Andrea

Hi, my name is Andrea and I’ve been lurking for a while. My partner
(dp) and I are homeschooling our son Tobin (4). I’ve really enjoy
everyone’s posts. I am excited to have found a community that agrees
with so many of the things that I thought just made me feel like a bad
mother! (letting Tobin stay up until HE was ready to go to bed…) I
know now that my intuition was/is right, and now I have John Holt’s
books and your experiences to help give integrity to it. We live in a
small mountain community of 2000 people and do what we can to make our
living as “jobs” are non-existent. My husband is a former
contractor/finish carpenter, he plays classical guitar (weddings,
parties, café’s etc…), and he is a rock climbing guide. I am a massage
therapist and teach early childhood music education. We can be flexible
(to a point) which makes sharing the load easier. My dp shares more of
the workload, and I share more of the parenting/homeschooling load. My
dp is very involved in our homeschooling journey. So my question is,
are there other working moms out there, and how do you manage it all?
Was it more difficult in the early years? When you work where are your
children? How many hours do you work? Do you work at home? I would
love to hear any advice you all may have!



Andrea

Mom to Tobin (4)



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[email protected]

Andrea

I am a working mom. I work in a hospital at night, 12 hour shifts 3 nights
a week. I don't have to worry about the time that I'm at work beacause my
sons are with DH. But I do need to sleep when I come home. Usually my mom or
dh is home when I sleep. One day a week I have a friend available as a
sitter for my soon to be 4 yo. My 12 yo is able to do his own thing here while I
sleep and is even able to watch his brother for a few hours if I have no
other options. But I value every minute of sleep I get%)

Cheryl


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kbb1109

Hi Andrea...I am a part time working mom. I am lucky to have a job
that I can do from home. It is w/the company I was with before
children (medical billing and reporting). The wonderous computer and
internet has made this possible. Working from home has many benfits,
but, also can be quite difficult. I am here and when the kids need
me I have to put aside what I am doing. I have a mom's helper that
comes. However, we are in a period now where the kids are not
wanting a sitter so we are taking a break. I work in the early
morning, at night, and a few hours on weekends. My dh takes over
when he gets home on the nights that I work. I only work 15 to 20
hours a week and my employer is very flexible and accomodating. If
they werent I couldnt do it. My family comes first. What I have
learned is to listen to my kids. I don't ever wanting them to think
that my job is more important than them. However, my dd is 6 and I
do try to help her understand that my job is extra money and that
helps to pay for her horsebackriding lessons and other extras that we
enjoy. My ds is 4 and is not able to make the connection. It has
been a challenge and I know it has gotten easier since they were even
smaller. I just take each day and try not to let the job take over
and dimminish my enjoyment of the kids. Although at times it can be
stressful, especially when I have something that needs to get done
and my office is in my home. I have also given myself a break w/the
house. I will never have the perfect tidy house w/everything in order
(that's my personality and I have relaxed quite a bit thanks to
unschooling).

Karen in MA



--- In [email protected], "Andrea" <andrealynn@v...>
wrote:
> Hi, my name is Andrea and I've been lurking for a while. My partner
> (dp) and I are homeschooling our son Tobin (4). I've really enjoy
> everyone's posts. I am excited to have found a community that
agrees
> with so many of the things that I thought just made me feel like a
bad
> mother! (letting Tobin stay up until HE was ready to go to bed…) I
> know now that my intuition was/is right, and now I have John Holt's
> books and your experiences to help give integrity to it. We live
in a
> small mountain community of 2000 people and do what we can to make
our
> living as "jobs" are non-existent. My husband is a former
> contractor/finish carpenter, he plays classical guitar (weddings,
> parties, café's etc…), and he is a rock climbing guide. I am a
massage
> therapist and teach early childhood music education. We can be
flexible
> (to a point) which makes sharing the load easier. My dp shares
more of
> the workload, and I share more of the parenting/homeschooling
load. My
> dp is very involved in our homeschooling journey. So my question
is,
> are there other working moms out there, and how do you manage it
all?
> Was it more difficult in the early years? When you work where are
your
> children? How many hours do you work? Do you work at home? I
would
> love to hear any advice you all may have!
>
>
>
> Andrea
>
> Mom to Tobin (4)
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

I gave up my buisness to stay home with my boys. We lost money doing this,
but, the insite I now have of my own life, and the time to grow with my boys
is well worth it. Don't get me wrong, I know this isn't something everyone
can do. Just my story
syndi

"...since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it
is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn
out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able
to learn whatever needs to be learned."
-- _John Holt_ (http://www.quoteworld.org/author.php?thetext=John+Holt)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]