Working from Home with Kids
BevK January 19th, 2007
Mike Gunderloy offers his take on how to deal with kids and working from home in How to manage kids in the Home Office.
One comment he makes is “If there’s a part of your day that requires the utmost concentration, schedule that part during their nap time, or after their bedtime, or while they’re off at school (assuming that you’re not trying to juggle homeschooling into the mix as well).”
I’d like to focus on juggling homeschooling into the mix. I’ve found that it’s not much more difficult than juggling a toddler into the mix. I didn’t actively start working from home when my youngest was still inclined to spend the first half hour of her day curled up in my lap. I did a heavy load of volunteer work including a stint at AOL as a chat host, file librarian, and rainman tech. Once I started the Eclectic Homeschool which morphed into the Eclectic Homeschool Online, I never worked less than a 40 hour workweek. I continue to run EHO and have my own web design business. I’ve also started a publishing business, EEG Publishing.
How do I do it and keep up with my kids? Easy, we all work in the same office…study…room full of desks and computers. Maybe it’s because I’m an old hand at homeschooling, but after 14 years and three homeschool graduates, I don’t find the homeschooling thing particularly difficult. Maybe it’s that I’m down to two kids at home, and that seems really easy to me, too. Maybe if you threw a toddler at me right now, I’d lose it. But I don’t think so. I think the key is just to do it. Find your niche and fill it. And yes, I still find time to watch NBA basketball, watch 24, and read books for pleasure. I don’t make tons of income, but what I do make comes in handy. It paid for the last big chunk of our daughter’s wedding. It paid for the food on our move from West to East coasts. Hubby would like it to pay for a new TV, but I have other plans for my next big check. Business plans.
When I’m finally an empty nester, I won’t have to go looking for things to fill my time. And of course, I’ll have grandchildren, which requires just as much flexibility in job situation as being a stay-at-home, work-at-home mom.
