Works for Me Wednesday (Vol.1): Round-the-Clock Mom, Full-time Home Educator, Part-Time Independent Contractor

This is my first Works for Me Wednesday post, and, to start off, I am taking the title quite literally. My work works for me...

As some folks might know, besides training up my own children, I teach drama to grade and middle schoolers, tutor all ages in a variety of subjects, do typing and resume services for folks who ask and advise young instructors in curriculum planning. I love all of these jobs, because each allows me to use my gifts to serve others while helping our family’s financial outlook. The typing and advising I can do from home – during the day when the kids are engaged in some play or learning experience that mandates that I am nearby, but not necessarily interacting with kids, at night, when the kids are settled, basically, at any time that I can fit in with Mommihood. The tutoring and teaching, of course, I do outside my home. And, though these commitments take me away from my main calling of Wifedom and Mommihood, I often find myself coming home with an “ahhh” sort of feeling. The change of pace from home, husband and kids (as much as I cherish all three!) is sometimes just what I need. Plus, knowing that I am helping kids in my community to learn, grow and develop is awesome. Just as in 1 Cor 12:12-30, by weaving my paid work into my work as Wife, Mom and Homemaker, I feel like I am using the gifts I have been given to help God’s larger body... So, truly, while my work – both paid and unpaid – works for me.

I find I often explain to other Moms why I choose to stay home, focusing on kids, home and husband first. Likewise, I find I cannot recommend any of my paid gigs enough to other parents who need to find employment that works around kids and a variety of scheduled commitments. All the jobs I do are fairly flexible and offer decent income for minimal hours. And, each comes with its own rewards. Teaching drama and tutoring provide fun work with youth and the payoff of seeing children grow. Typing and resume work help me get to know other folks better, using my strengths to bolster theirs. Curriculum advising allows me to mentor and collaborate with young educators, passing on nuggets from my own experience while helping to make my mentees’ experiences that much more successful. So, I often find myself sharing information about what I do with like-minded Moms and Dads. The two franchises I contract with – Drama Kids and Club Z – are both well run and a pleasure to work for. Explo schools, the organization I advise for in the spring, runs fantastic summer discovery programs for kids. All of my independent contracts provide not only simply work, but work that works for me and my family. Perhaps such jobs could work for someone reading this, too. I hope so!

And, I hope, as my own children grow and witness my independent contract work, it works for them – helping them realize that we each have talents and interests, which, when pursued after prayer, can lead to wonderful symbiotic opportunities between “life” and “work”. For, if there are two things I want to train up my children to do when they hit working age, they are:

1. To always remember that we should not live to work, but work to live. By doing something we enjoy and are good at, we can stay true to this ideal.

2. To recognize each of us has gifts and we can honor God, others and ourselves by offering these gifts within the working world.

And, so, this Wednesday, as I head into another day of taking care of home, husband and kids, while finding moments to type, before heading out to teach drama and tutor, I can declare: My work (paid and unpaid) definitely works for me! Time to get to it...

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