WWYD in this situation? We have a considerable amount of consumer debt (about $12000 in credit card) that we are paying off. We're chugging away at it (sending about $500-600 per month towards it and no longer using it). I was presented with the opportunity of making $1000-1100 more per month (beginning in January) by watching two more children (currently only watching one little girl). Here's my dilemma.....we homeschool, so I have to be able to finish the appropriate amount of schoolwork with my children---I don't want them to suffer b/c of our financial issues. If I watched these two additional children (they would be ages 4 months and 20 months in January), that would mean I would have 6 children each day, with 4 of them ages 3 and under! But, on the flip side, I'm fairly organized and could probably handle it...they live in our neighborhood; family is very nice; it would be "teacher's hours" since the mom is a public school teacher (which would be great scheduling-wise b/c my dh is also a teacher)...plus we could pay off all our credit card debt in approximately 6-7 months. I feel like it's our only opportunity to pay off the debt quickly (my dh is already working a second job, so don't suggest that!)
So, convince me one way or another!
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Jenn
homeschooling mama to my little brood...
~L (1997), M (2001), N (2004) and M (April 2007)~
This post isn't going to be much help, LOL. You would have to be REALLY organized IMO to handle that one. Most days I feel like I can barely homeschool with my 15 month old, he is into EVERYTHING. I couldn't imagine doing it with a toddler and a wee babe in arms! Of course this is my first year and you are old hat at it. My 3rd grader can do most of his work independantly, but Ian is doing K work and needs my attention the entire time, yk?
My other thought would be getting out of the house. Will your vehicle accomodate that many children? If not, you'd be stuck at home M-F. Something else to think about, yk?
It certainly is a tempting situation though. I had briefly thought about doing the same thing for a friend of mine and ultimately decided that I didn't want the stress of a full time in home daycare. I would do it part time in a heartbeat, the situation just hasn't presented itself yet.
And now, totally OT, we really do need to get together, I've been meaning to call you, but have been driving myself crazy chasing Connor and trying to teach my children at the same time, LOL. Please don't think I'm ignoring you, I'm just kind of scatterbrained lately!
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Blessings,
Amy
Mama to 3 growing boys and my doggies, Haley and Josie
I've done childcare pretty much for the past 4 1/2 years, so I'm used to that part. Last year, I watched two other 2 year old little girls (plus my own!), so I had 3 two year olds! YIKES! If I do this new family, I would have a 9 year old, a 5 1/2 year old, a 3 1/2 year old, a 3 year old, an almost 2 year old and a 4 month old. (three of those are mine!). The 3 1/2 year old is only with us 4 days per week and actually attends preschool 3 of those mornings.
My vehicle is big enough to accommodate everyone....so, not like you'd want to go shopping or anything with that number of kids, but we could go see friends, go to the park, or just "get" out, if absolutely needed!
The other part of that is even if we were in most of the time, I would only have the kids until about 4pm, so there's still plenty of time in the late afternoons/evenings to get out.
The schoolwork part is a little scary. I have a 4th grader, who works very well independently. My kindergartener's work totals about 2 1/2 hours per day....so if nothing else, I could get a lot done in the afternoons when all the "little ones" go down for naps?!?
Ahhh...such a tough decision...we need the money and I want to help pay things off so we can have a better lifestyle, but yet I'm worried about being over-extended as a parent/caregiver! I think I'm going to have to pray for the right decision to come to me!
BTW~I understand about being busy!! My kids just started back up with their extracurricular activities, so we've been busy too! Maybe we can meet at a park or something sometime!
Personally, I would do it. LOL I mean, if you think you can and still be happy. If you are going to be miserable for a year just to pay off debt, then no. I understand some people will totally sacrifice and do whatever, but I like to be happy. LOL
Personally, I would do it. LOL I mean, if you think you can and still be happy. If you are going to be miserable for a year just to pay off debt, then no. I understand some people will totally sacrifice and do whatever, but I like to be happy. LOL
I don't think I'll be 'happy' doing it....it would definitely be hard and a sacrifice, but I'm hoping that knowing how much progress we are making on our debt will bring it's own happiness. Plus, I could pay off most of our debt in about 6 months....
Could you offer to take the children for a trial period? Offer to try it for a month and if it works for everyone involved you will continue and if not you will give her two to four additional weeks, how ever long it should take her to find a new care provider, of care and help her with transitioning them?
That way you can see if you can do it all without feeling terrible and having hard feeling if you can't.
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שלןם
Liba, mommy to:
Zlata Tova 5/6/98, Tziporah Faiga 1/12/01, Esther Rivka 7/13/04 and Avraham Chaim 7/02/06
Avraham Chaim and Flat Stanley vegetable shopping.
Could you offer to take the children for a trial period? Offer to try it for a month and if it works for everyone involved you will continue and if not you will give her two to four additional weeks, how ever long it should take her to find a new care provider, of care and help her with transitioning them?
That way you can see if you can do it all without feeling terrible and having hard feeling if you can't.
That's a good idea, Liba! I'm thinking that she probably wouldn't start back until second semester (which is mid-late January) and would be done for summer break by mid-June.....so even if it wasn't something I wanted to continue long-term, at least it's a fairly short period of time to start with (5 months).
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