10. But What About Childcare?

Quick summary: When parents ask us about childcare, the first thing we recommend they do is separate their question about childcare from their question about education! Schools bundle childcare and education together, but modular learners don’t have to Modular learners spend 1-2 hours a day on 1-1 instruction led by a parent or caregiver (Mastery Hours). The rest of the time (not with a parent) can be spent with a caregiver, in extracurriculars, at a friend’s house, in homeschool co-ops, in self-directed learning, or in play.  Plus, since homeschoolers have a long history of resource-sharing, lots of babysitting swaps will be available to you. It’s absolutely possible to design a flexible childcare schedule at any budget that corresponds with your family’s need to work and earn income.  

1. How remote and flexible work are changing childcare needs

2. Solve for childcare and education separately

3. Do a cost-benefit analysis

4. Don’t neglect childcare

5. Make time for self-care

6. Keep kids engaged while families are working

7. Twelve creative childcare solutions

8. Jobs for modular learning families

9. How different kinds of families handle childcare (two full-time jobs, single parents, etc.)

10. Government subsidies, tax credits, and company perks

Creating a flexible schedule that works for the whole family

When thinking about childcare, there are two important considerations: the parents’ work requirements and the child’s needs for adult interaction and safety. 

One of the benefits of modular learning is the possibility of creating a flexible schedule perfectly aligned with a family’s needs.  Standardized schools attempt to provide parents with an all-in-one academic, social, and childcare solution. However, the 9-3 school schedule with three months off for summer is far from aligned with most families’ childcare needs. They have to cobble together expensive afterschool programs, part-time sitters, and summer camps. 

In modular learning, families can separate academic, social, and childcare needs - and optimize solutions for each need.

It’s undoubtedly easier to homeschool if there’s a stay-at-home parent who is totally focused on homeschooling. But it’s absolutely possible to homeschool as a single parent, two full-time working parents, as a graduate student, or in a co-parenting situation. The most challenging setup is two parents working full-time outside the home, but even that is doable. 

In this guide, we’ll discuss how remote work is changing the nuclear family, the importance of quality care, different options for childcare, and how a variety of families balance work and childcare needs. 

How remote and flexible work are changing childcare needs

With the rise of remote and flexible work, the nuclear family is changing. It’s become easier to live near grandparents and extended family. If families work full-time remotely, it’s much easier to homeschool. Rather than worrying about having to hire a caregiver to stay home, parents can focus on finding activities to keep kids engaged while working.  Stay-at-home parents can get part-time remote work to help bring extra income into the family. Homeschooling allows families to travel the world as digital nomads. 

Solve for childcare and education separately 

Childcare is important. The younger they are, the more time children need to engage with a primary caregiver to build a healthy attachment style. Teens do need more independence, but they also need meaningful time with their parents. 

When families are considering homeschooling, we often encourage them to “solve for their childcare problem, not their education problem.” Schools bundle academics, social skills, and childcare together. In modular learning, families can customize childcare, customize education and customize social learning to meet their unique needs. Homeschooling families can hire a caregiver, do a childcare swap, enroll in classes, spark independent learning with strewing, take classes, enroll in a hybrid school or work remotely to ensure kids are safe and engaged while they’re working. 

What does your ideal schedule look like? Do you want to sleep in until 10 am? Take a walk by the ocean with your family at sunrise? Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzles with your teen at midnight. How much time do you like spending with your kids? Would you like to travel the world? Modular learning offers you that opportunity. 

With Mastery Hours, the 1-1 teaching part of homeschooling only needs to happen 1-2 hours a day. Families can schedule Mastery Hours in the early morning, after work, during 20-minute breaks, or at lunchtime. Once kids know how to read, they can often study while parents work, asking parents questions as needed. As kids grow up, they become even more autonomous in their learning. 

Do a cost-benefit analysis

Families might be surprised when they sit down and crunch the numbers for homeschool vs. public school. 

When considering homeschooling, make a list of all your school-related costs (afterschool classes, private school, back-to-school supplies, part-time sitters, summer camp) and compare that to the cost of hiring sitters or living off one income.

When you actually do the math, it may be surprising to learn that hiring a caregiver or quitting your job may be less expensive than all those school-related expenses. 

Certainly, there are benefits beyond costs to spending more time with kids and giving them a quality education. Even if homeschooling is more expensive for your family, it may be worth it. Money isn’t everything.

Don’t neglect childcare

One of the best parts of modular learning is spending quality time with your kids, so we hope you’ll carve out time for this. Children do benefit from more engaged time with an adult, especially younger children. Early bonding in the first five years is crucial to mental health and resilience. Teens don’t need parents to be home all the time, but younger children need a caregiver present at all times to ensure their safety. 

As an extreme example, letting a child watch TV alone for hours while parents work is not a good option. It can be challenging to balance self-care, work, and childcare, but with some intentionality, you can make it work. This will also help family harmony overall - and reduce conflict. Families can learn more about the vital benefits of family time in our sections on family involvement in education and socialization. 

Make time for self-care

Even if one parent isn’t working full-time and mostly focused on homeschooling, they will need time to themselves. Even carving out 1-2 hours a week when parents can focus on their own needs away from kids will strengthen the family and improve homeschooling. When families are struggling with conflicts or constant bickering, the first advice we almost always give them is to take 5 minutes a day to meditate or go for a 20-minute walk. 

From a homeschooling perspective, children are susceptible to how their parents feel and will reflect that in their interactions.  But also, life is short. Children aren’t everything. It’s essential to take care of yourself too.  For the parent working full-time, it’s crucial that you are proactive about giving the stay-at-home parent breaks from their role as parent and educator - and also spend time engaging with your kids, even if it’s a 20-3- minute bedtime story or reading the paper together in the morning at breakfast (but hopefully more than that). It will help your kids' development, prevent your partner from burning out and strengthen your relationship with everyone in your family. 

Keeping kids engaged while families are working

Depending on your child's age, they may not need constant interaction with parents. Unless they are teens or very self-driven, families working remotely will still have to find ways to keep kids engaged and learning while they are working. It’s not necessary (or advisable) to focus on keeping children entertained at all times. In fact, research shows that boredom plays a critical role in fostering skills like autonomy, creativity, and problem-solving. Some children benefit from a stricter schedule, while others are most creative and productive with unstructured time. It’s important to see what works best for each of your kids. Some parents enjoy having their desks set up next to their child’s desks so they can work and learn alongside each other. Kids can occasionally ask questions as needed if it's not too distracting. 

This is much easier with siblings who can play together and keep each other engaged. Alternately, hosting regular playdates is a great way to keep kids learning while you work. Likely, other families will return the favor and invite your child to their house or the park, giving you free childcare too! Having regularly scheduled playdates helps make this happen. 

The primary ways families provide structure to support independent learning is through the learning environment or the schedule. 

• The environment

The environment has a significant impact on how children learn, so it’s a good idea to be intentional about it. It’s helpful to have a dedicated, clean space with lots of tools available for learning: books, art supplies, educational podcasts, or games. 

• The schedule: time scheduling or block scheduling

The schedule allows families to carve out blocks of time (1 hour for younger kids or 2-3 hours for older kids) where children know it’s their time to learn and it’s the parent’s time to work.  Have a discussion with your child about the schedule and how it benefits everyone in the family (e.g., working makes it possible to put food on the table). This schedule can be reviewed daily and posted on the wall.  Scheduling can be done through time increments or activities. For example, rather than allotting a start time and end time to each task, families can keep a jar of activities and hand one to their child when they’re ready for a new task.  See: “What’s a typical day like? how to create a homeschooling schedule” for more on this. 

Our Ultimate Guide for Working From Home With Kids has more tips on how to keep kids engaged while parents are working. 

Twelve Creative Childcare Solutions

There’s a big difference in the kind of childcare required if you work from home versus at an office.  Here are 12 ways we’ve found all kinds of homeschoolers solve for childcare. 

• Take turns

 Families who work full-time remotely outside the home can take turns with caregiving. It can take a little time to work out the schedule, but it’s totally doable if well-organized.

• Outsource to grandparents & Extended family

The rise of the isolated nuclear family unit made it incredibly difficult to raise kids. While no one wants to overtax a family member, this opportunity to spend time with your children may end up being very rewarding for them. No one is an island. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Even a friend with no kids might be excited to step in to help from time to time. 

Many children are homeschooled by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even close family friends. If the idea of living closer to family is appealing, go for it! In a review of thousands of families, we found that families with no childcare problems had an extended family member nearby to help. 

• Hire another parent to homeschool your child

Some homeschool families are happy to integrate another child into their homeschool routine for a little extra income. If you work outside the home, it might be worthwhile to check if another family in your homeschooling group would be willing to let you drop your child off at their house during the day  - and earn some extra income. They might even be willing to bring their children to your home to homeschool all the kids there.

• Hybrid school/ Homeschool co-op

Microschools, part-time schools, learning pods, and homeschool co-ops are increasingly popular options for homeschooling families. With a hybrid school, families attend school once or twice a week and homeschool the rest of the time. If there isn’t a hybrid school in your area, you can start one! 

• Afterschool/Homeschool classes, clubs, and team sports

Extracurriculars can be a good option for families who need 1-2 hour breaks during the day. However, from a childcare perspective, they function best for running errands and taking short breaks for self-care. 

• Swap Childcare 

So much resource-sharing happens in the homeschooling community. Families can join a more formal babysitting co-op or homeschool co-op where families trade care and skills using a points system or via rotation. Playdates are a great way to keep kids engaged while you work. And when you pay it forward, other families will invite your child to play at their house or the park too, giving you time to work, run errands or take a spa day. 

• Hire a caregiver

Other homeschool parents, homeschooled high schoolers and undergraduates make fabulous and affordable caregivers. They can lead Mastery Hours too. Most homeschooling curricula make it easy for a caregiver to follow. Our guide to finding a homeschool teacher applies to finding a caregiver too. 

• Hire a helper

Even if you don’t need a full-time caregiver, it can be very helpful to have someone there to engage with kids or help with domestic tasks while you’re around. Mother/father helpers can be teens or even older kids - and less expensive than typical caregivers. 

• Get an older sibling to help out

“Student as teacher” is widely considered to be the final stage of mastery. Having an older brother or sister help with learning can deepen their own understanding and build their self-confidence. Teens must have time to themselves to focus on their own learning and social life, but contributing meaningfully to the family will also help teach them responsibility, teamwork, respect, and time management.

• Work remotely

Since remote work is becoming more popular, families can ask their employer for more days to work from home. Often families set up an office in their house while kids work alongside them. 

• Change jobs

There’s no need to quit your day job. That said, some families may be interested in exploring career paths that could be more conducive to homeschooling - or finding part-time work to supplement their income while homeschooling. We’ve curated a list of the best jobs and side gigs for homeschooling based on feedback from hundreds of worldschoolers and secular homeschooling families. 

• Quit your job

After decades of decline, the rate of stay-at-home parents (especially dads) has risen in the last several years. And we think it’s great for kids. If it’s in reach, having one stay-at-home parent is typically the best set-up for homeschooling. The stay-at-home parent still only needs to guide 1-2 hours of Mastery Learning a day, but they can be available to drive kids to lessons, organize playdates and run the household. 

It might feel scary to think about living off one income, but the rewards could be huge. Stay-at-home parents are still largely undervalued in our society, but they contribute so much. Parents find that the benefits (parent involvement in education, healthy bonding, more time with kids) far outweigh the financial consequences. And it doesn’t mean that the stay-at-home parent can’t work. Many great part-time, remote, and flexible jobs are available to them, as well as volunteer opportunities. 

Families who choose this route need to ensure that the parent who stays at home gets breaks and doesn’t have to work 24/7.

And being a stay-at-home parent might even save your family money. 

Jobs for modular learning families

If you’re in a position to change your job or if your child is very young, there are certainly jobs that lend themselves better to modular learning than others. The good news is that the best homeschooling parent jobs reflect the future of work. The trend towards more flexible, remote work and the opportunities arising for these types of jobs are making it possible for more families to homeschool. 

We asked one of our favorite homeschool groups what the most popular homeschooling jobs are, and we got thousands of responses.   Here are the parent jobs that seem to lend themselves best to homeschooling: 

• Entrepreneurs

• Health Professions (especially nurses)

• Software engineers (and other remote jobs in tech)

• investors, 

• Online teachers 

• Parents in the gig economy (Airbnb hosts, Food delivery, etc.)

• Homeschooling other kids

See more on the best jobs for homeschoolers in our blog dedicated to this topic. 

How different kinds of families handle childcare while homeschooling 

Families homeschool for different reasons and in all sorts of situations. Here are some tips and real examples of single parents, full-time working parents, and other family situations that are making homeschooling and childcare work for them. See our section on schedules, where we go even more in-depth about what homeschooling looks like for different family structures.

• Stay-at-home parents

 Being a stay-at-home parent is a great way to homeschool, but it might reduce family income. See our section on affording homeschooling to learn how to do a cost-benefit analysis. And make sure the stay-at-home parent gets breaks, and the working parent stays involved. 

• Single parents

Single parents rely heavily on their village for support, swapping childcare with other families and finding creative ways to engage kids while they’re working.  A household helper can be invaluable to a single parent if they’re in the position to afford one. 

• Parents who work full-time remotely

Parents who work remotely full-time will want to have a clear schedule to determine who is the key point person for their child and at what times. Often what this looks like is one parent will work 7-2, while the other parent works 2-6 and 8-11, allowing everyone to spend at least a little time together as a family.  

These parents will definitely benefit from strewing and a clear schedule to help their kids understand the working/learning blocks and who to ask for help when. It’s also possible to have a more fluid schedule with parents working throughout the day alongside their kids learning, taking 20-minute breaks to drive them to lessons, help with homeschool work or play. 

Gender dynamics might also be at play. During the pandemic, women claimed they did the majority of the work, while men said they did 50/50. Try to do regular check-ins, and if necessary, write out responsibilities, so it doesn’t put a strain on the parent partnership. 

• Parents who work full-time outside the home

Without a caregiver or extended family member to help, it’s hugely challenging to homeschool with two full-time parents working outside the home (and impossible with both parents on a 9-5 schedule). Families in this situation generally have a full-time caregiver or a highly flexible schedule where they can rotate shifts. Some families also pay a homeschool parent to keep their child during the day, which can be a fantastic way to enrich their education and social life as the other kids become like siblings. 

Nurses, flight attendants, and truck drivers may have this kind of childcare sharing system that rotates on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis.

If both parents work 9-5 at an office and you can’t afford a nanny, they may want to think about exploring flexible, remote jobs that work better for homeschooling families. Leaving a child home alone all day is not a good idea, no matter what their age.  For example, we often hire parents with unique subject expertise to teach on Modulo and provide them training to teach other kids. We find with a bit of coaching, they make exceptional educators since they have experience with their own kids. Here is a list of some jobs we’ve seen work great for homeschool parents. 

• Co-parents/ Divorced parents

Homeschooling in divorce is hard for a variety of reasons. Often families disagree about homeschooling. Here are some tips on how to get on the same page in a divorce - or in any situation where parents disagree about homeschooling. However, if co-parents have a good relationship, they can absolutely make this work. 

Families will want to get aligned on the homeschool curriculum and schedule so kids can keep moving forward and not repeat information. Families can divide subjects (one can do ELA and the other math). Or families can use a mastery-based curriculum and let the other parent know where they are in the process. One perk of an adaptive learning app is the app remembers where the child last left off. We find this helpful when teachers are team-tagging teaching.  If possible, it’s good for parents to have regularly scheduled check-ins (once a month) to evaluate how things are going: 

• Full-time graduate students

Many graduate students homeschool. It makes sense that graduate students would want to homeschool since they’re passionate about learning. One of the big perks of being a grad student is that you have the opportunity to model learning all the time. This structure looks similar to a remote worker. Parents can study next to their child, help as needed, and take breaks to play or take them to lessons. 

10. Government subsidies, tax credits, and company childcare and education benefits

Families considering homeschooling will want to look into resources available to support them in raising their children. Many companies offer childcare and education perks for employees (it’s essential to ask for this). While there are few to no homeschool tax deductions or credits, there are tax deductions and credits for childcare.  Be sure to ask homeschoolers in your local homeschooling group what credits they use.

If childcare is a homeschooling concern for your family, examine it as a separate concern from education and building social skills. When thinking about childcare, there’s no need to recreate the school schedule.  Think about the ideal childcare coverage situation for your family. Would it be better to have 10-1 pm coverage, stay at home with kids, or more support at home? 

• Calculate the costs for your bare minimum and pie-in-the-sky childcare situation

• Take into account the free child-care sharing availability in homeschooling communities.

• Do a cost-benefit analysis of school vs. homeschooling to make an informed decision.

If you can afford the childcare you need to homeschool, get excited about a more flexible schedule aligned with your family’s needs and start looking forward to childcare that provides much better support for your work and your child’s learning. If, like most families, you are on a tight budget, check out our section on how to afford homeschooling to learn more about the costs associated with homeschooling, how to save money and why it might even be less expensive than traditional school options. 

We hope this section has given you more confidence about homeschooling - and maybe even got you excited about a work/life/parenting balance that works better for your family. One of the ways to provide childcare and enhance education is to hire a homeschool teacher. 

At Modulo, we’ve hired hundreds of teachers and have gotten really adept at matching families with the right tutors and caregivers. In the next section, “How to find the best homeschool teachers,” we reveal all our secrets and get super technical on how to find great homeschool teachers and caregivers to support your child’s learning and social-emotional development.