Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] unschooling and working from home
[email protected]
On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 04:57:12 -0700 marji <zintz@...> writes:
anyone else (which is fine with me) so I've had to work. For me, though,
the most important part is to live frugally enough that I don't need to
earn a lot of money. *That* is actually something I'm very good at, and
that's how I ended up having lots of money in the bank even though in the
past 4 years I've never made enough to owe any state income tax. I don't
feel deprived, and somehow we can afford things that our technically
better-off friends can't, like riding lessons and theater camps... but
we don't buy a lot of stuff we don't need, we don't buy a lot of
pre-packaged food, we stock up during sales, we don't eat much meat, we
accept all hand-me-downs and shop thrift stores, and we use libraries a
lot.
I worked for two years as an indpependent study teacher for a charter
school, and for part of that I was regional coordinator. The job required
meeting with about 15 families once a month, usually in their home, one
or two monthly meetings, and lots of paperwork at home. Most of the
families had kids Cacie liked, so she would come with me - if she didn't
want to come, I left her with a friend. I did a lot of paperwork while we
watched tv in the evenings, or sometimes when she was asleep or visiting
a friend or had a friend over here. It helped that she had an active
social life ;-)
For the past 6 months or so, I've been making some money through selling
things on ebay and other places online. Cacie helps by spotting stuff at
thift stores and yard sales - I give her half the profit on stuff she
finds - and by doing some of the photography for ebay. Other times,
again, she plays with friends, or reads, or does something that doesn't
require much of my attention - although with everything I've done, I can
stop right away in an emergency, and if she has a question like "Where is
the cream of tartar?" I can usually come to a good stopping place in a
few minutes. I guess, basically, she has her stuff she's doing, and I
have my stuff, and sometimes we do stuff together... and mostly what I do
for $ is just my stuff.
On a typical day, I wake up an hour or two earlier than she does (she
often goes to bed later than I do, usually reading). I drink coffee and
read email, and that's a good time to get work done. During the day we
usually have stuff going on, but she often likes to relax and read or do
things by herself in the evening, so I can do my stuff, or else she'll go
visit the neighbors. If I know I have a lot to do in a short period of
time, I'll sometimes try to arrange for her to visit a friend, but it
doesn't come up much.
Dar
> By the way, what would be REALLY helpful to me would be to hear fromanyone
> who works from home and is unschooling and what that looks like inI'm a single mom and I've never gotten any money from Cacie's dad or
> your home. That is the nut I am trying to crack.
anyone else (which is fine with me) so I've had to work. For me, though,
the most important part is to live frugally enough that I don't need to
earn a lot of money. *That* is actually something I'm very good at, and
that's how I ended up having lots of money in the bank even though in the
past 4 years I've never made enough to owe any state income tax. I don't
feel deprived, and somehow we can afford things that our technically
better-off friends can't, like riding lessons and theater camps... but
we don't buy a lot of stuff we don't need, we don't buy a lot of
pre-packaged food, we stock up during sales, we don't eat much meat, we
accept all hand-me-downs and shop thrift stores, and we use libraries a
lot.
I worked for two years as an indpependent study teacher for a charter
school, and for part of that I was regional coordinator. The job required
meeting with about 15 families once a month, usually in their home, one
or two monthly meetings, and lots of paperwork at home. Most of the
families had kids Cacie liked, so she would come with me - if she didn't
want to come, I left her with a friend. I did a lot of paperwork while we
watched tv in the evenings, or sometimes when she was asleep or visiting
a friend or had a friend over here. It helped that she had an active
social life ;-)
For the past 6 months or so, I've been making some money through selling
things on ebay and other places online. Cacie helps by spotting stuff at
thift stores and yard sales - I give her half the profit on stuff she
finds - and by doing some of the photography for ebay. Other times,
again, she plays with friends, or reads, or does something that doesn't
require much of my attention - although with everything I've done, I can
stop right away in an emergency, and if she has a question like "Where is
the cream of tartar?" I can usually come to a good stopping place in a
few minutes. I guess, basically, she has her stuff she's doing, and I
have my stuff, and sometimes we do stuff together... and mostly what I do
for $ is just my stuff.
On a typical day, I wake up an hour or two earlier than she does (she
often goes to bed later than I do, usually reading). I drink coffee and
read email, and that's a good time to get work done. During the day we
usually have stuff going on, but she often likes to relax and read or do
things by herself in the evening, so I can do my stuff, or else she'll go
visit the neighbors. If I know I have a lot to do in a short period of
time, I'll sometimes try to arrange for her to visit a friend, but it
doesn't come up much.
Dar