Have you found yourself needing to be much more hands-on with managing your kids’ school needs while working at home? If so, this post is for you. So much has changed in the past few weeks and it’s happened so quickly. On top of many working moms shifting to working remotely, there’s also now the need to figure out how to manage remote learning or create a homeschool plan with many schools closed. Since I’m struggling with this too, I decided to reach out to 4 people who have loads of experience with this to help workings moms to homeschool your kids while working from home.
Before we continue, I want to clarify that most of us are switching to a routine where we manage remote learning for our kids. Homeschool tends to mean a specific style of learning away from a typical school environment. That said, I will be interchanging the terms online school, remote learning, and homeschooling for the point of this article. We’re using all the terms to mean the same thing.
Consider how and when you work
Before you start working on your child’s education, make sure you’re feeling confident in your shift to work-from-home. I’ve got a whole blog to help you out. And, if you’re realizing your day needs to flow differently, it might be how you work that needs to change. I’ve got a blog to help you with that too. (Yep, March has been all about helping you with remote work.)
And, especially with younger kids, you might be doing the naptime hustle (wow, do I remember those days!). I have found that the key to the naptime hustle is to know exactly what you’re working on. Plan your day, especially the naptime part of your day, the night before. And break everything down into 10-15 minute bites so that you can keep making progress in small windows, even if your child wakes up early from his/her nap.
And then there is working before kids get up and after kids go to bed. From my experience, the key to this is to go to bed at a reasonable hour. If you’re going to bed at 1am, waking up at 5am or 6am isn’t going to help you get work done. Your productivity will likely go down over time.
As parents, consider switching off duties between cleaning up after dinner and putting kids to bed. The person who does clean-up tends to finish earlier, so that person could get back to work quicker. We usually have whoever is on a work deadline do clean-up duty. It’s something my husband and I have been doing for years and it could be really helpful for you right now.
Don’t be afraid to talk to your manager or leadership team about changing up when/how you work. If you find that you’re needing to do more before kids wake up and after they go to bed in addition to that naptime hustle, share that with your team. Create a plan so your manager and team know when things will be taken care of. Make sure to present that plan in the format that your manager or senior leadership team expects and consider their perspective as you create it. We’ve got a template to help you with this.
Advice from a long-time homeschooling working mom
Carrie Sharpe, a communication consultant (and she truly knows her stuff if you need help with presenting via webinars or other formats), has been homeschooling since 2004. Of her 4 children, two have already left the homeschool nest, one of whom is in top nearby culinary school and one is at a local university.
Carrie suggests, “Setting expectations is vital. I hang a stop sign on my door when I’m on a call with a client, and our kids know I expect them to work quietly and not interrupt me during that time.” She adds, “I’ve homeschooled since 2004 and I’ve worked from home for over a decade…For a family suddenly thrown into this scenario, it will take time to find a routine that works…be patient and flexible.”
Working with your child’s natural rhythms
I love this really helpful tip from Sarah Argenal, MA, CPC and the founder of The Argenal Institute and host of the Working Parent Resource Podcast. Sarah is also a great resource for those moms who are feeling burned out.
“Take a couple of days to just observe your child before integrating schoolwork into your day. Pay attention to your child’s natural energy levels and try to craft a routine around that. When do they seem the most focused and energized? Homeschooling (even temporarily) is a great time to customize an ideal day with your child.”
If you’re following a school’s online schedule for younger kids, you still have some wiggle room with when your kids hop on the computer, so this could be really helpful. We have a few specific times when our first grader has to be online, but otherwise, we have flexibility. This tip has really helped us.
Working with younger kids
Becky Burgess, Facebook Ad Ninja, has younger kids, which might help you if you’re in that boat. Becky’s tips cover how and when you homeschool.
Becky shares that a schedule is really important (more on that below). She also talks about why you want to base your schedule on your needs and not simply grab someone else’s schedule.
“Every family and every child is so vastly different that it’s not really fair to compare yourself to someone else or their situation. Find what works for you and your family. And it’s not about ‘public school’ [hours] at home; that just doesn’t work. Most homeschooling days only last 2-4 hours because your child is receiving 1:1 attention and guidance. In public school, they have recess, subjects spaced out, electives, and dozens of other kids to share that time with. Of course, school days are longer in public school!”
She reminds us that you do need to change things up from time to time. “Sometimes a change of scenery can be nice for everyone. We like to go on walks or go outside to find something new, then look it up on the computer (insect, plant, cloud, moss, etc.).”
Becky has put all her monthly curriculum/educational coloring packs into one bundle to help new homeschoolers out. Check out the Survival Educational Bundle
Model behavior for your children
Melissa Droegemueller, an early childhood education specialist, reminds us that, “In this time of unexpected, nationwide homeschooling, we are all on a journey of discovery together. More than ever, our children are looking to us for connection and stability in uncertain times. We can model what it looks like to be lifelong learners, asking good questions, and searching for answers from reputable sources.”
This could be a great time to incorporate your kids into learning more about the life skills we all need. Involve them in cooking dinner for the family or baking. Teach them some of the chores that the adults do in the house. Kids can help with things like laundry and loading/unloading the dishwasher. You can teach them about managing a budget, etc.
Organization tips to help with homeschooling
I also grabbed these tips on homeschooling your kids while working from home from the Erin Condren website:
Erin suggests a few things to keep you organized while managing remote learning. “Add academic due dates to a monthly calendar. If you don’t have access to a paper or digital one, you can use a notebook or piece of paper to draw your own. [And] begin to add due dates for school assignments, projects, quizzes, and tests.”
I really appreciated her next tip to “declutter and organize your homeschool space.” And Erin reminds us that “there’s no one way to organize…whatever system works for you, just make sure your child’s academic essentials are gathered and tidy in the area of your home that you picked to homeschool.” (You can get ideas from lots of places to form what works for you and your family.)
And, finally, Erin suggests that you “reward your child (and yourself!) for a job well done.” Yes, kids are resilient and you are too, but it’s good to acknowledge when kids (and you) are doing well in this transition. Erin suggests: “Stickers, colored markers, high-fives, a star or happy face on the calendar, earned screen time, go for whatever works for you and your child. And don’t forget to reward yourself for being an awesome parent doing your best during extraordinary and unprecedented times.”
Assess your schooling resources
Now that you’re in the right mindset and thinking differently about helping manage your kids’ education at home, let’s talk more about specifics.
Our boys are in a school district that issues an iPad to all students and software is preloaded. I realize this is a unique situation. If this is your situation, you can quickly assess your resources and then move on to setting up your child’s school routine to keep in mind your work needs.
If you have devices at home, reach out to your teacher(s) to see what online tools they have access to and connect to them on your home device. Our boys’ teachers sent out a list of resources with passwords so we could access anything that wasn’t preloaded on their devices. Yes, it took time, but it was then done. Log on to every tool/resource and save the passwords for your child on the device so he/she isn’t constantly interrupting your workflow to ask you how to access an online tool or resource. You can create a list with all of these as well, so that it’s organized and easily accessible for your kids.
If you’re in a situation where more than one child shares a device, that’s OK too. Definitely use that list so that you can easily get IDs and passwords. As Becky mentioned previously, it’s likely not 8 hours of work a day. You can figure out a schedule that allows everyone to meet their deadlines/do their work. You want to work with the natural rhythms of your children as Sarah suggests. It will take flexibility and some trial and error, but you’ll get it.
Some of you will be in the situation that you must share your device with your child(ren) or maybe your child simply can’t use online resources. Again, you can make this option work. If you choose to share, this might require you to work differently, as I’ve mentioned. Either way, in these last two scenarios you might need to focus on worksheets that are provided by the school either in a packet or with a link that you print out.
A few of the amazing working moms who contributed to this post create packets that can help in this situation. Click on their links to see more. You can also order workbooks online. Even Dollar Tree has workbooks for younger children to practice writing and learn new things related to reading, writing, and math.
There are some great resources there are out there that are free or have a free subscription for at least a month. We like:
- Scholastic’s Learn-at-Home for all sorts of topics
- Think Written writing prompts to work on creative writing
- Epic for reading (you can ask your teacher to give you access to get free access through 6/30/20)
- Check out books online through your local library and kids can read while you prep dinner or take a break (we all need breaks baked into our day when working from home)
Create a schedule
When it comes to trying to homeschool your kids while working from home, you want to make things easier. You have work to do and deadlines to meet. Let’s talk flow of your child’s day, assuming that’s not set by your school. Just like you create your own schedule, create a schedule for your child(ren).
Consider a few things as you create your schedule. Know what your child can learn through independent study and what things you might have to help with. And see how your child’s natural rhythms work with your own work needs. You need to piece all of these things together. This is essentially an advanced form of time Tetris. And then block out the time on your calendar to help your child with specific tasks.
This is why I suggest you plan your week and your child’s week, based on whatever you know your child has coming up. And then plan each night for the next day, based on teacher assignments. You’re already doing this for yourself, so add a section of the plan for your child(ren). Flexibility is important (especially at the beginning), but have a general plan in mind so that everyone meets their goals/deadline.
I’m sharing one more tip here. Something that has helped in our household is that my husband and I compare our schedules on Sunday for the week and then do a quick touch base each night about the next day. That way we tag team for all things related to our young boys. Small adjustments with a big impact.
Becky shares a sample schedule that she uses for her needs and those of husband and young children:
5:30am – Wake up (no kids)/farm chores/work time (hint: know what you really need – coffee maybe?)
8am – Family breakfast time
8:30/9am – School starts with Daddy
10am – School with mommy/Daddy’s workday starts
10:30am – Snack/recess
11-12pm – Finish up school with mommy
12pm – Family lunchtime/playtime/clean-up time
1:30pm – Girls’ naptime
1:30-2:30pm – Son’s reading time
1:30-4pm – Mommy’s work time
4pm – Girls wake up/playtime/craft/drawing
5pm – Dinner prep
6pm – Family Dinner time/family time
7:30pm – Bedtime routine starts (kids are in bed by 8pm)
8pm – worktime as needed for Mom and/or Dad
School Time = ~3.5 hours (Mon-Thurs/no school on Fridays)
Daddy’s Daily Work Time = 8 hours (10am-6pm) per day
Mommy’s Daily Work Time = 6.5-7 hours per day
Create a task list for your child(ren)
Something that has helped immensely in our household is to talk through their specific tasks. Our boys could check their email and get that information, but I find that sitting down with each of our two boys and writing out what they need to do on their personal chalkboard (we had these already but we moved them to be more accessible for everyone). That way they cross things off on their task list. I know what things are done with a quick glance and they know what’s left.
I noticed a huge difference between the days I did this and didn’t. The days when things seemed to fall apart and we had tears were days I didn’t sit down with each one and walk them through their tasks. It seems like something simple, but it makes a big difference.
Engage your child’s interest
Your child is likely to have some element of downtime. Take advantage of that downtime to help them continue to learn and grow. We had our boys create two specific lists: an I Want to Know More About…list and an “I’m Bored” list.
Since so much of school is often based on learning content for exams, we’re using this time to expand on the things our boys are curious about. Curiosity is one of those lifelong skills that Melissa is talking about. And I often talk about curiosity like a muscle you must build. That’s what goes on the I Want to Know More About… list — things the boys are curious about. There are things like robots and geography, which aren’t usually covered in a 3rd grade or Kinder curriculum.
The I’m Bored list is self-explanatory. Instead of your child coming to you when his/her work is done and complaining in a whiney voice, “I’m bored. What can I do now?” They already have that answer. And, yes, in our case we’ve included chores on this list. Our boys do chores, just like my husband and I do, so let’s put it on this list to make sure they’re done. We don’t even need to nag.
Don’t forget about wiggles
I don’t know about you, but we’ve got active boys. We must get the wiggles out or things can get really challenging. Schedule in PE time for your kids, hopefully at least twice a day. The weather has been really nice lately in Austin, so our boys have spent loads of time outside. We might do a walk or bike ride. When it rains, the boys head to YouTube to watch GoNoodles and we are loving PE with Joe. (Maybe you’ll even try his adult workouts and who doesn’t need to move more as a working mom, right?)
Give yourself some grace
With all of these changes, remember to give yourself some grace. We’re all learning at this moment. We’re all trying to figure things out. You’ll find your footing eventually. Allow for some flexibility with everything going on. This is a moment to not focus on perfection and to remember that good is good enough. Be kind to those you love. And be kind to yourself.
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What is helping you as you homeschool your kids while working from home? What do you feel has made a difference? And what are you struggling with?
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