Never Not Working

You know what I've learned these past few months? When you school at home and work at home you are never NOT working. There is always something to be done in between doing something. It's a paradigm shift I'll tell you what.

One of the losses of a Bricks & Mortar Education is no more centralized location. We go to co-op. We go to art class. We go somewhere else for park day (okay that's not so bad). Since my kids aren’t old enough to drive themselves that makes me the chauffer. I’m so thrilled that J’s music teacher comes to us every week. It means I don’t have to get up to leave just as I’m getting momentum behind my workload.

Lesson planning is another never-not-working situation. I’m constantly looking for, planning, creating and constructing lessons in areas that I feel so ill equipped to manage. Oh, and I’m doing this all without an IPG net because as a private school I don’t have to conform to the federal/state/local/district minimum standards. Of course I look over what public schools are required to teach in order to keep my “students” on the same playing field, but then !BAM! I take it up a notch.  We are working Science in units and I’m using several methods to facilitate learning. For example, we are studying the solar system right now. We’re reading about all the planets and their characteristics, their order in relation to the sun and the consequences of the location and what history we know. We’re also watching documentaries on the planets and solar system (Have I said that Netflix is the best investment for a homeschooling family? Well it is.). We will wrap up this unit by creating cakeball planets. Don’t worry I’ll post pictures when we’re done. We’ve been to NASA in Houston already, but if I can find another field trip locally we’ll take a day expand our knowledge base in that way too.

Of course I’m never-not-working as a small business owner as well. If I’m not actually doing billable work for clients then I’m cultivating relationships to build my client base. You have to be able to produce and market at the same time. I have to network to get my name and service out to the bookkeeping-buying public.  I get a little giggle when people say they don’t think they’d be good at “sales” (you know sales is just marketing without the expense line). But let me frame that perspective in a different way. One thing I’ve discovered as a small business owner is that you better get good at “sales” like it or not. Just because you buy office supplies and hang out a shingle doesn’t mean that the customers are going to start calling. You have to let people know who you are and what you do. And that, my sales-fearing friends, is the hard truth. You are selling you. So here I am never-not-working on my business plan, marketing plan, website, continuing education, client contact and potential-client follow up. I’m a clown with this many balls in the air.

I’m learning to live with our new “normal”. I must overcome the persistent voice of the Committee (in my head) that tries to convince me that things will slow down after XYZ. Or I can catch up as soon as ABC is behind me. When you’re never-not-working there is always something else next.

Carpe diem, baby.