malibu_n_milk2000

Hi,
I've just found and joined this group. I have a 19 month old boy and am due with a second baby boy next month. I am a full time stay at home mum and intend to be that way for the foreseeable future. I am also single.

I've been very interested in all types of alternative child raising stuff and now landed in the world of unschooling while looking at education options here in the UK (knowing I dont want my kids to go to a mainstream school or nursery).

My questions are with unschooling, or any form of homeschooling, how do you find 'me time' or get a break? Maybe its where I am in my parenting journey, (I'm still cosleeping, with night wakings through the night). Also, I dont leave my little one with anyone at the moment as he still has stranger anxiety! I'm sure it will get easier as he and the next one get older. But for the early years, I really want to give them everything I can but sometimes / days its really hard to have the energy to be creative / take them out for activities / give the attention they want etc.
How has everyone else coped with this? Are there any other single unschooling mums / dads out there? And also to juggle working at home too?

Any advice or links to articles / books etc would be apprieciated!

Thanks

Sandra Dodd

-=-I've been very interested in all types of alternative child raising stuff and now landed in the world of unschooling while looking at education options here in the UK (knowing I dont want my kids to go to a mainstream school or nursery).-=-

There are links to UK groups and discussions here:
http://sandradodd.com/world

There will be a conference in London in late June (details not known yet), and if you want I could add you to the e-mail list to receive announcements of that. There will be another gathering in Edinburgh in late May. I'll be at both of those, which is why I know.

HesFes is a large campout gathering you might already know about, and that might be a place to meet people who have ideas for your specific situation. You can find it at hesfes.co.uk

-=-My questions are with unschooling, or any form of homeschooling, how do you find 'me time' or get a break? Maybe its where I am in my parenting journey, (I'm still cosleeping, with night wakings through the night). -=-

Unschooling considerations don't all transfer to other forms of homeschooling, because unschooling ends up being a full time way of life. Here are some ideas:
http://sandradodd.com/howto/precisely

Sandra




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Pam Sorooshian

On 1/23/2011 9:12 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:
> -=-My questions are with unschooling, or any form of homeschooling,
> how do you find 'me time' or get a break? Maybe its where I am in my
> parenting journey, (I'm still cosleeping, with night wakings through
> the night). -=-

Depends on your finances and the ages of the kids. Yours are little
babies - so I wouldn't even try to get much time away from them, they
need you to be with them most of the time. Embrace that fact. The time
that they are SO dependent on you won't last forever - enjoy it. But if
you can find a friend to trade off with, once a week for an hour or two,
knowing you have a couple of hours of alone time to look forward to
might be nice. Even better, get a mother's helper to come in and play
with the little ones while you take take a shower. My daughter sometimes
gets hired to do this, and the moms sometimes just go in the kitchen and
cook or get on the phone for a long, relatively uninterrupted,
conversation.

When the kids get older, one thing to remember is that having other kids
over to play at your house often gives mom more free time. This seems
counter-intuitive to some people who think having extra kids means extra
work, but, with the right kids, it can mean the kids are happy and busy
and mom can get some other stuff done.

-pam sorooshian