Last Updated on 29 September 2025 by Colette
This summer marks nine years (!) since I left full time teaching. For a long time I said that being a supply teacher meant I was one of the only teachers I knew who actually had a work life balance – my flexible teaching role allowed me to do school runs and attend assemblies and just be there for the kids as and when they needed me. As it stands, many of my friends have now moved to part time working to allow them to spend more time with their young children or just to be able to take time for themselves.
I’ve lost my balance
This year I have lost my balance. Covid meant that things changed rapidly – I lost some big contracts (and therefore a lot of money) in the first week or so of Lockdown. I obviously wasn’t needed at school and so didn’t have any money coming in there. It was a scary time. We did OK in the end thanks to a combination of furlough and SEISS grants – we survived.
However, this did mean that when I was offered a regular three days a week teaching for September, I jumped at it. A term of regular work and guaranteed income was just what I needed to get back on track and help to straighten out our finances. And, whilst the freelance work was still quiet, it made total sense. This is one of the things I’ve always loved about combining my social media and blogging work with supply teaching – they are both so flexible and if one is quiet, I do more of the other.
That “three days a week till Christmas” rolled into “three days a week till Easter” – and in all honesty those three days a week probably saved my sanity during the second lockdown – giving me purpose, routine and contact with the outside world. And now, that three days a week has become five mornings a week till the end of this academic year.
I absolutely love the role I’m doing at the moment – and working mornings is lovely. However, I have now completely lost my balance. Three days a week felt like a stretch – I was struggling to organise my time around school to keep on top of the house and maintain my business – and I remembered why I’d settled at supply teaching two days a week for so long.
There’s just no time!
Working mornings means that by the time I’ve got home from work and had some lunch, I’ve got just over an hour to crack on and get some work done before I pick the girls up from school – an hour in which I really struggle to get my teeth into anything. And then, because I’m up early and in school of a morning, I don’t want to be sitting at my laptop all evening because I’m tired and unproductive, and know I need to get to bed ready to do it all again the next day.
This lack of balance was brought into sharp focus when I had a week off school in isolation and therefore had five days at home to work in peace while the kids were all out at school. I’d forgotten just how much I could get done in that time and I realised just how much of an impact my change in working hours had made.
I guess I just feel like I don’t have any time at the moment – no time to dedicate to doing a proper job of anything. I’m lacking inspiration for content, I can’t be bothered to pick my cameras up to take photos or film things – but I really miss that creative outlet and I know I’ll regret not documenting moments – as, after all that’s why I started all this in the first place.
What next?
As things stand, my current school booking runs for another four weeks – and I don’t know what the plan is beyond that. My freelance work is still way below pre-pandemic levels but creeping back up and I’m definitely looking forward to dedicating more time to content creation through the summer holidays and beyond.
Working five mornings definitely doesn’t work for me. That’s not to say I won’t do it again – as I know I *can* do it short term – but I definitely wouldn’t choose to – it’s just not an efficient use of my time. I’d love to return to my pre-pandemic work of two (or three) days a week in school and three days a week at home to work on my blog, keep on top of the house and take time for myself.
Something else which has changed since Covid came into our lives is that Dave now works from home around 80% of the time – and we don’t anticipate this changing any time soon. I love that he works from home now – I love that he’s there so much more and that he’s travelling less but I do really miss being on my own in the house! I’m way more productive when there’s nobody else here and I don’t think I had ever really appreciated how beneficial that time on my own was for my mental health until it had gone!
So, who knows what will happen over the coming months – I don’t know what my working situation will look like in September – I just hope I can find a little more of that balance again!
You can read more about being a supply teacher here:
Eight signs you’re a supply teacher
The downsides to being a supply teacher
Six reasons why I love being a supply teacher
Why I will continue to supply teach
