I am the mother of a truly wonderful, happy, creative 4 1/2 year old daughter and I will be homeschooling her for kindergarten.  She currently attends a pre-school 3 days a week and it is through that experience that I have been convinced homeschooling is the way to go next year.  I am confident I can handle the academic and social end of it but honestly, my concern is missing out on "alone time."  I relish the time I have alone to clean the house, think my thoughts, run errands efficiently, and plan and prepare meals.  How do you other moms find time for yourselves? How do you find balance?

I could have written the same post! I have a healthy, active 5 1/2 year old son and very little alone time. He spends a great deal of time out-of-doors with our dogs. He can easily spend several hours chasing dogs, riding his scooter and creating all kinds of, well, I guess I'll call it 'activities' for himself out there.  Other than that I take advantage of playdates and park outings where I can socialize or read, make phone calls. Sometimes he has a playdate with his best friend and I go shopping!!!
Tammy

In my life, that appears to be a fantasy.     :P  I LOVE my alone time but get very little of it.   I end up staying up too late just to have alone time.

It would be great to meet you though.    We have a little girl who just turned 5 and a boy who is 6.    They do play well together most of the time, but there is still noise involved.

Hope to meet you soon,
Mindy

Warm welcome and lots of love to you as you transition . . . the VERY GOOD news is that there's no one-size-fits-all answer since we are all coming from different households (even though we all might have homeschooling in common) and lifestyles.   Finding your balance will happen through trial-and-error in a very organic way.  You'll find your way - be very gentle to yourself in the process and GENEROUS with forgiveness all-around.   Trust the process.  Trust that time will help most every concern.   Don't feel guilty when you have to turn the TV on as "a baby-sitter" (as needed) and try, try, try to lay idealism by the wayside (you'll all be happier).

What's surprising about the homeschooling journey for most families, I propose, is how the FAMILY RELATIONSHIPs become top priority.
There is a very-inspiring Co-op member (Crystal) who is featuring this quote right now on her forum signature (and it is TOTALLY brilliant):  

        "If your child is more important than your vision of your child, life becomes easier." ~Sandra Dodd

Extend the same freedom, generosity, & kindness (that is expressed in the above quote) to yourself as a mother, also, and you'll LOVE homeschooling.
Nothing can fully-prepare one for the homeschooling journey just as nothing fully-prepared us for motherhood . . . we let go & learn as we go

You will be fine!   You are strong, loving, intelligent, and a FANTASTIC mom already . . . this is a SAFE, REASONABLE endeavor to embark upon   :D

Thank you all for your responses, I guess trying to scrape together a little "alone time" is a universal fantasy!  Thank you for your encouragement in this transition, as you are all aware, I am sure, it is generally found neither acceptable nor a good idea and people feel free to let you know that. I am still working on inner balance and peace with my (our) decision and have yet to not feel apologetic and defensive on some level when I explain she'll be home schooled next year.  I guess that'll resolve itself in time so in the meantime THANK YOU for the support!  I am looking forward to the next time the weather is nice enough to go to the park and meet some of you, I know my daughter would love it also.  See you soon!

I have gotten positive and negative responses when I tell people we are homeschooling.    Some people are very opposed, some are very supportive.    But the response I think I get the most is that the other person will quickly explain why they don't homeschool!    I always find that interesting.

We have so much support from our Church.    Our priest says it's the only way to educate our children, so I don't pay attention to what others think.    We know it's so great for the children and they love it.    :)

Mindy

This was my biggest worry about homeschooling.  I'm married, so I made sure to let my husband know that this was a concern and that I might need help with it now and then.  Apparently it's pretty obvious when I need help in this area and he will step in and tell me to go to our room and read!  But I've also found that as my children get older, they can entertain themselves more.  Now, there are three of them, so they have playmates. Though often that means "opponents that need me to step in."  But often enough, I can step away and leave them to play or work out their own fights.  And I can also now rely on playdates to give me some time if I need it.  This wasn't an option when I had toddlers and babies.  Soon enough, your daughter will enjoy time away from you with friends and you will fondly remember when all she wanted was to hang out with you!