Homeschooling and Working From Home

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Key tips and ideas for how to make homeschooling and working from home a viable option.

Are you desiring to homeschool, but need to contribute financially to your family? Being present for your children, managing a home, and reporting to a boss is not for everyone. However, with some excellent planning and systems in place, it is possible to do both!

As a homeschool mom of 3 children since the beginning, and a work from home mom for the same amount of time, I have collected my top tips for doing this successfully.

Read on for a few easy options to look into for remote work that may pair well with your homeschool journey.

5 Tips for Homeschoolers and Working from Home

1. Over Communicate

Each morning, plan to communicate thoroughly to your spouse and children about what the plans are for that day. Any meetings or deadlines are so helpful to know about, not only in advance, but also a brief day of review.

I like to tell my kids during our morning meeting of any planned interruptions to our day due to work responsibilities. They appreciate knowing what time I am available to them, and what hour I may need to step away.

2. Planners for All

If you’ve been around Juice Box Homeschool for a while, you know I love a good homeschool planning session. Once you train your children how to use a homeschool planner, it is so helpful for the work from home mom! There is some upfront time necessary to fill in their planner weekly, but I have found the investment works to my benefit.

When I’m on a call, my kids refer to their planner to see what to do next. They don’t have to wait on me or come ask me what they should do. They can see what their personal plan is for the day to exercise time management. Totally worth my time to help set that up!

3. Mix Your Homeschool Curriculum Choices

As you select your homeschool curriculum, make sure to select a mix of both high and low teacher involvement. Choosing curriculum options that encourage independent learning will save you! Here are some of my favorite homeschool curriculum that are efficient with independent learning:

Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting (use TRISHA20 for 20% off) – I personally do not need the teacher guide for this, and my kids are able to practice handwriting indepedently.
History: Notgrass History – If your child can read independently, this is a great curriculum to use for history! Engaging and short text to read with some review questions that my student answers in a notebook for me to check later.
Science: Ap ologia (use “trisha10” for 10% off) – We have used this for years in elementary and middle school, and it also works great in a family style learning environment. They have audio available for the text that is read enthusiastically by the author.
Language Arts supplement: Night Zookeeper – This program has been helpful with reinforcing language arts skills such as spelling, grammar, and composition. Plus, it is really fun and my kids ask to use it in their free time. The link gives you a free 7 day trial and 50% off a subscription.
Watercolor: Watercolor School – As long as your child knows how to access the website and has the watercolor supplies on hand, this can be a great independent learning activity. There are a great number of tutorials within this course including nature and seasonal paintings.
Online Courses: Compass Classroom offers a lot of courses for elementary through high school level. My younger kids are using Word Up! for vocabulary, which is teaching them Latin and Greek root words. The link includes a 25% off coupon.

2023-2024 history homeschool curriculum — Compass Classroom

4. Mom, Interrupted

One of the biggest counter productive culprits in both homeschooling and working from home is…can you guess? It’s our phone. With audio or visual notifications to alert me there is movement on the Ring camera or a text from a friend that reads, “Haha,” we need to take protective action.

Physically turning my phone around or moving it to the next room during homeschooling has been extremely helpful. I can get through lessons so much quicker (with less frustrated kids) while my phone out of sight and sound.

5. Realistic Expectations and Flexibility

In the beginning, you can expect a learning curve for the whole family. When one member of a homeschooling family begins anything new that takes time, it affects everyone. It is a great lesson in communication and flexibility. I like the reminder it serves in that we are all a unit and we shift to support one another.

Keep the communication of expectations clear and updated to prevent conflict and frustration. As you progress, you will find your ideal time blocks for homeschooling, getting your work hours in, and time for rest and play.

Working From Home and Homeschooling: Tools

Work Planner

As a big advocate for planners, I could not NOT leave you without a great work planner option, right? Here is one I am trying out for 2024. It is from my favorite creator of home planner functionality, and is their latest product. I purchased it on sale, and it is BEAUTIFUL. When things are this pretty, I tend to use it often.

Check out the 2024 Work Planner! You won’t regret it. It has efficient spaces for monthly reminders, time blocking suggestions, and even a spot for goals and practical steps to get there. I like that there is not a ton of extra pages that can overwhelm me or get left unused.

Inspiring Books

Whether it is for productivity, communication, or business mentality, here are a list of my recent favorite books that help and motivate me with homeschooling and working from home.

Working From Home for Homeschoolers

Homeschool moms have specific needs and working from home is possible under the right terms. Some work from home ideas specifically suitable for the homeschool lifestyle:

Copywriting: With the social media content machines needing to be fed, copywriting is more in demand than ever. Writing for blogs, content captions, video courses, magazines can be an easy field to enter. Especially if you can find a niche that you are passionate about and enjoy talking about already. Clean living? Organizing small spaces?
Virtual Assistant: My husband has used sites like Upwork to find help with video editing or quick administrative assistance. Whatever skill you can offer can help another business owner save time, no matter how simple.
Online Tutoring: Consider using your skills to teach how to play an instrument or software
Digital Products: If you have a knack for aesthetic design, consider creating printables or apparel. Etsy and Creative Market are great places to get inspired for ideas on what you can create.
Content Creation: Managing social media or taking photos and videos for brands are great options if you enjoy styling and marketing. Many brands are looking for freelancers for this type of skill.
Affiliate Marketing: When you find products you love, and you have a small following on social media, ask the brand if they have an affiliate program. It is usually a very small percentage, but over time, it can add up to a decent side income.