The Hows. The Whys. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.
I think as a farmer’s wife, I have really worked from home all through the years, but he is pretty flexible, and well, he has to be nice…Ya know? Because, as wife, I have a little pull too…
However, I have always been the one to tend to the books, be ready to literally fly for parts, and pretty much do what needed done when, including driving tractors, stacking hay, and the occasional attempt at swathing.
Yes, I said attempt. I wonder now that I have glasses, if I would be better at it?
Me helping on the farm and being ready to go in any of many directions has never been a big deal, unless, I had salsa canning or some other kitchen experiment going.
As our oldest has gotten older, many of my farm wife duties have changed, he is out helping daddy more. My farm wife duties are more homebound. Book keeping, calling and pricing and other fun things. This has left me with a little time to dabble in a few areas. Which led to me working for A Journey Through Learning.
I never really thought it would work for me to work for someone else while at home. However, it is working with careful planning. I set what I plan to get done for AJTL each day, my bosses also homeschool, so know the limits of my time, and they respect those limits.
I try to get on early in the mornings and work for about thirty to forty-five minutes before my children get up. If I am fixing breakfast, it is during the “baking” time that I am on the computer. I check emails, jump on Facebook and check out page, and then look over comments on the blog. If there is a newsletter that I need to work on, I try to get it started.
When everyone is up, I help those who need help get dressed, and then we work through morning chores. Breakfast is served, and I jump on the computer real quick to take care of anything needed. During this time, my children clean up the kitchen.
We then start our school day with family school, preschool and older independent time, and other subjects. I check in again for about 20-30 minutes before lunch. Our afternoons consist of rest and reading time. Then snacks and chores. After everything is done, everyone has free time and I do some work. Supper is either leftovers or something that can cook while I work. I also work intermittingly throughout the evening.
There are some tools I use to help me get work done faster:
- Windows LiveWriter
- Hootsuite
- Tweetdeck
- Skype
- AIM
Keeping my workspace organized is a big help. My workspace is in our family room, making me always available to my family. Another reason my work area is in our family room. It requires me to keep my area neat, as I don’t want to risk losing something in a rush to get ready for company or little hands getting ahold of something important. 
My workspace
My notebooks to help keep me organized. I write nearly all my ideas down in my notebooks.
My On the Go Planner that keeps me on track for meetings, phone calls and all.
One of the biggest things, is to make sure you set aside time for God each day. I still have my quiet time every night as my husband reads aloud to our children before bed. If at any time you feel to busy to get your time with God, then well, you are too busy to work from home.
There are days, that none of my lists get done, and even days that nothing on any list gets done. Though those days are disappointing on paper, they are a success as far as my children are concerned.
Don’t let your work time, get in the way of your family time. This has been hard for me to control. It end to want to prove my worth, but my worth as a mom and wife must come first.
When I started working from home, I was bad about letting it take over. I focused on work, and meals. The rest was let go for a time…Don’t let that be your scenario. Make a plan, schedule and stick to it. If it needs changed, change it. If your boss/bosses are not willing to let you have time with your family, the it is not worth it. No paycheck, salary, benefit or whatever you are supposedly gaining is worth your family.
To help me keep up, I am letting some things go as of Jan. 1. Some were hard decisions. Some are being let go because we also took on a cow herd, and I want to be a part of it. Some I won’t miss. As of January 1, I will feel freer, be able to focus more, and have more time to be with my family, while meeting the needs of my job.
Really, for me to make all this work, my job must be more like playing. I love what I do…most of the time. I believe that God does want us to enjoy our work. Sometime, we have to find that enjoyment though.
Do you work from home? What do you do? What is your biggest struggle?
I do in-home child care only because it’s necessary, income-wise; if we could get by without it, I would quit. I enjoy the little ones who come here, but I would give anything to focus on my children and home. Eventually, as my girls get older and leave the nest, I’d like to see about earning money as a writer, but there is a season for everything.
What do you actually do for AJTL, Betty?
Tina H. recently posted..Celebration Contemplation: Thanksgiving
I also work from home. It has been a difficult year organizing everything. We are trying to run a small farm for money and I work on my website. We also homeschool. My children are older and can be independent with school and also help with the farming. I will remember your point about not letting work take over family life. It is one of the reasons that I work at home so that I can be with my husband and children.
I really enjoyed this post. It is quite relevant for me in this season as I am about to embark on a work-from-home business too. We also homeschool - have done for 5 years - so to read this post was just something I needed to hear as I was wondering how to make it all work and NOT let my children suffer in the process. Thanks for your insight ;o)
Shirley Ann recently posted..Autumn Picnic
I work from home, sort of. I teach English to non-natives in our area and teach classes for homeschoolers. The homeschoolers come to my house, but I go to most of my ESL students’ houses.
I have set up my schedule so that I teach 2 days per week. On non-work days, I do more of my direct, one-on-one teaching of my children and cook meals large enough to have leftovers for teaching days. On teaching days, my kids complete independent work while I tutor. I am blessed that all my tutoring families welcome my kids in their homes and don’t mind them sitting at the kitchen table and doing homeschool while I teach the family English in the living room.
It’s exhausting, and I have to take days off here and there. However, God has provided for real needs of ours, and He provides the His grace abundantly each day.
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I work from home, I work for http://www.gofluent.com. I have been doing this for the past four years now. At times it has been extremely difficult with homeschooling and spending time with my kids, finding time to do dinner etc. I have been working for this company for the last 4yrs. What I do is call people in europe 5days a week and teach them how to improve their business English skills. It also requires a lot of report writing. It can be stressful at times as you can get sucked into the computer very easily. I also got into doing co-ops for cloth diapering when my son was young. That was 8 yrs ago LOL. So now I have a highschool Junior, a 7th grader, a 5th grader and one in Kindergarten. But we’re making it. Just need to be more ambitious and less lazy and spend more time with God!
I work from home… I’m my own boss and I can be quite demanding and critical. *sigh* I get frustrated with myself when I don’t meet my goals and don’t get done what I wanted to get done.
Otherwise I love working from home. It gives us the extra money we need for stuff like Christmas, homeschool and birthdays. Honestly, I have no idea how we would pay for these things if I didn’t work. Just recently my money went toward buying materials to make raised garden beds. It was a huge blessing having the money on hands to do that. I love the flexibility and being able to stay home while working. I wish my desk was as organized as yours, but mine is a MESS! I really need to clean it again soon.
Lynn
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