what jobs work around kids' school hours?

[DrakeMaiden]

Sorry to hear about your situation, Pat. :/

If I were in your shoes, I think I would opt for being self-employed. Cleaning houses may be the easiest means of self-employment. If you are self-employed you are not going to have quite as many conflicts of interest when it comes to scheduling your time. JMO (and experience). If I ran a cleaning business I would run a green cleaning business, but that is just me.

Good luck to you! I hope everything works out for the best. My guess is that whatever may come, it will probably be better than what you are living with right now.

 

[chipmunk]

When DD was in school, I had a job at a pet grooming shop that allowed me to schedule just enough clients so that I'd work while she was at school, then either be off in time to pick her up or she could carpool to where I was & hang out until I was done. Later on I went independant, grooming at peoples' homes, which afforded even more flexibility. All this to say that you could do animal or pet care on a pretty flexible schedule.

One of my grooming clients is a tutor, although, come to think of it, that doesn't really help if you want to be working while your child is in school, unless you tutor children confined in the hospital or something.

 

[raro]

I did medical transcription for several years and loved it. But the industry is giving way to voice recognition software, etc. so it doesn't pay as much as it used to. But I've heard that medical coding/billing is something you could do from home. I remember the place that trained me for medical transcription had a program you could learn at home. They gave you a year to do it, but I finished in about 4 months. The place I did it was called CareerStep, and it was very reputable and good. You might want to look it up just to get a feel for whether or not it's something you want to do. It's a small investment at first, but I found it well worth it.

 

[raiquee]

You'd be surprised at how flexable retail jobs are. Not the best jobs, but jobs none the less!

 

[big brown horse]

I cleaned houses when I was in college, great money and the houses were already pretty clean to begin with. Back in the early 90's I think I was making $75-100 per house. People pay way more these days.

I also waitressed. Lunch crowds can bring in big tips...not as big as weeknight crowds, but still pretty good. An average lunch shift at a trendy cafe put $100 in my pocket. Most of that was cash.

Hey Drake! I wanted to start my own green cleaning company back in TX. I was going to name it "Green House". Then I got a promotion at work.

Here is what I did as a single mom:
I taught Montessori private and public school while my daughter was very young. She went to school with me. We shared the same schedule and vacation time. It was a great job to have when you have younger children. (Please do not confuse Montessori with "day care".)

 

[booker81]

Not sure how it works up/over there (depending on your location from me here in MI), but I worked for a bit over a year as the card stocker for American Greetings, stocking the greeting cards at the local pharmacy, and when they needed it, the localish Walmart and other stores. Pay wasn't hot, but it was flexible hours and steady. A lot of companies here hire out these kind of jobs. I did it when I was a new mom and didn't want to work full time, but needed to get out of the house some.

Finally remember what it's called - merchandiser. I just did a google search for "Merchandiser Jobs Ontario Canada" and got a few sites that list them.

 

[yourbadd]

I used to work for a realtor as her assistant and since much of the job was in and out of the office or going to houses on my own I was able to make it work around the kids. It's not hard and I had no real estate experience other than buying my house. The realtor I worked for had tons of foreclosed properties she needed to maintain and have repairs done on and I would oversee that. If you've ever set up utilities or paid bills online, you can do it!!

I have also run a daycare out of my home. I had 2 children ages 2 and 6 weeks that I watched from 7-5, M-F. I was able to lead life as normal but with 2 extra kids in tow.

Good luck!!!

 

[savingdogs]

You might also think of it the other way around.
Do you have any service you can trade with a friend whose kids go to your kids school?
When I was home doing transcription, I used to barter babysitting services with a neighbor. She cut all our hair, colored mine, and in exchange, I watched her two school age children along with mine when they came home from school and on school holidays. When they were very young they came to my house and when they became young pre-teens, they would sometimes just check in and then go to their house, which was right next door.

It was handy she cut hair, but perhaps you could pay someone for just afterschool hours......someone whose kids go to the same school is the best choice so the holidays match and this person can just arrange for your kids to get to her home with their own.

When this arrangement started, I was NOT doing daycare or even thinking about doing daycare, but the kids played at my house a lot anyway so it worked excellent. I was usually done with my transcription work by later in the afternoon anyway. Our hair never looked so great! It was the only time we all had good haircuts on a regular basis.

 

[patandchickens]

you guys are great for ideas! Thank you so so much. I still do not know what is going to happen here but I am looking into some of these options in a general way and striking out on my own with the kids sounds much more doable now than it did when I started this thread, if that ends up being what needs to happen.

I just want you to know how much I appreciate it

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Anything involving the school district, plus medical transcription or another home-based business.

I didn't need high-speed internet when I was doing MT at home. Now I'm doing it in clinic. I did it for 10 years without childcare while my kids were little. Of course, I was only part time (24 hours per week) and wasn't relying on it for the family's sole income.

Best of wishes to you, Pat!