Guest - Jennifer Fink

We have a guest today, Mamas!

So Tiff go put on yer bra, Kai get yer hair in a pony and let's welcome her! And someone tell Linda to git a wiggle on it because she's always off doin' somethin' or other.

Jennifer L.W. Fink is lives and homeschools her boys in Mayville, WI. She is a freelance writer who has been published in Parents, American Baby, Ladies’ Home Journal and more. Suddenly Homeschooling (HEM books) will be out in late 2008.

With four sons ranging in age from two to ten, my house is a whirlwind of light saber battles, pillow fights and Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Getting any writing done in such a testosterone-heavy environment is, uh, a challenge, to say the least. But it can be done. On a recent day last week, I conducted three phone interviews, nursed my toddler, made some last-minute edits to my Journal Sentinel op-ed, cooked three meals, considered teaching a writing class, hiked with the boys and wrote for three hours.

Freelancing with a family isn’t easy. It requires patience, devotion and time management skills. These tips, from my chapter, Living with Kids 24/7 in the soon-to-be-published book Suddenly Homeschooling, can help you get some work done:

• Develop simple household routines. Don’t be afraid to involve your children. Your kids can help pick up their rooms, prepare meals and clean up the yard.



• Use a master calendar to avoid scheduling conflicts. Be sure to transcribe your professional obligations onto the family calendar as well.



• Take advantage of empty moments. Try transcribing for 15 minutes on your laptop while the kids play video games. Or take your notebook along and outline an article while you wait for soccer practice to end.



• Get up before the kids or stay up after they go to bed. Many mom-writers find these quiet hours to be the most productive of the day.



• Offer to trade childcare with another parent, join a babysitting co-op, or hire a teenage babysitter or pre-teen “mother’s helper.” Even just a couple hours a week of kid-free time go a long way toward meeting your professional goals.



• Have realistic expectations. As one Mom told me, “Life with kids is very different. Be willing to accept the limitations that come with the territory.”

THANK YOU Jennifer, we kiss your feet, FOUR BOYS, PEOPLE!

(I have one, that's about enough!)

Seven weeks till summer...

Image from FlickrAs a child, though the weather said it was 'summer', I never - really - accepted that until I finished up school for the last day of the year. Summer, in which case, technically started for me sometime in April, but that's not when summer starts in our house. Summer, officially starts on the first day of school holidays for the kids.
So, I have seven more weeks until I'm being driven batty every day by 'mum can I have a drink, mum can I have an ice pole, mum I'm bleeding, mum he cheated, mum she pushed me, mum she's not sharing, I'm telling mum, I'm telling mum, I want, I can't, I will, I won't....'
That's seven weeks of freedom, in many ways - I have one class until the holidays, and that's it ;)
In these hallowed seven weeks, I'm going to make sure I've got enough books to read at the park, enough pads of paper to make it through swimming classes, enough plasters and reward stickers, diluting juice, bribes, loose change and all of the other bits and pieces that every parent needs to get thorugh the summer. Sanity is, of course optional, and is probably going to be a frayed rug, again, by the end of the holidays, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I deliberately don't book during the summer, and ask my clients to plan accordingly, because the summer is for the kids.
What are your plans for summer?