That was the first question that friends asked when I told them I was going back to work.
The simple answer is that we would have to make choices that we are not prepared to, in order for me to stay at home.
And what choices would those be?
Well, it really boils down to just one - private school for Lucas.
If we put Lucas back into public school (or homeschool), I can continue to stay at home. So, even if I could see myself surviving 1 year of homeschooling Lucas, what about the following year and the year after that? And what about Liam? Good grief - there is only so much stress I can handle. Besides, I can imagine that after homeschooling, public school will become less and less appealing in terms of challenge. So, homeschooling would be indefinite and I've already said enough on public school.
Why did I stay home in the first place?
When we first made to decision for me to stay home, it was borne of necessity - Liam was getting so sick in daycare so frequently that the doctor said if we didn't keep him ear infection- free for a while we would have to put tubes in his ear. My brain exploded at the thought of an operation and it was bye-bye work. Frankly, at the time I quit, it was not my intention never to work again, I just viewed it as an indefinite sabbatical. A sabbatical whose end is near.
About that budget.
At the time I quit, Lucas was in public school and private school didn't figure into the budgeting equation. So now that we have the additional tuition costs, what do we do? We can make drastic life-style changes, like moving to a different neighbourhood, but the life-style choice we elected to make was for me to go back to work, because we also have to find retirement and college $ in the budget. Those dollars don't come by skipping one weekend buying McDonald's.
Does the value of me working outweigh the value of me not working?
Ahhh...now there's a question. So for us, the answer is "Yes". The value for me is being available for the kids and being able to spend time with them. I don't have to be at home the whole day. I want a job that allows me flexibility to be there when I need to be.
And that's about the size of it for us.
p.s.I will probably include a few posts about my job search, but for sure I'll put it in the title, so you won't have to read me cussing about short-sighted recruiters who don't recognize an awesome candidate when their screening software bypasses me.
The simple answer is that we would have to make choices that we are not prepared to, in order for me to stay at home.
And what choices would those be?
Well, it really boils down to just one - private school for Lucas.
If we put Lucas back into public school (or homeschool), I can continue to stay at home. So, even if I could see myself surviving 1 year of homeschooling Lucas, what about the following year and the year after that? And what about Liam? Good grief - there is only so much stress I can handle. Besides, I can imagine that after homeschooling, public school will become less and less appealing in terms of challenge. So, homeschooling would be indefinite and I've already said enough on public school.
Why did I stay home in the first place?
When we first made to decision for me to stay home, it was borne of necessity - Liam was getting so sick in daycare so frequently that the doctor said if we didn't keep him ear infection- free for a while we would have to put tubes in his ear. My brain exploded at the thought of an operation and it was bye-bye work. Frankly, at the time I quit, it was not my intention never to work again, I just viewed it as an indefinite sabbatical. A sabbatical whose end is near.
About that budget.
At the time I quit, Lucas was in public school and private school didn't figure into the budgeting equation. So now that we have the additional tuition costs, what do we do? We can make drastic life-style changes, like moving to a different neighbourhood, but the life-style choice we elected to make was for me to go back to work, because we also have to find retirement and college $ in the budget. Those dollars don't come by skipping one weekend buying McDonald's.
Does the value of me working outweigh the value of me not working?
Ahhh...now there's a question. So for us, the answer is "Yes". The value for me is being available for the kids and being able to spend time with them. I don't have to be at home the whole day. I want a job that allows me flexibility to be there when I need to be.
And that's about the size of it for us.
p.s.I will probably include a few posts about my job search, but for sure I'll put it in the title, so you won't have to read me cussing about short-sighted recruiters who don't recognize an awesome candidate when their screening software bypasses me.
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http://blog.clariity.com/children-in-grade-school/what-private-education-really-cost-me