Working at home means taking on a lot of extra work, especially with kids running around underfoot. It means long days and working into the nights.

My family is used to me doing this. What has some people telling me I’m nuts is that I’m about to add homeschooling into the mix.

They’re probably right about the nuts part.

I’m expecting this to be challenging and exhausting. It’s going to mean a new balance. It’s going to mean telling my wonderful, patient husband to do a lot more housework when he’s home. I’ll try to not do the evil laugh out loud about that part.

I know I can make it work because I tested the schedule before signing my daughter up for homeschool. I don’t doubt that there will still be challenges, but I know I can deal with the basic interruption in my schedule.

Figuring out when you’re overloading yourself is a personal decision. I’ve worried people a few times about if I’m overloading myself. I’ve worried me a few times about overloading myself, right now included. I haven’t let it stop me or beat me yet.

Challenging your limits is a part of running a home business, even when some of the limits you challenge aren’t about your business.

This is where scheduling comes in. A good work schedule and a good school schedule will help me quite a bit. My schedules have been pretty lightweight in the past, but now, they will have to be more. There won’t be time for dawdling.

On the plus side, I’m usually at my most productive when things are craziest in my schedule. When there’s no time to goof off, the goofing off vanishes. I’ll have to make sure it stays that way this year.

Most work at home parents have schedules that amaze outsiders and family members alike. It’s not easy working at home. It takes dedication to bring in an income, raise a family and keep a home. But I know I’m not the only homeschooling work at home mom out there.

The hardest part is always adding something new to an established schedule. Just think back on how your life has gone.

I’ve worked at home since my first pregnancy. My work schedule changed tremendously with the birth of my daughter, which was quite overwhelming at first. It changed when I started a home business on top of my medical transcription job. It changed with the birth of my son. I can still hardly believe how much more it changed with the birth of my second daughter, and she still messes with my routine pretty often.

Homeschooling is one more change that I’ll deal with on a personal and professional level. I don’t intend to let the strain defeat me.

I don’t worry about it becoming too much because it’s incentive to become more efficient in my work. I’ve already picked up some tools so that I can work faster in some areas. I really think I can make this into a good thing for my family and my business.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that people ask if I’m working too hard or taking too much on out of concern. No one wants me to burn out on any of what I do. It’s hard for them to see the appeal of the challenge.

Do people tell you that you work too much? How do you handle it?

The post Do People Tell You That You’re Working Too Much? appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

I posted last week on how many people set their sights too low when working at home. There’s a flip side to challenging yourself, of course, and that’s working too much.

This is a mistake you can make even if you haven’t set very high goals for yourself, and what defines it is quite vague. It much depends on you and the needs of your family.

Sometimes a particular schedule is just right, but then circumstances change just a little bit, and the schedule is overworking you.

This is something I’ve dealt with quite a bit lately. Having a new baby, moving, getting settled, taking my son to speech therapy, figuring out if we can manage preschool classes for him, taking my daughter to and from school… it all adds up and really makes for a more challenging schedule for me to work.

And so I work fewer hours on my business than I’d like because my family has a lot of needs right now.

I’m much prone to overworking, and I know it. I’ll stay up late even when I know the baby hasn’t been sleeping well and I’ll just be dragging the next day. It’s not the best of habits, really.

It doesn’t feel like overwork; I enjoy what I’m doing. But when I’m that tired later on, I know.

So how do you balance your ambitions with working an appropriate amount?

It’s not always easy. You need to pay attention to your own needs as well as the needs of your family. You don’t ever want to forget why you’re a work at home parent.

Make sure you take some time every day with your family. Eat meals together whenever possible. Play as a family before putting the kids to bed. Take a break with your spouse.

Sometimes, yes, you’ll overwork yourself by working more after doing all the fun stuff. That’s how it goes at times. Just don’t let overwork be your entire way of life.

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