Thread: Weekly Poll: What would you be doing if you weren't homeschooling?

It is so hard for me to believe, but back in the day when the kiddos were in the hellish three year old stages, I truly envisioned myself as becoming the happy-go-lucky soccer mom who worked part-time, attended PTA meetings, and carted her kids back and forth to activities. Homeschooling was the furthest thing from my mind, so it was easy to see myself in this "traditional" American lifestyle.

I would suppose that if I weren't homeschooling this would be about as "enlightened" as it got for me. Homeschooling my kids hasn't just changed my life, it has changed ME. I am a completely different person than I was just 10 years ago - - and definitely for the better. So I'll admit it gives me a little bit of a shiver to try to imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't homeschooling.

How about you??

I don't let homeschooling interfere with my wants and desires, the same way I don't let my wants and desires interfere with homeschooling. I was a full time student, whose husband was on a two-year unaccompanied tour overseas, when I began homeschooling 2 years ago. Right now, I'm writing a book. I also am going to the Czech Republic to teach BioArchaeology this summer, then beginning graduate school in the Fall.

When I first had my son, I was sure I was going to work full time while he was in daycare/school. But that didn't pan out for various reasons, so I decided to work (very) part time and did that for a long time. Then I started working at home. And now, I volunteer and I'm starting a business (and I have a couple wonderful hobbies). So now that I'm here, I wouldn't change much, except if the kids were in school, I'd spend more time on my business or go to the gym more often. But probably not much more. The biggest difference would be, to be honest, a clean house.

If I had not ever homeschooled, I probably would be working full or part time, and spending as much time as I could at my children's school(s) because that life would have worked well and I wouldn't have had been on the path to working at home or running my own business. And I'd still be fit because I'd still be going to the gym three days a week like I did when they were babies

I planned on being a SAHM only while we were in military(hubby was AF) and we planned on staying in his full 20 yrs. Well, he got tired of not being around for the boys so we got out. Once we moved to Portland, we quickly realized that we could not afford to live on 1 income so I fell back on my college degree and opened a childcare. My boys were 3 and 4 when we moved here, so it was great. They went to public school and I was as involved as I could be while still doing childcare. I am just thankful that I was still a SAHM/WAHM Mom when we decided to homeschool them. I hoped to be done with childcare by now but things change and with them being homeschooled..... I will continue until they are grown-up.
There are days, when they are bickering and being total turds and ALL the daycare boys are bickering and being turds(they feed off each other and it escalates!) that I dream of driving by the Middle School and dumping my 2, peeling away from the curb, tires smoking and tossing all the daycare toys in the trash, flipping my sign to CLOSED and getting a job outside the home around adults and never changing diapers, wiping runny noses, etc. ever again......
Then I think about my kids and how much better they are doing being homeschooled and take 5 minutes for myself to breathe and go back to reality!LOL

I said other because right now I'd still be a stay at home parent since we have other little ones and are probably having another in the future. But if I wasn't homeschooling any of them, once the youngest was in school I'd probably work part time or volunteer. There are a lot of things I want to do with my time that would have me away from my family more, but right now my "job" is mom. I signed up for it when I decided to have kids and to me it means being there for them at any time possible. I'm lucky that we don't need a second income, and I choose to put my interests in volunteering in place that are not child-friendly behind the interests of the kids. I want to make sure that I give my kids the time they deserve while they're still young enough to want it. Just my $0.02; I know that's not how all families can or should operate.

I'd still be a stay-at-home mom working on my art career, so I chose the first option. Right now the only thing holding me back from getting work done on a regular basis is me. I procrastinate, and loose motivation.

Homeschooling is part of my wants and desires and so I just tag the kids along. Going foraging for some wild greens? Take the kids. Making a lotion to sell at market? Have the kids help out. I said other because I am doing exactly what I'd be doing if I weren't homeschooling.

I would be an almost full-time SAHM simply because I work for myself when I work, so not so much would be different. I know if the kiddo were in warehouse school I would have less time for everything because I would be playing taxi to and from school. I've already done that and I spent 4 hours a day with my butt in the driver's seat driving to and from school in rush hour city traffic each direction. A complete waste of time for both sonny and I. There is so much more time for school and work when both are done from home.

If homeschooling never came up for us, both younger kids would probably be in preschool at least part of the time. I would probably be going to school to finish up my teaching certification and/or substitute teaching (depending on how long/how many days they were in preschool).

Now that my mother is retired and we are gearing up to building our house, I may be getting a part time job back in my old field - pharmaceutical administrative assistant - with the idea of working toward certification and eventually working at home as a medical writer.

I fantasize about job hunting. I miss working. We NEED to put away money for retirement. I am hoping Raven will go back to school for high school (in the specailty center) so I can go back to work. Dh hopes its middle school - but there is only one specailty middle school center, and its all about doing 10 times as much homework as anyone else.