Whether it was your intention or not, home educating your children and running your own business simultaneously is no walk in the park. Somewhere along the line, you decided to take on more personal responsibility than the other 99.999% (no idea of actual %, will have the kids look it up and do a subject on fact checking, very on trend right now…. I digress) of the population. Most people send their kids to school and can leave their work at the office, but we are not most people.

These are some of the strategies I use to stay sane Home Educating my 2 boys and running a work from home business.

• Set some ground rules for everyone. Talk about them, all have an input, put them up. Explain why you work to even little children and get them to communicate their needs. Sometimes it is easier to start with what you won’t sacrifice for your business. For example, I will not sacrifice having dinner with my family every night at 6 pm.
• Give notice where possible. When is there going to be focused work time? I understand the nature of Home Educating can lead to regularly scheduled work time being a little impractical. So instead, over dinner talk about what is going to happen the next day.
• Have a workspace. Somewhere ideally not in the family area that is just for work. I have My office that was once the very rarely used spare/guest room. This is not a room where the family are excluded but everyone understands that this is where I work and they are welcome to work in here too.
• Independent Learning. This sits really well with our chosen educating style. Try and notice when the children are curious, note down what has peeked their interest. Put it in a jar on your desk and if (when) they say those, heard by every parent words, “I’m board.” you can let them pick something out the jar to explore.
• Give yourself time limits. I work for about 3 hours in the day. That is 3 hours where I’m not free to take them to the bike park or help them with their math. My job during this time, as an educator, is to provide resources for them to learn independently. Let them enjoy the freedom of deciding their own learning. Once my 3 hours is up, we do something together and they get to tell me what they have discovered.

Modelling. This one gets its own heading.

I’m not talking about strutting your stuff. I mean you can. Each to their own. I don’t know about you but one of the questions I am asked loads by “well-meaning” family and random members of the public who feel they should get an opinion on…. I’m veering off course.

Some people question how your “non-socialised” child is going to be able to get a “real job”.

We self-employed, home educators really do screw with the perceived norm. Go Us!

That “real job” dig is not only to point out that you are screwing up your child’s future but that you work from home, so that’s not a proper job either.

My answer to them is

“I DON’T WANT THEM TO GET A JOB THEY HATE OR FEEL TRAPED DOING! I WANT THEM TO FIND WHAT THEY LOVE AND DO THAT”.

This is not what I actually shout. I don’t want them calling child protection, saying that I’m screwing my kids up, neglecting their education. In reality, I say, very calmly “We will keep home educating as long as it works for us.” This soothes most as they can then believe we will one day come to our senses and rejoin the fold.

Back to modelling. I am doing what I love. I really enjoy my business. It is my well-paid hobby. My children get to see every day that you can be completely in control of your own time. That you can wear a smile brought on by helping a client. Do I want them to do what I do? No, I want them to have the knowledge that anything they want to do is possible if you can make it work for you.

So make sure you are doing what you love. It gives everyone around you, including your children permission to pursue their love.