Writing While Homeschooling
A homeschooling parent’s dilemma: do I stay on my computer or off of it?
Dear Friends,
What is it like trying to homeschool while also working part-time as an author and editor? How does the work even happen?
I’ve asked myself that question over and over again. And the answer changes over time, as I’ve been recently rediscovering.
Read today’s essay here:
“A homeschooling parent’s dilemma: do I stay on my computer or off of it?”
Your turn:
— If/when you work from home, do you compartmentalize your work or do you do it in the midst of family responsibilities?
— If you homeschool, has your style changed over time, or remained mostly the same?
Have a lovely day,
This is something I’m thinking about too — though I think you’ve articulated a clear difference in how your homeschool is going to work with older kids. I don’t have as much outside writing and it’s still difficult to find the time. I had to make peace with the fact that I really have about 3-4 “work” hours (like sitting down at an actual computer) to do things, and everything else is piecemeal bits on my phone.
I don’t love that it’s much harder for kids to see what I’m doing on my phone, so they don’t know if I’m using it for prayers, reading, talking with someone, drafting something, or just wasting my time (all of the above are equally likely at this exact moment when my habits have gotten lax).
It does work best for us right now to have me really put my phone away from 8-12 when those are school hours, but once the school hours impinge on the precious afternoon hours I don’t know how I will shift! All this to say, the constant shifting needs of mom and family are a whole thing.
You wrote that you wanted your children to think of their mother as mostly being off the computer… I think you need to (and I see you moving to this) see the laptop for what is, a tool for your work. You are not on the laptop watching banal YouTube videos or scrolling through social media. You are presumably doing research and writing essays. These actions are perfectly acceptable actions for your children to observe and model, because presumably a laptop is/can be a tool for them in the same way when they are studying,
Don’t overthink it. It’s not easy working at home whilst being responsible for childcare (let alone homeschooling as well). Your solution of working at the table with them sounds great. And they can, in turn, learn not to interrupt you too much 😉