Sounds like a real efficient way to spend taxpayer money. :shake:

I've been working 100% from home since 2009. Yeah, there are days when I jack around and do yard work or play video games. But I work in a results/deadline based industry so they don't really care how much I work, just how much I get done.

Concerns about it were sent up the chain to representatives, but it doesn't appear any change has been implemented yet.

I occasionally see people asking about that on the remotework subreddit. “How do I homeschool/should I homeschool while working remotely?”

I mean, the answer to those questions is you can not:should not, but that’s the answer to the question of homeschooling, period, so … they usually don’t take that suggestion well.

Oh. I've dicked off at work a time or two.

I personally wouldn't recommend trying to homeschool and telework at the same time, not without help. My girls were homeschooled and as I said, I've been 100% home since 2009. They mostly schooled themselves, my wife didn't "teach" by any means, but she was always available to answer questions and stuff like that.

When I was working for the military, I would spend 35-45 minutes getting to work through heavy traffic. Another 10-15 minutes to get through the base security gate. Another 5 minutes to get back to my workplace. Park and walk into the building, usually 10-15 minute walk. Get into the building, I have another 5-10 minutes of security to get back to our area. Thats 2-3 hours out of my day. Then I'm working 12 hours a day.

When I left the military I swore to only work remotely from now on. Never worked on site again.

How do you feel about the quality and breadth of their education? Was there a home-school curriculum that you obtained and followed?

One question I've always had about home schooling is that it seems like it can narrow of the funnel of sources getting to a kid, both in terms of topics and philosophy. If the parent is interested in science and hates literature, the kid is probably going to get more science. (And that's not a challenge of you and your wife, but rather a general comment that I think would be true of a lot of people.)

I realize that a lot of parents have traditionally home-schooled because they want to narrow the sources in terms of philosophy (e.g., religion, social views). One can debate the merits of that, so I won't go into it. But in the Covid era, I would suspect that we got a lot more home-schooling for other reasons.

Doesn't matter what you do. You can't keep up with the inflation. Everything about this economy sucks right now. Making more money than ever before and still barely making ends meet.

I apologize in advance for the wall of text but there's a lot to unpack.

We didn't home school for religious or similar reasons. We home schooled because our local school district is shit. My kids aren't into sports. They're into art, music, and stuff like that. They were both good academically too.

I won't go into exhaustive detail but some of the things we had to deal with:

1. Curriculum issues. We've talked about this in the DC subforum and elsewhere but my wife and I became increasingly aware that things like Common Core were teaching kids inefficiently and in some cases, just plain wrong. There was a growing emphasis on "showing your work" - giving kids credit for the attempt, even if the answer was wrong, as long as they used the correct methodology. There was also the constant testing. Funding depends on standardized test scores so they spent more time practicing testing than actually teaching.
2. ridiculous lack of logistics when it came to bussing rural kids. Near the end, my kids were on the bus for one hour and five minutes, twice a day. It's actually against the law in Iowa to be on a bus that long.
3. defunding art, music, and other things we wanted. My oldest was just finishing elementary school when they got rid of her TAG program. Every year the number of para's (basically babysitters for disruptive kids, because they can't be segregated anymore) goes up and the programs for high achieving kids get cut.
4. Other fiscal decisions like spending $3M on a new building that doesn't house students even though it's only 20 years old. Or spending $750K to "fix" the 150-year old school near the country club only to close it completely 3 years later because it's beyond repair.
5. Bullying - my kids weren't subjected to it much but we never really gave it much chance. It was almost like mobs were running the school and the admin acted like they were powerless. When a local kid got stabbed across the street from the school, that was kind of the last straw.

We brought a lot of these grievances to the school board as a community because there were dozens of us homeschooling at the time. The school district treated us with contempt and scorn. They never once tried to address the issues or cooperate with us. From the start, we were adversaries. They talked to us like we were heretics from the 10th century, like anyone that dared to question was a witch.

Anyway, we used an online curriculum, some of the classes were the same as what they would get in school but some were above and beyond. The only subject my kids bitched about was history/social studies but I love history so they took it.

I'm not sure what else to say, I could talk about this for hours and hours, there's so much to it. The bottom line is my kids are social, well-adjusted, and even mildly successful (my oldest is the director of our art center and she's only 24). Instead of sitting in a classroom all day, they went on field trips to places school would never take them. They did crazy projects for weeks on end, activities school couldn't accommodate due to rigid schedules and testing quotas. And most of all, they had the freedom to not only truly learn but to excel and not be held back.

One more thing:

I'm not going to sit here and say home schooling is a panacea or that the concerns people have aren't valid. They are.

Like working from home, home schooling can be a two-way street. It can be incredibly freeing and rewarding or it can be an excuse to **** around all day and not learn. It's entirely dependent on the individual student and parents. It's definitely not for everybody and if the parents I normally would see at a board meeting were any indication, the public school was needed if for nothing else so many kids don't get completely forgotten.

Wow, that is very impressive and your kids are so fortunate. :clap:

My wife was on top of things back in the late 70s when I wasn't. Our eldest went to an open alternative elementary school that was very different than a normal public neighborhood school.

They were actually teaching them computer stuff in the last 70s early 80s that had me totally aghast at the time. She loved school.

That daughter ended up getting her PHd and has been published.

Yep, this is a thing too. Used to have a daily battle with a dude who sat near me on whether or not we could open the blinds.

I wanted them open. Otherwise we’re sitting in this dank, dark office going crazy to top 40 pop hits all day every day. He wanted them closed because the sun made a glare on his screen. ****ing pussy..

Ya know another thing that’s better at home? Sitting on your own shitter! Can’t put a price on that.

I did not know schools in Iowa were going in that direction. Minnesota--sure. But that is why I cannot understand what the F is being taught in admin school these days. I was going to do a distance learning program from NWMO but I needed to take a few Earth Science classes in the hopes of moving to HS next year.

alas-I digress.

Cool. Thanks for the explanation.

The origin of my question is that I've wondered if a lot of home-school kids get narrow educations, intentionally or inadvertently. I figure that very few parents have broad enough educations and interests to teach everything a student should learn. But getting an online curriculum where that stuff is already thought out and packaged could solve that problem. I can empathize with your other concerns.

In my youth, I don't think home schooling was really a thing. Or at least it wasn't in my part of the world. I think maybe we had one kid who got pulled out of the system because his parents were mad about some sports stuff, but I'm not even sure about that. The closest we had was some religious fundamentalist school that had about six students. I didn't even know it existed until I graduated and those kids were listed among the graduates.

Lots of good points here, things have changed a lot in the work place. I worked for three companies until retirement, was salaried for all of them. I definitely worked a lot more than 40 hours per week and was 24/7 support for all except the last 10 years. I worked in IT for all of those years and because of my technical knowledge and problem solving skills, I tackled a lot of work that others didn't want to do. One big change what when IT allowed the MBAs to take over management. This created a ceiling that we could no longer cross and hindered our output because there was no one I could go to for advice. Around this same time, companies started reducing benefits (combine sick/vacation days into PTO, eliminate pensions) and executive pay soared.

Then the offshore hiring started and executive pay soared again. The MBAs referred to IT people as code monkeys. Most thought what we did was easy, mostly because I made it look easy.

Never really worked from home much until 2020, at first I would struggle to maintain focus however I always got my work done and always found extra work to do.

Anyways, I'm glad to be out. Now the only issues I have are dealing with the SS office and the finance companies to get my 401Ks into an IRA.

I do understand the younger generation not wanting to work themselves to death. I watched my father toll in a job he despised and then die at 52.

I guess the other thing that I struggle with is figuring out what I want to do when I grow up. Ever since I was 15, I have spent my time doing for someone else. It's a different mindset that I'm not used to thinking about what I want.

There is certainly a sizeable portion of the homeschool community here that is doing it for religious reasons. However, about the time we started homeschooling there was a big swell in people like us, pulling kids out of school for non-religious reasons. Instead of trying to understand why it was happening, the school district decided to get defensive and treat us like trash.

That's because they believe your kids belong to the state - not you.

One thing that I was taught in college, in a management class, was that money will never make you happy in your job. Lack of money will lead to dissatisfaction; however, money will not make you happy.

Money sure made me happy because what it bought me was freedom.

People that can never get enough and always want more more more won't ever be happy if they become wealthy or well off. Because they can't stop and smell the roses. So often those are the type of people that use money to buy things and not freedom.

We were in the Lees Summit school district for most of my kids school years. That's a really good school district or at least it was in the 90's-2000's.

I coached youth little league baseball, football and basketball. We would have kids that were home schooled on our teams. Almost all of them had trouble socializing with the other kids. That was decades ago so it could have changed.

Nailed it.

I could have made a shit ton of money if I would have traveled or been away from home. I decided I'd be there for my kid and mot pursue money as the end all be all. Money was not the most important part of life? Not for me anyway.

I was there on weekends to coach his sports teams. I wasn't out drinking with buddies. I was present.

Most of the kids on the team, their dads didn't come to the games and most ended up at our house to hang because their home environment.

Yep, I'd say it's the chasing of money/things/Joneses/happiness that will never make you happy.

If you're well grounded in terms of what you make and what you spend your money on, money can sure as shit make you happy. I'm also happy for every raise I get, not just for the end result of more money, but being valued enough at work to have earned more.

Exactamundo. Some people are convinced the only thing that matters if always chasing the dollar at any cost even after they already caught the dollar.

My opinion, I think it's stupid that people still think people should be required to work a 9-5 just to fill the appropriate hours. if you can get your work done in less than a 9-5, then you should be paid the full time and allowed to log off or go home early.

Requiring people to stay just pushes people to find other ways to waste time... I remember at the office I would find ways to steal company time by wasting time in the break room, other cubicles, sitting on my phone, taking a walk outside... You can't tell someone they aren't working if they are at the office, the only WAY you can tell someone they aren't working at the office is if there work isn't getting done... Which goes back to my original point.

I think there are many in the younger generation who will/can put in the effort that our generation did they just tell their peers they won't just to be accepted.

Every generation has those who seek the easiest path and justify it saying they don't want to be like their parents. Heck....I said I didn't want to be a truck driver like my grandpa, my uncles and my Father.

Unfortunately the path I chose required me to work hard in a different way.

I am betting that the younger generation will find out the same thing.

Really sounds like the company you work for didn't realize what all you could accomplish in a regular 8 hour work day and didn't plan accordingly...I never had a workday where I finished my assigned job description.

My work is “never done” but I’m also never behind, if that makes sense?? You sound like you’re referring to clerical work which again is an old way of looking at things and how company’s “used” to operate.

Thanks for assuming I was talking about "clerical " work

I have been the Corporate Credit Manager all my life the last 25 years for Billion dollar companies. I have managed teams of 10-40 associates. Besides managing/coaching team members i had my own tasks which, while most were part of automated processes still needed review. Throw in meetings and you have an easy 9-10 hour day.

That doesn't mean I didn't have days that I could complete tasks in a traditional 8 hour day...

If your company only gives you enough to keep you busy half of the day then your Manager is wasting company resources.

I should quantify I am retired now...

Or maybe..... Some people are just better at their job than others... Just like in all aspects of daily life.


As you proved in your statement, you're old, typical oldie tbh living in a digital world. Our director, also old, doesn't live like you or have your opinion (thank god)... We get all his work done for him, he looks like a bad ass and is on his way to being a VP.. Dude spents most his day golfing lmao..

Like most, the standard 2.5-3% raise yearly is what my company does for hourly or salaried employees. Salaried employees get 6 more PTO days per year than hourly employees and I think that's fair as I always work 40+ hours per week on salary.

Luckily there are a few of us that get monthly incentive bonuses and can really focus on the main issues of our job and make some decent extra monthly cashflow. Last year my incentive earned me 5% extra on my yearly base salary but if I was able to max it monthly it would be over 9% of my base.

I'm a big believer in incentivizing certain employees to allow them to boost their pay over the basic yearly raise. If their performance is boosting the bottom line, let them have a small slice of those gains. I re-worked a few employees incentive plans and I think they appreciate that chance to fairly earn more.

LMAO.,.I have heard your argument before and each of them were trying to justify how they spent their day.

I may be old but I was working with and driving the companies i was working for into automated processes for at least 25 years if not longer.

Your manager sounds like a few of the VP's at my last company who all couldn't figure out why they were victims of reorganization and had to look elsewhere.

I completely concur with incentives to drive the pay potential of associates....they do it in Sales why not in all aspects of the company.

The CEO and EVP's don't have to be the only ones getting the benefits of success of the company.

Did you ever start double dipping?

The best part of my last year was setting up the best associates on my team to not only add to their earnings but to set them up for professional growth potential. So far 3 of them have taken advantage and I gave a 4th a personal reference for a job promotion she was offered with an outside company.

My company does something similar... earlier in my career, the company I worked for handed out a pretty big range for annual raises and if you were a top performer (and put in a ton of hours), you'd most likely get compensated for it. Later on, another company I worked for had a very standard 3% and it maybe maxed out at like 4.5% if you were a top performer. I currently get the standard ~3%, but they also have a mid year process for top performers and any title changes, which can get you close to 10% combined for the year.

It's not a written goal/metric that you work towards or even guaranteed, but far better for top performers than just the basic 3% annually.

My boss just texted me tonight that she's quitting this week because the work life balance sucks. She's not the only one leaving which concerns me the ship might be sinking

My guy! I've tried, but I can't find anything that is lenient enough yet. I'm also up for a big promo so I haven't been looking as much as I was a while ago since my workload has increased..

Another off topic that I don't like about my company is adjusters/coordinators in my department all get the same pay raise despite what work you've contributed to the department or what areas you've absorbed via your work load, so to me, I'm really upset about the amount of things sent my way due to my high volume of work output, but I'm told I'm in line for a big promotion... I'm just hoping its not a carrot on a stick situation.

Yeah I feel like you're just looking for a fight. It seems you think that there's only one way to achieve productivity. I'm not saying your way is wrong, you just sound like a stickler for the rules and I hate working for that sort of management.

Additionally, yeah no... Our CEO fired the VP of a huge portion of our company as well as a director under him that our director reported to, and like I said, our director golfs every damn day....

Our data analytics show compared to other "companies" our output of work far exceeds our competitors in the field of work we produce... You don't fix what isn't broken. (Also from what I heard, when that VP and other stubborn director were fired, our director got a big pay raise, but not in title.....)

Fight nah.....wide difference of opinions, oh hell yes.

You do you....I've already done me successfully according to what my company asked of me. Yes I was a stickler for rules because it kept the company from having to deal with employee complaints about being treated unevenly....one of the biggest issues the HR team had to deal with.

most of my career I worked contract with companies. Take on projects. No HR, training, orientation at all. No idea on the current design of the company. I had to architect and drive the solution all by myself. I either produced or they fired me.

Things have changed. Home school kids aren't necessarily better socialized than they ever were. Public school kids, however are every bit as naive and antisocial as home school kids these days. We ran a large youth group about halfway split between home and public school. The kids weren't all that different. They had the same problems, the same quirks, and the same unnatural dependence on internet stimulation.

We get bonuses based on things like quarterly revenue and the like. It's pretty nice.

Time for you to be the boss!

So are there rumors of financial issues with your present employer? If so then she is giving you a heads up without saying the ship is sinking.

Or maybe she just has different priorities...my wife left the work force while my kids were in elementary school. Once my youngest was in Middle School she went back to work part time. Still works part time to get out and about during the day.

Or maybe she won the Lottery....

Who is ur daddy and what do u do