Nursing and homeschooling 3 kids

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I start my first semester of Nursing tomorrow. It's a 2 year ADN program through my local community college. During the orientations they drilled in us that our life and even kids will be put on hold. If anyone has a job to quit it and to expect to not spend much time with family. I home school my 3 children. They are 12, 10 and 8. My mom and mother in law will watch them during the day and they will do lessons on their own and what they have problems with I will teach them in the evenings. Does this seem impossible? One of the nursing instructors looked at me with such sad eyes when I told her I home school. Anyone else here been down this road?

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I don't have children but if you prioritize what and when needs to be done I think you can have it all sorted out. You will need to adjust to the busy workload. It is great that you have your family helping you out.

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I haven't been in your situation, but I have three kids nearly the same ages as yours. 13, 10 and 7 and they still need help with homework and after school activities and such and I don't have a MIL or mom that lives near to help. However, I do have a husband who works from home so he is around. I still tend to my kids during the afternoons until they are in bed and then settle down to school work. It really is just a matter of almost micro-managing your time, and being cautious to schedule in everything so you are always able to keep track and stay on top of things. I am in a fast track BSN program, and got a 4.0 my first block which wasn't easy but clearly doable. There will probably be things that you typically love to do in your spare time that will have to be put aside for the sake of school and family, but I firmly believe there is room for both. Good luck! I think with the ample support you have it shouldn't be a problem. :)

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Thank you both for the quick responses. I'm certainly hoping that it will all work out. My mom and mother in law will not teach or help with the school work. We decided that it was best to have only myself and my husband do the teaching and not others because we think that will be confusing. They simply watch the kids. My mom already watches my niece who is 12 and homeschooled but she doesn't teach her either. This past semester I had the kids do their school work on my days that I was home (I only had classes at the college 2 days a week). So this will be very new to us to have the kids do what they can on their own (i'm hoping they can do a large amount) and me finish what they need help with in the evenings and touch on the new material with them to make sure they understand it. Everything is paper for them as we choose to go with a workbook curriculum. They all play soccer and that usually consist of 2-3 practices around 6pm during the week and they will start that next month again. I think I can manange to get some studying in during that time while I am on the sidelines.

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I'm going into my second semester myself and my wife and I homeschool our three boys. I have two words for you:

Khan Academy

Single most amazing educational resource out there. Learn it, use it, love. Especially for math.

I really hate workbook stuff if there's any other choice. While doing hands on stuff is the best thing, Khan Academy is great for allowing the kids to learn on their own in a non-boring way.

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm kind of confused. When will you actually be schooling your children? I'm all for people wanting to homeschool their children if they want, but as the name implies, you should be "schooling" your kids at home.

The reason you probably got a look is that you have 3 kids at home who you are responsible for schooling and now you are taking on a full time job which is nursing school. I don't homeschool my son. I have enough with dealing with my school and his activities. I usually study while he is at school and I often am studying in the dojo while he is at practice.

To me you have a decision to make. Either hand over your children's education to another competent person who can continue with instructing them at home or send them to a public school so you can do your education. Or you need to homeschool your kids and forget about school. This is their education. I just don't see workbooks doing the job. I'm sorry to sound critical but I feel that if you are undertaking something as critical as your children's education yourself, then you need to do it. It's a commitment just like nursing school is.

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I graduated nursing school in May and am now a nurse working nights. I homeschooled my 3 kids through it all and still do. It's totally doable depending on how you choose to homeschool. My kids are now 14 and 12yo twins. My kids do most of their work independently, with me helping when they need it. I require them to first try to find the answers to their questions on their own. I did ace paces one year during ns school, but my kids hated it. It was good for me and got done, lol.. During the stress of NS it's just what we needed. We survived, I wouldn't change much about how I did it. (my kids were 9 and 11 when I started).

Don't let people discourage you, I did it. Keep your standard high for the kids, I have never believed in spoon feeding and hand holding for homeschooling once they are able to read and follow directions, the kids are more competent because of it. My kids are doing well and I graduated with a 3.9 gpa.

Eta: I'll not lie, it was the most stressful, worst 2 yrs of my life... But I'm glad I did it.

Also, learn to SAY NO! Nothing that adds work or stress. I refused to go to co-op. It was important to my dh, so he took them... If not, they would have just not gone.

ETA again. I have a personal friend that wrote a book that pretty much sums up my philosophy on homeschooling... Her 8 kids are awesome :) It's worth checking out.

The Self-Propelled Advantage: The Parent's Guide to Raising Independent, Motivated Kids Who Learn with Excellence: Joanne Calderwood: 9781614482963: Amazon.com: Books

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Specializes in Hospice.

Wow, that sounds like quite an undertaking. Surely there is someone on here who has been in this position and can give you some pointers. Have you figured out how many hours of your time you are talking about as far as the activities and schooling for the kids? People do nursing school with full time and part time jobs and families so I suppose it's quite possible, and many homeschoolers are very adept at time management so you may be fine. But I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

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Specializes in hospice.

Well crap. I typed out this whole response and it seems to have disappeared into the ether. :mad:

Condensed version: I'm a former home schooler who realized that once I had to do more outside the home, I wasn't doing right by my kid by expecting her to basically take care of her own education. We found an awesome classical Great Books public charter school and are thrilled with how our kids are doing there. Also I think it's odd that you don't want the grandmas to help if they're willing.

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I'm so glad you posted this! I am currently applying to BSN programs and I am considering pulling my eldest son (age 10) from school and homeschooling both him and my youngest who will be ready for kindergarten. I would basically have the summer to prepare all the lesson plans, etc. My husband and I are at the point where we feel homeschooling is the best option for our children, however I am very concerned about my time constraints with nursing school. I look forward to reading the replies from others who have done it. Good luck with your ADN program!

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I'm so glad you posted this! I am currently applying to BSN programs and I am considering pulling my eldest son (age 10) from school and homeschooling both him and my youngest who will be ready for kindergarten. I would basically have the summer to prepare all the lesson plans, etc. My husband and I are at the point where we feel homeschooling is the best option for our children, however I am very concerned about my time constraints with nursing school. I look forward to reading the replies from others who have done it. Good luck with your ADN program!

I honestly think it will be very, very difficult to begin homeschooling and go to nursing school (I definitely couldn't have done it without my kids suffering, it is pretty stressful to be a new homeschool mom even without adding nursing school). A kindergarten child and a child who has never been homeschooled would require much more time than a seasoned homeschool kid who was used to self-learning. We started school in the summer when I was out so they had a of the school work done before I ever started my semester.

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I honestly think it will be very, very difficult to begin homeschooling and go to nursing school (I definitely couldn't have done it without my kids suffering, it is pretty stressful to be a new homeschool mom even without adding nursing school). A kindergarten child and a child who has never been homeschooled would require much more time than a seasoned homeschool kid who was used to self-learning. We started school in the summer when I was out so they had a of the school work done before I ever started my semester.

Thank you for your perspective. It helps to have feedback from people that have been in my shoes, or in a similar circumstance. Our plan B is a highly rated charter school in our area so we still have other options to check in to. Thanks again!

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