5 Tips to Successfully Homeschool and Work from Home
Where do you begin? It is all so overwhelming! In a matter of weeks, your entire world has turned upside down. Your typical daily routines no longer exist, and you are frantically trying to accept the new normal and move forward in uncharted territory. The past routine of children attending a brick and mortar school now seems so simplistic by comparison. You make their lunch, double-check that they have their homework ready, and ensure that they arrive to and from school safely. While they are at school, you maneuver through your daily commute and work your full-time job. After school, you shuttle the kids to their extra-curricular activities, help them with their homework, provide dinner, and tuck them into bed at the end of the evening. It all seems a bit quaint now.
Fast forward to today. Now you wake up, and the kids are still at home. You have a full day of work to complete but have no idea how to occupy the children throughout the day while you are accomplishing your tasks. It only took an 8-hour period of time to realize that you feel like you are in WAY over your head. So, now what? You didn’t sign up to homeschool your child. Maybe you don’t feel like you’d do a good job, or that you don’t have enough hours in the day to accomplish all that is on your shoulders. But, I am here to tell you. YOU CAN DO THIS! YOU WILL PROVIDE EVERYTHING YOUR CHILD NEEDS!
Remember when you taught your child how to eat with a spoon and a fork? When you taught them to walk or to ride a bike? Or, how about when you taught them to brush their teeth? The list goes on and on. Whether you realize it or not, YOU have been teaching your children since the day they were born. This isn’t a question of whether you can do this. It is a matter of finding the resources to do so and creating successful days for both you and your children.
5 Tips to help:
1. Create your remote workspace. If you aren’t used to working at home, one of the most important things you can do is to create a productive environment. This doesn’t need to be a traditional office, but it does need to be a space that you can designate as your own (at least during your work hours). Will you have interruptions? Of course! Your kids are at home, but you will be able to multitask successfully. You already multitask every day. Creating the right environment is the key to your new superhero capabilities.
2. Manage stress. The current state of our world is in sheer chaos. Stress plays a pivotal role in our ability to have a strong immune system. Don’t overlook, or undervalue, the importance of recognizing and acknowledging your level of stress. Your feelings and concerns are VALID, and THEY MATTER! Coping with the stress and pressure of today’s world is incredibly challenging. Do not overlook the importance of YOU! You are the core of your family. Although we may not be able to control what is going on around us, we can teach our children that we have the power to control how we react to it. This is an opportunity to teach them a very important life lesson.
3. Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep. The coming weeks and months will bring challenges to our lives, and likely some sleepless nights. Do not underestimate the power of a family walk or cooking a healthy meal together.
4. School doesn’t need to be completed between 8 am – 3 pm. While I agree that a routine can be incredibly valuable, when you work full time from home and simultaneously homeschool, you must permit yourself to accept the fact that education occurs during all hours of the day and night. It is okay to blend your workday and their school day. It may mean that you read a story together in the evening and decipher main characters, setting, conflict, and resolution as your bedtime discussion.
5. Develop a daily routine. You have daily work responsibilities while also taking care of your children. You already know what you need to do for your work projects, so focus on how to incorporate learning into your day. Take a look at your children’s current textbooks. Create a list by each subject and a high-level overview of what they would have been learning for the remainder of this school year. Next, find resources and ideas that will embellish those concepts. This is the part that overwhelms most parents. Don’t worry! Keep reading below.
Over the next few weeks, we will be creating and distributing articles that focus on the details for how to accomplish each of these tips. Also, we will be providing a list of free resources for each school subject to help you feel confident and successful. We are all in this together, and our future success lies in our ability to work as a team.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt