Today in our 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents, we will be exploring
The Advantages of Homeschooling Around Your Husband’s Schedule.
One of the principal reasons that we started our homeschooling journey was to be able to spend more time as a family and not be rushed in the busy-ness of the harried 2 working parent family lifestyle. We wanted the freedom to spend time together, quality time, vacation together, eat meals together and learn together.
But in the craziness of life and homeschool, sometimes it’s easy to forget this important fact – we want to be together. Yes, school is important but family is too. Now, if you have a husband who works a normal 9-5p job (is there one anymore?) then you probably don’t have to do a lot of scheduling around his schedule, but if you have a husband with an off-schedule or a varying schedule, like my husband, then you might find that there are advantages to homeschooling around his schedule.
There are pluses and minuses to changing up your homeschool schedule to school around your husband’s schedule so you will have to weigh what is right for your kids and your family as a whole but, for us, changing it up is the best of our family and the kids don’t mind the change. In fact, I think they welcome it from time to time.
Some of the advantages of schooling around your husband’s schedule are:
FAMILY MEALS
One of the best reasons for us to change up our homeschool schedule, at least a little, is that we like to have at least one if not 2 meals together as a family each day. Since my husband does not work from home, we find it important to take advantage of the times that he IS at home. So, for us, if he leaves early for work, we ensure we have a great family dinner together. However, if he is working late and therefore going into work late, we have a nice big breakfast around the table together before he leaves. Sometimes he leaves late enough we can even grab a little lunch together. Most of the time, like many families, we only get one meal together, but by changing our normal schedule of schooling to correspond with my husband’s schedule, we are able to eat one meal consistently together and sometimes more. This is good, quality family time that we cherish and I feel blessed to have the opportunity.
QUALITY DAD TIME
Another great advantage to changing up our schedule to fit dad’s schedule is that it allows for some quality dad time. If we always did school during the same hours and his schedule changed, there may be an hour or less of the evening that he can spend with me and the kids. However, if we change up our schedule, we are able to spend time with dad when dad is around. This is great for the kids and has been a good thing for the whole family. Sometimes dad takes just one of the kids for some quality time and I just school the others while they are out. Sometimes we all spend some morning family time together or run errands together, and sometimes when we have been fortunate to have someone that can care for the kids, my husband and I have even had a breakfast date. But most of the time we just spend some nice time together in the morning building Legos, going to the playground, or lingering over breakfast with a Bible study or a nice conversation.
I also like to change up my errands to fit my husband’s schedule. So, instead of schooling all morning and early afternoon and then running errands with all the kids in tow late afternoon, if I change up our school schedule to match his schedule, he can spend some time with the kids in the morning making breakfast, reading stories, and playing tea party with our toddler while I head out to the store or the gym (or both) and get my daily errands done so that when I return, dad can head off to work and we can get started on school.
There are probably a million other advantages to changing up our schedule, small ones that I don’t even realize at times. But, overall, I know it has been the best for our family. Sometimes dad does reading time with our early reader in the morning or goes over math with the kids. And sometimes he even gets to go to our community day at Classical Conversations with us. It isn’t easy changing up your homeschool routine but, in the end, you might find that the advantages of homeschooling around your husband’s schedule are the best thing for your family.
Do you change up your homeschool routine to school around your husband’s schedule? What works best for your family?
Be sure to come back and see what others tips we are sharing this week.
Day #1 – Why You Should Attend a Homeschool Convention
Day #2 – How to Maximize your Library
Day #3- How to Homeschool When You Have a Migraine
Day #4- The Advantages of Homeschooling Around Your Husband’s Schedule
Day #5 – Top 10 Tips for Ending Your Year on a High Note
Check out more Tips for Homeschool Parents from more TOS Review Crew participants by clicking the banner below.
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