moving from contemplation to determination/action*

 I just posted the following on the Radical Unschoolers Network forum category New to Radical Unschooling:

request for support/ideas re: unschooling and full time working parents

I'm looking for support and ideas for how to take the plunge from public school. My problem is around time and money.

I have two boys, both 7, one is currently a first grader and the other a second grader. My husband works 5 days a week for 8 hours and commutes for 4 hours (he doesn't drive, so a 30-45 minute commute ends up taking ~2hrs on the bus). I am just over a year away from completing a BSW (should grad April 2011) and I'll be ~50k in student loan debt (something I'll be paying off for over 5 years). With this investment of $ and time into my career, me becoming a stay-at-home-parent is neither what I want nor what will work.

My kids hate school. I hate that they don't want to go. Right now, my experience is that I cannot afford an alternate to the 5 hours a day in free childcare that school provides. I have a childcare arrangement outside of school as well, and I receive a government subsidy for those childcare costs (in BC, Canada).

Right now, I feel that I will not be able to take my boys out of school until they are old enough to be at home alone for longer than 10 minutes (and I'm nervous about that, too!)

I have a lot of family support, although I don't know anyone who works from home or doesn't work. My mom has Fridays off work, and I'm sure I could ask her to take them on those days. My childcare provider may be willing to continue claiming the subsidy and put it towards 2 full days of care rather than 5 half days of care. I'd require a 4th 5th day of care for them, and I'm not sure how I can cover that every week. We may be able to juggle my husband's schedule to cover one weekday.

I'm not sure if I can manage, as it'll place extra stress and worry on me as the 'manager' of all of this, and I worry that it will be a strain on my relationships with my husband and my family. Juggling school and a family is already a challenge.

I'm hoping for suggestions for other parents (esp single parents) who have juggled full time out of the home employment with unschooling. What did you try? What were your frustrations? What ended up working best for you? How did it shift and change?

Also, I'd love some feedback about when kids are able to manage alone for a few hours. I know I was babysitting other people's children at age 12, but don't remember much about when my mom started leaving us home without a sitter. What are your experiences with this?

Thank you kindly :)

I'm both nervous and excited!!

* my title is a reference to Prochaska and DiClemente's "Stages of Change" model for addictions :)