Tips for Working and Learning From Home
For parents who are working at home while their kids are also learning remotely, there can be a number of challenges to navigate. While it may be tricky to strike a balance between staying on top of work and helping facilitate your child’s education, you can prepare for potential difficulties by setting appropriate boundaries, managing your time wisely, and perhaps offloading some of your own administrative tasks to a freelancer to help lighten your own workload. For some added help, check out these tips from Thoughtfully Organized:
Controlled chaos
Working from home while homeschooling your kids may feel like controlled chaos. Between your kids’ video lessons to your own virtual team meetings, it’s likely hard to focus with various school lessons and work agendas floating around inside your head. If this sounds like your home, there are ways to manage the chaos by setting up firm yet healthy boundaries.
Setting boundaries
Have a family meeting to establish boundaries for work and school. One clever way to do this is by using physical signals to communicate when it’s okay to interact versus when you’d rather not be disturbed. You can set working hours for yourself, or you can use other clever methods to help.
If you work in an office in your home, make some form of a “Do Not Disturb” sign that you can hang on your door when you’re in the middle of a meeting. This will give your family a heads-up that you need privacy and quiet, and it will become an easy routine to follow if you stick to it in the beginning.
Along with setting up your own work boundaries, be sure to set up some school boundaries for your kids. Let them know that during school hours, they aren’t allowed to play or scroll through social media. But be open to allowing them to enjoy fun activities like playing their favorite video game once they’re done with their schoolwork--just be sure your home internet connection can support their fun while you continue your workday. When they have healthy timeframes for balancing school work and personal time, it will help them focus when necessary, while also giving them some much-needed downtime.
Time management
Working from home when you have children will always be a little tricky, as your kids’ needs will likely come up throughout the day. If you foresee this happening, Today suggests taking advantage of times of the day when you know you’ll have some alone time, such as early in the morning or in the evening. By getting up earlier than your kids, you’ll have a chance to tackle your emails before the distractions start pouring in.
Make mornings count
One of the best ways to ensure productivity is having a solid morning routine. Not only will it help you get on track with work, it will also help establish some normalcy for your kids. Connect with your kids over breakfast and talk about your plans for the day, and help your kids adhere to a regular start-time each day.
Hire an assistant
Even the best-laid plans still may have some challenges: if you’re finding that you truly don’t have enough time in the day to manage both your family’s needs and to meet your work demands, consider offloading some administrative tasks to a personal assistant freelancer to help lighten your load.
As Inc. explains, a personal assistant can be a lifesaver for busy professionals: you can have this person help schedule appointments, make phone calls, and even respond to emails. If you have a particularly busy week or month, a freelancer can help out for a short period of time while you weather the storm. The bonus of hiring a freelancer is that you won’t have to pay employee taxes, and the hiring agreement is on an as-needed basis.
Even though everyone in your home may be working and learning from home, by following these tips you’ll have a better chance of staying sane as you adapt to your new normal. Establish firm boundaries, manage your time wisely, and offload some work by hiring a personal assistant if you need help.
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Guest Writer,
Cherie Mclaughlin
