If nothing else, 2020 has reliably shown us exactly how many different roles our homes will fulfill.
At various points it’s been an office, a restaurant, a movie theater, a classroom, and probably some combination of them. While some of it hasn’t been all bad, actually – cue all the memes about taking work meetings in your sweatpants – it can be a bit of a challenge to successfully juggle it all and stay productive without losing your mind.
Among the greatest of these challenges has been balancing working from home with homeschooling your kids. A lot of people are still working from home, and an increasing number of school districts have sent their kids back home to learn virtually for the foreseeable future. Noble endeavours, and both of them designed to keep everyone safe, but not exactly ones with…compatible schedules.
Have you been attempting to juggle your 9-5 while helping your kids stay focused during their virtual school day? It’s been happening to a lot of parents, and doesn’t show any signs of changing.
While everyone’s work and school routines will be different, there’s a few ways to help everyone get focused and organized, even while you need to juggle your own job and your kids’ classwork.
Working From Home while Homeschooling
Set a routine
One of the most important things you can do while balancing your job and your kids’ virtual lessons is to set a schedule, and stick to it. Easier said than done, of course, but keeping to a consistent schedule will help everyone feel a little more focused and productive. Wake up at the same time every day, review your daily schedule or assignments, and meet periodically with your kids at the same time every day (as able) to help understand what they’re working on and where you can help.
Help your kids stay organized
As much as you’d like to be there for your kid all day during the school day, it’s going to be nearly impossible to juggle their tasks and your daily workload. To get out ahead of that, make sure your kids are as organized as possible before their school day starts. Give them their own desk to work from, set up a few desk organizers to help them organize things like writing utensils and notebooks, and make sure they’re equipped with everything they might need before school starts to cut down on confusion and interruptions.
Create a workspace for yourself
While your biggest instinct might be to be as close to your kids as possible in case they need you, it may actually be more helpful for you both to have your own spaces. Outfit your home office with whatever sort of office storage you might need, and make sure it’s far enough removed from your students’ work area to give you both a little breathing room.
Make a landing pad for both school work and work-work
Even if everyone’s stuck at home, you’re probably still going to be dealing with a lot of paperwork and assignments, which will all need to go somewhere. Find a spot in the entryway where you can add a paper basket or mail organizer to hang onto any notes that come home from school or anything that the parents need to look over before it gets lost.
Factor in break time
We all wish we were super productive for the full eight-hour workday, but the fact is that’s just not a realistic expectation for most people, and if you’re juggling being a teacher and an employee, you’ll need to find the right balance. Set a daily schedule for yourself to remember to check on your student, take a walk around the block to stretch your legs, or just grab a snack to refresh yourself a bit before getting back to the grind.
Hopefully everything will be back to normal – or some version of it – some day soon, but until then, hopefully these tips will help you make the most of your time both working and teaching from home.
