Balancing the tenure track and family without going crazy – more than just a dream?

I ended my last post musing about the idea of a part-time tenure track position. This week, the topic came up during a workshop I attended addressing the prospect of starting a family while a graduate student or post-doc. One of the panelists was a tenured professor who had successfully managed to have two kids as a grad student, and then land a tenure track position when her youngest child was two. During her presentation she mentioned that, while still pre-tenure, she decided to home school her children and work part-time. I was amazed! At the end of her presentation I asked her how she did it. Apparently, she read through her contract and determined that it was within her rights to work part-time (even though she wasn't yet tenured). She went to her Chair, and although the Chair hadn't heard of anyone doing it before her, she was granted her request. She also told me that it is also within ones rights to negotiate to work part-time during the hiring process. Of course this type of a situation remains rare and many people are not aware that they have the option. Furthermore, as Dawn Lehman discusses here, such positions come with pros and cons for both the assistant professor and their department. I'm not making any decisions yet, I still have a post-doc to do, and papers to publish, before a job offer, or any subsequent negotiations, become an option. Still, knowing that many assistant professors work about 60 hours a week, I can't help thinking that the tenure track doesn't leave much time for family. I am not adverse to working long hours. Research is a labor of love and most researchers, myself included, work long hours because they want to. However, with a young family, or an elderly parent to care for (or any number of other good reasons) working such long hours might not be the ideal situation. A half time position would work out to 30 hours a week, which seems much more feasible in terms of balancing work with family life. I would like to invest optimally in both work and family, since both are very important to me, thus it heartens me to know that while rare, a part-time tenure track position may be an option.