First let me make something clear. If you expect this article to be about the benefits of working from home, stop reading. This ain’t THAT type of post. Nope. I am going to tell you a true story, my story and you can help me draw a few conclusions about what stays and what needs to go/change.

Home….. schooling

I have been teaching online for 2 years now. That is my morning job, so it is only inevitable that I work from home. I was also running my own business and taught at my own language school but that shut down. As a result, I now teach as a freelance teacher and my students come to my home. Now let’s do the math.

Morning online teaching 9-2:30: 5,5 hours

Afternoon teaching at home 4-9: 5 hours

Does this look appealing? Are you jealous? Well, don’t be. What this actually means is that I am at home all day, working. When I am not working I am kinda working.

Kinda working activities: blogging, reading blog posts, social media-ing, preparing for lessons, material designing.

So, in my free time at home, once again,  I am in front of the computer. You want more? I work out as well. I have a stationary bike in my room so that’s where my gym is!! Yeap. I do not need to go to the supermarket cause someone else does. I do not need to go into town to pay bills cause someone else does.

So, what about weekends? Well, on the weekends, I go out a bit (nothing cray cray people. Just a meal or a drink).

Now, time to make a list:

Benefits of working from home 

• It’s convenient
• You save money

Disadvantages of working from home

• Well, if you work all day like me, you will probably end up with vitamin D deficiency (that’s cause you never see the sun).
• At some point you will become one with your chair.

The action plan-Things I am now changing

I want to work out more which is why I am cutting down on my kinda work related activities and am running to my bike a bit more. In the past, my excuse for not working out was the Delta, now it’s “I have stuff to write”. All this is not good. Something really needs to change.

I will be paying my own bills. I will try to stick more sessions closer together, manage my teaching time better, so that I have more free time, and thus, am forced to leave the house and pay stuff, do stuff.

I started painting lessons, so now I have a hobby. A hobby that requires I go somewhere to do it.

I want to go out during the week a bit more. I really need to start saying, “Yes!” to invites to go out after work.

 

Final thoughts

Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining about my work life. I LOVE online teaching and I really like the fact that I work from home. I just don’t wanna end up like a person who misses out on everything cause I am at home and not outside! Marjorie talk about her life as a teacher and how she combines working from home and moving for work. I read Theodora’s blog a few hours ago and she talks about balance. I think I, too, need to find balance but I first need to figure out where I draw the line. The line between being Joanna the teacher, who works from home, and Joanna who lives at home.

This is my first post on Word Press. I hope you like it. Still trying to figure out how things work : ) like how to align, font size  and stuff…

Till next time………..