by Katie Julius

It’s no secret that being a working and homeschooling mom presents unique challenges. Whether you work part-time or full-time, from home or outside the home, if you’re like me, finding that balance between work, homeschooling, and all of your other responsibilities often proves elusive.

If you’re looking for an article that has three easy steps to figuring that out, unfortunately, this isn’t it. I certainly cannot claim to have it all figured out. It is a daily struggle. I would guess that any working and homeschooling mom who is honest with herself would not say they have mastered this.

However, I can offer you these three things: encouragement that you’re not alone, acknowledgement that it’s hard, and considerations to take to the Lord in prayer.

Before we jump in, I do want to be transparent about the perspective from which I am writing. I’m married and have a 12-year-old daughter. I work part-time, almost exclusively from home, with flexible hours. My husband also works from home at least part of the week. My mom, who is retired, lives about 30-minutes away from us. We have found a strong homeschool support community. I recognize that not everyone has these same circumstances, which impact how we, as working homeschool moms, approach our roles and find solutions for the challenges we face.

Think Outside the Box

Homeschooling is not simply recreating a traditional classroom setting in your home. Homeschooling is a lifestyle. Learning happens throughout the day and in a variety of ways – not just from a text book or traditional curriculum. Evaluate your approach to education and see if a change could improve your work and homeschool balance.

Additionally, when you privately homeschool, you have the freedom to homeschool when and how you want. If you work a traditional 9-5 job, do school in the evenings or weekends or holidays. We do a lot of school while on our family vacations or at summer camps or other activities that happen outside of the traditional school schedule. When you aren’t having to deal with classroom management, the amount of time it takes for more structured learning is pretty minimal. You don’t need six hours a day for your schooling.

The Child-Care Conundrum

For parents of young children who require child care, this is probably the biggest obstacle as when both working and homeschooling. To be frank, there is no easy answer to this other than finding someone who can help watch your child or children during working hours, particularly if you need to work distraction-free or outside of the home. You simply cannot leave a young child with an activity to do and expect them to entertain themselves for more than a few minutes.

However, there can be some unique ways to overcome this. The first is family. Again, I recognize that not everyone has family that can help out (for a number of reasons), but if you do, they can be a great resource. It helps you out and gives your kids a chance to develop their relationships with extended family.

Finding another homeschool family who can help watch your kids is also an option. A local homeschooling teen or tween would be a great mother’s helper if you want to keep them in your home. Partner or team up with other families in a similar situation to see if you can work out a schedule to where each family rotates the responsibility of child care and/or homeschooling.

Remember that homeschooling can happen anytime, so you can either have your child care provider follow your lesson plans while watching your kids or you can do it yourself in the days and hours you aren’t working.

Hard Truths

This may be something that hits hard for some of you. Your immediate response may be strongly adverse, but I want to challenge you to sit with this section and really bring your situation before the Lord and seek His leading for you and your family.

Do you need to work? I mean, do you really need to work? Obviously, if you are a single parent, the answer to this is likely yes. But if you are a dual-income family, are there things that you can sacrifice that would allow you to quit working and put your full focus on your family? Are there “extras” that you don’t actually need? Are those “extras” more important than being present and raising and educating your children as commanded in the Bible (Deut. 6:7, Prov. 22:6, Eph. 6:4)? We’re talking about the future of our kids. It might be hard. It might be uncomfortable. It might be counter-culture. But isn’t that the point of homeschooling? Anything worth doing is not easy. There should be nothing off the table when it comes to our kids.

The answers to these questions will be different for every family. Every family has different needs and circumstances. Seek the Lord’s guidance and be willing to make those difficult decisions if that’s what he’s calling you to do.

Continuing the Conversation

Being a working and homeschool parent is not a lonely endeavor. The numbers are growing. If you would benefit from being part of an online community of working and homeschooling moms, we invite you to join our CHEA-run Facebook group just for you. Meet moms from across the globe who are on the same journey and facing similar challenges as you.