Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Homeschooling While Doing Daycare
Unregistered 02:52 AM 11-19-2013
As of next year we are homeschooling our daughter. She is 11 and will be grade 6.
For those who homeschool while working, what does your routine look like? How has your children found doing their work while kids are in care? I only work three days so am wondering whether I should keep schooling to a minimum on those days and do longer hours on my days off but am concerned she will be overloaded. Would like to hear other's views. Thanks.
Reply
Meyou 03:27 AM 11-19-2013
My dd does independent work and reading in the mornings and we cover anything she needs help with at naptime. She's 14 and works well independently.
Reply
SSWonders 04:54 AM 11-19-2013
I only homeschooled my son for one year, 8th grade. He would sleep in in the mornings and some reading done during the day. We did most of his work in the evening after dinner.
Reply
MrsSteinel'sHouse 05:47 AM 11-19-2013
Yes, I will answer this during naptime. Homeschooled my dd from 3rd grade through graduation and now she is a senior in college. Ds is a junior in high school and has always been homeschooled. I have done childcare all of his life.
Reply
Angelsj 06:00 AM 11-19-2013
It can be done. Some things to think about.
1) Not every subject must be done every day. This is your school, and you get to decide. We do Math four days a week, Language arts 5 days, History/Geography 3 days and science 2 days. There are other subjects, but that gives you an idea.
2) School does not have to be 8 am to 3 pm. We have done high school Chemistry experiments after the younger kids were in bed to keep them out of the chemical. The kids daily read their assigned reading in the hour before bed.
3) Naptime is your friend. You can answer questions and help her with things during this time. It also does not hurt the younger kids to see Algebra being explained. They don't understand it, but exposure doesn't hurt them.

Flexibility, balance and a willingness to change what isn't working and try something else are the keys to success.
Reply
AfterSchoolMom 06:28 AM 11-19-2013
I'll weigh in here - I'm homeschooling my 5th grader and while I'm not currently doing daycare (I took a break this school year), I do have a 15 month old at home.

I have found that we get through our school work WAY WAY faster than they do at school. My son does Math, Reading, Journaling, and Social Studies every day, and Science and Typing practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We also do Reading Comprehension and Language Arts workbooks on alternating days. Friday is test and library day.

It sounds like a lot, right? Nope. We start around 8:30 and we're done by 11:30 or 12 every day, sometimes sooner!

We get the majority of our work done during the baby's nap time. Then we have the rest of the day to play and get stuff done. I LOVE it.

It can definitely be done. I wish you the best of luck!
Reply
permanentvacation 07:53 AM 11-19-2013
You should have no problem homeschooling and doing daycare. Most homeschoolers do not need too much help from their parents and can get all their work done in just a couple of hours.

My sister and I have both homeschooled our own children while operating a licensed home daycare. We both found it to be fairly easy. My other sister did not do daycare, but she did homeschool. She created her own curriculum and never used a pre-made curriculum.

It also is much easier if you use a pre-made curriculum. My sister (daycare provider) and I both made up our own curriculum for a while then decided to use the Calvert homeschool curriculum. If you purchase the teacher part as well, then you send all the tests into the school and their teachers grade the tests. Also, if you and your child can't figure out the daily work, you can call and talk with a teacher who will explain the work to you.

If you create your own curriculum, it's easy enough to homeschool while doing home daycare, it just takes more time from you at naptime or in the evenings/weekends to create the schoolwork.

First of all, your child should not take too long doing their assignments. You will not need an hour per subject like they do in school. Your child might all of their math work for the day done in 15 minutes and be able to read the history chapter and answer the questions on the chapter in 20 minutes or so. Your child might only take a couple of hours total to do the entire day's worth of schoolwork.

Keep in mind that your child is at the age that they should be able to read the instructions, then read the work, comprehend it, and do a good bit of the work by themselves without much of your assistance.

If your child needs some help while you are busy with the daycare, your child can simply make a note of what to ask you for help with when you are not busy. And then move on to another assignment that they can do unassisted.

I would suggest that you research different curriculum and ways that you can create your own curriculum. Decide whether you are going to create your own or buy a pre-made curriculum. Get the curriculum/schoolwork assignments prepared for at least the first couple of weeks. Then have your child begin homeschooling on a Saturday when you have no other plans for the weekend. You can use Saturday and Sunday to get an idea of how much time your child will need to do the work and how much of your assistance they will need. Then decide if you think your child can get up at their leisure and do their schoolwork while you are busy with daycare, or if your child should wait until naptime or after daycare so you can help them more directly with the schoolwork.
Reply
MrsSteinel'sHouse 10:55 AM 11-19-2013
We have used Seton Homestudy now for years. When my kidos were younger we worked during naptime. As they got older I would teach for 15 minutes (explain lesson) and let them do the lesson while I took care of littles and then during naptime we would do what we need to do together. It still works this way with ds now. I do short little explanations during the morning and he works. Naptime is my big chunk of this to explain more indepth subjects.
So, 8:30 I will explain ds his math lesson. (littles are either eating breakfast or playing) He will do his math lesson. When he is done with that he works on Latin (online lectures) I have that time with the littles.
10:30 we go for a walk (ds goes too)
11:00 littles play while I make lunch. ds will continue to work on a subject, usually reading something for that half an hour or so.
11:30 lunch.
Afternoon- I go over what I think he needs the most first in case it takes more time or someone should wake up. So, History, Religion, English or Literature. I try to rotate through working with him in every subject throughout the week. Then when he finishes up with me, he is off to finish up his day.

The benefit of homeschooling while doing childcare-
-my kids have been home interacting with the littles all their lives and they enjoy them.
-I have an extra set of hands here when I need it.
-my kids can study through the madness if necessary, a good thing for at college.
Reply
AcornMama 11:11 AM 11-19-2013
I homeschool mine. I'm new to being a daycare provider, but I have seven kids, so I've always homechooled with little ones around.

I have a more hands-on, less curriculum approach to homeschooling, so in the mornings, my kids (elementary and jr. high age) do all their noisy learning: piano practice, science experiments, making pictures and projects about things they are learning, playing outside, nature study, art, real life work (baking, gardening, and such).

After lunch, when it's nap time for daycare, my kids read, play spelling games on the computer, work with legos, play board games, and generally have a good time.

Right now, my daycare kiddos are all gone by about 4:15 at the latest, so we have plenty of time for mom-intensive stuff in the late afternoon.

My younger kids are blissfully unaware of how good they've got it.

When they hit high school age I enroll them in a correspondence program and things get serious. And they have an accredited diploma in the end. It's not necessary, and lots of folks do without it, but this approach to high school was the right one for my kids. And me.

I take the easier road than a lot of homeschoolers I know, but my kids do fine on their annual standardized testing (stupid, but required by my state), and are great kids that other adults enjoy being around. So I guess we're doing okay.

To me, homeschooling is the easy part. Meal planning and grocery shopping and getting laundry done and getting people and pets to appropriate appointments...those are the hard things.
Reply
AcornMama 11:15 AM 11-19-2013
Originally Posted by MrsSteinel'sHouse:
The benefit of homeschooling while doing childcare-

-I have an extra set of hands here when I need it.


This. I don't know how you ladies and men that are by yourselves manage. I'm constantly calling on my older kids (one is an adult) for an extra hand.

But now that I'm working, I have money to give them allowances that I didn't have before, so they're perfectly happy to help out!
Reply
Unregistered 01:37 PM 11-19-2013
Thankyou for all your replies, they have made me feel less apprehensive. I am in Australia and we have our summer break over Christmas and our school year starts at the end of January. I will be taking off a bit of time over the holidays plus the first week school goes back to help sort out the curriculum and work out what is going to work for us.

Unfortunately I don't have nappers apart from a baby that I baby wear during sleep time. I am slowly trying to get him onto a mat but if I move too fast and too soon, he will wake and that is the end of naptime for him. We are only allowed to have four under school age here and even though they don't nap, they do rest time and quiet play really well so I am hoping they will continue to do so. When we do the school run in the afternoon, they all fall asleep in the car (it is a 50 minute round trip), I know it is strange not to have naptime as such but it works for us and the parents are all happy with it so I will probably still do it that way (unless I get children in who need that proper naptime) and work around it.

I am limited by some of the Curriculum available due to our location but would definitely like to hear what others use and what sites have been helpful for others. Thankyou again.
Reply
SilverSabre25 01:45 PM 11-19-2013
I'm homeschooling my daughter this year. she's in first grade, six years old, been reading for about a year.. What I have found since the beginning of our school year in late-August:

1. A six weeks on/one week off schedule works best for us. This gives me a chance to have a week to plan lessons for the next "session" and we can do some long, "session long" studies. This is our second six week session since I implemented this plan and we're doing 3 weeks on early america/pilgrims then 3 weeks on world-wide Christmas celebrations for history/social studies. In math, we're basically doing a six week unit study about money. At the conclusion of that study she's going to start receiving an allowance.

2. If it's not in a work book or pre-made unit study....it's not going to get done. What gets done the most is handwriting, grammar, spelling, and writing, because they are in workbooks i don't have to print. Next up is math, which I have a digital curriculum I print as needed. Science and social studies? Forget it unless I really really plan in advance. I can't make those up. I just.do.not.have.time.

3. I plan meals for the six week sessions during the off week. I do 3 weeks worth of menus (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner) and we go through that rotation twice/three times (we restart the rotation for the off week, if that makes sense).

4. if you want to homeschool secularly, it is more difficult to find materials and curriculums. Especially science and history.

The first year of homeschooling is the hardest, and it's often best to "deschool" your child for awhile. I needed to do that for DD and she only did half-day kindergarten in the public school.

The way you start will probably not be the way that works best Be flexible and open to change. Good luck!
Reply
misslori50 03:12 PM 11-19-2013
we home school. Most days My son goes to do his school work after lunch. We do use an online program that is all done for me.
Reply
Karena 08:25 PM 11-20-2013
I have home-schooled for 14 years, and with on and off baby-sitting, and for the past three years with a registered, full-time daycare. I have been the teacher and made/followed lesson plans as well as video-schooled. My two younger daughters in 9th and 1st grade are using the A-Beka video program and we all love it. I am in my third year with A-Beka video and my only regret is that my two older children missed out on it. Using the video program allows me to keep up with school and be attentive the daycare and home. There is still plenty of interaction by going over homework, giving and grading quizzes and tests, subject conversations, and help whenever it is needed. Yesterday we took the day off and took the babies to the craft store so my older daughter could pick out flowers for bouquets for the church sanctuary; she is interested in being a florist.
Hope this helps!
Reply
Tags:homeschool, homeschooling
Reply Up