Ideas to Adjust Your Family’s Routine for Virtual School & Work Success
With the pandemic dragging on, more of us are continuing to work from home while kids are back learning. Only instead of sending them off to school, many of our kids are now learning virtually, which means everyone has to be productive and stay sane while working alongside each other. This is a hefty challenge, but it IS doable, and these tips courtesy of Mommies Reviews can make a huge difference for all involved.
We All Have to Make Adjustments
Many families that are doing work and school from home are trying to carry on like everything is normal. They’re sticking with the same routines and the same expectations, only they’re doing it all from home. But life is different now, so we can’t expect our usual strategies to work. You need to look for specific ways your family can make adjustments to achieve a better work/life/school balance:
Adjustments for Work
Some of us have been working from home with kids, but trying to do this alongside a virtual school schedule is something else. You may find that children need more of your attention while they’re doing school, meaning you’ll need to make adjustments to how and when you work.
If you’re self-employed, one solution is to hire a freelance virtual assistant to handle administrative tasks like scheduling, making phone calls, and taking care of emails. These small tasks are necessary, but they’re also time-consuming. Hiring a freelancer is the perfect solution because it frees up your time to focus elsewhere, without you having to deal with extra issues like employee taxes.
Another key strategy is to tag team responsibilities with your partner if possible. To start with, families working from home with kids need a schedule, but it may not be feasible to maintain a normal office schedule. This may mean one partner does school with the kids on certain days, or you may want to schedule your work for odd hours.
Whatever you do, be sure to set guidelines so that kids know which parent is their helper and which one is on work time. To make this work better, consider using visual cues that serve as reminders, such as a sign on your office door.
Adjustments for Kids
If your child is doing virtual education through their school, they probably have a schedule that’s set by the teacher. However, you can still make small adjustments that help your family have a more pleasant and productive day. For example, if your child has a short break between assignments, turn it into active time by taking a walk around the block or having a living room dance party. The physical activity will help you and your kids ward off stress, plus it helps everyone sleep better at night.
Along with breaks, consider adjustments you can make to fill in the gaps that are left by doing school virtually. As one example, USA Today suggests giving your child positive feedback. This is something that can be lacking with virtual school, but filling in that gap yourself can go a long way towards keeping your child motivated.
Adjustments for Life
While we attempt to work and do school from home, real life still has to happen too! Our suggestion is to build in both “work” time and “fun” time for kids and grownups. So if your kids are old enough, schedule them to help around the house more so that all the housework doesn’t fall to you. Be sure to schedule family fun time too, though, along with independent down time for everyone.
It may seem like overkill to add more to your schedule, especially at a time when you’re overburdened. However, the goal is to prioritize necessities so that everything goes more smoothly. In the end, your kids will stay happier, you’ll be more productive, and you’ll thank yourself for setting aside the time you need in order to balance your lifestyle.
Photo credit: Pexels
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
