Fitting in Jobs and School

Working teenagers have been around for a very long time.

It is a bit different when we homeschool and try to be flexible with our school schedule to accomodate jobs.

Both Mrs. Rabe and myself are experiencing this during the early part of this school year as employers are eager to hire homeschooled teens because of their flex schedule. Our children work in the tourist industry of Lancaster County and will continue working until the end of October.

It becomes a challenge also as our children begin to stay up later and then want to sleep longer. It is known that teens actually need as much, if not more sleep, as their younger counterparts.

How am I dealing with this?

I am struggling, a little, to get everything in.

We are learning as we go.

I am sure that there will be days this winter that the public school students will enjoy snow days and ours will be snuggled up with a textbook. This is life as we know it. I personally love those days.

I also count some of the job time as school time.

Our children are learning so much on the job!

They are learning about working with people, responsibility, going to work when you don't feel like it, handling money (in some cases), doing customer service and so much more. All of our children work in a strong science environment and safety is a huge component of their jobs. They are all extremely physically active in their various positions. I consider it a work/school environment.

This does not relieve us from getting in the required math, english, history and science...those are continuing to be done...

If you are in this position, what changes have you made to accomodate a work schedule?

Becky K.