of our clothes on the line, but now we use a dryer. Bread machines, food processors, dishwashers--they all cut down on chore time.

~Yes, my kitchen floor could be cleaner, but I have found that a quick vacuum with my Eureka "The Boss" and a quick "Swiffer" do a good enough job and only take about 5 minutes to get done.

Legal Considerations

The Healthy Homeschool would like to remind you about HSLDA--an organization constantly working to keep homeschooling on our list of freedoms!! Evaluate if the peace of mind they can offer is worth the price. We think it is!

Make sure you know the legal guidelines regarding when minors may be "legally" left alone for any period of time. The legal age does not define when any one child is capable of structuring their own time. A child who meets the legal age requirement for being alone may still not be mature enough to handle the responsibility! (Maturity means so much!) It is important to us to follow the laws of our land.

Keep good records of your instructional hours. Write it down when it happens, or at least on a daily basis! That way you won't forget and it will save you time in the longrun.

NOTE: *The Healthy Homeschool is sharing ideas, not offering professional or legal counsel. Only you, as parents, can determine how responsible your child is and whether or not you are capable of getting it all done. The Healthy Homeschool assumes no responsibility for the choices that other families make.

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