I thought I would write a bit about how we incorporate school and our home-based business. We have owned the business for 6 months now, and we have learned a lot about scheduling.

My typical day involves doing school and chores with the children in the mornings. The business is set up in our garage, and I try to leave the phone out there during the morning. We try to get our chores done by 10:00, so we can get down to school work at 10:00. I have found that if we really get down to business, we can be done with our schoolwork  by noon. This does not include my high schooler, who does all of her work independently.

I also have a part-time assistant who works three mornings per week, so she takes care of the phone calls and emails on those mornings. She also checks in orders, packs orders, and places new orders from our suppliers. So this has really streamlined the business for me.

After I have lunch with the children, the youngest one goes down for a nap, and our high schooler continues her work. She will stay in the house and listen for the toddler over the monitor. The 5, 6, and 11-year-olds will go out to the offiice with me. They have set up little "work areas" where they make craft projects and play office. If it is a day when my assistant does not come in, they will help unpack the shipments that have come in from my suppliers, and then they help me find appropriate boxes to pack it back up to ship out to customers.

My 11-year-old son will also help move and lift anything heavy. And he also loads up the packages into the van for me to take to the post offiice. I print the mailing labels with postage on them at the office, so he can also just carry all the boxes into the post office for me, too.

They love helping out in the business, and it is fun for me to listen to them pretend to work in their office areas. And if it is sunny and nice outside, I will let them play while I work in the office. So they are not always contained in the house or office. I have also noticed that they are much more effiicient with their time when we are working together in the mornings. I have also noticed an increase in spelling skills with our oldest son this year. He likes to sit at the computer and type while we are in the office, and he is improving his skills quite a bit that way.

The hardest things I have found to balance this year has been our field trips. It is harder to work in a field trip when I need to be home every afternoon to do my portion of the paperwork, answer phone calls, and anything else that needs to be done by the CEO/janitor. It is also harder to get all the household chores and laundry done like I like to have them done, but my DH and the children pitch in and help me with whatever needs to be done each day.

I read an ebook by Crystal Paine that really helped me with some of the organization of our day and business. Click here to read about Homegrown Businesses.

Have a blessed day! Tami