Living On A Budget

Many homeschoolers tend to be one income families, which means the budget tends to be tight, perhaps a little tighter than others. Over the years the one thing I have heard often is how can I afford to homeschool?

The biggest fear I think is how to transition from two incomes to one. Or, if they already live on one income how to afford curriculum and perhaps added expenses of homeschool groups, gym classes, music/instrument classes, etc.

Well first, determine what is truly needed and what is icing on the cake! Homeschool groups, gym classes, other types of classes and enrichment is nice, but it's really not necessary. If you can't swing it you can't swing it. There are plenty of ways to get connected with others -- it might mean you going out on a limb, reaching out to locals, and suggesting play dates.  This can be scary if you don't know anyone, but with social media it makes it's easier to find people.

First Week: Homeschooling and Hospice

The first week of hospice and homeschooling is coming to a close. This week didn't go exactly as planned. The idea to start was I would help with my grandfather's hospice care on the weekends and other family members would help during the other times.

In short order, it became clear that other family members wouldn't be able to help out as planned, so I stepped in, with my husband's blessing, as full-time hospice care.

This has pretty much required WP and me to stay with my grandparents. Overall my grandfather needs are minimal but physically demanding. He doesn't have the strength or ability to move independently. So it requires me to be able to move him as needed mainly transferring from one place to another. It also requires helping out with meal times and things like laundry. Laundry is just mainly so my grandmother doesn't have to do the stairs. She could if needed, but with everything going on helping her out in those matters is good too.

Home Management

My home management skills are better then what they were when my kids were smaller, but still not what I would like it to be.  I started out using many of flylady's ideas.  I like the idea of the control journal, but let's face it I'm a digital girl! I do much better with having everything on my phone, computer, tablet etc.

I even took on the job as treasurer for my son's scout troop and I use my phone and computer to manage the checking account and other documents associated with being the treasurer. It's nice, for example, I can pull up the information parents need from my phone while at the troop meeting.