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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 05-22-2008, 09:43 PM
SKAddict
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Sooke, British Columbia
Posts: 656
Default Working from home with your kiddos at home

Okay, you superwomen who have more than one child and work from home and have your children at home with you? I have no idea how you do it. If Anna was at home with me, I would be interrupted every five minutes. I don't think she'd let me get anything done. I can't even get housework done on the weekends when she's at home. Seriously, if you have any tips... SHARE. I work from home full time except for a meeting every now and again. But Anna's in daycare full time. However, she'll be home with me when she starts kindergarten for most of the day (I think the kindergarten here is just 3 hours). I'll still have work to do. I'm not sure how I'm going to swing it if I keep the same work load. I write curriculum for K-12 and undergraduate courses & do other writing & editing on the side. I'm not that good at working at night after she's gone to bed. I get tired at night and my focus isn't so hot. (Case in point: should be editing a Math 7 course right now but here I am.... ) I can squeeze in two nights a week, but that's about it.

Chelle? Sue? Other superwomen?

Oh, and ALL of you at home with your kids are superwomen. You could all give me tips, as many of you seem to accomplish things like cleaning your house while your kids are with you. I'm still working up to that.
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Anna Josephine - Sept. 28, 2004
http://mybabyhatesthis.blogspot.com
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Old 05-23-2008, 06:35 AM
SKMagnificent
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,253
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

Hi Shannon,
Well, it is very hard I admit. For me, I work about 30 hours a week from home and it is 6 days a week for me because I work on Sunday nights to get a head start on my workload. Right now, Holly goes to school 3 mornings a week from 9-12 and the baby naps part of this time, so I schedule conf calls from 9:30-11:00 am. Then, I get Holly from school, feed em lunch, play for a while and then 2 afternoons out of the week, I have a mothers helper come for 2 hours so I can get more work done. Then, I make dinner, clean the house (I am SUPER ANAL about having it clean all the time) and then my hubby comes home and I put in a few more hours of work if I am busy that week.

I honestly dont know what I will do when the baby stops napping in the morning. Now that she is walking, it is harder, but we live in a one level home and I sit with my laptop in the playroom and let her play while I work. I used to do a lot of writing, but now it is more research and excel work, so I can take breaks more often.

There are days when I love being at home working and I can handle it and then I have days where my phone is ringing off the hook and I am in tears and cursing my husband for not making more $$.

In a perfect world, I would be a SAHM mom, but the cost of living is just too high, so I know I HAVE to do this and it beats going into an office and having a commute, so I consider myself very fortunate.

I hope I continue to be so lucky!
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:23 AM
SKPrincess
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Western New York
Posts: 7,490
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

I didn't work from home but I finished my Master's degree from home (online for the last two semesters, full-time) and I have to say that if I just had the one child I never could have done it. With the 2 so close in age they played together as I worked in the office with the door open!
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:29 AM
SKSuperGuru
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Colorado
Posts: 3,006
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

I'm not working from home, but I do a decent amount of volunteer stuff which sometimes feels like a part time job! It can be difficult to get anything accomplished. My worst offense is getting sidetracked by the computer (I should be unloading the dishwasher right now!).

It really helps me to have routines - I even have it written out like a schedule. I got most of my ideas about it from FlyLady.net: Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home. I also use a planner pad for organizing my to do lists and time. It is much more manageable for me to have to do list broken down into different projects than one long to do list that includes all my home, kids, volunteer projects, etc.

The other thing I do is reward myself. I'll tell myself that if I make all the phone calls I need to makeor if I fold 3 baskets of laundry, then I can have 15 min on the computer.
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:37 AM
SKSuperGuru
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Colorado
Posts: 3,006
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

okay, that link was supposed to be just "flylady"... not sure how the rest of that showed up!
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Old 05-23-2008, 12:33 PM
Chelle's Avatar
SKSuperGuru
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,495
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Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

LOL! It's really really hard. Im not going to lie. Everyone tells me they dont know how I do it. Well I do. Im always running around, stressed out, dont have ANY me time and my house isnt perfect.

My schedule is 40 hrs a week... but our inventory for work has been so high that they have been requesting 50 hr weeks from us since like Thanksgiving. Let me working 50 hrs a week makes me appreciate every minute of my vacation days!!

Kaili goes to school Monday-Friday to a private preschool at the church by our house. She goes 930am-130pm. She LOVES it there!

I got Alana on a schedule early on once my maternity leave was up. As soon as we get home from taking Kaili to school Alana goes down for a nap and she'll sleep from about 10am-1pm so I get a lot of work done in that time.

I get up early and work like an hour before they are up or while they are sitting in here eating breakfast.

After Kaili gets home from school she wants a snack and Alana wants lunch. (Kaili eats lunch at school). So they sit in here and watch some cartoons and eat and I work while they do that.

Then they play in Kaili's room for a long while. They fight a lot but they also play well together when they arent fighting. I work while they play. And I get up from my desk 2,000 times to tell them to quit fighting over whatever it is. Usually it's Kaili picking on Alana.

Then around 5pm I take them outside to play until Wayne gets home (630pm). Once he gets home I take them inside and make dinner. Or Wayne will make dinner. If he is making dinner then I'll sit down and work more while the girls do whatever around here. They talk to Wayne or play more in Kaili's room.

After dinner I give them a bath and put them to bed. And then I work til about 10pm or 11pm depending on how much I got done during that particular day.

I really wish I could be a SAHM, but we'd have to give up a lot of stuff that we enjoy doing as a family. On the weekends we spend all of our time together so it makes up for not doing much out and about stuff during the week.

My house suffers during the week. It's a constant mess no matter how much I run around picking up I usually spend the weekend mornings or nights cleaning a whole lot.

I know it's hard right now but I think it will be worth it in the long run when the kids are in school all day and I can still have a flexible schedule and bring home a nice income for our family. kwim?

Its not just cutting back on groceries for me to quit. Wayne actually makes good money for this area so I dont know how so many people live off one income and still do so many things! We'd be SO broke!

Ive worked for this company for over 9 years. So I have a regular salary and I hold all the medical/dental/vision benefits for our family and I get 5 1/2 weeks paid time off now plus holidays. So it's a good job that I want to hold on to.

It works for us! But it's really hard! We dont really get any help from our families so if you have your parents or ILs to help that would be nice. My MIL has come over a couple times to watch the girls when I had a conference call or training call to attend. But lately she's tied up a lot so Wayne & I have been working it out between the two of us. :/

So I would say, just prepare yourself for it to be very hard! Something had to be sacrificed so for me, my house does. It's not disgusting. It's just not model home looking if you popped in at my door on a random day.

And try to get on some kind of schedule. That really helped with Alana being home. She starts school with Kaili in August. Then the baby will be here in late December. I dont know how it will work out once our third is here. I will be on 8 weeks of maternity leave so ask me about all of this again in March 2009.
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Baby #3 due Jan. 6th, 2009!


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Last edited by Chelle; 05-23-2008 at 12:33 PM. Reason: spelling
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Old 05-23-2008, 12:47 PM
SKObsessed
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: California near the Golden Gate
Posts: 3,514
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

I don't have a lot of advice becuase I do not work from home, but honestly I don't even worry about house work. I figured out long ago the stress of keeping a tidy home is not worth the lost time I get with Isabella. It is not like we live in a complete sty....but I let go of the need to have thing neat and in order. I can't imagine what I will give up once the second one comes. I wish you luck and think these women have givien you some great wisdom
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Old 05-23-2008, 03:16 PM
imaprincess12's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 1,914
Default Re: Working from home with your kiddos at home

I don't work from home per se. I own a retail store. I do a lot of stuff from home though since I've had Phoebe. My saving grace is having her on a schedule. Our routine gives me plenty of time to get the work done that I need to while she's sleeping. Then at lunch time we go to the store to eat with DH. After that, I run any errands that I need to like dropping off printing or checking out new local artists. She usually naps in the car while I'm doing that. Then after the girls are home from school they play with her to let me get anything else done that needs to be done. When Katie was in Kindergarten, she stayed at the YMCA daycare on site at the school until school was out. That was a saving grace when I was working from home then.
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