Leave Me Alone!

Have you ever felt like that sometimes?  I know I have.  I haven't actually screamed that out loud though, but I do find it useful to have time alone just to recharge.  Even with only one child, I sometimes find his intensity a bit too much to cope with, so the alone time gives me both time and space to:

• regroup my thoughts
• think things through
• reset the atmosphere (on particularly stressful days)
• learn new things
• engage in my interests

It hasn't always been easy to find a huge chunk of uninterrupted time for myself, but as Tiger gets older and becomes more independent, I am able to enjoy increasing amounts of time alone.

Here are the few ways that I have managed to find time for myself while homeschooling my son:

• Every day, I have 1 to 2 hours in the evenings between Tiger's bedtime and my own bedtime.  Mostly I spend that time researching on the internet for ideas, resources, and plans for the homeschool.

• When Tiger attends outside classes, I use the waiting time to read or draw or think.

• On the rare occasion when I feel the need to be away from everything and everyone, I tell my husband in advance to arrange for a day to be on my own when he will be solely responsible for Tiger for that day.

• As Tiger gets older, I am able to engage him in activities together so that I get to do what I enjoy (e.g. art, visiting galleries) while he benefits from participating in the activities as well.  This is not strictly time alone, but it fulfills my need to engage in activities that I personally enjoy.

I look upon homeschooling as my full-time job.  As such, I apply the same level of commitment and professionalism to homeschooling as I did with my previous career.  The only differences between then and now are that:

1. Now I work mostly at home.
2. My "clients" are my son (with whom I interact directly and to whom the product of my labour is delivered) and my husband (who is effectively 'paying' for me to teach our son and to whom I am accountable for the eventual outcome of his years of "investments" in our homeschooling venture).

Therefore, while I would not dream of pursuing my own interests during office hours in my previous career, I feel lucky that the nature of homeschooling gives me the flexibility to do so while not compromising my son's education.  I foresee getting more time to myself in the future as Tiger becomes more independent in his study, but I also see myself using that time to support his education by way of coordination, research, guidance, and possibly studying alongside him in more advanced materials.

For other perspectives on how to manage alone time while homeschooling, please seek further inspiration from:

• Chareen ponders on the question of How Important is Alone Time and Homeschooling?  In this post, she shares some thoughts on the quesitons: As a homeschooler do I need to spend time alone?  Just how important is it?  Why or why not?

• Bernadette shares how she schedules alone minutes into her days in No Never Alone.

• Julie tells us how she uses one hour of exercise per day to keep herself going in Parenting - How can I get some Alone Time?

• Savannah asks homeschooling mothers whether your alone time extend beyond your daily shower in Keeping My Inner Witch At Bay... Me Time.

This post is linked up to:
1) Hip Homeschool Hop - 4/9/13
2) Hearts for Home Blog Hop #12
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: April 12, 2013
4) Collage Friday - Part Time Unschoolers?
5) TGIF Linky Party #71
6) Creative Learning #10
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the 2:1 Conference 2013
8) Fatigue and Frustration Friday Blog Roll - Week 2
9) Share it Saturday - Creative Play Ideas
10) Sunday Showcase - Seed Activities for Kids