I know most of you are experiencing challenges to work from home and homeschooling at the same time under the current global scenario. While I am a work from home mom, and now that my kid and husband is at home constantly, we face daily challenges too. Mostly, our meetings and important office work get interrupted by our daughter. She wants us to play with her when we have to get our work done.
You will read ahead:
- About homeschooling in India
- Is homeschooling and work keeping you distressed?
- 10 steps for moms to balance Homeschooling while working from home
- Set your own family rules
Balancing family and work together is a great art, and moms are creative artists in their own way. Making breakfast ready at the table, planning the other major meals for the day, taking care of your child’s homeschooling requirements, chalking out time for office work and then, of course, a little time to regain sanity. A woman in the house is responsible for all. Especially, you can relate to this, when you don’t have extended family support.
In our case, every single household work and other related things that need to be done to run a family of three, is done by my husband and me. But things have changed with the global pandemic. Tension, daily anxiety, work pressure and of course work-life balance have taken the center stage.
Keeping all the responsibilities aside, what is given much importance to my family is education. You would agree with me that most parents are sacrificing the daily need to study for their children. With the increase of other household work and anxiety, we are keeping educational goals aside. But I believe, if we create a gap in our child’s education (especially young children) they will find it hard to mitigate the hollow. So homeschooling while working from home is the best solution.
About homeschooling in India
The concept of homeschooling in India has still not gained popularity while western countries have adopted homeschooling methods to train their children at home. With major positives, there are negatives as well for homeschooling. Asian countries debate on the concept of homeschooling.
As the world is experiencing a global shutdown, schools are obvious to promote homeschooling in India. So, before you start homeschooling your child, you must have a clear idea of what homeschooling is, concerning the current situation?
Homeschooling is not only about teaching your child, but it is about to teach your child under the guidance of the school, following a routine that is provided by them. In this way, you can keep your child’s educational progress on track and therefore, can make them ready for back to school once it reopens.
Is homeschooling and work, keeping you distressed?
There is more than one reason which can be the cause of your distress currently. Worldly worries, health concern, insecurity, stress over sharing work space with your spouse, and balancing your child’s homeschooling needs with your work routine.
These are the most common worries that must be bothering you currently. Don’t worry, there are many like you who are going through the same. But I will try and help you with the situation by sharing what I practice to keep worries away. These tips will help you to keep up your sanity and will increase productivity and allow you to work at homeschooling while you work from home.
10 steps for moms to balance Homeschooling while working from home
As homeschooling is not the only responsibility as a work from home mom, therefore, we need to take care of all the aspects that complete our responsibility as the Boss of the house. Here are 10 tips to balance homeschooling and house responsibilities for work from home moms that will make their day way more productive.
1. Planning is the key to efficiency
I have experienced that when I plan my day in advance, it turns out to be more productive and I can utilize my time efficiently. In this way, you don’t have to waste your morning thinking and planning for the day. Giving your day a swift start goes a long way when you have to handle a whole lot of responsibility throughout the day. Check more daily routine ideas here.
2. Set a work routine to encourage education
Alike taking care of your family, and fulfilling your child’s home schooling requirement, it is equally important to fix up a dedicated work schedule. If you are situational work from home mom, then setting up a realistic work schedule can work. The best idea is to plan your day by keeping in mind your child’s routine. Anyways, you wouldn’t like to interrupt your child’s homeschooling to intersect with your work from home routine.
3. Be flexible on household work
This is perhaps not the time to be a perfectionist when it comes to kitchen work and related household chores. Keep your food menu crisp and precise to save on a lot of time. Make plans to cook in batches, this will lower your effort to cook separately for three to four meals for a day.
4. Talk to your child about homeschooling
It is essential to talk to your child about homeschooling. Make them understand what your plan is, and how you, together with your child, will execute the plan. When children have a clear understanding about their educational goals during the school closure, they will more likely to cooperate with you to accomplish homeschooling goals.
5. Make education a routine
Define the need to study for your child. Make it a regular habit just as taking bathe or having food. I know it may not be possible for younger children, but it all depends on how well you integrate this habit in your child. Prepare your child to want to read books of their own.
I would like to share a proverb from the Holy Bible, I learned this from my daughter’s school, which says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” So, it is never too early to start.
6. Mark spaces for a co-worker
The other issue that can be troublesome, is sharing work space with your spouse. It is better to mark the workspace for your spouse and let him work in a peaceful environment. Also aware of your child that this is where daddy is working and he should not invade the room when the door is closed. When it comes to you, there is no other way to co-work with your child.
7. Share responsibilities with your spouse
Under this situation, when both of you are equally responsible for home and office, try and share responsibilities when it is about your child or household work. For me, what works is, taking turns in alternative days. I am blessed that my husband is a great cook and he takes an interest in sharing my household chores as well.
8. Make every second count
Well, this is not the time to spend multiple hours on silly videos, if you have to juggle work from home and homeschooling responsibilities then you have to count each second to be productive. If you have some work that requires less attention or research, then, do it at times when possible while performing other works.
9. Be a smart worker
Efficiency and smart work go hand in hand. Set a goal for the day and take things one by one. I will share what works for me. I like to finish up most of my household work in the morning. Breakfast, lunch, and shower are all done in the morning. Then it is time for my daughter’s homeschooling. After finishing her day’s assignment we take lunch and settle for the afternoon. By this time, it is time for me to will settle with my work from home as slowly my child goes to sleep. I continue working till evening and my husband finishes his work before me mostly, and he takes it on from there.
10. Don’t over-stress yourself
Take time outs and know your limit to stop over stressing. During this time, you should help yourself to keep anxiety away. Your family’s overall mental sanity depends on you. So taking care of you and your family is a must.
Set your own family rules
Every family has its own rules and regulations. What works for me may not work for you. So try and figure out what works best for you. Ask for help when you need and talk to your child and spouse about the challenges you are facing. They are the best person to help you during this distressing time.
I hope these tips are helpful for you to work from home and homeschool your child at the same time. Don’t forget to relax and catch up with sound sleep.
Write back to me if these ideas seem helpful to you.
