I'm not sure if this is where this should be posted, sorry if it's in the wrong place!
Does anyone here homeschool and have a cake business? I mean, more than just hobby caking. I'm wondering how it all fits into your schedule. I have a cake business, that can be considered full time during wedding season, part time the rest of the year. I have three children, and would like to homeschool them. I've done all the homeschooling research and have gone to some meetings with area homeschoolers, but none of the parents I've met have a job quite like mine. They either work very part time, mostly evenings, or are SAHM. A few have part time businesses that they run from home, but they are the type of things they can do whenever they have time, like one makes things to sell at the craft shows, another makes soap and lotions and stuff, which she sells at craft shows, local stores and online. So they can do their production whenever, and stock up when they are slow. The craft gal makes the majority of her stuff in the summer and then does the craft shows on the weekends in the fall and spring. So it doesn't interfere with her homeschooling her kids. I can't really operate like that, when an order has to be out, it has to be out! I'm struggling with whether I need to give up my business to homeschool my kids, or wait to homeschool until they are older and can do more schoolwork on their own. Or if there is any way I can work around all of it.
Anyone here have any advice? Thanks!
Well, my business is just starting, so I'm not as busy as you. I do homeschool my 7yo DD, though. A lot of the time, she'll let me work on my cakes, but I do end up doing a lot of my work after she goes to bed. That's mostly because she wants to help, and as we all know, a 7yo helper mostly just means more work. Plus, she thinks she's good enough that she can do a lot of the work on the cake, and gets very insulted when I don't want to use all of her ideas. Luckily, she lets me sleep in, so if I'm up really late, it's not such a big deal.
I think it really depends on what kind of homeschooling you want to do. If you want to do something formal, it might be harder to do that and cakes. Of course, if you buy a pre-packaged curriculum, that takes a lot of the leg work out of homeschooling. We are mostly unschoolers, so we don't have any formal schooling time. We actually use much of the cake stuff as part of our learning. Buying ingredients & measuring are both math, and the whole thing together is science. Following directions, cooking, reading recipes - all valuable school time. 
I don't think you have to completely give up either thing. When you first start homeschooling, it takes some work to see what's best for your family. We started out with a curriculum, but it didn't work for us. It takes more time in the beginning, as you get into a rhythm. Maybe when you're first starting, don't take on quite so many cake orders. It would suck to be overwhelmed, and want to give up on either or both.
Are you thinking of starting homeschooling in the fall? Hopefully the wedding rush will be over by then, and you can have the time you need to get your schedule together.
Feel free to ask me any other questions!
Thanks Karen!
If I do decide to homeschool, I would be starting out with Sonlight. I used it for about four months when I had to take my daughter out of preschool due to health issues. She was getting bored, so I found a curriculum I liked (we used the kindergarten core since she was beyond the preschool stuff mostly) and used it with her until she was healthy enough to go back to school. I would definitely be starting out with Sonlight again. It was a wonderful time, but it was hard to coordinate the younger kids and the cakes and school! I'm hoping that as they get a bit older, it will be easier to occupy them during school time, and soon the baby would be old enough to do school too. My thinking is that the older they get, the more they can do on their own, and won't need me for everything they are working on. This will free up some time to work while they work!
I am in the middle of the road. I do decorate and homeschool. I have 2 children home now but did have 4.
I use the ACE program and I order online from schooloftomorrow.com.
It has worked VERY well for our family.PM me if you would like more information on that.
Back to the how do I do it part.
Well first there are a few things to think about..
1.Does your child have special needs that would require more time and attention.
2.Could you work thoes needs into your very busy schedual?
3. Home schooling is VERY flexable as far as time of day ect..
now here is what I do.
Most Fridays are the busy crazy day for me as far as cakes go.
So we DO NOT have school on Friday.
Also I do a lot of prep work in the morning before my children get up.
Which means yes, I go to bed early just a little while after them.
I will say that a schedual for your child is important. So don't try to juggle the two. work and school need to just flow together.
My children know the day before what is expected from them. But it is very mportant to know that if needed you will be there.
I know I have a few days where I just feel like "What am I doing!" but
those days are few.
What ever you decide to do just know you are NOT super woman. You wont be able to DO IT ALL. So don't go crazy trying.
We don't get to every homeschool function and some days we don't get everything done at school. But it's ok. At the end of the year all the work is done and thats what matters.
Homeschooling is very flexible, like others have said. I have hs for years off and on depending on our families needs. Right now I don't hs but have 2 littleones home and I have to do most of my cake stuff at night when they are asleep so if I was homeschooling it wouldn't be any different. We also had busy days that we didn't do schoolwork. But baking can be great to incorporate into your schooling. Measurement, time, even shopping can all be great math lessons. Also reading and writing inyou recipes and cake decorating! Use everything you do to your advantage!
I home schooled my last son and used ABEKA ACADEMY out of Florida. They tape the teachers and students in classrooms so it was like him being in the classroom with them. What I really loved about the taping was the fact that if he missed or didn't understand, he could rewind until he understood how to do the lesson. If you would like more info or their number, pm me. 
I have three children 10,12,15 yo and we have homeschooled from the beginning. They always help when I have a cake order and stay away if I need them too...we all have catered events for friends, and they did A LOT of work, and received allowance for it...
We are now in the process of opening shop in a location downtown...we all will work it. Coffee-Tea-Pastries-Cakes and Wifi and such. They will bring their bookwork with.
I HIGHLY recoment you look over at Five in a Row...they have the most wonderful message boards there (the family room) and the support and friendships you will gain their are so valuable. I also used Sonlight for a year, but went back to FIAR, it is so wonderful and hands on....
YOU CAN DO IT, and your family will grow together if you are able to include everyone! Blessings, Shawn <>< my blog is http://shawntheparsonswife.blogspot.com/
I homeschool my 8 year old son and when there are a ton of orders he works on what he can and then I find time to help him. We use Alpha Omega for everything but reading and math. He likes the books that are individual units--he finishes one every month. Math-u-see is great for math since kids can see what they are learning. Back to cakes--I believe that I don't have to sit with my son and walk him through everything. He is a great reader and pretty much does it himself. I help him with new concepts or things he has problems with, but if I have an order that is my job and it will get done.
One thing I have learned from homeschooling is that kids are able to learn on there own too. They don't need someone shoving the material down their throats. I know many parents who have homeschooled their kids and they are going to college with scholarships to pay for the whole thing. It is well worth it!
Thank you everyone for all your thoughts! I really appreciate it!
Funny, Shawn- I actually just stumbled across your blog a couple weeks ago! I think I actually got to it from a link on the FIAR board. I didn't know you were on this board! Small world!
I am bidding on eBay to try to get some FIAR materials for summer. I'm going to do a trial run for the summer. I figure if we can figure it out then, the regular year should be a bit less stressful since I'm busiest with cakes in the summer months anyway!
Thanks again everyone!
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