If anyone would have told me that after six years of being a stay at home, homeschool mom that we would be running a family business, I wouldn’t have believed them. Yet, here I am almost 14 months after opening our family business. I didn’t think that my days could get any busier, boy was I wrong. I’m not going to say that they can’t get busier again because I’m positive that God has a sense of humor and He would prove me wrong again I’m sure.
Homeschooling and running a family business has been challenging and it is most definitely not for the faint of heart or the over the top, planning homeschool moms. Since starting this part of our family’s journey, I’ve had to learn how to balance homeschooling and the family business, both of which are extremely important.
Learning how to homeschool and run a family business required quite a few lessons that God had already begun teaching me before this journey began. I had already been learning to let go of my OCD, over the top planning nature, I’d begun living life outside of our lesson plans and my children were thriving with the child led homeschooling method. These lessons weren’t the only things I had to learn, but they played a huge part in preparing me for homeschooling my children while running a family business.
Our family business runs year round, but there are times throughout the year when we are extremely busy. Thankfully we are year round homeschoolers, so adjusting our homeschool schedule to accommodate our busy seasons is very simple. The first year we were open our homeschool schedule was all over the place. I could not really make any solid plans for our homeschool because I never knew what each day would hold.
The beauty of year round homeschooling is the flexibility that it provides. Without being a year round homeschooler I can not imagine how difficult it would be to homeschool and run a family business. Looking back over the last 4 years of our year round homeschooling journey I’m amazed at how God was preparing both myself and my children for this part of our family journey.
Not only could I not imagine how I would homeschool following a 9 month school schedule and run a family business, but I don’t know how I would be able to have my children in private or public school and run our family business. God knew long before we reached this part of our homeschooling journey that year round homeschooling was exactly what we needed.
Running a family business and homeschooling my children has given them the ability to learn many lessons that a textbook can not teach. Lessons that will last throughout their lifetime. Lessons that they needed to learn firsthand before becoming adults and living life in the world. After all, an education is not found solely within the pages of a book.
How do you balance homeschooling and your family business?