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,
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 😉
This was a great read to get some perspective on how the work/family/homeschool balance evolves with time. Right now I do a combination of compartmentalizing my work (teaching students when my husband is home) and writing or researching most often from my smart phone, so that I can do it quickly and easily during naps, early mornings, or other stolen moments away from other responsibilities. I rarely make it to my laptop these days, but I love the idea of working alongside older kids and showing them that you, too, have things yet to study and intellectual work yet to do.
I have a neighbor family starting piano lessons with me soon and the parents and the oldest son are all taking individual lessons, in part to show their son that if he has to practice, they will practice as well (this family also homeschools). There’s something similar in doing your own writing and research while asking your kids to do theirs, and I think that’s lovely.