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I am getting a little stressed about this....wondering how it will all work out. I am a RN and have gone back to work part-time, I was HOPING that was very temporary or at least would only be 2-4 days a month once we started school. Unfortunately DH tells me that I will need to continue working 3-4 days a week. He is home with the girls when I am working. I work every Fri & Sat night and right now 2 12-hr days during the week.

Any tips or positive support for trading off homeschooling? We will be starting first part of August with LHFHG for my 2 oldest. You can see my original post/plan here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4198

I am getting a little nervous about their LA's wondering if a workbook type would be better for him to work with.... plus we have the 2 little ones at home.

I guess I am a little bummed that it has all turned out like this, I am already worn out with this work schedule and not sure how I can add homeschooling on top of it. Not homeschooling right now is not an option financially, our local Christian school (which is wonderful) would be $700/mth. We are excited about homeschooling but I am very overwhelmed right now.....

Hi Misty-
Welcome!! I felt like I was reading a posting about myself. We are in a similar situation to yours. Last October I went back to work (as a nurse too) and wondered how it would all work. We were not using HOD at the time, but have made the switch and are incorporating LA, Science and K into our summer from HOD.

I have to say my husband has done a great job of picking up where I leave off and vice versa. He took over way more than I thought he would and my son has really enjoyed it!! Our daughter is speech delayed so he has had to do some work with her as well. I would say what has helped us is going over the daily expectation for school together, so we both know what needs to be done. Also let your husband do what he is strong at and you do the parts you are strong at. That meant sometimes I did work early or late...we often broke up the school day which worked for us and the kids!! My husband was great at math and I was great at LA. It has been great for them to be able to do his Bible work together...

LHFHG is totally doable for you. We are doing a blend of LH and Beyond. I am making the assumption that on the days you work during the week your husband will school. Last year we used Saxon phonics and Saxon Math...this summer we have been working on Reading Made Easy and Singapore Math...I bet our time has easily been cut by 75% in both of these areas. Both are open and go as is the whole HOD curriculum at this time in our kiddos lives!!

Misty you can totally do this and you will probably find as we did that there are times I went over something 3-4 times and DS wouldn't get it and then my DH would step in and "wah-lah" it would click...great to get things from more than one perspective!! I look forward to hearing how things go.

Pray and make sure you and your DH communicate expectations....
Keep me posted.
Kirstin

PS what field are you in??

MistyP wrote:I am getting a little stressed about this....wondering how it will all work out. I am a RN and have gone back to work part-time, I was HOPING that was very temporary or at least would only be 2-4 days a month once we started school. Unfortunately DH tells me that I will need to continue working 3-4 days a week. He is home with the girls when I am working. I work every Fri & Sat night and right now 2 12-hr days during the week.

Any tips or positive support for trading off homeschooling? We will be starting first part of August with LHFHG for my 2 oldest. You can see my original post/plan here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4198

I am getting a little nervous about their LA's wondering if a workbook type would be better for him to work with.... plus we have the 2 little ones at home.

I guess I am a little bummed that it has all turned out like this, I am already worn out with this work schedule and not sure how I can add homeschooling on top of it. Not homeschooling right now is not an option financially, our local Christian school (which is wonderful) would be $700/mth. We are excited about homeschooling but I am very overwhelmed right now.....

I have been able to hand off my homeschooling to my hubby, I did tend to leave him the math.. and music parts at which he excels. I did more of the read alouds and hands on get dirty be silly stuff. I did it because my we one was not co-operating and stressing me out so He helped me out. but i have been able to hand off HOD to my friend watching my kids for the week and have them pick it up with no training just following the guide. I would suggest writing in the guide so you communicate well with your spouse. AND having a bright book mark so he knows what to do when.

I work 2-5 nights a week, the weeks I put in more hours at work my husband steps up to the plate to do school for a few days. He seems to really like stepping in and I KNOW my daughter loves having daddy be the teacher. The beauty of HOD is that is so doable for anybody. All you have to do is open the book and follow the instructions, vevn my husband, who doesn't like to read instructions, can handle HOD. Working and teaching HOS is doable, especially if you have a spouse who is ready to step up to the plate. The LA arts in LHFHG is super easy, a workbook might actually be harder to do since the kids ma not like it as much, KWIM? LHFHG doesn't take a lot of time to do, though at the beginning it may take longer, only because your dc might need to grow in their skills.
Submit your plans and YOURSELF to the Lord and He will be faithful to provide all that you need to homeschool your dc. I can remember last year, I was working 4-5 nights a week, had a nursing baby and was starting to HS, boy was I tired! There were days that I woke up terribly fatigued and I would pray to God to take away my fatigue and all the achiness that goes along with that, and give me the strength I needed to get through the day, and He provided. AMEN! The Lord will give you what you need to accomplish his will. May God Bless you and relieve all your fears and anxieties.

My husband was the sole "teacher" in our homeschool for 2.5 years. HOD is so amazing and well written that anyone can pick it up. (Grandma and Grandpa liked to do some boxes when they came to visit, too!) You can do it! I'm a nurse, too and while my husband was unemployed I was working 2 jobs. You get through it! It really won't take that long to complete the boxes once you get into it! God bless!

I have switched off with dh and I teaching with this and other curriculum. It was very hard with what we were using before but have found it is extremely easy with HOD. I am supposed to be the primary teacher but he helps me out if I am not feeling well and it has worked really well. My only issue is sometimes when he is home and I teach he stands and listens to make sure I get it all, hahaha! But switching back and forth has been very easy. I think you are going to find that there is a certain "glue" in HOD that really can't be broken for the most part so you will see that you will both get the same flow and the kids will just love the variety getting it from both of you.

Hang in there with the stress. I found working and hsing with an easy program like HOD is actually easier especially if you have dh's help than all the extra stuff having them in a school adds. You'll do great. It is always the looking at it before you start that is more daunting then actually doing it. I think you will find HOD is wonderful in good times and in crazy times it just stays good. HOD has really saved us and allowed us to continue to hs even in the hard times. Praying it brings your family peace a well!

Thank you all SO much!!! It just really helps to have someone say you can do it! I do feel better about it.

I am a Labor & Delivery nurse (and homebirthing mama! LOL) I quit working right before my DD was born 15 months ago but have had to go back part-time. I have also be working a private duty case near my home Fri & Sat nights 11-7 since January. It is rough at times, I wake my baby up to Breastfeed before I go to work and usually have to wake her up to breastfeed when I get home. She cried and cried the other morning when I left. But over all, it has gone fairly smoothly. This was the same hospital where I had worked before and so it was easy to get back into my work and I already knew most everyone there.

My DH is wonderful and has really stepped up in helping with household duties when I am working, he does a load of laundry and the house is usually always picked up, dishes done etc. I usually have a casserole or easy fix meal for when I am working for him to do. We only have one vehicle now so he is stuck at home when I am working.

My next 6-week schedule is a little lighter so I am planning on starting school first of August so we will have time to get adjusted to all of it before my next schedule comes out and I am working more.

I think it's already been said, but I could have written your post! I started back to work this past October after 11 years at home. I came out of the school year feeling sooo stressed. I'm giving myself a few weeks to just "be" before tweaking our homeschool to function more efficiently in the Fall. I am using Bigger with my daughter but my 7th grade son will be doing a traditional textbook approach and working more independently. Planning ahead of time is going to be the key to success this next year. With HOD, the planning is done! Here are some of my thoughts for our situation:

I am spending time this summer overhauling house clutter. I'm hoping that streamlining the house will mean less time maintaining "stuff" in the coming year. I'm also toning down celebrations for the coming year.

I'll work out the lesson plans for my 7th grade son.

I am going to sit down with my husband and see what subjects he would feel comfortable overseeing with our son. Math for sure, and probably science and geography. That would leave the language arts for me.

A big oops last year was heading into it without a structured plan for each day. Doing school lessons, maintaining the home, getting a meal together before I head to work in the evenings - if it's not well choreagraphed and planned out I can "tank" quickly.

But the biggest oops last year? I pulled all the extra activities because I knew I'd never be able to get it all done. However, it left my children with no "fun" to look forward to. We'll add some activities back in.

I'll look forward to reading the ideas that come in!
Jacque