Balancing Act: Thriving in Private Practice While Homeschooling

Camille McDaniel (00:08.233)
Welcome to an episode of a day in the life and a day in the life for this podcast episode is going to be talking about a private practice owner who is also an homeschooling mom and Who’s that private practice owner? Well, that’s And so I’m going to share a little bit of what a day

in my life looks like. I’m gonna also share a little bit of how I got to this point of being able to run my private practice and homeschool. Along the way, I hope to be able to give suggestions and tips that can kind of assist you whether you are considering private practice or whether you are considering homeschool.

whether you have a lot of resources to work with regarding finances and time and support of the community or whether you don’t really have a whole lot of resources to work with at all. And hopefully this will give you some something to think about maybe some encouragement in order to know that if you need to homeschool your children for whatever those reasons might be.

that you might even find that it is possible to do or that you can plan for it and to implement it in the not so far away future. So where did it all start? You know, when I started to homeschool, I actually had already been in practice for, my goodness, what? I wanna say it. I had already been in practice for several years, maybe about

10 years when my oldest needed to homeschool. And so we found that homeschooling was just going to be the better option just because the alternatives didn’t really work out. So after we tried some other ways of schooling, public school, private school, we realized, okay,

Camille McDaniel (02:30.126)
we’re going to have to consider some other way to school to allow our oldest to just kind of learn the way they need to learn and not get into any trouble. Because our oldest, just to give kind of like a little snapshot, in the private school that they went to, he was awarded at the end of the school year when everybody gets to come up to the stage and collect their awards.

He got an award with some other children in his grade for holding down an A average in all of his core subjects For the entire school year. So that gives you like a little snapshot. He’s a witty a bright kid, right? but also The fact that his teacher said if I didn’t have him sitting right next to me during chapel

he would have probably rolled down the aisles passing every pew along the way. Or the fact that the dust floating through the sunlight in the classroom caught his attention more than the teacher could hold his attention. So the concern was that while he is definitely listening enough to get great grades, at some point in time,

it might be difficult to juggle his distraction versus what is being taught in the classroom. And that could catch up with him in ways that lead to a decline in his school experience. And so we had already seen some changes in his school experience and, you know, talking it over with my husband and looking at what our options were and what we were going to do. And we finally came to the conclusion that we’re going to have to go ahead and

and look at homeschooling. Now, thankfully, the school that he came from, the private school, was actually using a curriculum that is really great, we think. We loved it. Our son thrived in it. And it just so happened that this particular company sells their curriculum to individuals who homeschool. So that was great. We didn’t really actually have to change anything as far as curriculum.

Camille McDaniel (04:50.882)
But what I have learned along the way is that curriculums are plentiful in the homeschool world. And you can actually tailor your curriculum to the needs of that child. If there is a child who seems to really excel when it comes to STEM, you can definitely get curriculum and get additional activities and

and do all the things to help support those interests. If your child is not that great in something like writing, they have some curriculums that are a little bit better, easier introduction to writing, make it so that if they’re not that strong in that area, they might not feel so overwhelmed by certain curriculums that go a lot faster and don’t give you as much like kind of ramp up time. Overall, what I’ve found is that

homeschooling is kind of like a specialized tutoring approach, if you will. Like I think it’s really exciting because topics that the kids really enjoy, we have the opportunity to then maybe like go on a field trip to support it. Or if we really don’t have the ability to go on a field trip that particular week or some weeks, we might be able to do an activity in the house to kind of support the interest, you know, in that particular topic. And so you can always do some extra.

that you aren’t generally able to do in a regular class setting. My husband and I, we did public school and I did private school and public school. And so, you know, when you’re in a classroom setting, you go along with the curriculum of the class. And if there are certain things that you need to work on, well, you usually work on them at home. And if there is extra help that you need, then, you know, the onus is on you and your family to go ahead and just get that extra help because they may have some help that they can give you in the classroom.

But that actually only goes so far because they do have other students that they have to move along as well. So after making that decision and figuring out a curriculum, which I will also say that they have a lot of, you know, communities and groups online for homeschoolers and homeschoolers in your particular state, wherever you may live. Then what I had to do was figure out, OK, what is actually going to go on as far as our schedule?

Camille McDaniel (07:13.998)
What is this going to look like? Because I had clients that I saw and I was full. So just to be clear, what full means to me was up to 20 clients in a week. I could see up to 20 clients. And so I had a number of days that I was going into the office and seeing my clients. So I had a certain amount of time that I could not actually do homeschooling.

Now I will say that since we were on our, let’s see, is this our third year homeschooling? Wait, yes. This is our third year homeschooling. And so the first year we were able to do one variation of homeschooling where it was parent led. I was my child’s teacher. And then the third year we did a.

a live classroom setting where, well, excuse me, it was live virtual. So there was a teacher, there were other students from all over the United States. And I guess this could be applicable. Some people could even be out the country because it was open to anyone who wanted to sign up. And so we got that experience for the second year of homeschooling.

And then this year, this school year that is going to be wrapping up was kind of a combo homeschooling going back to the original curriculum because last year we deviated and did a different program. Didn’t care for that one that much and then went back this year to the original curriculum. And along the way, my schedule at work kind of

shifted in order to figure out and meet the need. when I, the first year, when I was actually the parent led doing homeschool, I was the teacher. I actually was all virtual in my private practice at that time because it was around the time of COVID. We’re kind of just getting off of the heels of COVID, I’ll say. So.

Camille McDaniel (09:30.35)
I actually was not back in my practice still, which gave me a lot of flexibility to do schooling during the first part of the day and then to see my clients the second part of the day. And then the second year of homeschooling, I was starting to go back into the office actually, slowly starting to open up. So I did a couple of days in the office.

and one of the days I did at home. I still do that this year. I have three days that I see my clients and one of those days I am home and the other two days I’m in the office. And now after three years of doing it, I think we have come to a good conclusion of what actually works as far as curriculum and what actually works as far as my schedule and what I’m able to do.

I will say that that’s one of the blessings and benefits of working for yourself because you actually can change your schedule so that it meets the needs of the different responsibilities that you have going on. And I know that to be true, not just for someone who might be homeschooling, but for people who might be taking care of elderly parents or they might be taking care of spouses or children or have other needs, you can actually adjust your schedule.

I usually just give enough time for me to transition properly in my business to that new schedule. For example, now that we have kind of figured out what actually works and what doesn’t work, we’ve determined for our family and our children and our youngest who is gonna also start homeschooling that while I was…

Our oldest can actually do the curriculum online with some help every now and again from me because they really are like very good with memory and very good with just jumping in and understanding the material. Our youngest is not going to need or is not going to be able to do that and really needs a little more hands on. So when the school year starts again, I’m going to need to go back to that teaching at the top of the day, seeing clients a little bit.

Camille McDaniel (11:55.67)
later in the day. And so I’m going to have to make another schedule change in come August. And I’m going to add a day to my work week. And I’m going to drop the time that I start seeing clients. But I want to ease into that because I don’t want to shock to my clients who are coming maybe earlier in the day and coming in the office. So I want to give people time. I’m giving enough months for people to start wrapping up.

and for them to start making headway. And then at some point in time, I’ll kind of give notice in advance that there’s gonna be a bit of a slight schedule change and I’ll start seeing people just a little bit later. So I won’t have my morning availability. But at this point in time, I’m kind of starting so early that it’s kind of coming, it’s working itself out. People are getting the help they need. People are then spacing out even farther and farther before they see me again.

And then I’m now able to say any new people who come, I’m only able to do virtual because I am going to eventually need to kind of go back to more virtual so they have a little bit more flexibility at home instead of going into the office. Now, how I do this for me is with community because I’m not the only person right now who does the homeschooling.

have that shared with my mother. She homeschools two days, I homeschool two days, and my hubby gets Fridays because he works from home with the kids and can do things like art. Or it can be free time. It just depends on what’s going on with dad’s work. You have the opportunity to.

use whoever you have. Now, let’s say in your world you don’t have a lot of family that you can lean on in order to do that. Do you have resources where you can hire somebody to come and do that within your home? And if you don’t have resources where you can hire somebody, do you have a homeschooling co-op in the area where you might be able to lean on the support of other homeschooling parents?

Camille McDaniel (14:14.208)
and they can kind of teach certain lessons on certain days. And maybe on certain days you teach a lesson and you might be able to even drop your child off at the co-op location for them to learn. And then you can pick them up. So you can either work with family, you can work with friends, you can hire somebody to help your child at home, or you can maybe join.

a co-op where people lean on each other. You have some options there. You have some options for sure. And if your child is more of a self-manager, then they may also be able to do some things on their own. And then you would want to make sure that you get them involved in activities to meet all of their socialization and play and activity needs. Yeah. Now,

here’s something else that you might wonder, okay, well, yeah, while you’re doing all this teaching, who’s catching your telephone calls? Who’s scheduling your appointments? And how are you doing your marketing? Again, for me, it is that I actually started this journey once I was a bit more established in my private practice. And so I have an admin. Matter of fact, she’s our client care support coordinator.

So she answers our phones and she’s the first person that people talk to when they call the office She helps get people scheduled. She helps answers quite answer questions And so thankfully that field like kind of fills in a lot of the gaps that I would not be able to fill While I am teaching But if I did not have her and before I had her at one point in time We actually had an answering service

So they would get the calls, take a message, and send the message to my email account. So that way, if there was anything that came up that was an emergency, if there was anything, I could actually see in my email account what was going on. And I actually had that before homeschooling, just for other reasons. Because we didn’t have an admin, and while I was in session, I was missing calls. So again, you have an opportunity.

Camille McDaniel (16:34.54)
to see what services, what supports might help you to schedule calls even. Maybe you get a VA, a virtual assistant to help even schedule those calls on your calendar. then when you’re not teaching, you can go ahead and send whatever emails to those new people that you need to. People can get a biller in order to do it, or you can designate certain days and certain times and you protect those times.

that you are going to do the billing yourself, if that works out better for you or have somebody that you designate as an individual to be on your team and your family. Like we’re a family company. My mother actually is the office manager in my company and always has been. So you can pull in support in different ways, whether paid or whether someone joins your team as a contractor or as a W-2. Now, what does a day in life look like?

now? Well it looks like if it’s a Tuesday, it looks like I wake up in the morning and I sometimes get the kids together a little bit while I’m getting myself together because everybody’s kind of like going in different places. Some are going off to work, some are staying home to work, and some are you know working downstairs and so get the kids together sometimes or prompt them and if it’s if it’s the day that I’m with them fully then

I help the youngest one get dressed, make sure that the oldest one is following his list because he has a list and he has done that list so many times. He has a committed to memory that helps him to stay on track in the morning and do all the things that he needs to do. And that also prevents me from being a nag and a nooch for him because all I have to say is, hey, did you finish your list? Did you finish your whole entire list? And that way,

He can kind of check himself and make sure to fill in any kind of gaps and that works wonderfully. And then the little, little one, I kind of help along the way, although he is very independent. So he likes to still do little things for himself, which is wonderful, but he still needs some help along the way. And then everybody gets their breakfast. The oldest…

Camille McDaniel (18:52.396)
then goes to whatever designated spot. If he’s downstairs, we have like a designated little office spot and we even have room dividers so that he’s not bothered by any of us doing things. We do try to make sure to keep things a little low so that he can focus. And on some days we will have him put on his headphones if what the little one is learning might kind of distract the older one.

And so while the older one is doing his curriculum, the little one is practicing his things, going through his alphabet song, going through his colors, going through more numbers. You know, he’s good with the shapes. He’s good with his colors, learning about dinosaurs because he loves learning about dinosaurs and learning about other things that are going on. We’ll turn on some programs. There are certain days of the week that the kids learn languages. I will say out school, if anybody has heard of

Outschool.com. They’re phenomenal for learning. Our oldest is learning Mandarin. He just picked it and loves it and he’s just, he’s been doing it for over a year now. And our youngest seems to want to learn Spanish. So, you know, you can also look at that. If you happen to be a person in your household who already knows a language, well then you don’t even have to worry about anyone teaching you or excuse me, teaching your children. You can teach them yourself and that can be a part of their curriculum.

You know, there was a time where our oldest was on a team, a sports team, and he started speaking to another person on the team in the language that they were speaking, Mandarin. And then we were like, well, what school does he go to? well, where do they teach this language? How is he? And I’m like, out school and we homeschool. so you have some flexibility also in some of the curriculum that your children will learn.

So after everybody has their kind of morning time, then we pause, we take a break. So there are breaks within the day and then it’s time to go outside and play in the backyard and be free and have fun, get some sun on your face and some wind, you know, all around you and just have a good time. Even if it’s not a sunny day, it is fresh air. Get on out there.

Camille McDaniel (21:10.218)
jump around, get creative, start building things. I think they were building like a hotel for the bugs and collecting acorns one time for the squirrels who like to come by. So, you know, all of those different things can also turn into a learning lesson. We had some vegetables that we were growing out in the backyard at one point in time, and we were able to talk about root systems and how water travels through root systems to the stem and the leaves and how then like the sun comes on the leaves and

photosynthesizes into food and all the different things. I actually was learning things. So you can definitely with a homeschool experience tie all of that in and it can be great fun. It doesn’t have to be stressful at all. Then after that, we might be running some errands. We might go to the park. We have a membership to Fernbank Museum and we might take a trip to some other places and check them out because there’s

There is a woman on Instagram who happens to live in the same state I live in that goes to different places, parks and all kinds of stuff. And we’ll like post new experiences that she’s had with her kids and say, you got to try this place out. It’s great. And so sometimes we’ll like actually try a place out that she’s posted and see how we like it. So you have a little flexibility there. If it happens to be a day where I actually do have to work, then

Sometimes the routine is a little shifted. So in the morning time, I actually will still kind of sometimes help out a little, give out hugs and snuggles or whatever, but then I have to kind of get myself together. And then I will come and have my sessions. Sometimes then if it happens to be lunch, I’ll like go downstairs, have lunch with the kids or sometimes play with them. Sometimes I’ll just catch up on work because I might have some additional work that I have to do. And then I’ll see the rest of my clients.

pop back out at another break, get something to eat, see the rest of my clients, and then I’ll see everybody during dinner. And on certain days, like the day that I’m home, they know that I’m here, but they just know that I am seeing clients. And I have family who’s watching them while I’m here. Again, for you, if you don’t have family support, you might be able to hire somebody. And if you’re like, well, I don’t know about hiring somebody, then you wanna get involved in your community because you may be able.

Camille McDaniel (23:32.696)
to partner with a trusted homeschool parent who actually might be able to kind of watch your child and do learning lessons. Again, the co-op, they can do learning lessons on days that you happen to be seeing clients and on days that you’re not seeing clients, you might be able to help facilitate learning lessons for somebody else. But this homeschool journey does require us to kind of get out there a little bit if we need some support and find those supports for sure.

And then on the days that I am in the office, well, then that’s where my children are being watched either by their dad, my hubby, or their, their Grammy. And then I’m, I’m seeing clients. And so all of this is about coordination, getting, getting proper sleep.

I am the person going to bed early. I remember there was a time in my life where I did not know how people got in bed at eight o’clock. I did not know how that worked out. Well, I’ll tell you how it happens now. So I get to bed. When I am tired, I go to bed. There have been some days where my husband had to work late and so it was the kids and I.

And I still had to go to bed because I had an early day. And when I did that, I made sure that we already, in my mind, I already knew what are we gonna eat for dinner and get everybody with their bath or shower. And everybody have some time before lights out to just unwind, to just settle down, do something quiet in your room. The light would be turned down in their room. They have like a little lamp so that it’s like low.

You know, we’re not doing a lot of energy, not a lot of lights, not a lot of noise. No, everything is low. Bring all of that down a notch or two so that we’re not really excitable, but our bodies are relaxing. Our minds are going at a slower pace and we can allow ourselves to be more prepared for sleep. And I give that a good half an hour and 40 minutes where you’re just doing some quiet activity in your room on your bed. And then it’ll be lights out.

Camille McDaniel (25:53.077)
until the next day. So, you know, when you’re talking about how do I balance all of this, it’s really about schedules. It’s about help. If you happen to be, you know, doing it all alone, then it’s still gonna be about help, community. It’s about being able to find sources, whether you are paying for a service to answer your phones.

or you are having somebody that you’re going to bring on as a 1099 or a W-2 in order to do that, whether that be family, friend, or service. And it’s about jumping into the homeschool community and finding out all the different possibilities. There are definitely people who work in homeschool, and there are some people who don’t work in homeschool. You are seeing definitely a lot of variety in the homeschool scene.

these days, these years, these past couple of years. And I think you will continue to see a lot of variety in the homeschool field. Don’t be afraid of it. Plan it out. See what works for you. And if you have to make changes in your schedule, start easing things along, slowly, slowly, slowly making steps so that, again, you’re respectful of your clients and their needs as well. And you can ease them into your new schedule so that you can meet the needs.

for your business and your family. I hope that helped. If you have any questions, please let me know. And if you want to consult on this or consult on business organization, marketing and advertising, please reach out to me. You can definitely reach me at info at healingpsychotherapyga.com or you can reach me at hello at christinprivatepractice.com.

And if you need a website, I’d love to be able to support your faith-based business and give you a website. You can just check us out at www.spectrumsites.com. Until next time.

CPP Ep. 31 Balancing Act: Thriving in Private Practice While Homeschooling